All Chapters of Tempting the Wrong Prince: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

160 Chapters

121 A Crown Built on Other People’s Sacrifices

Richard’s POVThe court was loud before I even entered it.Not the ceremonial kind of loud, the sort that came with trumpets and rehearsed announcements and polite applause. This was uglier. Bitter. Ragged at the edges. The noise of men who’d built their lives on order and influence and were now watching the ground shift beneath their feet.The famine rumours had started as whispers. Then the drought had stretched longer than anyone wanted to admit. Now the riots had given everything a face, angry crowds in the streets, broken windows, shouting in front of ministerial homes, food prices climbing like they had no ceiling. You could smell fear on people now, even in gold-trimmed halls.And they were blaming Belmont.Belmont, the quiet giant with long pockets and longer grudges.Belmont, whose “wedding gift” was expected to feed our people and keep the palace from collapsing under its own arrogance.Belmont, whose aid we would not receive, because Arden had refused the union.That was th

Last Updated : 2026-01-09

122 A Crown Built on Other People’s Sacrifices 2

Richard’s POVA ripple of outrage ran through the court.Ivana snapped, “Richard, ”I lifted my hand. Not at her. Not in defiance. Just… a boundary.“I’m speaking,” I said quietly.For once, she fell silent. Not because she respected me, but because the room was watching. And she knew that pushing too hard would expose her.One minister rose abruptly. “So we are meant to accept starvation because Prince Arden refuses to sacrifice himself?”Arden’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t speak. He had said his piece.Another voice cut in, this one sharper, more strategic.“And yet,” the minister said, “Prince Arden spent the night with Lady Nala. If he doesn’t do right by her, we may face a cold war with Belmont. We cannot afford an economic war right now.”The room stilled.That sentence changed the shape of the argument. It turned the discussion from marriage into damage control. A forced overnight stay wasn’t simply scandal, it was leverage. It was a story Belmont could twist into an insult if

Last Updated : 2026-01-10

123 When the Garden Turned Hostile

Cassandra’s POVThe garden used to feel like the only part of the palace that didn’t demand something from me.No titles. No curtsies. No forced smiles. No cameras waiting for me to slip and become tomorrow’s headline. Just the scent of damp earth and trimmed roses, the whisper of leaves shifting in the breeze, and the rare illusion that I could exist as a woman rather than a symbol.That illusion was the only reason I’d agreed to come outside at all.Diana walked beside me, hands clasped in front of her, her expression tense but determined to look calm. The palace had been restless since morning, guards moving faster than usual, servants whispering behind doors, the air thick with news of riots and scarcity and court sessions that never seemed to end. Even the birds sounded cautious, as if the sky itself didn’t want to be too loud.I breathed in slowly, forcing my shoulders down.“I feel like a prisoner,” I murmured, more to myself than to her.Diana didn’t pretend she didn’t underst

Last Updated : 2026-01-12

124 When the Garden Turned Hostile 2

Cassandra’s POVI tried to move, tried to walk away, but her words rooted me to the stone path. I hated that she could do that, drop a sentence and suddenly my body forgot how to leave.“That’s not true,” Diana blurted before she could stop herself.I glanced at her sharply.She shut her mouth immediately, cheeks flushing with anger and fear.Ivana’s eyes glittered. “Oh, you don’t believe me?” she asked sweetly. “You poor, stubborn girl.”I forced my legs to move, taking a step away.Ivana’s voice followed me like a blade tracing my spine.“It’s all over the news,” she said. “You can check for yourself.”I stopped.Not because I wanted to.Because my stomach twisted with dread.My mind, traitorous and desperate, tried to bargain.Maybe she’s lying. Maybe it’s another manipulation. Maybe she’s using Nala’s presence to frighten you. Maybe Arden didn’t, Maybe Arden wouldn’t,Ivana laughed again, as if she could hear my thoughts.“And Cassandra,” she added, voice sharpening, “stay ou

Last Updated : 2026-01-13

125 When the Garden Turned Hostile 3

Cassandra’s POVThe anchor’s voice continued, clinical and sharp.“…sources confirm the Longman heiress stayed in Prince Arden’s wing overnight following the announcement…”“…Belmont has stated aid will be tied to the stability of the union…”“…public outrage grows as Eldenwald’s drought crisis worsens…”And then,They said my name.Not kindly.Not neutrally.They said it like an accusation.“…and many believe Lady Cassandra Montclaire is the reason Prince Arden refuses to formally accept the engagement…”“…her alleged involvement has caused the Belmont alliance to falter…”“…citizens are demanding answers…”My throat went dry.The screen cut to street footage, people shouting, holding signs, faces twisted with hunger and fury.A reporter’s voice rose above the noise:“Protestors blame the palace’s scandals for the delayed aid, some have begun chanting against Lady Cassandra Montclaire by name…”A close-up of an angry man filled the screen.“She ruined the princes! She ruined our futur

Last Updated : 2026-01-13

126 The Night He Finally Let Go

Cassandra’s POVThe moon looked indifferent tonight.It hung above the palace gardens like a silver coin tossed into a sky too deep to reach, bright enough to make everything look gentler than it was. The hedges below were dark, trimmed into obedient shapes. The fountains glimmered faintly where lanterns kissed the water. Somewhere in the distance a guard’s boots clicked against stone, steady and bored, as if nothing in this kingdom was breaking.But I was breaking.Not loudly. Not the way Ivana would have liked, no dramatic sobbing where she could point and sneer and say look at her, unstable. Just a quiet ruin that lived behind my ribs. The kind that made your throat ache and your eyes burn even when no tears came.I stood on the balcony, hands curled around the railing, staring up at the moon as if it might answer the questions I couldn’t ask anyone else.Was Arden lying to me?Did I ever mean anything to him?Or was I only the soft place he landed while he fought his father… and n

Last Updated : 2026-01-14

127 The Night He Finally Let Go 2

Cassandra’s POVI turned fully now, confusion flickering through me so fast I almost forgot to hide it.Richard was defending Arden?Richard, the man who had dragged me back from Arden’s villa, who had stormed rooms and shattered phones and accused me of ruining everything?He was telling me Arden hadn’t slept with Nala.Why?Why would he offer me that comfort when he could have used the rumour to finally sever whatever bond remained between Arden and me?I didn’t speak.I couldn’t trust my voice.Richard finally turned to face me.His eyes were red-rimmed, not from drink tonight, something quieter. The kind of soreness that came from sleeplessness and a grief you couldn’t swallow.“I know I’ve hurt you deeply,” he said, voice low. “And maybe you’ll never forgive me.”The words landed softly, but they landed.He paused, then continued, and the next line hit me so hard I felt it in my ribs.“But I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”I stared at him.His expression tightened, like speaking

Last Updated : 2026-01-15

128 The Bed That Became a Battlefield

Richard’s P O VSleeping was a challenge, not because the room was too cold or too loud, not because the palace had forgotten how to offer comfort, but because the one thing lying beside me in that bed was the one thing I feared most.Loss.Sandra slept with her back to me, her body angled as far away as it could go without falling off the edge, as if the mattress itself had become a border and I was on the wrong side of it. The bed was wide, carved for royalty, designed for two people who were supposed to be united, supposed to be a symbol.Yet it felt smaller than a coffin.Every time she breathed in, slow and quiet, it reminded me that she was here, physically here, and still so far from me that I could not reach her without crossing a line I no longer had the right to cross.I didn’t touch her.Not even when her shoulder shifted under the sheets and my instincts screamed to pull her closer.Not even when her hair slipped loose and I wanted to tuck it back the way I used to, like a

Last Updated : 2026-01-16

129 The Bed That Became a Battlefield 2

Richard’s P O VI rose quietly and moved toward the wardrobe, pulling on a fresh shirt, then my trousers, then the uniform that made me look like a prince instead of a man unraveling.Buttons clicked under my fingers.A belt tightened.I adjusted my cuffs.All mechanical.All rehearsed.I felt like I was dressing a corpse.The palace wanted the Crown Prince polished today.It didn’t care that his heart was splitting in two.As I fastened the last button, the sound shifted behind me.A small rustle.Then another.Sandra turning.I froze for a second, hand still near my collar.Then her voice, soft and hoarse with sleep, reached me.“How are you?”The question landed like a hand on an open wound.She had not been this gentle since I forcibly brought her back.Since I dragged her into my orbit again with authority instead of love.For days, she had spoken to me like she was forced to share air with a stranger.But this morning, she sounded almost… kind.Not warm.Not forgiving.But gentle

Last Updated : 2026-01-17

130 Bread and Bloodlines

Richard’s POVI left the room still tasting anger.Not the clean kind, the righteous kind that burns hot and leaves you feeling lighter afterward. This was bitter anger, lodged deep, the kind that sat in my chest like a stone and made every breath feel too tight.My mother.Even after everything, after the riots, the famine, the headlines, the hospital calls, the kingdom turning into a pot ready to boil over, she still had time to go into a garden and make Sandra feel small.I couldn’t stop seeing it in my head. Sandra saying it so casually, I’m used to it, like cruelty was weather and my mother was just a predictable storm.And worse, Sandra saying, Don’t get involved.The fact that she even had to say it meant I’d failed her so many times that protecting her now felt like a new kind of danger.I walked out of the bedroom with my jaw locked, my hands clenched, my mind running ahead like it always did when it was trying not to fall apart.A servant tried to tell me something about a s

Last Updated : 2026-01-18

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