The Alpha Prince's Purchased Maid
Chapter 291: Deceptive Trap

Chapter 291: Deceptive Trap

I watched as the duchess continued to giggle while rubbing her hands together. A shiver ran down my spine and I felt very spooked out about how she was acting. I had known that her character was a complex one, but I didn’t count on her being some kind of maniac on top of everything else.

“A fever or a sprained ankle? I’m sorry but I don’t think I understand...” I said without hiding my apparent shock.

“You’ll do as I say, right? We did make a deal with each other...” the duchess replied with a pleased smile.

Every sense in my body told me that something abnormal was about to happen. Duchess Flavia stared at me intensely and I could sense her excitement and that just confirmed that I had somehow gotten myself involved in another mess without really understanding anything at all.

“Even if you say that...” I began protesting.

The duchess shook her head from side to side before putting up her hand to signal for me to stop talking. I swallowed my words of protest when I decided to listen to what she had planned instead.

“If I were you, I would go with the sprained ankle plan. It’s easier and all you really have to do is keep repeating that it hurts every single time that you are asked,” she said before letting out a delighted laugh.

“Are you telling me to...fake an injury?” I asked with a sinking feeling in my tummy.

“You’re much more intelligent than I thought...” she said as her eyes and smile widened.

It was probably at that moment that I was certain that Duchess Flavia had more than a few screws loose in her mind.

...

This is a bad idea...

I should have known that striking up a deal with the duchess would be a bad idea. One of the worst parts was that I wasn’t even sure why the duchess was so insistent on doing this and what she really had to gain from it.

“You’re not really going to give him a call are you?” I asked as I started panicking.

“Of course, I am. Just remember to do exactly as I told you and everything will work out just fine,” she said with overflowing confidence.

“I’m not so sure...” I mumbled.

I had no idea where she got that much confidence from given the fact that she wasn’t the one who needed to act and fake an injury. In all my life, I had never acted before, and I have never fooled anyone intentionally in such a grandiose plan. Out of all the people that I had to fool; it just had to be Prince Leonard.

“Don’t worry. The prince has got to be extremely heartless not to fall for this...even if it’s partial...” she replied before chuckling.

I thought her low laughter sounded so evil. She gave me a look that reminded me that I was now her accomplice in this. After reaching our agreement and choosing the path of faking my sprained ankle, the duchess gave me a surprisingly detailed briefing of what I needed to do. It was still impossible for me to believe that something as ridiculous as this could work in fooling Prince Leonard. The only thing that gave me comfort was the fact that the duchess assured me that this was a no-fail approach based on her experience.

“Are you sure about this? You know, it’s not too late, we can still come up with something else that is...umm...less extreme?” I suggested with a hopeful smile.

“High risk, high return. You’ve heard of that, right?” she said before grinning at me.

“Well, yes...but...” I murmured before letting out a sigh.

“Trust me, I know exactly what I’m doing. This will work just like magic, you shall see soon for yourself,” the duchess said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

She had no idea how desperately I wanted to believe her and also how much it felt impossible to believe her. Unlike the duchess, I was the furthest thing from a great and convincing actress. Did I already mention that the prince could read me pretty much like an open book?

I only had one night to mentally prepare myself for what was to come. Based on our agreement, we would jointly execute our plan the following day. Looking at things optimistically, that meant that I only had to lose one night of sleep from my anxiousness. Just as I had expected, I failed to catch a wink of sleep the night before and I woke up with a throbbing headache. The duchess was already waiting for me in the dance studio by the time that I dragged myself there.

“You have no idea just how many times I had to stop myself from turning and running away from this...” I hissed before letting out a sigh of frustration.

“Well, you’ve made the right choice in not running away. Great things are going to happen to you, I can just tell...” she said in her beautiful sing song voice.

“Will it really be ok?” I asked in a small voice.

“Of course. What can possibly go wrong?” she asked with a sweet smile.

In my mind, I could come up with at least a million things that could go wrong with what we were about to do. I wondered if things had to be this complicated. Perhaps if I had the courage to just pick up the phone and call Prince Leonard myself then this may not need to happen.

“I’m such a coward...” I muttered underneath my breath.

“No, you’re not. You’re actually very very brave,” the duchess said with an astonished look on her face.

Either that, or I’m just very very stupid...

“Are you ready? Here we go!” the duchess said excitedly as she pulled out her mobile phone and shook it right next to her face to show me.

“W-Wait...” I said with widened eyes.

Now that it had come to this and our little act was about to start, I felt too nervous and terrified to go along with it. The way the duchess smiled at me before pressing her phone to the side of her face told me that it was already too late.

--To be continued...