Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 352

Chapter 11 My Bracelet

My eyes flew open before the sun was fully up. I remembered instantly where I was, and my interaction with Prince Theo weighed on my mind.

I took a few deep breaths, trying not to let his constantly irritated state get to me. I had slept well, had good dreams, and had a lot of energy pulsing through my veins. Why would I let his pessimism ruin my day before it had even begun?

I glanced down at my pillow and saw the flower that Prince Warren had given to me and instantly felt a rush of adrenaline.

No wonder I’d gotten a good night of sleep. The blooms were slightly faded from the vibrancy they’d had when he’d first picked it and handed it over to me, but the fragrance still filled my lungs when I inhaled, and I thought it might last another day or two.

I quickly put the flower in the top drawer of the night stand and hopped up, ready to prepare for the day. Lots of hard manual labor lay in front of me, but I was mentally prepared for all of it.

After a few hours, I had almost finished wiping down the entire wing. Almost, because the ceiling was too high for me to reach. While I was pondering what I should do to get

myself up there, I had an overwhelming feeling that someone was watching me from behind.

I looked down the hallway and saw a tall, lean form coming toward me, and immediately, my heart knew who it was.

Quickly, I sprinkled some water on the floor so I’d have an excuse to speak to him. “Be careful, Your Highness!” I called. “The floor is wet here!”

“There you are!” Prince Warren greeted me as he approached, staying back from the area I’d just dampened. “I had wondered why you weren’t outside with the animals. So… you were chosen to be my brother’s personal attendant, huh?”

Something was slightly off about his tone. He was saying kind words, but he didn’t exactly seem happy about the news.

“This is my assignment, for now,” I said, keeping my head down. “It was… an accident… sort of.” I couldn’t quite explain to him how I happened to be at the pavilion at the same time that Prince Theo was expecting his attendant there.

“Well… congratulations.” His smile looked forced for some reason that I didn’t understand.

“Thank you,” I said. “But honestly… if I had a choice….” His eyebrows raised, and he took a step closer to me, as if he knew I was hesitant to say what I was trying to get out, which was true. “I wouldn’t have chosen to be Prince Theo’s attendant.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to share my displeasure about one prince with another prince, but looking at Warren’s face, I knew I could trust him.

“Really?” His tone suddenly changed, and I thought I heard a bit of lightness to his voice. “Well, it looks like you’ve got quite

a bit of work to do, cleaning up this wing of the castle. You know, a personal attendant isn’t meant to be a maid.”

I felt my cheeks redden as I thought about how I had gone

| into Prince Theo’s room last night and ended up getting myself into this predicament. But at least I had something to do. “I don’t mind a bit of hard work,” I told him.

“Perhaps I could help you? I’ve never done much cleaning, but I can give it a try.” He flashed a kind smile to me that made my heart skip a beat, and I wondered if he could hear it.

“I couldn’t ask a prince to help me clean!” I had to turn down his offer. “That wouldn’t be appropriate at all!”

Prince Warren laughed, and the sound of it made my cheeks flare up again. “You’re not asking me, silly,” he reminded me. “I’m volunteering-as a friend.”

I was tempted to accept his offer to help, simply because I wanted to spend more time with him. I glanced around and suddenly realized exactly what I could ask him to do. “Well, I am having a bit of trouble reaching those cobwebs up there in the corners,” I said, pointing one out to him. “I’m just not tall enough to reach, even on the stepladder.”

Prince Warren looked at them for a moment, his hand in his pocket as he studied the problem. He gave me a nod and smiled again. “I think I can help with that.”

Taking hold of the ladder and a duster with a long pole, he moved over to the corner and climbed up, stretching to reach the webs in the corners along the ceiling.

When he did so, his sleeve moved back just enough, and my

breath caught in my throat as I got another, clearer look at his bracelet.

recognized it. Not only was it the same material and color as the one I’d given away as a gift all those years ago, I could see some wear on one of the beads. I remembered scraping it on a rough tree trunk when I was climbing in the woods one day.

Trying not to stare, I looked away, but I couldn’t lose this opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. It had to be him!

Clearing my throat, I said, “That’s an unique bracelet you have there, Your Highness. Where did you get it?”

It took him a moment to respond since he was working. When he finally lowered the duster down, he said. “This?” He held it up so I could see it. His gaze seemed to get even softer as he said, “It was a gift I received a long time ago.”

“Oh?” I asked, my heart thumping against my rib cage again. “From… whom?” I was fishing for information now. I needed to know what he remembered. Was there any way he recognized me?

“Someone special gave it to me.” He climbed down off of the ladder and moved it to another corner so he could reach

another web above him.

“Oh. That’s… nice. Do you have fond memories of receiving it?”

“Uhm…yes. I suppose I do. She’s a very important person to me.” He turned and looked at me, and I had to avert my eyes, grabbing the mop and sliding it across the floor as if I were focused on my work. “Why did you ask?”

“I-I was just curious.”

That was going to be all the information I got from him for today before he got suspicious. I had to pretend like I didn’t know where it had come from.

It wasn’t as if I could just blurt out to him that it had come from me, that I’d been the girl who saved him in the woods all those years ago. I wasn’t sure whether this was a good time for me to reveal that.