All Chapters of Tempting the Wrong Prince: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

254 Chapters

11 The King’s Hand

Cassandra’s POVThe moment I entered the hall, the air shifted.Music faltered, voices hushed, champagne glasses stilled. For a heartbeat, the glittering crowd of nobles and dignitaries simply stared.And then the whispers began.Some smiled, faint and polite, their curiosity veiled with admiration. Others looked at me with open disdain, their lips curling in scorn. Those ones belonged to Ivana’s camp. Loyalists who would never forgive me for disrupting their perfect narrative.I kept walking. Head high. Shoulders back. My emerald gown flowed around me like liquid fire, every step a declaration: I would not cower.But inside, my pulse throbbed in my throat.The gala lights gleamed, chandeliers casting gold across the marble floor. Perfume hung thick in the air. The entire court had gathered under the guise of charity, but I knew better. This wasn’t philanthropy. This was a spectacle.And I was the main attraction.My mother was the first to break ranks.She rushed toward me, satin ski

Last Updated : 2025-09-05

12 Fire and Silk

Cassandra's POVThe ballroom shimmered in gold and crystal, a stage crafted for perfection. Music floated through the air, violins weaving together with the low hum of conversation. But for me, everything blurred the moment Arden stopped in front of me.His eyes caught mine, steady and knowing.“How have you been?” he asked, voice low enough to belong only to me.I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. “Fine.”A single word, a flimsy shield.But the knowing look in his eyes stripped it away. He didn’t believe me. The way no one else ever bothered to.I tried to look away, but he tilted his head slightly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Dance with me.”My chest tightened. “Here?”“Why not?”I hesitated, my gaze flicking toward the sea of eyes watching me from every corner of the room. Already I was a spectacle. Already the whispers had carved me into a scandal.And yet…“Yes,” I said softly.He extended his hand. I placed mine in it, and heat surged through me, undeniab

Last Updated : 2025-09-06

13 Richard's Desperation

Cassandra's POVThe room had gone unnervingly quiet.A ballroom that should have been filled with music and laughter now thrummed with the tension of two men standing on opposite ends of the same wound, Richard with rage burning in his eyes, Arden with a smirk that dared the world to blink.“A lot has happened, Richard,” Arden warned softly, though his voice carried across the polished floor. “Don’t cause a scene here. Your reputation is still bleeding. Don’t worsen it.”Richard didn’t hear him. Or maybe he didn’t care.“She is my wife, Arden,” he snapped, his voice breaking through the silence like a whip. “You don’t touch my wife.”Arden tilted his head, his smile widening, playful, dangerous. “Or else what, little brother? What will you do if I touch her?”The crowd gasped. The audacity in his words, the sheer provocation, left the air buzzing. Arden wasn’t just unbothered, he looked like he was enjoying himself.Richard’s jaw clenched, his fists trembling at his sides. “Ah, I see w

Last Updated : 2025-09-06

14 The King’s Judgment

Cassandra’s POV The chamber was silent when we entered, the thick oak doors closing behind us with a finality that pressed against my chest. Gold sconces cast heavy light across the room, but the King’s face was shadowed, unreadable. He sat at the head of the long table, his hands folded. Expressionless. Watching. Waiting. Ivana was the first to break the silence. She moved forward quickly, her gown trailing like a dark tide behind her. “Darling,” she said smoothly, her voice dripping with practiced sweetness. “This should never have come this far. Arden should not be allowed to indulge Cassandra like this. Their business is private; the couple should solve their problems without outsiders interfering.” The King’s eyes flicked to her, sharp as a blade. “Then perhaps you shouldn’t have meddled in their business to begin with.” His voice was low, cold. “If I have learned correctly, Richard says you were the one who gave him the idea. Why would you do such a thing?” Ivana stiffened,

Last Updated : 2025-09-07

15 Whispers and Tea

Cassandra’s POVThe palace staff moved me into my new quarters the next morning.They were spacious enough, elegant enough, velvet drapes, high ceilings, a balcony overlooking the gardens, but they didn’t feel like home. They felt like exile wrapped in silk.I unpacked slowly, Diana fluttering around me, her chatter trying to fill the silence. But no matter how many cushions she fluffed, or how many flowers she arranged in vases, I felt the weight pressing in.Freedom had a cost, and I was beginning to pay it.By midday, the headlines hit.The tabloids were merciless.“Ballroom Breakdown: Crown Prince Confronted by Wife and Brother.”“Future Queen Rejects Palace, Divorce Imminent?”“Arden Valemont: Protector or Predator?”They replayed clips from the gala on every news channel: Richard’s raised voice, Arden pulling his hand off mine, me standing between them, unbowed. Some commentators called me brave. Others called me reckless. But no one ignored me.For the first time, I was not just

Last Updated : 2025-09-08

16 A Hollow Fatherhood

Richard’s POVI had worn a crown since I was a boy, if not on my head, then on my spine. Stand straight. Speak carefully. Smile on command. But tonight the metal felt like wire pulled tight through bone, humming with humiliation every time I breathed. Arden’s smirk wouldn’t leave my skull. The study was too small for my anger. I paced the Persian rug like a caged thing, fingers drumming the desk, the mantel, the window latch. Arden’s words from the gala bit in a loop: Or else what, little brother? The court had watched him peel my hand off Cassandra as if I were a servant clutching at a guest. Cameras had flared. Whispers had swelled. And she, my wife, had stood there composed while I drowned. A soft knock. I whirled, ready to lash whoever dared. “Papa!” Two shooting stars slammed into my legs. James and Eleanor. Arms flung high, cheeks warm from running, the scent of milk and biscuits still on their breath. My anger fractured; something human slipped through. I crouched, p

Last Updated : 2025-09-09

17 The Mother’s Game

Richard’s POV “Power.” The word still echoed after she had said it, crisp and casual, as if she hadn’t just stripped me bare in my own study. I stared at my mother, seeing her clearly for the first time. Not the woman who had tucked me into bed as a boy, not the queen who had pressed lessons of etiquette and statecraft into my marrow, but the strategist who had spent decades stacking the board for herself. “You admit it so easily,” I said slowly, voice low. “Power. That’s all it ever was.” My mother’s chin lifted, her composure steady. “What else is there, Richard? Love? Love is fickle. Comfort? That faded. Power was the only constant. It was the root, the protection, the armor against every betrayal.” My laugh was sharp, hollow. “And in the pursuit of power, you left me stripped of it. My wife despises me. The people see me as a liar. Arden has stepped in as if he were king already, and you, ” I broke off, shaking my head. “You built the gallows with your own hands, Mother, and

Last Updated : 2025-09-10

18 A Husband’s Plea

Cassandra’s POVThe knock was sharp, urgent, and wholly out of place in the stillness of my quarters. Diana, ever cautious, went to the door. I barely lifted my head from the book I hadn’t truly been reading; my mind had been elsewhere, circling endlessly like a moth around a flame that could never be touched.The door creaked open, and then her sharp gasp told me everything before I even looked up.It was Richard.For a moment, I was frozen. Of all the people I had expected to darken my door tonight, he was not one of them. My heart lurched before I caught it, smoothed my features, and sat up straighter. Surprise had no place here. Not in front of him.“Your Highness,” Diana said stiffly, her tone edged with suspicion.Richard’s eyes flickered to her, then to me, weary yet determined. “Diana,” he said softly, “if you’d excuse us.”She looked to me, reluctant, her eyes saying what her lips did not: Do you want me to leave you alone with him?I gave a slow, measured nod. “It’s fine. I

Last Updated : 2025-09-12

19 The Breaking Chains

Cassandra’s POVThe silence after Richard’s departure felt heavier than his presence. I stood where he left me, the walls of my chambers closing in, my pulse hammering so loudly that I thought Diana might hear it from the next room. His words replayed, each syllable embedding itself into my chest like thorns.I’ll fight for you. I won’t let Arden take you. I’ll show you and the world what you mean to me.For years, I had begged him to fight, for us, for me, and he never had. Yet now, when my resolve was fraying, he chose to awaken. Was it too late? My body still burned from the ghost of his kiss, but my heart screamed another name, one I could not voice aloud.I rubbed at my lips as though that could erase the guilt, the confusion, the storm tearing me apart. My throat was tight, my breath uneven. I wanted to scream, to break, to demand why fate mocked me so.Needing distraction, I reached for the remote and turned on the television. Anything, anything to drown out Richard’s voice stil

Last Updated : 2025-09-12

20 The Cage Within the Palace

Cassandra’s POVThe storm inside me hadn’t stilled since the broadcast. I paced, cloak in hand, ready to march to the courts and demand answers, when the knock came again.But this time, it wasn’t Diana at the door. It was the guards.Two of them stood stiff, armored, their spears crossed like a warning.“You are not permitted to leave your quarters, my lady,” one said firmly. “By order of the crown. Until the investigation is concluded, you must remain here.”My heart stopped. It wasn’t phrased as an arrest, but it might as well have been. Stylishly wrapped in courtesy, yes, but a cage is still a cage, even when gilded.I swallowed hard. Remaining here meant suffocating. Remaining here meant Ivana had already cut the ground beneath me. If she had orchestrated this, if she had tied my parents’ fate to mine, then the next step would be my silence. My erasure.I turned back inside, forcing my breathing steady. Diana’s face was pale, her hands clutching her skirts.“My lady, ”I cut her

Last Updated : 2025-09-16

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