Queen of Mean

CHAPTER 28

"SHE FINALLY snapped. You should have seen her face when she stormed to my office. You finally did it, Prince Corean."

Cory glared at the mocking crown prince, who just arrived at his chambers through his balcony. Their duo had a knack for climbing balconies. Sometimes he wondered if they were thieves in their past life.

"What will you do with that?" Prince Yei Lin pointed at the person still sleeping on his bed. Cory spent his nights on his couch as the royal doctor kept on giving the unconscious Tessa nourishment through liquid drops.

"Have you found her weakness?" Cory planned to use Tessa as the witness against Prince Lauren.

"She's an orphan. If anything, you are her weakness. She genuinely thought you love her. You know how to play your cards well, Prince Corean. That is some talent you got there, making girls fawn over you just by acting gently."

If he was indeed Tessa's weakness, then she would be a liability for his plan. "Then she will need to keep sleeping until we defeat my brother and convince my father."

"Convincing your father will be hard. You will need hardcore evidence against your brother to corner your father."

"Trust me, I know." His father's affection for his brother would be the greatest obstacle in his plan, now that he could finally focus since Victoria would be well-protected in the Arin Tribe.

"You won't kill her?"Prince Yei Lin sat next to the sleep Tessa. He touched her cheeks. "She has no use to us anyway."

"Indeed. But Tessa was just a victim in this sick plot of my brother. And if I am her weakness, then I pity her all the more."

Tessa was an assassin sent to monitor him and seduced him in the process. Corean gave Tessa many openings to kill him. Perhaps even Prince Yei Lin saw his crafted opportunities, but she turned a blind eye against it. The moment that Merilla brought Tessa back from almost being shipped out by the Ming envoy, Tessa was supposed to kill him. Instead, she engulfed him in a hug that led her to this state right now.

Prince Yei Lin scoffed. "Which are you, Prince Corean? A realist or an idealist?"

Cory nonchalantly shrugged. "I need to talk to the Arin Tribe's chieftain, the usurper, Keiran Arin."

"Don't forget that I am not your servant. You and Tori have an uncanny resemblance, I tell you."

SILVER EYES, the infamous trait of all the Arin Tribe's descent. They worshipped the Beast God instead of Gaia. Their caste system followed the ways of the primal beasts. Hence, this young chieftain earned the title of the chieftain when he defeated the strongest of the tribe, his father.

Cory liked the way the northerners showed their true colors instead of hiding behind the masks of deception.

Today was the day that Victoria would leave the capital. Cory was both relieved and worried. He felt relieved that she was now far from the clutches of his brother and Merilla. Cory was also worried that she would be away from his protection. But he knew that the latter was only his selfishness talking.

"How will you help me with bringing an imperialist to my den?" His words were straight to the point. He did not even give him the common curtsy as a prince in which he liked. This would mean that the new chieftain of the Arin Tribe would be hard to manipulate.

The brewing warfare in the north would be something that Victoria could solve even if her eyes were closed. "That imperialist will give you new ideas beyond yours. Prince Yei Lin vouched to that person too, right? That is why you are here to meet me."