I Choose A New Life Chapter 05
Margaret looked down at her empty hands. “I’ll go back and grab another one.”
But as she took in my soaked clothes, she hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave me standing alone in the freezing downpour.
“Let’s just see if we can borrow one,” I told her.
Just ahead of us, a man carrying an umbrella was walking our way.
He was wearing a sharp, black formal suit that stood out against his good looks.
My dress was completely soaked, and rain dripped into my eyes as I stared at him helplessly.
After a long beat, he took a step back.
Without breaking his cold expression, he set his umbrella on the ground, turned on his heel, and walked away.
Margaret lowered her voice. “Isn’t that the guy we saw out in the palace gardens the other day? The future Prime Minister?”
I didn’t say anything; I just stood there watching him leave.
When we finally made it to Mooncrest Palace, a woman in a bright pink dress was waiting for us out front, her reflection shimmering in the puddles.
It was Anna. She had on a cloak embroidered with gold thread, her face flushed and glowing with the look of someone living a very comfortable life.
She shoved a cold hand warmer into my hands. “Take this, Isabella.
“Unlike me, you don’t have anyone to look after you when you’re freezing.”
I refused to take it.
Instead, I rubbed my thumb over the handle of the umbrella we’d picked up.
The umbrella was cheap, but its handle still kept his warmth.
“His Majesty wasn’t actually that mad at first,” Anna said.
She flashed me a huge smile. “I told him you only manipulated your way into his life to get the title of Queen.
“I also told him about how you constantly insulted and physically hurt me while we were growing up.
“He banished you to Mooncrest Palace to stand up for me.
“You’ve always gotten exactly what you wanted, Isabella. Did you ever think you’d end up like this?”
I already knew she was the one behind it.
Staring back at her, totally calm, I let out a soft laugh. “Thank you.”
I settled into my new routine at Mooncrest Palace, completely cut off from the rest of the court.
Thanks to Marie stepping in, the staff kept delivering my regular meals and supplies.
She even sent a messenger to tell me, “William is just acting impulsively. If you apologize and sweet-talk him a little, everything will go back to normal.”
I said I’d do it, but I never actually reached out to him.
Instead, I put the word out that I’d caught a severe chill from being out in the rain and requested a royal doctor.
Mooncrest Palace sat all the way at the edge of the royal grounds.
Hardly anyone ever came by, and even the palace staff tended to avoid the area.
There was, however, one catch—any minister heading to the King’s private chambers for a meeting had to walk right past my front door.
The next time I saw Sebastian Hellier, I was barely dressed against the chill.
He stopped a few paces away and offered a formal bow. “Your Majesty.”
I held out his umbrella, but he stayed planted.
I gave him a soft smile. “It looks like it’s going to pour again. You should keep it—I’d hate for you to get soaked.”
Sebastian dropped his gaze. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
He started to walk away, then stopped.
Turning back, he took off his coat and put it on my shoulders.
Leaving the umbrella by my feet, he walked off.
I watched him go.
It brought back a memory of him standing just like that in the snow—stubborn to the core—politely turning down a cloak I’d offered him.
“Thank you, Your Majesty, but I don’t have the rank to accept a gift like this.”
He’d looked up at me then—proud, stubborn, and unmistakably arrogant.