Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 262: Following the Tide

At first, I thought that it was going to be once or twice and that it wouldn’t hurt to go out with him because I had gotten a little bored of our repeated meetings. Our first date outside was in a quiet private setting although we were out of the palace. The prince took me on a perfect date where we went to a private luxurious restaurant, a private afternoon tea session together, before he took me shopping at a private jewelry boutique.

Despite my active refusal to accept his gifts, I ended up going home with a luggage filled with precious jewelry. I can still remember the wide-eyed excited face of my parents when they found out that I did not return home empty-handed.

“I couldn’t turn him down on the spot, so I ended up accepting all these gifts. Anyways, I think we should send it back to the palace so that it can be returned,” I told my parents without any excitement.

I truly had the intention to return all the gifts that I had received back to the prince because I couldn’t see why I deserved so much from him. On top of that, I realized that taking the gifts could become a burden, and it made me feel like I would have to do something to pay the prince back in return for his favors. The dark look that crossed my parents face and the disapproving look in their eyes told me that they did not disagree with me in the least.

“Returning this back to the palace would be completely disrespectful,” my mother said as she pulled the luggage full of jewelry away from me.

“Your mother is absolutely right. The prince specifically gave these gifts to you, so it would be disrespectful for us not to take it. Instead of returning it, we should be safeguarding it as part of a family’s precious treasures,” my father said in agreement with my mother.

I glanced over at Diana who shook her head slowly at me for me to back down from the issue. I could sense the endless greed shining in my parents’ eyes as they continued eyeing the precious jewelries. Only my sister and I were disinterested in the precious items. After the prince took me out of the palace together with him for the first time, it was like the floodgate had opened and from then on I found myself spending more time with the prince outside of the palace.

“Let’s go out again today. I have somewhere that I want to take you to,” the prince said with the inviting smile.

It was another day where I had to wake up early to get dressed and styled so that I could meet the prince at the palace. I knew that something was off and different from usual when a long dress with matching jewelry was provided. My hair was styled up into an elegant bun, and I had perfect makeup on as if I was about to attend a very important event.

“Where are we going?” I asked curiously.

“There’s this event that I need to attend. I think it’s going to be boring but if we go together we will definitely have fun,” the prince replied before his smile widened.

“I see...” I replied in short because I couldn’t refuse his invitation.

After a moment of silence, I decided that I might as well make the most of my day with him even though I didn’t have a choice but to be stuck with him.

“What kind of event is this?” I asked as I stared out of the window of the prince limousine.

We were riding alone in his private limousine on our way to the event. I felt more anxious than excited about the upcoming event because I knew nothing about it apart from the face that the prince mentioned that it was going to be boring. I didn’t look forward to the event and I realized that it might be an issue for us to be seen together in such a public setting by so many people. I wondered if the prince considered this or if he was doing this intentionally. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“It’s a party held by one of the ministries, if I remember correctly it’s probably the ministry of tourism. Anyways, the minister requested someone from the royal family to attend, and so I have been tasked to attend this event and you are my accomplice,” the prince replied before grinning my way.

“I guess there will be a lot of people there...” I said pensively.

“There will be,” the prince replied casually.

I wondered what the prince thought about us being seen together in public. I also wondered if he noticed all the cold stares that I have been receiving from the palace staff every time that I entered the palace to see him. I glanced over at the prince and his worry-free face and figured that he probably hadn’t thought about the position that he was placing me in.

The only party that would seem to rejoice about my public appearance with the prince will probably be my parents. I was certain that they wanted to flaunt my close relationship with the prince to all the other noble families just to show that we were getting ahead. The thought filled me with anger because it made me feel like once again I was being used as a tool.

“Aren’t you scared about what people will say when they see us all together at such an official event?” I asked before I could stop myself.

The prince must have already gotten used to my outspoken attitude already by that time. Although I tried to act polite whenever I was in his presence, after spending quite some time together, I found myself getting used to lowering my guard around him.

“What is there for me to be scared about?” The prince asked with an amused smile on his lips.

“I don’t know...like, you know, us being seen together could start a lot of rumors and people could start talking,” I replied as I struggled to explain it to him. I made a ‘you know’ face because I figured that he already knew what I was trying to get at.

“Don’t let it bother you. Why should all the chatter and the rumors matter?” The prince easily brushed off my concern as if it was nothing.

“It might be nothing to you, but you do realize that this is going to cause me trouble, right?” I said with a dead face.

“If this ends up causing you trouble, let me know and I’ll help you out,” he replied with a confident smile.

–To be continued...