Chapter 1174:
That set Delavan off. “You! Both of you just signed your own death warrants. No one’s walking away!”
With zero patience left, Elena shoved Delavan aside like garbage, her face full of disdain. “Go get help. Delusions like yours can be cured.”
Realizing he was outmatched, Delavan shot them a venomous glare and bolted to get backup.
Now that the nuisance was gone, Elena turned to leave without another word. But Lance’s gaze narrowed, and he called after her, sizing her up. “Hold on… You seem familiar. Have we met before?”
Something about Elena triggered a sense of familiarity in Lance. The sharp edge of her wit, the way she put that man in his place, rang oddly familiar. Her heart skipped a beat. Elena replied evenly, maintaining a composed façade, “Your Royal Highness, you seem to have a remarkable talent for forgetting faces. We just had dinner a few nights back.”
Lance waved his hands. “That’s not what I’m getting at…” But the more he chased the memory, the further it drifted away. “Did our paths ever cross before that?”
“Not once,” Elena responded, her answer crisp and sure. She wasn’t lying. The reality was simple—they’d never met face to face, their only history woven through countless online exchanges over the years.
Annoyance simmered inside Lance as he felt the answer lingering just out of reach, and he scratched his head, giving up with a sigh. “Forget it. I must be confusing you with someone else.”
Brushing him off, Elena walked away, ship information in hand.
While Elena slipped away, Delavan had stormed back home, his anger brewing into something darker. By the time he reached the doorstep, he had already rounded up a small army of men, ready to settle the score with Elena and Lance.
Delavan barely made it outside before he ran into Lord Rosethorne and Elyse, both freshly returned.
A scowl formed on Lord Rosethorne’s face as he sized up Delavan and the group behind him. “Where are you taking this crowd? Stirring up trouble again?”
Delavan thrust out his bandaged wrist, voice tight with indignation. “Dad, this isn’t about causing trouble. Some woman did this to me. I’m not letting her get away with it!”
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨: g⍶ⅼ𝗇𝗈ν𝘦𝗅𝗌⸳𝖼𝗈𝖒
A woman strong enough to bend a man’s wrist? The first person who crossed Elyse’s mind was Elena. There weren’t many women in Yoswye who fit that description.
Choosing her words carefully, Elyse asked, “May I ask if she was striking? Perhaps even aloof?”
Surprise flashed across Delavan’s face. “How’d you know?”
Without another word, Elyse unlocked her phone, scrolled through her gallery, and zoomed in on a photo before holding up the screen. “Take a look. Was this the woman?”
No one could forget Elena’s flawless features—a single glance was enough to burn her image into memory.
Delavan’s jaw tightened, eyes narrowing as he stared at the screen. “That’s her. Why do you have her photo? You know her? Are you two close?”
Elyse rushed to clarify her position. “Please, don’t get the wrong idea. That’s my cousin—we didn’t grow up together. She spent her whole childhood in a backwater village. The minute she reconnected with her real family, she couldn’t handle seeing her parents favor me. From then on, she has always been plotting against me. My being kicked out? That only happened because she set me up. She never learned to fit in—always so blunt, no sense of propriety at all. Honestly, Mr. Barnett, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought you were beneath her. That’s probably why she dared to hurt you. She’s made a habit of pushing me around.”
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