Provoking a Graceful Bloom Novel

---- Chapter 224 "You're lying! He stopped loving Selena long ago!" Freya's voice nearly rose to a scream. She could endure almost anything, but would never tolerate the thought of Frederick loving Selena while ignoring her. "Don't you know what he said when he persuaded me to come to the capital? He swore he would love only me and want only me for the rest of his life!" And Selena? At that time, she had been nothing more than Freya's defeated opponent. Having already beaten her once, why should Freya ever think she could lose to her now? She refused to accept it. Absolutely not!

"How could | possibly be inferior to that wretched girl?" "How could you not be?" Mira said coldly, her words striking straight into Freya's heart. The older woman sneered. "Selena is breathtakingly beautiful. And you? You're merely average. Stand next to her, and you look like an ugly duckling. Her skill in mounted archery far surpasses yours. In fact, | wouldn't be surprised if she were a master of the highest order." "You lie! She knows nothing of combat!" Freya shouted. ---- Mira snorted. "You are foolish.

That day at Blackmoor Estate, you went to seek revenge on her and were knocked unconscious with a single strike. You assumed it was some hidden expert. But tell me, where was this 'expert'?" "|... Lam no match for that person! How would | know?" Freya shuddered at the memory. At the time, she had not clearly seen who struck her or how. "That blow was clearly from Selena herself! Didn't you realize it at first? Yet you listened to Frederick and convinced yourself it was some hidden expert who did the deed," said Mira. Frederick was truly a fool!

After all these years, he still knew nothing about Selena! "She surpasses you in every way, but has always restrained herself. It was the one thing that Frederick did not know before, but now he understands everything. His feelings for Selena are likely stronger than ever, but he just refuses to admit it," she added. Freya wanted to say she didn't believe it, but Mira's serious gaze left her heart suddenly empty and desolate. It wasn't that she didn't believe her sister, only that she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Perhaps she was like Frederick.

They were so proud that neither of them would ever confess their mistakes or ---- failures. Freya sat in a chair, shivering as a cold calm slowly settled over her. "Then... what am | to do?" she whispered. Mira's gaze pierced her. "Do you still love this man?" Freya bit her lip, unwilling to confess even to herself, yet panic fluttered in her chest. "What about you, Mira? Do you love him as well?" "| don't." Such a foolish man was not worthy of her. She wanted the strongest, the most formidable in all the world. And that was the Obsidian Monarch.

Tears spilled down Freya's cheeks, unstoppable. "! love Fred. | truly love him. | want to be by his side forever. | want to be the only woman in his life." Mira's expression twisted in disgust. "You were never this fragile before." Could falling in love with a man really change a woman so completely? ---- Freya wiped her tears. She didn't understand why she had become like this, yet her love for Frederick was undeniable. She couldn't bear to leave him. "If Prince Frederick becomes king, you will never be the only woman he has.

The people of the kingdom would never allow it," Mira reminded her. Freya's tears threatened to fall again. "Then, what am I to do?" Mira laughed coldly. "That is, unless he never becomes king."