Stolen by the Rebel King-Chapter 542: All Signs to Look For

"Atticus," Daphne said warningly, gently kicking his foot. She sensed that her husband was ready to sulk his way through lunch. "Behave."

"I am behaving," Atticus grumbled, shooting death glares at Cordelia and Jonah on the other side.

Despite this being a shared lunch, they seemed to be in deep whispered discussion about something or another, and Atticus was loath to be left out of the conversation.

"Someone isn’t though. Excuse me, do you mind sharing with the class what the both of you are conspiring about?"

Cordelia and Jonah both turned back to him. Jonah looked vaguely guilty, but Cordelia was unimpressed.

"We were just discussing the candidates, including the man you fished out of the ocean," she said, "Unfortunately, you’re not privy to the results of our discussion, since you have ties to him. I wouldn’t want confidential information leaking out before it’s ready."

"We saved him from drowning!" Atticus protested. "What ties are you talking about?"

"Atticus, open wide?" Daphne asked sweetly, and Atticus was so distracted by the sound of her voice that he turned his eyes away from the annoying princess and his traitorous best friend.

"What?"

Daphne smiled and quickly shoved a piece of pork she had already cut into his mouth. "You look hungry. Eat!"

Atticus realized he had been tricked, and was determined to scowl his way through, but then the taste of lightly marinated pork and fresh chives filled his mouth, and he decided to fill his stomach first.

Meanwhile, Daphne smirked behind her glass, internally congratulating herself for a job well done. Lunch crisis averted. She also wanted to know about Cordelia’s plans, but Cordelia had a point about their relationship with Nikun.

Even though Cordelia trusted Daphne completely and knew that she would never knowingly reveal an advantage to help a candidate win, the other participants would not have that faith. Nikun had made it through the first round, and Daphne didn’t doubt that he attracted the attention of more than a few nobles who didn’t like his attitude.

If Nikun’s’ efforts and results were tainted with accusations of cheating, there would be no saving him― not in this kingdom or his own, oceans away.

They spent the rest of the lunch talking about other things, and Daphne was disappointed to learn that they were no closer to catching Yael’s killer. Cordelia planned to have a trusted guard send his meager belongings back home to his elderly mother, along with a stipend of funds for her care.

"What are the chances that the money gets pocketed by the guard?" Atticus asked.

Cordelia frowned. "Regrettably high. I thought of inviting her to the capital so that she could claim his things and the money, but it seemed almost callous to do so. I doubt she would want to visit the place where her son was so ruthlessly killed."

"You can send Jonah," Atticus said, and Daphne rolled her eyes as she ate a mouthful of vegetables. Of course her husband would advocate for any plan that kept Jonah away from Cordelia.

"Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not sending Jonah on this errand." Cordelia tightened her grip on her fork as though she longed to fling it at Atticus. "He belongs with me."

The sound of a glass breaking echoed through the air, and all eyes turned to Jonah, whose face was redder than the stain of red wine on his uniform.

"Ah, my apologies, my hand slipped. I’ll go and change first, don’t worry about me―"

Daphne raised an eyebrow; Jonah was practically leaping up from the table, his mouth running a mile a minute in his haste to get out of there.

"No need," Cordelia said. She got up too in one elegant motion, and Daphne watched with bated breath as Cordelia easily grabbed Jonah by the collar to make him stay, all while using her own napkin to pat Jonah dry.

Daphne had to stop herself from squealing out loud. Her best friend was truly bold! Cordelia seemed to take her own sweet time in cleaning the wine stain, but it seemed like the longer she tried to dab it away, the worse it got.

Then again, it was no wonder. She wasn’t looking at the stain at all. Instead, her eyes were entirely on Jonah’s face. Jonah, who was growing a shade of red Daphne did not realize was humanly possible.

Daphne felt like she was a voyeur watching some strange sort of mating dance between two incredibly rare species of magical creatures, and then immediately scolded herself for thinking this about her two good friends.

Still, it wasn’t like they noticed they had an audience. Jonah’s eyes were now glued on Cordelia’s hand, touching the wet wine stain of his uniform, his breath coming out in shallow pants.

Atticus could only stare agog at Jonah’s non-reaction to Cordelia’s presumptuous actions. The wine stain was spreading like a blood stain, and his best friend was soon going to be dead on the floor if he didn’t wake up soon!

Surely he can’t have fallen for Cordelia! There were plenty of beautiful women in Vramid! Hell, there were a ton of beautiful women in Reaweth too!

In fact, he might even accept Prince Nathaniel as Jonah’s partner―

On second thought, he wouldn’t. The only person that was a worse match for Jonah than Princess Cordelia, was Prince Nathaniel. That particular wedding would happen over his dead body! If Jonah wanted men, Atticus would personally pick out people for him! freewebnøvel.com

But no, sadly Jonah seemed to have feelings for the tempestuous Nedour princess. Atticus had grown up with Jonah, hence he knew all too well what signs to look out for. The frequent blushing, the inability to look said person in the eye, yet continuously, unthinkingly, doing acts of service for them...

This was worse than the time Jonah fell in love with Sirona!

Atticus downed the entire glass of wine, glaring mulishly at the both of them. Unfortunately, he was still too sober. So he downed another. And then another, before finally settling his empty glass on the table with a loud thud.

"Princess Cordelia, with the way you’re pawing at Jonah, you should at least treat him to a meal first!" Atticus declared. "You’re just taking advantage of him!"

Cordelia’s head swiveled in his direction, and her lips slowly curled into a wicked smirk.

"Why else do you think I invited him over for lunch?"