Chapter 373
Setan’s expression darkened the moment he noticed Xinn staring at Nina without blinking.
“Xinn, what are you looking at?” he demanded, a sharp note of displeasure cutting through his voice.
Startled from his thoughts, Xinn snapped his head away. “N-Nothing p>
Yet, despite himself, his gaze drifted right back to her.
Could she really be Princess Nina? he wondered wildly. How could the same person change so drastically?
But if she wasn’t, why did she carry the exact same scent? Why were her eyes and features so hauntingly familiar?
Nina met his staring contest head-on. She recognized him almost immediately. Wasn’t this one of the lion beastmen who had marched into the palace to cancel their engagement that day? Judging by the sheer bewilderment on his face, he had recognized her, too.
A faint, amused smile curved her lips. “You still remember me p>
Setan, Yian, and the others exchanged puzzled looks. Nina knew Xinn? Since when?
The moment she spoke, the last of Xinn’s doubts vanished. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief. “Y-You’re really Princess Nina p>
The words struck the room like a sudden crack of thunder.
Setan, Yian, and Rin all stiffened simultaneously, their heads snapping toward Nina so fast their necks nearly popped.
Nina lifted one elegant brow. “Yes,” she replied, her voice cool and perfectly calm. “I am Princess Nina. Only, I do not really have that title anymore p>
Setan felt his heart plummet straight into his stomach.
Nina was Princess Nina?
Then that meant p>
Everything he had just said p>
Panic flared in his eyes. He desperately wanted to swallow his words, to turn back the clock. If Nina was Princess Nina, then she was the very fiancée he had so carelessly rejected.
He had broken off his engagement with the exact woman he now desired above all else.
A crushing wave of regret washed over him. He wanted nothing more than to punch his past self. If he hadn’t agreed to cancel the engagement, he would already be one of Nina’s mates.
But now… his chest tightened painfully. Nina already disliked him. After this revelation, whatever microscopic chance he might have had was likely gone forever. How was he even supposed to look her in the eye?
Beside him, Yian’s face drained of color.
The same Princess Nina whose engagement he had strictly insisted on breaking? And he had just finished lecturing everyone about her.
This was bad. Disastrously bad.
His precious son’s future happiness was completely ruined, and it was entirely his fault. Seeing the sheer panic on Setan’s face only deepened Yian’s suffocating remorse.
Rin was equally stunned. This formidable, breathtaking female was the supposedly useless Princess Nina? The old lion felt a sudden, burning flush of embarrassment. Should he still try to push Setan into her family? For the first time in centuries, the patriarch of the lion clan was entirely at a loss.
Nearby, Yuna’s beautiful eyes grew round. Her lips immediately drooped into a pout.
She had unknowingly botched her chance to have Nina as her daughter-in-law, all because of Yian’s stubbornness. She shot a sharp, blaming glare at her husband before looking thoughtfully at Rin.
Maybe they could arrange a new alliance, just as her father suggested? The only question left was whether Nina would ever agree to it.
Meanwhile, Maya wished the floor would swallow her whole. Lady Nina possessed such a noble identity?
Worse, Maya had boasted and strutted around like a proud peacock right in front of the original fiancée. The memory made her skin crawl with humiliation. She had never felt so utterly degraded.
Across the room, Odian and the others exchanged knowing, triumphant smiles. Finally, the cards were on the table.
Unfazed by the heavy atmosphere, the cubs stood in a neat line, shaking their little heads in unison.
What a bunch of foolish lions. They had spent so much time around Mother and still hadn’t put the pieces together.
Didi patted Sunny on the shoulder with a heavy sigh. “Sunny, your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather don’t seem very smart p>
Shushu nodded solemnly. “I have to agree p>
Linny delivered the final blow. “Not just them. The other lions aren’t much better p>
“All the lions here are pretty dumb,” Yinny concluded with absolute certainty.
Momo swished his little tail enthusiastically, fully endorsing the verdict.
Suddenly, the brothers found themselves deeply worried about their youngest sibling. Surely stupidity wasn’t hereditary… right? As long as Sunny took after Mother, there was still hope.
Without a word, Sunny quietly slipped into the leopard-print outfit Nina had sewn for him. Today, he was a little leopard. He didn’t know those silly lions.
The other cubs burst into suppressed giggles. That’s right. Sunny was a leopard today—a very handsome, very smart little leopard.
Phar lazily lifted his eyelids, casting a disdainful glance toward the lion clan. They really were idiots.
Xinn remained completely oblivious to the fact that the three lion leaders behind him were experiencing a collective mental breakdown. Turning back to Nina, he offered a polite, apologetic smile.
“It seems Your Highness still remembers me. You’ve changed so much since we last met; congratulations on your recovery. Thinking back, our last encounter was… well, when I came to deliver the cancellation of the engagement p>
So, the rumors from Spirit Stone City were true. Princess Nina’s former appearance and lack of ability had been the result of poisoning.
But a trace of confusion crossed Xinn’s mind. If she was cured, why was she living out here instead of the City Lord’s Manor? He glanced toward Setan and the others, only to find every single lion looking like they were about to face a firing squad.
A sudden, icy chill crept up Xinn’s spine. Had he said something wrong?
“Of course I remember,” Nina replied, her voice dropping to a dangerously smooth tone. “You’re the one who came to break off the engagement p>
The moment the words left her lips, Setan and Yian hung their heads, too guilt-ridden to meet her eyes. At the same time, they silently shot invisible daggers at Xinn’s back. Did he really have to emphasize that part?
Even Rin winced, a flicker of shame crossing his weathered features.
Xinn shivered, rubbing his arms. Why had the room suddenly dropped to freezing temperatures? Clearing his throat, he offered a tentative smile.
“That’s true. I was just wondering… were you satisfied with the compensation our clan offered at the time p>
The faint smile entirely vanished from Nina’s face. “I never received a single coin of that compensation p>
Xinn blinked. “How is that possible p>
“Because I was exiled from Spirit Stone City that very same day,” she stated, her tone entirely detached, as if speaking about someone else’s life. “I have nothing to do with Spirit Stone City anymore, and I am no longer Princess Nina p>
The only reason she had claimed the title just now was to give the lion clan a harsh dose of reality. As for the compensation, there was no way Drago and his modern family would have let her touch it. Had she reached for a single piece of gold, she likely wouldn’t have made it out of the city gates alive.
“What?” Xinn stared at her, horrified. “Exiled? How could that happen p>
She was a city princess. What crime could possibly warrant throwing a fragile female out into the wilderness? And how could her own father allow it?
Deep sympathy softened Xinn’s eyes. To be poisoned, stripped of her engagement, and then cast out by her own bloodline… it was unimaginably cruel.
Beside her, Odian and Sal immediately tightened their grip on Nina’s hands, offering silent comfort.
Yian’s heart wrenched. Nina had been exiled on the very day of the broken engagement, and he hadn’t even known.
Phar watched her quietly, a strange, unfamiliar ache blooming in his chest. Back then, she had been a pregnant, defenseless female left entirely alone in a brutal world. How had she survived?
Rin’s brow furrowed tightly. A powerless female, banished into the wilds… The fact that she had survived and grown into the powerhouse standing before them today meant she had walked through absolute hell.
A sharp, physical pain pierced Setan’s chest. Exiled on the exact same day.
He staggered back a step, suffocated by remorse. If he hadn’t agreed to break the engagement, she would have been protected under the lion clan’s banner. She would never have suffered. It was all his fault.
Suddenly, pieces of the puzzle began to violently lock into place in his mind. He remembered how cold and distant Nina had been toward Drago when they met. He remembered finding her in the dangerous wilderness, fiercely protecting her cubs all by herself.
But why had she been exiled?
A memory suddenly flashed through his mind—the chaotic night in Sin Beast City, just twenty-four hours before the engagement was canceled.
As the realization dawned on him, a terrible, breathtaking possibility began to form in his mind.