Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 121: Hit the Apple II

Chapter 121: Hit the Apple II

There was a stunned silence as everyone registered her words. Prince Nathaniel was the first to respond, his eyebrows knitting together as he shook his head in disbelief. His sister was always prone to fanciful hysterics, but she had never gone this far before!

"Aurelia, do you even know what you’re suggesting? Have you lost your mind?" Nathaniel scolded. "Everyone, I apologize for my sister―"

"But Brother, this is―"

Cordelia whistled lowly, interrupting their argument.

"Oh, that’s interesting indeed, but I still have a few concerns." She mentally applauded Aurelia for her devious suggestion. "You’ve forgotten about Prince Alistair! Surely you’re not expecting Queen Daphne to let both men shoot at her?"

Her lips tilted to form a smile that seemed to hold a thousand unspoken words.

"If this news was leaked, people might think you have a grudge against her," Cordelia said with a thoughtful hum. "Isn’t that interesting, Prince Nathaniel?"

Prince Nathaniel gave his sister a disappointed look, but she refused to meet his eyes. Instead, Princess Aurelia held her head up high.

"Why not?" Aurelia said. "Better endanger one life than two."

"Oh ho, so you do realize that you are asking the queen of Vramid to endanger her life for a petty sporting event?" Cordelia quirked her eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest as she watched Aurelia’s cheeks turn red with a fluster.

"I...I―"

"And," Cordelia continued, not wishing to allow Aurelia any leeway to rebut, "in the event the queen dies from a mishap, who will be the new target? Will everyone be busy caring about the fact that a nobility just died or will the competition go on, since it’s obviously so important that you would have a queen act as a court jester just for your entertainment?"

Daphne couldn’t believe Cordelia was defending her.

"Then..."

"Then," again, Cordelia cut in, "let’s make this interesting. We can have one person each to hold the apple for our remaining competitors."

A sly glint lit up Cordelia’s eyes as she searched through the crowd before landing on Drusilla. Her lips stretched, beautifully viperous as she held out her hand to Drusilla the same way Aurelia did to Daphne.

"Princess Drusilla, why not let’s have you do the honors of serving as Prince Alistair’s target? It’s only fair, no? To have each man’s most precious woman in their lives to act as the target for them."

Drusilla’s face blanched white the moment her name was called. All this while, she had been silently watching from one side, gloating at Daphne’s misfortune. She hadn’t expected Princess Cordelia to sift her out from the crowd and forcibly place her under the limelight.

All of the intel she had previously received was that Princess Cordelia hated her sister. Why was it that she was constantly standing up for Daphne now that they’d finally met in person?

"No can do!" Finally, Prince Alistair pushed to the front of the crowd, protectively placing Drusilla behind his back and out of Cordelia’s direct line of sight. He glowered at the princess of Nedour, his tone filled with warning. "We will not be putting my sister in harm’s way."

"’Sister’?" Cordelia echoed, playing with Alistair’s choice of words. Funny how that wasn’t plural, and the sister he referred to didn’t even share his mother. She didn’t comment further on that topic and instead said, "Are you unsure of your own skill, Prince Alistair?"

"Wh-What?!"

Cordelia shrugged. "If not, why else would you say no? You don’t see King Atticus refusing to participate. Surely, he must be sure of his skills and knows fully well that Queen Daphne will not be in any form of danger even if she were to have the apple on her head. Are you saying that you can’t guarantee Princess Drusilla’s safety in your case?"

Princess Cordelia then turned to the crowd, a wicked glint shining in her eyes when she met Daphne’s gaze for a split second. She looked away before Daphne could confirm that look.

She continued, "Doesn’t that mean that we already have a winner in this competition? In that case, why waste everyone’s time with this farce?"

With that said, a low murmur started to spread through the crowd. Many people began to whisper to their friends and family, gesturing to the center of the little circle that had formed where Alistair and Drusilla stood.

"She has a point..."

"Maybe he really isn’t as good a shot..."

"He’s a coward..."

It was until Alistair could take no more of their pointed murmurs did he finally snap, a vein throbbing at his temple as he spoke.

"Very well," he said through gritted teeth. "I accept this challenge."

"...Brother?" Drusilla cried out, horrified. She couldn’t believe her ears.

She grasped onto the sleeves of his shirt, her knuckles turning white due to the amount of strength she put into that grip. Alistair’s shirt was crumpled with the work of her fingers and she didn’t seem to care about how a frown had made its way onto Alistair’s face when he noticed her handiwork.

"You can’t be serious, right, Brother Alistair?"

"Drusilla, my darling sister," Alistair said.

He slowly pried Drusilla’s fingers from the fabric of his shirt, allowing it to drop limply back down to her side as he grabbed her by the shoulders. He gently massaged circles into her bare skin, almost as though he was trying to calm her down and reassure her that everything would be alright.

"Do you not have faith in me?" he asked. "You know that I’ve been shooting arrows since I was a child. Do you think I will let any harm befall you?"

Drusilla’s eyes darted left and right, chewing on her bottom lip. While she kept her lips tightly glued on the outside, internally, she had already screamed her voice hoarse. She cursed Princess Cordelia a thousand times over for dragging her into this, and then she cursed Princess Aurelia for the distasteful suggestion.

She had just wanted to see Daphne get a little scared! Surely, acting as a live target would terrify any lady. King Atticus would also be more frantic when shooting since his wife’s life was on the line. That would make it easier for Alistair to win, thus making it something else Drusilla could boast about when in front of Daphne.

How did everything turn out so very wrong?

"I... I... still don’t think―" Drusilla stuttered, trying to form a coherent sentence. However, before she could speak her mind, she was rudely cut off once more.

"I don’t have a problem with this suggestion," Daphne said. She stepped forward, her back straight and chin tilted high as she calmly looked at the crowd. Her eyes then landed on Atticus, who was smiling silently at her. "I have every bit of confidence that my beloved husband can pierce the apple without hitting me."

One by one, her gaze seemed to challenge every woman in the crowd. None of the women knew what had gotten into them but when Daphne’s gaze landed on them, they felt the immediate instinctive need to cower. It wasn’t like that before but the sudden aura she radiated demanded respect.

Finally, Daphne coldly looked at Drusilla. Her question plummeted Drusilla further into despair. "Unless, my dear sister, you’re too much of a coward to take up this prestigious role?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.