Ivy gulped down, taking a deep breath because of what the princess had said. For a moment, she thought she had been discovered.
Was she found out that she was not the original?
"Princess, what do you mean? I don't get you," Ivy said, smiling at the princess, trying to put on a calm exterior. She was focusing closely on her. The original Ivy and the princess weren't close friends; why was the princess able to see through her?
Ivy shook her head, trying to escape her thoughts.
Maybe the princess had not found out, and it was just her guessing everything.
"All I meant to say is that you are different. You don't look so stupid anymore," the princess said to Ivy, her face expressionless, with only her gaze lingering on her.
Why she had said that Ivy had changed was because she felt the air around her was different. Very different. If the air she was feeling around Ivy now was calm, then the air she felt around the former Ivy was like being around a pest.
Ivy coughed, trying to focus on the princess.
"Don't piss me off," she screamed in her heart. Even though she knew that all this was being referred to the original Ivy,
she still found it weird and uncomfortable.
Nobody should call her stupid!
"Ha, thanks for the compliment, princess."
Ivy came back to her senses, shaking her head and nodding to the princess, accepting her insult. The princess had called her stupid, and she needed to accept it without objecting. After all, she was the princess, and Ivy was the lowly wife of the Duke.
"Do you like tea or coffee?" the princess asked, taking her tea from the table. She took a sip, an annoying sound coming from it, then dropped her cup, looking at Ivy suggestively.
"No, I'm good, princess," Ivy shook her head and said.
She didn't like tea; her body wasn't comfortable in the first place to have tea with the princess.
She was as awkward as she could be. Mingling with the characters in the book other than the villain made her uncomfortable. The place was left silent after she gave her response to the princess.
"Drink when I ask you to drink," the princess ordered, glaring at her, her eyes very deep, like they could pierce into her soul. Nobody should disobey her when she asked them to do something. Anything she asked of them, they must do! Ivy gulped down upon hearing the princess's words.
"Don't disobey me," the princess added, looking at Ivy with a frown, like she could unleash something terrible upon her at any moment.
Ivy stiffly moved her hand, taking the tea and sipping from it. Her gaze was on the princess, as if conveying to her that she had done the action and that she should stop sending threatening glances at her.
Ivy felt like she was sick. She wanted to gag out the tea somewhere, but she could not. She wasn't sure if the princess would let her go, and she had just learned that although the princess appeared as a quiet emo, she liked giving authority to others and enjoyed having people tied to her rules.
"How do you like the tea?" the princess smiled, seeing that Ivy had drunk the tea. Her mind was at peace now. This was how everything should be—a compliant and obedient person under her.
"I like it. Hmmm... It's okay," Ivy licked her lips and said, looking at the princess eye to eye as if the tea was the sweetest delicacy.
She had to play along. She felt her butt itching to get out of here, away from the over-commanding princess. She didn't want to make friends with the princess because she belonged to the Duke, and the Duke and the royal family were mortal enemies.
"Do you still like my brother? I like you now; I want you to be my sister-in-law," the princess said, looking at Ivy, tucking her locks behind her ear.
She thought in her mind that the girl Ivy was very pleasing to look at now—at least not the disgusting bug she had previously viewed her as, not worthy of her attention.
"Princess, please don't say this, lest the heroine hears you," Ivy coughed, dismissing the princess.
What the hell was the princess saying? Ivy screamed inside her heart. If the villain were here and heard the princess's words, what would be his reaction?
The princess wanted her to face death! She did not want to die now when her plans seemed to be working. The princess should just keep quiet and have a normal conversation!
The princess gave Ivy a look that she could not understand. Seeing the weird expression Ivy was making, the princess didn't know that Ivy always made strange expressions whenever she was immersed in her thoughts.
"Who do we have here? Duchess Ivy Everhart," Prince Levi said, walking into Ivy and the princess's conversation. He stared at Ivy with a cold gaze, his hands folded over his chest. His eyes were looking at Ivy like a predator looking at its prey.
His gaze made Ivy feel a tingling on her skin.
"Why is this bastard here?" Ivy gritted her teeth in her heart, putting on a forced smile outwardly.
Calming her emotions down, she looked at the prince.
"Greetings, Prince," she greeted, her voice came as a whisper. Any place where the crown prince was, she did not want to be. Keeping a far distance was best for both of them. She did not want any more rumors to spread that she was in love with the crown prince, pestering and bugging him.
All she knew was that whenever she was near the crown prince, her plans to make the villain fall in love with her would fail. After all, how could he love a woman who was in love with another man?
"I should get going, Princess," Ivy said, smiling at the princess as she got up, straightening her dress. Bowing to both of them, she prepared to leave the place. But then her actions were restricted—she felt a broad presence before her.
"Where do you think you are going, Ivy? What is this fake pretense that you don't love me anymore?" The prince had blocked Ivy, questioning her, his gaze fixed on her.
His eyes seemed as though they wanted to read her mind. Ivy's eyes met his, as if daring him to try. Prince Levi could not believe this. How could a woman who had once followed him like a fly suddenly claim not to love him anymore? Had his charm diminished? Was he no longer attractive enough for her?
Levi chuckled hard, thinking she must still love him. She was just pretending to get more of his attention. Yes, that was it—that was what it could be.