The Line She Crossed

On the eve of my wedding, my parents returned from abroad, and my fiancée, Seraphina Vale, went into the kitchen to host them, preparing her specialty—passion fruit tea—for everyone.

My parents, Edward and Eleanor Blackwood, and I had barely taken our first sip when the bodyguard, Alaric Sterling, standing beside her, burst into laughter.

“You really are a family,” he said.

“All of you drinking toad eggs as if they were passion fruit, savoring every mouthful.”

Nausea rose instantly, and my parents and I retched uncontrollably, after which I swung my fist and went straight for him.

But Seraphina shoved me away.

“You were the one who called Alaric a toad before,” she said.

“I was just helping him get even.”

Alaric looked at me smugly.

“Aren’t your parents biologists?” he said.

“You should be thanking me for the hands-on experiment.”

I lifted the scalding soup and splashed it at Alaric.

Seraphina screamed as she ordered the other bodyguards to break my hand.

“You insulted Alaric first,” she said.

“That’s why he retaliated. What right do you have to lay a hand on him?

“If anything happens to Alaric, you won’t get away with it.”

I watched Seraphina hurriedly escort Alaric away, her face tight with concern.

I turned to my parents.

“Can you ask her if she’s still willing to marry me?”

The soup splashed all over Alaric Sterling, and his skin reddened instantly.

Seraphina Vale’s parents, Harold and Margaret Vale, froze in terror, so frightened they couldn’t utter a single word.

Alaric was Seraphina Vale’s lifeline.

If anyone so much as hurt a single hair on his head, she would lose her mind.

Even I, her fiancé, had to step aside.

Alaric braced himself against the table, his eyes bloodshot.

“So what if you and your parents drank some toad eggs?” he said.

“It’s not like it kills you.

“Sera, am I going to be disfigured?”

Seraphina roared at the other bodyguards.

“Break his hand for me!”

The bodyguards surged forward together, slammed me to the floor, grabbed a chair, and smashed one of my hands.

They gave me no chance to react.

Pain drained the color from my face, and my whole body trembled.

Seraphina kicked me in the face, so furious she looked as if she wanted to tear me to pieces.

“Let me tell you this,” she shouted.

“Forget toad eggs—even if Alaric told you and your parents to kneel and lick his shoes, you’d have to do it!”

The slimy sensation of the toad eggs still clung to my mouth, making waves of nausea roll through me.

My parents, Edward and Eleanor Blackwood, looked even worse, their faces deathly pale as they clutched the table and retched uncontrollably.

Seeing them suffer so much because of me filled my chest with pain.

Seraphina followed my gaze and sneered.

“Don’t blame me for being harsh. If you want to blame someone, blame your precious son for humiliating Alaric!

“All Alaric did was help me organize my underwear, and he called Alaric a toad!”

I laughed hysterically in response.

Organizing underwear?

Alaric had been tidying up in a very different way!

Now he pretended to mediate, though he was really just fanning the flames.

“I’m just your bodyguard,” he said.

“How could I dare compare myself to your fiancé, let alone even dream of being with you?

“I overestimated myself today. I’ll apologize to him right now.”

But Alaric had no intention of apologizing at all.

Still, Seraphina already ached for him beyond reason.

“They should be the ones apologizing to you!” she snapped.

“It was just some toad eggs. Why are they putting on such an act?”

I forced myself to lift my head, fury blazing in my eyes.

“My parents rushed here to attend our wedding, only for you to disgust them with this filth and then demand they apologize to someone else.

“Do you even have a heart?”

Seraphina seemed to realize she might have gone too far and hesitated for a moment.

Alaric immediately clutched himself and cried out in pain.

“My skin’s been burned so badly. Will you still want me, Miss Vale?”