The Crown Prince's Game

The crown prince I was arranged to marry had a little songbird, a pet he spoiled so rotten she had become impossibly arrogant.

Just as I was drafting the agreement to break off our engagement, a comment popped up in my vision, a disembodied text only I could see:

【What did the Crown Prince do wrong? He’s just trying to get your attention.】

【Sweetie, don’t call off the engagement! If you just shed a few tears, he’ll give you the world.】

I turned my head. Outside the cafe window, his little songbird, adorned in haute couture jewelry, clung to Eric Stuart’s arm, her smile radiant. He glanced down at her, a lazy, almost careless affection in his eyes.

I smiled and replied to my lawyer's text: 【Continue drafting the annulment agreement.】

1

The moment I sent the message, the comments in my vision exploded:

【Why is she so heartless? The poor Crown Prince is going to drink himself into a stupor at the bar…】

【Sigh, the Crown Prince is just a bit proud and stubborn. Now he’s lost his wife.】

【It’s fine, he’ll just bankrupt her family. Then she’ll have to come crawling back to him.】

【Then she’ll have to fight with other women for his attention every day. The Crown Prince will be in heaven!】

I stared at the comments, my lips curling into a series of cold smiles.

I glanced outside again, and my eyes met Eric's. He raised an eyebrow, letting the girl on his arm cling to him without a hint of guilt. When he saw the look on my face, the corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk.

His little songbird was a minor influencer. They made a handsome couple, drawing a crowd of onlookers who were busy snapping photos. The cafe's glass walls were transparent; I wondered if I was in the background of their pictures.

I cursed under my breath, grabbed my bag, and called my driver to pick me up somewhere else.

But the moment I stepped out of the cafe, I ran right into them.

Me: ?

"Were you just heading this way?" I asked.

"So you are paying attention to me," Eric said, his eyes crinkling in a lazy smile.

The girl beside him shot me a wary look but said nothing, clearly aware of her place. The comments I’d seen earlier flashed through my mind, and a wave of annoyance washed over me.

I tried to walk around them, but he grabbed my wrist.

I turned back. "Upset?" he murmured.

My eyes swept over him and the girl. "Not at all. I wish you two a long and happy life together."

He still didn't let go.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Who are you? Can't you see you're interrupting our shopping?" She jiggled an expensive bracelet on her wrist and shot Eric a flirtatious look. "Are you just jealous that no one buys you nice things?"

"Do you know he has a fiancée?" I asked calmly.

She faltered for a second, then scoffed. "An arranged marriage? There are no feelings involved. If Eric really loved her, would he be with me?"

Eric chuckled, his dark eyes fixed on me.

My expression didn't Stuartge. I nodded, then glanced at the hand still gripping my wrist. "Let go."

He didn't move. "The banquet in two...