Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 218: Safest Place

I must have shocked him just as much as I surprised myself. His offer was crazy even if it was intended to be just a joke. Prince Desmond looked surprised and then he seemed slightly disappointed.

“I honestly don’t think that you should be joking about something like that,” I pointed out softly.

“What makes you think that I’m joking?” he asked.

“Well, who in their right mind would offer the position of queen as a reward for winning a game? Plus, you’re not the king yet either and we all know that royal weddings aren’t decided by the groom-to-be himself,” I replied before smiling at him pointedly. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“You’re right, I’m not the king yet but I will be king one day,” he replied solemnly.

I wondered for a moment if I had offended him by directly turning down his crazy offer. There was no way that I could become queen. Marrying Prince Desmond and becoming part of the royal family wasn’t at all on my list of life goals. Politics is boring and borders being disgusting for me. Being part of the royal family would take all of that altogether to a completely different level. I was certain that I would lose all sense of self if I became royalty and being myself and sticking to my belief was all that I had left.

I didn’t have anything else...

“That’s good for you, Your Highness. Regardless, I am not interested in becoming your queen whether it be related or not related to our games of Gomoku,” I replied firmly.

Putting my desire to get as far away from the royal family aside, I also didn’t care who became the next king because nothing was ever going to change for me anyways. The prince stared at me before he showed me a very charming smile.

“You’re quite an interesting girl,” he said as if he was just talking to himself.

I didn’t say anything in response to that because it probably didn’t matter what I thought of myself. The prince’s graceful hand motioned to the round pieces as I watched in silence.

“What about this? You can ask me for anything if you can win a game,” he said before winking at me.

I felt like he was baiting me just so that I would focus on this new game that he was trying to teach me how to play.

“Are you sure that you can keep your promise? What if I ask for something totally crazy?” I asked challengingly.

“As long as you’re not asking for the throne, I guess I can give you everything else. I mean, I even gave you the option of becoming my queen,” he replied casually.

“Hmm...you’re quite an interesting guy,” I commented passively while repeating his own words to him.

The prince realized immediately what I had done and he ended up laughing even louder than before.

“Shall we start playing then? Pick a color, Dahlia. Would you rather be white or black?” he asked.

“Any color is fine for me. You can choose,” I replied without thinking.

“I guess you’re right. Any color would be fine as long as it’s either white or black; however, things get a little more troublesome and complicated when they’re various shades of gray. Don’t you agree, Dahlia?” he asked before grinning my way.

“Maybe you can get me rainbow pieces. I would rather prefer life to be colorful,” I replied as I pretended not to know what he was talking about or trying to get at.

The prince outright laughed at my comment before he pushed the bowl containing the round black pieces across the table towards me.

“I’ll make sure to do that for you next time that we play. You can be black. In this game, black starts first. I’ll give you a headstart, Dahlia...” he said.

“Right...” I murmured.

I did not miss the fact that he had just said that there would be a next time. Just thinking about it made me cringe inside. Never did I think that I would somehow end up as one of the prince’s playmates, if that was what this role was.

“Starting first in this game is a big advantage and I’m giving it to you. Don’t waste this opportunity, Dahlia,” he said as he stared directly at me from across the table.

It felt like he was trying to tell me something that had a deeper meaning not at all related to the game that we were about to play but I was oblivious as to what he was trying to get at. After letting out a sigh, I placed a black round stone piece right at the center of the board.

“Just so you know, this is probably the second safest place in this entire country,” the prince spoke up suddenly in the middle of one of our games.

“What’s the safest place, then?” I asked although I wasn’t that interested in his obvious tactic to distract me from my thoughts.

“My father’s bedroom. The king’s bedroom...” he replied matter-of-factly.

“That does make sense...” I murmured while wondering why he was suddenly telling me this.

“Come and stay here with me, Dahlia,” he said like it was the most normal thing in the world to say.

“I beg your pardon...?” I exclaimed without hiding my shock.

“Like I said, come and spend time here with me. I’ll babysit you,” he repeated his invitation.

“You mean, I’ll babysit you...” I said as I pointed at myself and then at him.

If there was anyone babysitting anyone, I was certain that I was the one doing the babysitting. I gestured to the game board that was sitting on the table between us to make my point.

...

**Hours later**

It felt like I had just dreamt of something exciting, but I couldn’t quite remember what it was. My body felt comfortable and that told me that I must have slept well enough. I felt lazy and getting out of bed felt like an insurmountable problem that I just wanted to ignore.

My eyes snapped open before a gasp escaped my lips. I sat up on the bed only to realize that I wasn’t in my own bed.

Where am I?

–To be continued in the next Chapter...