Stolen by the Rebel King-Chapter 569: Shattering Realization

"Send out the arrest warrant for the Argyle household. I’ll have all of them detained," Cordelia ordered. "I highly doubt that none of them knew nothing about the schemes of their heir."

"Yes, Princess Cordelia." Jonah bowed politely. Meanwhile, Lord Waylen was practically foaming at the mouth at the thought of his entire family joining him in the dungeons.

"No... no you can’t... they don’t know anything! It was all me! The bribery, the stealing! All of it!"

"Thank you for your prompt confession," Cordelia said dryly. "But in the spirit of fairness, I have to question your family as well. Guards, take him away."

"Yes, Princess!" They hauled him away, and Lord Waylen seemed more like a puppet with his strings cut, for his body hung limply as they dragged him across the floor like he was nothing more than a bag of potatoes.

"Excellent," Cordelia smirked, and Jonah’s heart gave another stutter. This was bad― at this rate, he was going to need Sirona to pay a visit so he could get some heart medication.

"I’ll get going then," Jonah said faintly.

He needed to get out of here. He needed to think, to gather himself, and he couldn’t do that when Cordelia was within his line of sight. Somehow, when Cordelia was in his vicinity, he seemed to lose all rational thought.

Curse that Nikun. Before he had pointed it out, Jonah was just fine! His heart was working as it should, and his brain wasn’t filled with these nonsensical heart-flutter thoughts.

"I’ll go with you," Atticus said, to Jonah and Daphne’s surprise. "Since the situation here is handled, I might as well terrorize another noble family. Do I have your permission to scare them a little?"

Cordelia merely nodded, waving him off. Clearly, she must have hated the Argyles if she was willing to subject them to Atticus’s presence.

"Don’t bully them too badly," Daphne cautioned before she pressed a kiss on his cheek as a goodbye.

"Me? A bully? Nonsense, I’m only there to make sure they get exactly what they deserve." Atticus said, preening at Daphne’s display of affection.

She kissed him in front of other people! Admittedly they were only Jonah and Cordelia, but still. Daphne had kissed him. Perhaps this visit to Nedour was more fortuitous than he originally thought it would be.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Jonah asked, with a raised eyebrow at how his best friend was delightedly plastering himself to his wife. "I can do this by myself."

"No, I want to go too," Atticus said, and with one final goodbye, the both of them rode off to Lord Waylen’s estate to deliver the happy news that their heir was convicted of multiple crimes.

The silence was comfortable, leaving Jonah to stew with his own thoughts.

Then, Atticus decided to open his mouth and shatter it.

"You should name your firstborn son after me. I deserve this much, don’t you think?"

"Excuse me?" Jonah spluttered, nearly veering his horse off course. The horse gave a displeased whinny, and Jonah quickly patted its flank in apology, soothing him. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"I’m talking about your feelings for Princess Cordelia, the deadliest woman in Nedour," Atticus said. "You like her. You’re in love with her. If it were possible, you’d bear her children like those seahorses I’ve heard so much about."

"Bear her children― That’s nonsense― I cannot believe―" Jonah’s mouth fell open at Atticus’s words.

He had to focus on the most ludicrous parts of his words because whatever Atticus said before that made his face flush with terrible embarrassment. In love with Cordelia... surely that wasn’t true!

"Oh please, me thinks doth lady protests too much," Atticus said, and of course, Jonah was the lady in question. In this courtship, Cordelia was the more forward of the two, which was why it had rankled him before. If Cordelia was another passive princess, he wouldn’t have worried― Jonah would never have dared to make a move.

"I saw how you looked when she was out there eviscerating that annoyance. You looked like you were ready to go on your knees to lick―"

"Shush!" Jonah’s face was now flaming red, and he looked around frantically for eavesdroppers. Thankfully, the roads were empty, and no one dared to even come close to the powerful foreign king who could use magic to render their limbs into nothingness. "Atticus, this is so out of pocket!"

"But am I wrong?" Atticus asked with a raised eyebrow. "I bet my magic that I’m not. I know you too well for that. This is like your crush on Sirona, only a million times worse."

"It is not worse!" Jonah instinctively retorted. "It’s perfectly fine, thank you very much!"

He couldn’t deny that he found Cordelia very attractive. Her eyes were the exact shade of Nedour’s waters, and just as deep and unfathomable. They could go from stormy to peaceful in a split second, with one none the wiser. Jonah had also done his best to not pay much attention to her figure because Cordelia deserved more respect than for him to salivate over her like an untrained hound.

But that was a pure appreciation for beauty! Nothing untoward about it― definitely not whatever Atticus was implying!

"So you do have a crush on her," Atticus said smugly. "I was right. And you want to marry her and have her terrifying blue-haired, blue-eyed babies."

"Why do you sound so happy about it though? You seemed very against it before," Jonah asked, not even bothering to entertain Atticus’s baby comment. Cordelia hadn’t mentioned anything about children at all, even if he would be open to having them with her―

Oh god.

He was, wasn’t he? He had feelings for her!

Atticus saw the dawning realization on Jonah’s face and smirked; Jonah was half-resigned to the fact that Atticus was going to lord this over his head for as long as he lived. Such was friendship.

But then that didn’t matter. It wasn’t as though Jonah could marry her and live by her side as her consort. He wasn’t even from Nedour, and he held no title to boot.

"Truly, I guess I had the time to get used to it. I’ve seen how you are around her, and how she feels for you. At least the both of you seem mutually obsessed with each other. It’s a lot better than that stupid unrequited love you had for Sirona when we were kids. That was simply pathetic."

"Cordelia is not obsessed with me!" Jonah smacked his hand against his face as he once again focused only on one part of his words. Atticus wanted to shake him. "Atticus, what kind of novels have you been reading?"

"Clearly some that you should be, you utter blockhead," Atticus exclaimed, affronted.

He whacked the back of Jonah’s head from his horse, and Jonah whacked him in return. Their horses, unamused by their theatrics, reared their heads and threatened to throw them off.

They reluctantly calmed down.

"You must be going blind if you could not sense her regard for you. Do you need me to steal the letters she sent Daphne? There are some highly lewd imaginings you should be privy to."