|ASHER’S POV|“Is there anything that you want to say to me?” I ask Malcolm who has been mumbling different things to himself since I got into the car with Amelia after the big announcement.“No,” he answers sharply.“Fine….. whatever sails your boat,” I reply to him as I take out my phone to check out the important messages that I must have missed.Your Highness,” Amelia says, holding on to the hem of my suit while I look at her, and wait for her to say something.“Do you think that I will be safe here?” she inquires with her brows taking a worried curve.“Are you thinking of going back to Silver City?” I answer her question with another question.“You already announced my engagement to you, and now that a lot of people know about my identity, they may keep on forcing me to pay for my dad’s sins like they did earlier,” she expresses.“You should have thought about that before coming over here to spring shit on me,” I reprimand her.“I’m sorry your highness…. I didn’t mean to,” she ap
|ASHER’S POV|Four days later“Is everything set for the engagement ceremony?” I ask both Malcolm and Allen as we are about to leave my private residence where I have been hiding from my mom for the past four days.“Yes boss,” they both chorus, and Allen ignites the engine since he is taking Malcolm's place to drive today after Malcolm created a scene because he didn’t want to drive.“Do you think Elena will come to the palace to create a scene?” I ask them because I barely know her to be able to predict her 100%.“I don’t know if she will come to the palace, but one thing I know is that she is going to find you soon,” Allen answers confidently.“How can you be so sure that she is going to find me?” I throw the question at Allen who seems to know something that I don't know.“Most importantly, even if she wants to find him, how is she supposed to do that?” Malcolm asks.“How is she supposed to navigate the city when she has refused to step out of the gate for the past four days,” I ex
|ELENA’S POV|I spent the last four days watching YouTube videos on how to bleach my hair by continuously testing it out on the wigs that I brought with me when I traveled down to Orion but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get it right so I ended up braiding my hair into a messy corn row, putting on a bald cap and trying to alter my hair color by installing one of my favorite blonde asymmetrical bob frontal wigs that I was going to use for Halloween.The installation of the frontal turned out messy even though the tutorials I watched made installing a wig look easy, so I covered the front of the wig with a black leather beret so that I wouldn’t get caught.I altered my eye color from the soft brown ones that I inherited from my mom to an amber-colored one with the help of the contacts that Jayda helped me order from Amazonite.I made sure to add a few freckles to my face, then I added a bold red lipstick to the whole look to level up my perfect disguise game so that someone woul
|ELENA’S POV|I navigate the crowd with the Usher and we both approach Amelia who is dressed in a radiant red dinner gown that is a perfect blend of elegance and allure, hugging her figure gracefully. The bodice of the dress is adorned with intricate beadwork that shimmers under the soft light, adding a touch of glamour and the gown's skirt flows down to the floor, creating a striking silhouette“Good evening ma’am… you have a special guest here to see you,” the usher informs Amelia.“Thank you,” Amelia smiles politely at the usher, with her radiant smile and sparkling eyes completing the enchanting image of that of a beautiful bride.“If I didn’t know any better that she is being manipulated and blackmailed into this arranged marriage, I would have confused her for a happy and contented bride, but I know that she is just doing this to protect herself and I really can’t blame her,” I mumble as I look around to see if I can find a secluded spot around for both Amelia and I to have a c
/ASHER’S POV/ “Something must have gone terribly wrong between the two sisters,” Allen informs.“They have met each other?” I ask him confused because the last time he got in touch with me was when he was going out of the gate to act like Elena’s knight in shining armor. “While you were busy attending to the guests, I went ahead to pick her up because I was tired of waiting for her to get into the party, and luckily for me, she came up with a very easy lie that played off the relationship between her and Amelia as friends that is there to support each other, so I had someone lead miss resourceful to little miss impostor while I kept an eye on them.“Hope they didn't pull each other's hair off?” I ask him worried.“You think if they did that, the whole hall won't be rowdy by now?” he asks and I pause to think about it.“Anyways, at the start, their conversation was quite civil, but I guess one thing led to the other that made little Miss Impostor drag Miss Resourceful to one end of t
|ELENA’S POV|I crouch to my knee amidst the sea of laughter and chatter, praying so hard that someone will wake me up from the horrible nightmare that I have been plunged into for the last 6 days because I am surrounded by people, yet there's a palpable sense of isolation.After a while of staring into space, I give a smile that doesn’t quite reach my face as I advance with the guests that seem to be forming a cluster at other middle of the hall. I am physically present in the crowd, yet my mind seems to be somewhere else entirely. It’s as if I am in my world, a world where I am the only inhabitant. “What next?” I ask myself on the verge of tears feeling purposeless and useless because the past four days of my life have been spent trying to come up with ways to save Amelia, but it turns out that the person who needs saving is me who gives off finding excuses to justify peoples gutter behavior.“What more do I have to lose apart from what I have lost?” I ask myself as I watch the en
|ELENA’S POV|My face etches with disbelief and hurt at the realization of the Prince of Hell controlling my every move behind the scenes without my knowledge.I swallow the lump in my throat and with a final glance at the stranger that I met at the Palace gate, I turn my back and step away feeling heavier than the last. “What was I expecting from a stranger?” Idoff in disappointment.“All the strangers that I have encountered and felt safe around have ended up stabbing me in the gut, so why did I think this was going to be any different?” I question myself as my shoulders slump, and my head is bowed low as if carrying the weight of the betrayal is weighing me down. “The first stranger turned out to be the primary cause of my misery in this country, the second stranger took advantage of my situation and slept with me, while the third one plunged me deeper into this mess,” my eyes brim with tears as I walk away, leaving behind not just the prince of hell and Allen, but a piece of mys
|ASHER’S POV|“Now that Mrs. Feisty is gone, can you tell me what that was all about?” Allen inquires as soon as Elena walks away and I sigh.“Why are you suddenly sending me away to let her take my place when we both know that she can’t do my job,” he laments.“I need you to do something else,” I inform him.“What can be so important?” he groans.“Keeping an eye on a lot of people,” I inform him.“But I have always been doing that while dispensing my duties well,” he complains.“Fair point,” I admit.“You just need an excuse to keep her close right?” he tries to reason with me.“More like keeping her safe,” I answer him but had sends me a dissatisfied look.“To you or anyone, I may not be transparent because I grew up in the palace where trusting people is not an option but I am still asking you to trust me even if that means asking for too much…keep trusting me till I can tell you,” I admonish.“How does it make sense that you can’t trust me with your deepest secret but I am suppose