?Chapter 247:


    With a nostalgic grin, I rubbed my hands together and easily hoisted myself onto the tree.


    But just as I was gettingfortable, my foot slipped, and I found myself plummeting back down.


    “Ah!”


    I let out a startled scream, bracing for the painful impact. But instead of hitting the ground, Inded in something warm and solid—someone’s arms.


    “Are you alright?”


    A soft chuckle followed by a warm, gentle voice whispered in my ear.


    Heart pounding, I cautiously opened my eyes, only to discover that I had fallen right into yton’s arms.


    Mortification quickly reced my surprise as I realized he had witnessed my less-thandylike antics. I scrambled out of his embrace, my face burning with embarrassment. “Your Highness, what are you doing here?”


    yton, however, appearedpletely unfazed by my ungraceful behavior. With his usual warm smile, he looked at me and said lightly, “I was just passing by. But I didn’t expect to see you up in a tree picking fruit.”


    His calmness only deepened my embarrassment, and I desperately wished for a hole to crawl into. “Then… Did you see everything just now?”


    yton nodded with sincerity, “Yes, I saw everything.”


    I could feel my face heating up even more, as if I were about to spontaneouslybust. Couldn’t he have pretended not to notice?


    As I fumbled for a way to salvage the situation, yton mercifully changed the subject.


    “Why are you here? I thought you had training today.”


    Lατ??τ ?нαρτ?rs ιn g??l??ov?l??.??om


    I scratched my head awkwardly. “I did, but then I was told Kristina wanted to see me. After leaving the detention center, I just thought I’d…”


    yton looked at me with a teasing glint in his eye. “So you decided to skip ss?”


    “Uh…” I coughed awkwardly, touching my nose as I admitted sheepishly, “I’ll go back soon…”


    Of all the days to skip ss, I had to choose today, and to top it off, yton had caught me. And he’d seen me make aplete fool of myself. Could this get any worse?


    Regret washed over me. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve stayed in ss.


    But yton didn’t seem the least bit bothered. Instead, he smiled softly and suggested, “Since you’re already here, why don’t we take a walk together?”


    Makenna’s POV:


    I readily agreed, taking yton’s hand as we strolled through the garden. The warmth of his touch was bothforting and steady, making the moment feel almost surreal.


    I offered him some of the fruit I had just picked, taking a bite myself. The sweetness burst in my mouth, and I couldn’t help but squint my eyes in contentment as we walked, lost in easy conversation.


    After a while, yton brought up the topic of Kristina.


    “Kristina’s actions have sealed her fate. She’ll likely spend the rest of her life in jail. She won’t trouble you anymore.”


    Though I had already anticipated this, hearing it from yton brought a sense of justice. “She deserves it. Someone like her should pay for her crimes!”


    My voice must have sounded more passionate than I realized because yton chuckled, ruffling my hair in that familiar, affectionate way. “You’re right.”


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