Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 297: New King

I couldn’t focus on praying for the entire session as my attention was divided between Desmond and Bradon. Although I didn’t want to admit it even to myself, the role that I had to play in Desmond’s plan weighed heavily on my heart. I wasn’t sure how I was going to succeed in going about acting as both myself and my sister at the same time. Somehow, I knew that I had to manage because I didn’t have any other choice, but whenever I thought of that, I couldn’t help but feel very conscious of Bradon’s presence close to me.

Ever since the little celebration that I had for my birthday party, we haven’t had the chance to discuss anything solid. Of course, preparation for the king’s funeral kept us busy, but it also felt like we were both carefully trying to avoid that sensitive topic between us. Sooner or later, I knew that I would have to take up my new position as Desmond’s girlfriend. As to how that was supposed to happen, I was quite clueless at the time.

When the prayer session came to an end, I thought that Desmond would head back to his palace instead of mingling with the guess. That was why I was quite surprised when he came to see us. Our parents were clearly flustered, yet clearly extremely pleased at the same time that they could be in the presence of the soon-to-be king. They showered Desmond with polite words of condolences as expected of social etiquette while Desmond nodded solemnly and responded in kind.

The way his gray eyes came to rest on my face told me that he wasn’t here to receive empty words of condolences from my parents, but instead, he was here to remind me that the time for me to keep my end of the bargain had arrived.

“I know that things are quite busy right now, but I hope I will have the opportunity to invite you both to the palace when things have calmed down. It seems like we do have a few things that we need to catch up on,” he said invitingly before showing me a pleasant smile.

“Yes, Your Highness,” I replied while wondering when I would have to start calling him ‘Your Majesty’.

After the end of the king’s funeral, I was certain that Desmond wouldn’t waste much time before hosting his own coronation.

“We should head back,” Brandon said sternly as he laced his fingers with mine and held my hand tightly.

I glanced up at his face to see that he was staring at Desmond instead of looking at me and I wondered when these two would start singing the same tune if they wanted to cooperate with each other with their plans.

...

**A month later**

Around a month later, the country that had been so overwhelmed with grief from the late king’s passing was now overflowing with joy with the upcoming coronation of the new king. I had no idea whether the good news had swept away and made everybody forget the old sad news or not, but the festivities that took the entire country by storm leading up to the day of the coronation was a spectacle in and of itself.

The entire month of wearing black and refraining from any celebratory activities was now finally over. The sudden switch in gears made me doubt the human emotion and the human heart for a while before I decided to laugh along and enjoy the amusement. As expected, our family members along with Anthony and Diana were invited to attend Desmond’s coronation. Apart from the significance that it had in my plan to get revenge on my parents, I was also extremely excited because of the significance of the event itself.

It was the first time in my life that I would witness in person the coronation of a new king. Although I told myself that I would not obsess over it, I did end up spending hours dressing up and getting ready for the coronation. Bradon was beyond annoyed at the attention that I paid to the upcoming event that morning.

“I hate waking up early...” he muttered darkly because we had to wake up even before the break of dawn for our preparation.

“That doesn’t make any sense, you’re always up early and I can hardly catch you in the morning. I’ve always thought that you were a morning person,” I said challengingly.

“Just because I wake up early doesn’t make me a morning person....” he retorted before looking away.

I found his reaction quite entertaining as I took a few steps to close the distance between us so that I could help fix up his tie.

“We have to look marvelous and flawless for this event,” I said as I patted his chest.

“I can’t wait to get this over with...” Braddon muttered, and I could tell that his mood had gotten even more sour than before.

“Don’t say that, I’m sure this event is going to be more fun than the funeral,” I said before winking playfully at him.

Bradon didn’t seem at all convinced of my words. I wasn’t sure if it was the upcoming ceremony itself or something else related to it that he seemed to dread so much. It still nagged me in the back of my mind that I didn’t know how he was involved with Desmond and what goals they happened to share.

“Besides, isn’t it great that our ally is going to become the new king of this country today?” I continued on with a bright smile.

Things were definitely looking up and there was nothing sweeter than having the brand new king on our side. Bradon scoffed as if what I was saying didn’t sit well with him.

“Come on, don’t spoil the fun. All you have to do is act as my loving husband, am I right?” I reminded him as I tried to keep my tone light.

Brandon’s intense blue gaze stared right into my eyes for a moment before his arms quickly looped around the small of my back and pulled my body up against his. Suddenly his face was so close to mine and our lips were mere inches apart.

–To be continued...