Iver rose from the sofa and directly addressed the Princess by name. "Isabel..."
His face showed a mixture of anxiety, delight, and the expression of someone who seemed to have figured something out. "Did something happen over there...?"
"—Iver!"
Isabel did not answer. Instead, with a sobbing cry, she threw herself into Iver's arms without hesitation and hugged him tightly.
One arm wrapped around Iver's waist, while the other hugged his back and grasped the long hair spilling down it. She buried her face directly in Iver's chest and greedily inhaled his scent. The girl who had still been trembling moments ago visibly began to calm down.
Iver raised his arms and hugged Isabel back, wrapping them around her shoulders.
After quite some time, Isabel finally spoke loudly from within Iver's arms, her voice muffled by sobs. "I don't want to marry a Stibnite Person!!
"—Save me, Iver! You're all I have now..."
Her voice was utterly sincere, filled with intense disgust and resistance, as well as trust in and longing for the sense of security Iver brought her... It was nothing short of shocking.
Isabel had not explained what had happened at all. But precisely because of that, it seemed incredibly genuine.
Such an intense and emotionally charged outburst was her specialty.
And the words she spoke now were exactly what she had once wanted to say to Iver, or had already said to him.
That performance—nine parts truth and one part falsehood—made Shafiya believe without hesitation in the genuine feelings between Isabel and Iver.
Even if James had not recognized Iver's identity beforehand, he could only have concluded that the two had secretly developed a relationship and were an illicit couple hidden from the world.
—In that instant, Shafiya's worries vanished. She confirmed that the Moriarty Family was