[1] 𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘼𝙆 𝙉𝙊𝙒 | Bridgerton ✓

15

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Forward, move forward.

"I don't know! He simply did not propose to me!"

The horse kept fighting against the wind.

"Do you understand the urgency of our situation? This isn't about you, or the viscount, this is about a kingdom, Bellatrix!"

The horizon looked the same even though storms flooded her mind.

"He had the choice and he didn't, he won't propose to you, we've lost time and effort!"

The coldness of the wind did not scare her stone expression, as she only thought about escaping the mental cages that haunted her.

"You disappointed me, Bellatrix. You disappointed your kingdom, and you disappointed your poor father."

The horse stopped abruptely and she held tight to ir so she would not fall, trying to recover her breath as she closed her eyes and tried to take in the present.

"You are everything" The flashbacks of the previous night invaded her mind.

Bella shook her head and got out of the horse, handling it to a servant as she tried not to process the taste of defeat and confusion again. Never in her life she has ever felt so lost and helpless.

And the situation only become worse when she spot the Viscounr at the gardens. Her feet rushed not to meet him.

"Princess Bellatrix." He called her but it was no use. "Princess." He tried to go after her. "Your highness, please!" He begged and she finally stopped. Anthony sighed as he finally reached her. "I know you do not wish to see me after last night-"

"At least you are aware of it." She glanced at him, the blood boiling inside her veins. 'Do not trouble yourself my lord, once this event is over, I shall not ever lay my eyes upon you ever again." She spike with every fiber of her being.

"That is not my intention-"

'Then what is your intention?" She reacted angry. "To court me in public and then back away as if I am some sort of flaw that can not be worth of your family's name?" She questioned him. "To humiliate me in front of our families and make me fail my only duty to society and the kingdom?" She squinted her eyes. "I should've known yor oreputation precedes you."

Anthony felt an instant ache inside him, he needed to change her mind, he could not stand the thought of her seeing him as nothing but a libertine again, not after how far they've come. He could not survive while she hated her.

"That isn't true." He shook his head. "Princess you are the perfect bride any bachelor could ask for, the perfect mother to a future ruler..." He desperately said. "Last night...with all those people gathered around us...with that hanging expectation, the gossips, the eyes on us... I couldn't do it."

She clicked her tongue mocking himshaking her head in complete disapproval.

"I've been under the ton's eyes my whole life, Lord Bridgerton." She answered. "I know what is that fear and you...you did not feel that fear. You simply rejected me. Used me."

'"I'd never dare to-"

"And do you know what I think about you?" She came closer, standing in front of him, the green gardens decorated with flowers contrasting against the bad scene developed between them. "That you are a selfish, overestimated, soberb..." A small bee that passed by, made circles in the air next to her, and Anthony's gaze immediatly turned to the insect, as an old fear of the past came over him. "Lord Bridgerton." She noticed his distraction qs he glanced over her cleveage. "What are you-"