Chapter 2

In more than twenty years, I had finally met someone arrogant enough to demand that I kneel before her.

Amused, I tilted my head.

“I’m sorry. What did you want me to say? I didn’t hear you the first time.”

Juliette rolled her eyes.

“Wonderful. You’re deaf as well as stupid. Listen carefully. Kneel and admit that you had no right to challenge me. Is that simple enough for you?”

I laughed.

“All right. I heard you clearly this time. Since you already understand that you have no right to challenge me, why don’t you step aside and return to where you belong? You’re blocking my way.”

It took Juliette a moment to realize she had been played.

Then she let out a sharp cry and lunged at me, her nails aimed at my face.

How adorable.

During my two years as a physician at the border, I had learned far more than medicine. Raiders did not care that I was a Valemont, and anyone incapable of protecting herself did not survive for long.

Juliette naively believed she could hurt me.

I did not even need to strike back. The moment she rushed at me, I simply stepped aside.

She missed completely. Her own momentum sent her sprawling face-first onto the polished marble floor.

The crowd stared at me in horror.

“Oh my God. She attacked Lady Juliette.”

“If Duke Blackwell finds out, he’ll destroy her.”

“No one can save her now. She’s finished.”

I remained calm as I listened to their whispers.

I had never learned the meaning of fear. My brother, Adrian Valemont, was the Crown Prince of Aurelia, and the royal military answered directly to him. There was not a single person in this country capable of forcing his sister to lower her head.

I pulled out the black card Adrian had given me and placed it on the counter.

“Charge it.”

The sales associate’s hands trembled as he wrapped the pink diamond necklace. His terrified gaze moved repeatedly between Juliette and me.

I took the box and turned to leave, but Juliette staggered to her feet and blocked my path.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

I glanced at the dust on her dress and her twisted heel.

“What’s wrong? Do you want to kiss the floor again?”

She flinched instinctively.

I gave a short laugh and moved to walk around her.

At that moment, the boutique doors opened.

A tall man stepped inside.

The entire store fell silent as soon as he appeared. He wore a perfectly tailored black coat, and the authority in his measured movements made it clear that he had been born expecting everyone around him to obey.

My gaze traveled from his polished shoes to his broad shoulders and finally to his sharply handsome face.

Well.

Adrian certainly had not exaggerated.

The moment Juliette saw him, her entire demeanor changed. Her arrogance disappeared, her eyes filled with tears, and she hurried toward him as though she had been the victim all along.

“Cassian,” she cried, clinging to his arm. “She stole the necklace I wanted and attacked me.”

So this was Cassian Blackwell.

Fine. I could admit I was shallow.

His appearance was exactly to my taste. No wonder Adrian had believed I would be satisfied with his choice of husband. My brother knew me far too well.

Honestly, with a face like that, I could almost forgive Cassian for his rudeness on the phone.

Provided he gave me a reasonable explanation for Juliette.

I studied him openly before allowing a faint, appreciative smile to touch my lips.

“Cassian Blackwell,” I said. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

I extended my hand.

“I’m Seraphina Valemont. Your fiancée.”

Shocked voices erupted around us.

“What? She’s Duke Blackwell’s fiancée?”

“No wonder she dared to offend Juliette.”

“Then the duke has to defend his future wife this time, doesn’t he?”

“You’re too naive. It depends on which woman he actually cares about.”

Cassian’s gaze finally landed on me.

There was no surprise, welcome, or warmth in his expression.

Only disdain.

“Don’t get carried away,” he said coldly. “That engagement was my father’s decision, not mine. I never asked for it, and I never agreed to accept you as my wife.”

My hand remained suspended between us for one humiliating second.

Then I lowered it.

I had not expected love from a political marriage. But I had returned from the border prepared to respect Cassian and make an honest effort to become his partner.

He could have rejected the arrangement privately.

Instead, at our first meeting, he chose to humiliate me in front of Juliette and an entire boutique.

Juliette immediately wrapped herself around his arm, all uncertainty disappearing from her face.

“Did you hear that?” she asked sweetly. “Cassian doesn’t want you. Someone like you was never going to deserve a place beside him.”

Several voices joined her at once.

“She may carry the Valemont name, but the royal family has distant relatives everywhere.”

“Exactly. Who knows what insignificant branch she comes from?”

“Look at the way she dresses. She doesn’t belong anywhere near the palace.”

“Duke Blackwell needs a woman like Lady Juliette, not some shameless nobody who forced herself into an engagement.”

“She isn’t even fit to stand in the same room as them.”

I had never considered myself a breathtaking beauty, but I was hardly the penniless fraud they had suddenly decided I was.

Listening to them, one might have thought the sight of me was enough to frighten children.

Some things never changed. People worshipped the powerful and rushed to trample anyone they believed had been rejected.

I looked at Juliette clinging to Cassian’s arm, then at the Blackwell protection crest pinned proudly to her chest.

Until that moment, I had been willing to believe she had abused his name without his knowledge.

Now I understood.

Cassian had given her his authority, and the moment he arrived, he rewarded her cruelty by standing at her side.

Whatever attraction I had felt disappeared.

I shook my head and walked past him.

When I reached his shoulder, I paused.

“Do me a favor and tell your father to cancel the engagement.”

Cassian’s expression hardened, but I did not look away.

“I returned to the capital willing to treat this marriage with respect. You have just made it clear that you are incapable of doing the same.”

The boutique fell silent.

“You are not worthy of standing beside me.”

Then I walked toward the door without looking back.