CHAPTER 154: CHAPTER 154: LACHLAN WYATT, SHUT UP—YOU’RE JUST A PRETTY BOY

I never thought this idea would appear in my mind, I had always been deceiving myself, but now, hearing that Iris might be taken away by my brother...

Lachlan couldn’t hold on any longer.

He could no longer pretend that nothing had happened with a clear conscience.

Looking at the rows of words sent by Peach, which pierced through all his pretense, Lachlan sighed inwardly.

Admitted defeat.

Iris.

After setting his phone down, he tugged at his tie and then took a deep breath, standing up from the room that originally belonged to Jude, and made himself a pot of hot water.

He no longer wanted to rely on alcohol to numb himself.

In his sober state, he could no longer avoid the feelings he had for Iris.

Lachlan decided to find Iris and make things clear, she couldn’t marry Dante! If he just allowed Iris to marry so foolishly, what would he do in the future!

Since they are both Princes, couldn’t he also turn a mockery into reality with her!

Lachlan got up, went outside the hotel, and ventured into the thick night, rushing all the way back to the Royal Palace entrance, where the guards nodded and bowed to him, Lachlan strode inside until he reached outside the guest room, hearing familiar laughter.

It seemed like people from the agency were gathered and playing.

They were so happy, yet they deliberately excluded Lachlan.

Lachlan looked up at the second floor, realizing it was agency people playing a card game called "Three Kingdoms," while also eating the midnight snacks brought back by Seraphina.

James liked to mess around with these board games wherever he went, and now there was a full table of cards scattered across the marble tabletop, at this moment Iris was leaning against Dante, Dante had chosen two generals he said, "These generals from your country are very interesting."

"It’s a way of spreading our country’s culture within games." Iris calmly took out the cards of the generals Dante chose, "This one, called Leon Gable, people from our country also like to call him Prime Minister. ’The departure of a renowned figure, who could compare through the ages.’ speaks to Leon Gable, this is his skill, can you read the words?"

Dante nodded, "I can read them."

"Wow, that’s rare, why can you, a foreigner, speak Chinese and even read characters from our country?"

"Lachlan’s mom taught me."

Hearing these words from Dante’s mouth made Iris pause.

After a while, she asked, "What kind of person is Lachlan’s mom?"

"A gentle yet beautiful woman." Dante spoke with his own subjective emotions "Unfortunately, due to being rebellious from childhood, she was expelled from The Royal Family and later abandoned by her lover, unable to handle the blow, her mental state isn’t very good now."

A beautiful woman abandoned, her fate fraught with difficulty, who wouldn’t feel pity?

"I heard Lachlan’s mom was beaten in the street before."

Dante lowered his voice, giving Iris a look, "Back then, no one knew Lachlan’s mom was a Princess of a country, they all saw her as a third party and a vile woman, some even caught alleged adultery on the spot..."

Iris gasped sharply, "What’s the situation?"

"At that time Lachlan was still a child, coming down from the hotel elevator to see his mother being treated like an outcast..." Dante shook his head slightly with regret, "Why leave The Royal Family. Although she gained freedom, without its protection, having never experienced life’s treacherous ways, she became a target for anyone’s abuse. Isn’t The Royal Family nice? Iris, you’ll know once you marry in, I’ll give you everything you want. Don’t be like Lachlan’s mom, grandmother remarked her as ignorant and foolish."

But was she really ignorant and foolish?

"I actually think Lachlan’s mother was courageous."

Iris couldn’t help but speak with force, her gaze sharp on Dante’s face, "She dared to defy royal authority, in my eyes, that’s worthy of honor. Even if the outcome wasn’t satisfactory later, that was her own choice. I’m sure she doesn’t desire others’ pity or lamentation, otherwise, she could’ve returned to The Royal like a defeated dog, yet even as she’s mentally unstable, as she steered away after jumping out of the circle, she never returned, what does that represent?"

Dante froze, and Lachlan also stopped below.

The man instinctively held his breath.

"It represents her victory."

Word by word, Iris spoke fiercely from her mouth, cutting through The Royal’s hypocritical façade, "She lost the bet with her love by her own hand, but she nonetheless remains a winner. Because from the moment she could wager, she had already won."

The person with the power to choose is forever the free one.

"Do you have a choice?"

Iris smiled and questioned Dante, "Lachlan’s mother could go mad, could be obsessed, could love, could hate, she magnified herself nobly in the world, no one can say she chose wrong. She simply loved wrong, and she bore the outcome by herself without burdening anyone else. And you, do you have a choice, may I ask?"

Dante never thought Iris would think through something so thoroughly.

"You have no choice, yet you ridicule others for escaping The Royal as ignorant?"

Iris sneered, rolling her eyes at Dante, "Wonder who truly is ignorant."

Iris’s voice was particularly calm and indifferent, but her words had an extremely strong impact on everyone present.

No one could cut to the heart of the matter like her, standing in defense of Lachlan’s mom when others mocked her, proclaiming she was indeed the winner.

The timid little Princess had won from the moment she fled from an arranged marriage.

Dante’s gaze was complicated, wanting to refute Iris but found himself unable, leaving himself infuriated, "Iris, do you really look down on The Royal Family so much?"

"If marriage wasn’t arranged, maybe I’d hold them in a little bit of esteem." Iris gestured a little bit with her fingers, "However, for the sake of the stability of royal power, I do understand you."

With that, she patted Dante on the shoulder, Iris had a look of pity for the "little wretch" in her expression as she looked at Dante, "Truly, not everyone wants to reincarnate into The Royal Family."

Lachlan had been silently listening to Iris all along from below, and only then did he open his steps and walk up the stairs, "What are you guys talking about, so lively."

"Oh? Lachlan," Martin Hawthorne called out to him, "we were just talking about your mother."

Lachlan squinted his eyes, looking at Iris Crawford leaning against Dante. His throat was dry as he opened his mouth, "Iris, I have something to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

Iris stood beside Dante. She had just been speaking on behalf of Lachlan’s mom, but now her face was full of aloofness. Upon seeing Lachlan, she even automatically stepped back two paces, her mind flashing to the scene of Lachlan storming out before.

She thought, everything that needed to be said had already been said clearly, there’s no need to get entangled again.

Lachlan really wanted to pull Iris back by his side once more; in the past, he could do such things with impunity, but now...

He couldn’t do it anymore.

Seeing Iris still not looking well, Lachlan thought perhaps it would be better to let her heal first, and when the tension between them wasn’t so strong, it wouldn’t be too late to talk then.

After all, Iris wouldn’t respond well to force; the more you push, the more fiercely she resisted.

So, Lachlan could only take a step back and say, "Alright, so what are you guys eating, can I get a bite?"

"You’re shifting the topic too awkwardly..."

James Chesterton, holding a shrimp dumpling, chimed in, "Begging for food again? Didn’t see you at the gift pool, but you’re always here when there’s a feast."

Lachlan frowned, "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Iris sighed, annoyed by Lachlan’s chatter, and stuffed a piece of red rice shrimp roll into his mouth.

She shut him up.

Lachlan chewed, watching Iris feed him, and didn’t struggle, his cheeks puffed out as he looked at her.

Were she and Dante just sleeping together?

What happened between them?

Is Iris... Is she going to have Dante’s child?

All sorts of chaotic thoughts filled his head, and Lachlan’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, causing Iris to turn away. Dante grimaced, "Don’t look at her with such a disgusting gaze."

Lachlan kept silent, his eyes full of cold laughter.

Seraphina Colbert marveled, "Have you guys noticed that when Lachlan isn’t talking, he’s quite handsome."

Lachlan: "..."

"If he were mute, that’d be perfect. Good-looking but can’t talk, he’s simply the perfect man," Peach added, "Cut his vocal cords! Then Lachlan would be the best man on earth!"

Lachlan swallowed the food in his mouth in one go, "Are you all rebelling?"

"Spoke up," Seraphina said, "Not handsome anymore."

Lachlan: "..."

However, the fun evening snack time that night didn’t go as smoothly as intended. Just when the office members were trying to rile up Lachlan, Steward Raymond suddenly ran over, sweating, "It’s bad, The First Prince, Second Prince, an important guest has arrived!"

Important guest?

Could it be Silvan Caine?

Just as Lachlan was about to say something, there was the sound of high heels downstairs, followed by a clear female voice echoing to everyone, "What, am I not welcome, Lachlan?"

Lachlan’s expression changed, looking down, he noticed there were two people standing there.

One was the petite and cute Marceline Galloway, her face full of awkwardness as if she didn’t want them to see her. And the other... with wavy hair, bright red lips, this was...

"Evelyn Rowan."

Dante smirked, "Eldest Miss Rowan, visiting late at night, what’s the occasion?"

"I heard my fiancé has been running around different countries for a woman," Evelyn laughed mockingly, arms crossed, nails sparkling like diamonds, just like she was herself, shining brightly, "I just had to come see who had the guts."

The hostility in her words was heavy, Marceline pulled on her, "Evelyn, why bother at this time of night..."

"Have you become friends with them?"

Pointing to the office members including Iris, Evelyn said to Marceline, "You’re my best friend, are you going to speak for them?"

"No, it’s not..." Marceline fretted like an ant on a hot pan. She knew Evelyn was passionate and spoke her mind, so she had kept her feelings for Lachlan bottled up, not sharing them with her best friend.

Besides, that was her best friend’s fiancé. She could only silently protect him.

But now...

Marceline took a deep breath, "The engagement was just a childhood joke, now that we’re grown, shouldn’t it be up to Lachlan if he wants to or not? He’s an adult too..."

Evelyn pouted her crimson lips, "Marceline, you’re speaking for new friends and not for me... I grew up abroad with you and Lachlan, does that not mean more than this group of new acquaintances? It’s too much. Who has got you and Lachlan all turned around—"

Before she could finish, an elegant yet cold female voice from the second floor overshadowed her aura.

Iris stood there, a twisted, terrifying scar on her neck stretching as she smiled.

She said, "It’s me."