Checkmate, Heiress
Ivy's eyes went wide, wider, until she looked like she'd seen a ghost.
Even her voice, weak and fading a moment ago, came back with startling force.
"You… You're the Crown Prince?!"
Julian Ashford raised an eyebrow, clearly caught off guard himself.
"If not me, then who?"
Nothing was unfolding the way Ivy had planned—not even the Crown Prince was who she'd expected.
She froze, utterly at a loss.
At Julian's signal, one of the guards at his side took the cursed poppet from Ivy's hands—the one marked with the Crown Prince's name and birth chart.