Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 231: Lies on Top of Lies

I sat on the kitchen counter with my legs dangling off of its edge. Bradon sat silently next to me as if that was where he belonged. Sitting close to each other without our bodies touching after all that we had just done surely felt strange.

“The food is all cold...” I mumbled as I eyed the food that was still laid out on the counter.

I stared at the food while thinking that it was such a waste. Even if I was certain that the taste wasn’t palatable, I still thought that it was a certain waste of ingredients. I fully intended to apologize to Jenna for wasting the ingredients and then make sure that I tidied and threw everything away myself without troubling her or the other maids even further.

“What are you doing?” I asked blankly as I stared at Bradon.

My heart raced in my chest as I watched Bradon reach out to pick up a piece of chicken that I had cooked. It took a few seconds for it to dawn on me that he had the intention to eat it. My mouth fell open as I watched the movement of his hand as it guided that piece of chicken to his lips.

“You don’t have to eat it!” I yelled loudly as I reached a hand out to stop him from putting food into his mouth.

Bradon shot me a confused look before he put the food in his mouth like it was the most natural thing to do. My stomach flipped as I stared at his mouth moving as he chewed on the food that I made. A void welled up in my belly and I quickly realized that I was suddenly feeling anxious. I immediately regretted letting him eat the food that I made. I must have lost my mind for a bit after hearing Jenna’s encouraging words to even think that he should have a taste of the food that I made.

This is going to be another disaster...

“It tastes better than I expected...” he murmured.

My eyes widened when he turned and smiled at me. Surprisingly, the food that I made didn’t immediately kill him, which was a relief in and of itself. However, what surprised me even more was the fact that he had just complimented me. My eyes narrowed after a moment and I ended up glaring at him when I realized that he must have had such low expectations of my cooking skills, not that he was wrong to think so.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

Just how bad did he expect my cooking to be?

To that question, I never got an answer. Instead, Bradon just laughed softly before putting more food into his mouth. I watched him eat as I felt a strangely warm feeling creeping up in my chest.

“You should eat,” he said as he turned and offered me food.

“No, I’m...” I quickly denied his offer because I didn’t feel at all hungry.

“Eat,” Bradon instructed firmly.

He pushed food into my mouth before his fingers entered my mouth as well. My eyes widened at the same time that he smiled at me. I was too stunned by the beauty of his smile to look away or start chewing. Once again, a strange feeling enveloped my chest and traveled downwards to my belly. That was probably when I realized that it had been a while since I last saw him smile like this.

Although it was difficult to make him smile, it felt all too easy for me to lose that smile again. The warmth that filled my belly quickly turned into a sense of uneasiness when I thought about the news that I had to break to him. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Time was running out and that meant that I had to quickly make up my mind. After making up my mind, I had to tell Bradon as soon as possible. To prevent any further conflict between him and Desmond, I had to find a way to make Bradon accept the decision that I have arrived at. I sucked in a big breath before slowly letting it out to calm myself and steel my nerves.

“The king is going to pass away at any time now according to Prince Desmond,” I said to start the conversation.

“I see. It’s about time,” Bradon replied emotionlessly.

“His condition isn’t great and he is hardly conscious anymore,” I added based on what Desmond had told me.

“So, what are you planning to do?” Bradon asked without beating around the bush.

“I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I don’t think that there’s any other way. Because of that, I’ve decided to help the prince out as a trade of sorts...” I replied without meeting Bradon’s eyes.

I could feel him staring at my face and the fact that we were sitting close to each other didn’t help me hide away from him at all. Regardless of how convinced I was that my decision was the right one, I found it impossible to meet Bradon’s intense gaze as I broke the news to him.

“What is the deal that you made with him?” Bradon asked in a surprisingly patient and calm tone.

I sucked in a breath before turning to face him directly. Since his reaction wasn’t as bad as I thought that it would be, I didn’t quite understand why I felt so bad and guilty about the decision that I had made. The heavy feeling in my chest almost made me feel like I was the one doing Bradon wrong and it bothered me in a way that I couldn’t understand.

“I don’t know why he wants me to do this but I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I can also get what I want. You see, the prince wants me to pretend to be his girlfriend,” I replied as I felt my heart race in my chest.

Bradon stared at me before his blue eyes narrowed slightly at me suspiciously. Since the prince’s plan would bring nothing but even more complications to our already convoluted play-pretend relationship, I could imagine that he would be against it.

–To be continued...