Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 396: Living Nightmare

**Back to the present**

“Homewrecker! Homewrecker! Homewrecker!”

The violent chanting continued and began seeping into my consciousness, dragging me back to the present. Disaster seemed to be staring me right in the face.

“Leya...” Bradon whispered my name right beside my ear.

His presence close to me reminded me that, unlike that day back then, I wasn’t alone. I had Bradon by my side, and, on top of that, everyone was here with me: Desmond and my sister. I suddenly felt a surge of confidence that made me believe that there could be a way out, one that would save us all from this dire situation my father had plotted against us.

I had to admit that after leaving the country, I hadn’t spared much thought for what would unfold after my departure. I never took care to follow up on any news—not that they would be made public—related to Mr. Malton’s wife and child. I had no idea what happened to him or his family after that incident. My parents completely cut me off, and there was frankly no one for me to ask, even if I wanted to find out the truth.

The crowd that had gathered here was evidence enough that what the principal said that day was true. The institution of marriage was extremely firm and strong in this country, and that made me the villain.

“It’s not true,” I murmured before I could stop myself.

“That doesn’t matter,” Bradon whispered in reply, without missing a beat. I felt the warm, light pressure of his hand against the small of my back before his arm circled my waist to pull me close.

“But it does matter,” I replied stubbornly, although I knew now wasn’t the time to explain anything to him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Bradon repeated once again, this time even more firmly than before.

There were so many things I wanted to say to him. The truth was, I was scared, but at the same time, I was desperate not to show it. Each time a nightmare from the past presented itself and came back to life to haunt me, I always felt that perhaps there was no way for me to escape my past and that starting over wasn’t truly an option from the very beginning. Perhaps all this time, I had been fooling myself. The crowd that had gathered, along with their hostile words, was a foolproof reminder of the truth I could no longer ignore. I knew I had to take responsibility for what I had started.

A sharp, stinging sensation pierced through my palms when I balled my hands into fists, my nails digging into my tender flesh. I turned around to face Bradon again, and our eyes met. Right away, in that very moment, all the smart words I had at the tip of my tongue evaporated into nothing, and I could not say anything in the face of the calm and trusting look I saw in his beautiful eyes.

For a moment, it made me wonder if he truly meant what he said and that perhaps whatever had happened in the past truly didn’t matter, at least not to him.

The worst part of the situation was that I wasn’t myself, in the very literal sense of the word, because I was standing as the beautiful and composed Diana. What that meant was that all the ridicule wasn’t directed towards me but towards my sister, who happened to be acting as Dahlia at that moment. I was so torn about what I should do—and also about what I could possibly do—in the situation that I was in. I wanted to tell everyone the truth: that I was Dahlia, and that I was the one responsible, but that wasn’t entirely the truth. My worry for Diana became all-consuming, and I found it difficult to breathe, as if the dress I had on had shrunk a couple of sizes. I turned my attention from Bradon to Diana to see her looking very calm, as if she had everything under control, although I knew that couldn’t possibly be the case.

“I have to do something. I have to help my sister,” I began talking to myself.

“You can’t go over there. Desmond will figure it out—don’t worry,” Bradon whispered to me as he took hold of my arm and held it quite tightly to prevent me from walking away. I glared at him for a brief moment before turning my attention back to where Diana was standing with Desmond. The two of them seemed to be engaged in some kind of situation, and Diana was whispering into his ear. I could not tell what she was saying because I couldn’t hear anything, and that worried me even more than before.

More guards appeared in an attempt to contain the crowd, but it seemed like dissipating the protest and making everyone leave wasn’t an easy outcome to achieve.

“It looks like something is going on. Those two are probably trying to do something. We better wait and see,” Bradon whispered his advice to me. I could also tell that something was going on, and I wondered what Diana had talked Desmond into. All I could do was wait and see, and that was exactly what I did as the guards tried to keep the crowds under control while a few staff members rushed to prepare a podium and microphone.

It was at that point that I realized Desmond was about to make an announcement. I thought a spark of hope that perhaps Desmond could put this outbreak under control once and for all so that the announcement of the royal engagement could proceed as planned.

The crowd seemed to settle down a little when they saw that the announcement was about to begin. At least they still had the decency to hear what the king of the country had to say on the matter.

–To be continued...