All Chapters of Tempting the Wrong Prince: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Arden’s Point Of ViewFor a second, I didn’t move.I just stood there, staring at the television as if the screen had reached into my living room and punched the air out of my lungs.The Montclaire estate.Cassandra’s parents.A crowd with placards and phones and that particular kind of fury that only came when hunger had rotted into entitlement, when people convinced themselves that destroying someone’s home would fill their stomachs.The footage was shaky, brightened by phone flashlights and the glare of a news crew trying not to get trampled. I saw faces twisted with anger, fists raised, mouths open in chants I couldn’t fully hear over the anchor’s voice. But I didn’t need to hear the words to know what they were saying.They were saying her name.They were saying punish her.They were saying burn them.Behind me, Richard’s breath came out sharp and ragged, like he’d been holding it and only just realised he could exhale again.“Cassandra,” he said, and the way her name sounded in

Cassandra’s Point Of ViewI woke up to Diana’s hands on my shoulder and the sound of my name being said like a warning.“Cassandra, Cassandra, wake up.”Her voice wasn’t soft the way it usually was when she woke me for breakfast or an appointment or one of those palace “obligations” that never felt like mine. This time it was sharp, urgent, frayed at the edges.I blinked, confused, my body heavy with that thick evening sleep that was less rest and more exhaustion finally winning. My throat felt dry. My head felt full of cotton. The room was dim, the curtains partly drawn, the lamps not yet lit. For a second I didn’t know what time it was, what day it was, or why Diana looked like she’d seen a ghost.“What, ” I tried to say, but the word came out as a croak.Diana didn’t answer.She moved quickly, almost knocking over the small table near the sitting area as she grabbed the remote and pointed it at the television. Her fingers shook. She pressed the power button too hard, like force cou

Cassandra’s Point Of ViewI stared at the phone screen for half a second, blinking through tears.Then I dialled Richard.My hands were still shaking. My heart hammered.The call didn’t go through.No ring. No voice. Nothing.Just a failure tone.My chest tightened.I tried again.Same outcome.I stared at the screen, panic rising like fire.“Why isn’t it going through?” I whispered.Diana’s face was pale, eyes wide. “The palace lines, sometimes they restrict, ”“He’s the Crown Prince,” I snapped, half to her and half to the universe. “How can I not reach him?”But the truth was simple.I could not reach anyone when the palace decided I shouldn’t.I squeezed my eyes shut briefly, fighting the urge to scream.Think.Breathe.Move.After a moment that felt like an hour, I forced myself to make another decision.If Richard couldn’t be reached, then Arden.The thought made my chest tighten in a different way, hope and fear mixed.I dialled Arden.The line was busy.I stared at the screen

Richard’s Point Of ViewShock doesn’t always feel like screaming.Sometimes it feels like quiet.Like your body keeps moving because it has been trained to move, because duty has lived in your bones longer than joy, and even when something inside you has shattered, you still straighten your collar, still breathe through your nose, still say “thank you” to the staff member holding a door open, as if manners can stitch your life back together.I walked into the room Arden allocated to me like that.A man functioning.A prince performing.A brother barely holding himself upright.The villa was calm in a way the palace never was. No constant footsteps, no echoing marble corridors, no guards standing like statues at every corner, no silent eyes tracking every movement. Arden’s house had security, of course, but it was placed with intention, discreet, quiet, respectful of privacy. It didn’t suffocate you. It didn’t watch you until you forgot you had a skin.He gave me the guest suite on the

Richard’s Point Of View I opened my mouth and let the truth come out, even though it tasted like blood. “We didn’t start anything,” I said quietly. Cassandra’s breath caught. “Why?” Because I couldn’t say the words easily. Because they felt like swallowing glass. I exhaled slowly, then spoke. “The twins aren’t mine,” I said. Silence. A long, heavy silence on the line. So heavy I thought the call might have dropped. Then Cassandra’s voice came back, low and furious. “What?” The anger in her tone made my chest tighten, but I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t blame her. “It was all a lie,” I continued, voice rough. “Rachel and… her boyfriend… they played us. They passed off another man’s children as mine.” I heard Cassandra inhale sharply, like she was trying to keep herself from screaming. For a second, she didn’t speak. Then her voice came again, sharper. “How did you find out?” “The bone marrow test,” I said. “I wasn’t compatible. The results… showed a pr