The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Annulment Money Discovered By Her Family

The living room went quiet after Irene’s question. Erika’s teacup stopped halfway to her mouth. Theon, who had been slouched against the armrest, sat up straight. Even Dominic, who rarely paid attention to anything that didn’t involve numbers, turned his head sharply.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Aisha didn’t look surprised. She looked at Irene the way someone looks at a bug that had crawled onto the table uninvited.

"Where did you hear that?" she coldly asked again.

Irene’s mouth opened, then closed. She hadn’t expected her to question her first. She had expected Aisha to be shocked and even deny it, maybe even panic a little. Instead, Aisha was staring at her, waiting, patient as stone.

"I—someone mentioned it," Irene said. Shaking her head, she continued, "It doesn’t matter where I heard it. Is it true or not, sister?"

Aisha didn’t let herself get pulled in her game. "I’m asking you again, where did you hear it from? Tell me or I will—"

"Aisha," Erika cut in, setting her cup down with a clatter. "Don’t speak to your sister like that. Just answer her. Did you take money from the prince or not?"

Aisha turned her head slowly toward her mother.

"Do I have to answer?" she asked in return. "It’s my personal matter. What happens in it isn’t any of your business."

Dominic’s face went red when he heard this. He stood up so fast his chair scraped against the floor.

"Not our business?" His voice cracked on the last word. "You’re about to have your engagement to an imperial prince annulled and in front of half the Imperial Court, and you’re telling me I don’t even get to know if you took money from him first?"

Aisha looked at him without blinking.

"Why," she said. "So you can take it from me?"

"Yes!" Dominic said, without even a pause to think about it. "Of course I would. You should have told me first, before accepting anything from him. That’s how these things are handled."

Aisha let out a short laugh, cold and devoid of any warmth.

She looked at the three of them.

"Interesting," Aisha said, still laughing. "Truly interesting."

"What’s interesting?" Theon muttered while rowning.

"That out of everything that happened to me this week," Aisha began, "the thing that gets all of you sitting up straight and paying attention is when you hear the prince gave me money. Everyone seemed more interested in how much money I received and how much you’ll get, and not how much humiliation I will get from getting my engagement annulled and publicized through a ceremony."

She said it too quickly that no one was able to cut in.

"However much I received," Aisha continued, "is not something any of you need to know. None of you will be the one carrying the name of the woman a royal prince threw away. That’s mine to carry. So the money, whatever there is of it, is mine too."

She looked at her father.

"If you want to know the exact number so badly, why don’t you go to the palace yourself? Ask to meet the prince. I’m sure he’ll tell you everything." Her voice went flat with sarcasm. "He might even offer you more, out of the goodness of his heart."

Dominic’s eyebrows drew together. He didn’t answer right away, eyes had gone somewhere distant and pondering her words.

Aisha watched him think it over and felt something cold settle in her stomach. She hadn’t actually expected him to consider it seriously.

Irene saw it too, and her heart sank a little. If their father actually went and made a scene at the palace demanding money, it would draw attention to the fact that Aisha had already received money. She couldn’t let that happen.

"Father, that wouldn’t be proper," Irene said quickly. "If people heard you went to ask the prince for money directly, it would look terrible for the family. Besides..." she glanced at Aisha, careful to keep her voice gentle. "Sister already has the money. Why would you need to go ask the prince for more, when we can just borrow from sister?"

Aisha understood immediately what Irene was doing. She wanted her to hand over the money without even a fight. That was her actual goal. To make her unable to even benefit from this annulment.

Irene sat there with her hands folded, thinking back to the conversation she’d overheard yesterday through Soren’s younger sister, who was also her friend and who had let it slip in the afternoon that he overheard her brother speaking to their mother about how her brother had transferred twenty-five million star credits to Aisha, with another five million promised once the annulment was official.

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