The Rejected Principessa Returns novel Chapter 88

Chapter 4

When I got home, dinner had already started.

Lucas was there too, seated right next to Isabella.

The moment they saw me, the cheerful conversation at the table ceased abruptly. The smiles on everyone’s

faces froze.

The previously lively dining room instantly fell into an awkward silence.

James was the first to react, waving me over.

“Eleanor, come eat.”

“I’m not hungry. I’m going upstairs.” I turned to leave.

“Eleanor,” my mother called, standing up and walking over.

“There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

I stopped.

“What is it?”

She approached me, hesitating before speaking.

“Your father and I have discussed it. We plan to formally arrange the engagement between your sister and

Lucas.”

I glanced at Lucas. He instinctively avoided my gaze.

A faint sneer touched my lips.

My mother took my hand.

“I know you and Lucas grew up together, but relationships require mutual affection, it’s not about who came first… Mom will make it up to you later…”

I gently pulled my hand back, cutting her off.

“I have no objections.”

“Congratulations to the happy couple.”

I hadn’t expected Lucas to follow me out.

He grabbed my wrist, his grip so strong I couldn’t break free.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” I frowned, my voice cold.

He lowered his head slightly, his tone softening a little.

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“I know you’re saying all that because you’re upset.”

“You must… be hurting right now, aren’t you?”

Hurting?

It seemed… not really.

At most, I felt a sense of rueful irony.

I once thought that Isabella might take everyone else from me, but never Lucas.

When I first returned half a year ago, Isabella loved staging scenes to frame me, casting herself as the victim.

No matter how I explained myself back then, no one believed me.

Except for Lucas.

He would gently hold my wrist, his gaze firm.

“Eleanor, I believe you.”

“I’ll always be on your side.”

And because Isabella deliberately imitated me and tried to take my place, he always maintained a certain distance from her advances.

I thought that Lucas, the one who swore as a teenager he’d only marry me, the one who never stopped searching for me during the five years I was missing, would be my final sanctuary.

But in the end, he joined the others and turned his spear against me.

He had once yelled at me, “Eleanor Caldwell, no wonder your own parents prefer a adopted daughter with no blood ties! Who could love someone as prickly as you?”

“If I so much as exchange an extra word with Bella, you interrogate me endlessly, as if I’ve committed some crime against you! So paranoid, so unreasonable!”

“Fine, I’ll tell you now. Bella?is?gentler, more understanding, more deserving of love than you! I’ve fallen for

her. Are you satisfied now?”

Back then, I saw him as my only lifeline. Even when he said such hurtful things, my first reaction wasn’t

anger, but doubting if I had truly done something wrong.

It was only later I realized that Lucas, from start to finish, only ever?said?he disliked Isabella but never truly

refused her boundary-crossing advances.

It was his inconsistency, his wavering, that slowly pushed me to the brink.

The fault was always his, never mine.

Chapter 4

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Seeing my prolonged silence, Lucas thought he had guessed my true feelings.

He softened his tone, speaking with a hint of condescension.

“Eleanor, we grew up together. We once cared for each other. I don’t want us to end up estranged for life.”

“Tell you what, I can talk to your parents. After Bella and I are married, you can come live with the Reed family too. Don’t worry, I’ll treat you both equally. I won’t play favorites.”

I looked up at him, barely able to believe my ears.

How could he be so shameless?

Lucas mistook my stunned expression for pleasant surprise. He even preened slightly, adjusting his uniform cuff.

“But you have to promise me, after the marriage, you can’t pick fights with Bella over every little thing like you used to…”

I couldn’t listen anymore. I shoved him away with all my strength, my pent-up fury erupting.

“Get lost!”

Chapter 4

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