Chapter 199 "I won't do this for your happiness..."
The wedding banquet was held as scheduled in the evening. The small palace in Desen was bustling with activity, with splendid nobles coming and going, and the air filled with the aroma of wine and meat.
A beautiful nine-tiered wedding cake stood at the highest point of the hall. The delicate white, light pink, light yellow, and light blue cream was fresh and tender, and clusters of exquisite roses bloomed on top of the cream, making it look incredibly tempting.
When we were cutting the cake, Bernard arrived. I hadn't thought he would come, but he did.
My hand, which was cutting the cake, paused slightly.
The lively atmosphere in the hall froze for a moment.
Derson greeted Bernard with a smile, and within seconds the lively atmosphere returned to normal.
I managed to cut a piece of cake and handed the knife to Derson. Derson cut another piece, then put his arm around me and we walked down the steps.
We approached Bernard, who didn't speak, but simply fiddled with the wine glass in his hand.
“Brother, thank you for attending the wedding!” Desen said sincerely.
Bernard didn't look at him, but looked at me with a half-smile, saying, "It's not over between us yet."
I was a little annoyed by this threat and turned my head away from him.
Desen remained calm and smiled, "Brother, you're welcome to come and visit sometime. I'd like to chat with you more often."
Bernard smiled strangely and actually replied with a single word: "Okay."
Desen led me away and then onto the dance floor, where we danced two dances. As soon as we stopped, another nobleman invited me to dance, and then others did too, and I danced like that for half the night.
I did it on purpose. I didn't want to have anything to do with Bernard anymore, so I secretly ordered Hero to find someone to invite me to dance. I didn't want to stop, lest he come looking for trouble with me.
As the wedding banquet drew to a close and the last dance began, Bernard suddenly approached me, shoved aside the nobleman who was about to invite me to the dance floor, and said with a forced smile, "How about we dance this one?"
Just as I was about to refuse, he pulled me onto the dance floor.
“I’m telling you, you’re not getting rid of me,” he said to me viciously.
I sneered, "We've already broken up, and you were the one who brought it up first."
"I told you, we're only separated temporarily."
"I've told you before that your definition of breaking up is different from mine. So I'll naturally do it my way."
“You can take revenge on me, take revenge on me severely, but you can’t take revenge on me in this way.”
“I didn’t retaliate against you. Why would I? I was willing to break up with you. I married Desmond because I wanted to.”
He stared at me angrily, very angrily, "I will not accept breaking up with you."
This guy must be crazy. He was the one who broke up with me, but now he's acting like a victim.
“I accept breaking up with you.” I laughed, then whispered, “I’m going to have sex with Deson tonight.”
He saw in my eyes the look of wanting to enjoy another man's caresses.
He suddenly burst into laughter and said, "I never imagined you were a [illegible]."
"Then all of you men are sluts." I said angrily. "You've probably slept with countless women already, and I'm still legally sleeping with one."
He was furious and shoved me away. I stumbled and almost fell, but the dance was still going on.
That night, Derson didn't return to our new house. Helo said awkwardly that his mistress had suddenly developed a high fever and was clinging tightly to Derson, not letting him leave.
"Who is his chief mistress?" I asked, sitting on the empty bed, wearing an exquisite and sexy nightgown.
“One of the Prime Minister’s illegitimate daughters,” Hero added, “who shares the same father as Prince Bernard’s former mistress.”
Just before dawn, Derson hurriedly returned to the room. I was still half asleep when he pulled me close through the covers and whispered, "We both knew this was a conspiracy, didn't we?"
I rolled over and patted his hand to comfort him. But I didn't know if I was comforting him or myself.
We were both exhausted and fell asleep in each other's arms.
The second night, Derson was again entangled with another of his mistresses. She cried and begged him to stay, but he refused. They ended up fighting, and the scene became quite chaotic. When he returned to his room, he looked haggard and was in a bad mood, so naturally, we did nothing.
On the third night, Dessen was dragged by several young noblemen to a ball—the kind of clandestine ball that couldn't be held in an elegant banquet hall. He went wild all night, and when he returned, he was completely drained, lying motionless in bed.
I was both amused and exasperated. Bernard must be out of his mind, coming up with these crazy ideas to mess with people. And Derson, knowing full well it was his brother's scheme, still eagerly participated.
He probably knew his brother was angry, so he deliberately tried to appease him in order to calm him down.
“It’s really not easy being in the royal family,” I said to Desen as I sat on the edge of the bed. “People like Bernard have to do everything they can to survive, the Crown Prince has to fight tooth and nail to maintain his position, and you have to keep good relationships with everyone to get by and then look for opportunities to move up the social ladder.”
Desen lay flat on the bed, smiling at me. "If only all women were as understanding as you."
I laughed out loud, "Don't say that. Your mistresses have already provided plenty of emotional value. What does my understanding amount to?"
To be a mistress, especially the mistress of such a clever and witty prince, one must have some skills; providing emotional value is just the most basic requirement.
On the fourth night, as newlyweds, Desen and I had to pay our respects to King Amur and Queen. The new Queen looked much more haggard than I had seen her in the past few days, her eyes and brows were extremely weak, and she was wrapped up tightly from head to toe. Through her lace gloves that revealed a little bit of flesh, I could see faint purplish-blue and purplish-red scars.
We knelt on the mats and respectfully greeted the king, who was still smoking his cigar and ignored us. The new queen merely moved the corners of her mouth as if to smile.
After paying my respects, I had to attend a ball hosted by the Most family, to which King Amur belonged. At the ball, I saw Dessen's chief mistress. She must have dressed up deliberately; she was dazzling, like a walking jeweler, adorned from head to toe with beautiful and exquisite jewelry. Seeing me from afar, she gave me a provocative smile.
I also saw Bernard's new mistress. I couldn't believe he'd found someone new just days later. They were embracing intimately; she kissed his eyes, stroked his neck, and clung to him like an octopus.
His hand slid from her slender waist, slowly sliding down to her shapely buttocks, pinching them in his palm and transforming them into various shapes.
I smiled faintly and followed Derson toward the mistress by the jewelry shelf.
“Princess Lanna, call me Rita.” The mistress of the jewelry store had a very cheerful personality. She took one arm from Derson’s arm and the other from mine. “There’s a really good wine today. I’ll take you to try it.”
Rita then took our arm and led us to the long, white-table-covered dining table, where the waiters had already poured the wine and respectfully handed it to us.
I took a small sip. "It's really good."
“I can’t go wrong with my choice.” Rita said with a double meaning, looking at Derson ambiguously, took a sip of wine, and fed it directly to his mouth. The two of them started kissing.
"They're so good at flirting!" I exclaimed, momentarily stunned as I watched them kiss, wine glass in hand.
This made me realize the vast difference in ability between myself and a real mistress. It wasn't about looks, status, or connections—though those are certainly differences—but the real difference lay in my ability to flirt, to be subtly seductive, and to kiss. There were definitely other secrets to it in bed as well.
After watching for a while, I felt a little embarrassed because some people were looking at me with great interest, wondering how I would react with jealousy.
I smiled, grabbed a handsome young man, and we stepped onto the dance floor together.
The handsome young man didn't have silver hair; he had a short, light blond cut and wore an elegant black robe, exuding a noble air. I only pulled him to dance because he was closest to me.
It happened to be a group dance. We both had a great time dancing, jumping and skipping, and occasionally holding hands and spinning around.
When the song ended, I was still feeling a bit unsatisfied. I smiled and leaned on his shoulder, asking, "Handsome young man, you danced very well. Who are you?"
“Ankara, the eldest illegitimate son of Prince Benott.”
I was stunned, staring in shock at the handsome young man who was two heads taller than me.
"How old are you?"
"I'll be thirteen in the second half of the year."
Who is your mother?
“The illegitimate daughter of a tycoon,” he said cryptically.
“Ankara!” Bernault’s beautiful yet icy voice came from behind us, and we turned around at the same time.
“Go back to sleep now!” Bernard said coldly.
Ankara bowed to his father and then left immediately.
"What? You can't outsmart his father, so you start scheming against his son?" Bernard came up to me and sneered.
“I didn’t have any ulterior motives,” I explained, “he just happened to be there.”
Bernard just sneered. I suddenly couldn't talk to him anymore. I pressed my temples, turned to leave, but he blocked my way. "Don't go!"
"Get out of my way!" I said, my voice even colder. "You have no right to stop me."
His voice suddenly softened, "You're not allowed to be angry with me."
"I don't understand what you're saying," I said coldly and indifferently.
“I won’t step aside!” he said. “And I won’t make way for your happiness, unless it’s for ours.”
"Are you out of your mind?" I said, and walked in another direction. Luckily, he didn't chase after me.
That night, Desen didn't return to the palace, and I was too lazy to ask him where he went. I spent the whole night soaking in the hot spring, eating fruit, reading a book, and enjoying myself.
Feeling a bit sleepy, I put down the book and got out of the water.
After washing up and drying my long hair, I returned to the large bed and yawned. Hero lowered the bed curtains for me and suddenly said, "Actually, Prince Bernot was trying to anger you tonight, which is why he deliberately acted intimately with his mistress. But when he saw you talking to Lord Ankara, he knew something was wrong and came over immediately. He wanted to explain to you, but your coldness made him unable to help but speak ill of you again."
"Oh?" I was taken aback.
“He wanted to explain to you that Lord Ankara was his child before he met you, conceived by one of his mistresses the year he went to Black Castle.”
I was silent for a moment before asking, "Did you take money from Bernard?"
Hero suddenly burst into tears and knelt on the ground. "I didn't take any money, but my lover took money from his subordinate, so I passed on the message."
I sighed softly, "Go ahead."
Helok cried and knelt, refusing to get up, until I said, "I won't blame you," at which point she wiped away her tears and stood up. I sighed again.
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Author's Note: Please add "Animal Farm" to your favorites, and also check out my other novels! Mwah!
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