Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 282: Changing the Future

“The last king?” I repeated blankly after recovering from my initial shock and confusion.

It felt like time suddenly came to a stop and all I could hear in the tense silence that surrounded us was the fast beating of my heartbeat. His answer surely caught me off guard, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I understood what he really meant. I must have looked confused enough for him to give me an explanation.

“I’m going to be the next king and I am also going to be the last king of this country,” he said slowly and clearly as if it would help me absorb the true meaning behind his words.

Desmond will definitely be the next king and after that his son should take over, at least that was how things were supposed to be, unless he doesn’t want things to turn out that way in the future. I felt my jaws loosen as my mouth hung open when I realized what he was trying to say. Desmond nodded his head in affirmation as if he could feel that I was finally taking in the meaning of his words. Many things didn’t make sense to me at that moment; however, I figure that everything that he had done must be leading him to this moment.

“You want to be the next king...because you want to be the last king,” I concluded after a moment of connecting the dots.

Was this why even back then he told me that he could give me anything except for the throne?

My eyes narrowed as I recalled that first private conversation that we had that night of his birthday party. Back then, those words just flew right over my head as I merely treated them as charming empty words intended only for the purpose of flirting with me. Now, I realized all too late that Desmond may have been serious about everything from the very start.

He must have planned this for such a long time already...

If Desmond wanted to make such a drastic change to the overall governing system of this country, then he probably needed to be in the position of King to make that happen. In this country there wasn’t any strong opposition faction against the monarchy or any member of the royal family. If anything, people were so loyal and supportive of the Royal Family and the current political system.

“But why?” I asked as I felt my brows draw together in a frown.

“This country needs to change for the better. I also don’t see why this country needs a king to hold it together,” Desmond said so casually that I found it so hard to believe that we were having a conversation that could determine the future of the country.

It felt so unusual to hear from the future king that he would be ending the reign of his own family. It was obvious that what he wanted was going against his father’s will given how strict all the kings were in ensuring the continuation of the line of succession. That was when it dawned on me that one of the reasons why Desmond was so desperate to keep me by his side as his fake girlfriend was to ensure that no one viewed him as an eligible bachelor.

Arranged marriages between royal families were not at all uncommon. In fact, everyone including myself had always expected for Desmond to become engaged to some kind of foreign princess from another country. Our scandalous relationship put an end to that and caused quite a lot of conflict behind the scenes that I was unaware about at the time between Desmond and his father.

“Is this one of the reasons why you don’t want to get married?” I asked.

“I won’t marry anyone except for someone of my own choosing,” he replied without taking a pause to think.

“I can’t believe that this is what you have always wanted. You even went so far as to do so many things, is it all because of this?” I asked as I still found it hard to believe what he was telling me.

His plan was so advanced and so extreme that it also disturbed me that I was going to be a part of it. Then again, I might have been a part of it since the very beginning.

“I guess I have you to thank for helping me avoid any royal engagements. You see, I figured that if I was going to be the last king or step down from the throne one day, things might get tricky if I were married to a foreign princess,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders to show that he couldn’t care less.

“But I don’t understand. I think you’ll make a great king, so I don’t understand why you want to be the last king,” I asked for an explanation as I stared at him with narrowed eyes.

“That is surprising. I had thought that you of all people would see things for what they really are, and that you would understand me or even share my visions,” Desmond commented with slight disappointment in his tone.

“I’m sorry for disappointing you, but I have to say that I don’t have this country’s future in mind,” I replied a little darkly. It was true, since it hadn’t been long that I found out that I could even return to this country.

“Just look around you, Dahlia. Look at the society that we grew up in. Can you tell me which part of this rotten society should still be kept in place? Which part of this society that we live and grew up in is beneficial to this country’s future or to the people of this country?” He asked as he held up his hand and gestured around the room as if he wanted me to imagine the society all around us.

I knew very well that he wasn’t talking about the general society that most people lived in, but the upper class, noble, and royal class of society that we were born and raised in. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

–To be continued...