The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 86: Shocking proposal (3)

"Hazel," Renee said, covering her mouth as she stared at her daughter. She was close to asking for someone to pinch her as she could not believe what he was seeing.

Her daughter was now engaged.

Renee didn’t care who was upset by the engagement and how the prince did it now instead of at the end. All that mattered was that Hazel said yes to Tobias. Hazel wanted to marry the prince so Renee would be happy for her and celebrate.

"I’m sure this has caught you by surprise. I will call for a few drinks so you can take this all in," Jeffrey said, laughing at Nathan as he looked frozen in place.

"Place make it your strongest drink," Nathan requested as it would be hard to get used to Hazel being engaged. He thought he had around four more days before he had to hear about his oldest getting engaged.

As much as he wanted them out of the house so they could stop spending his money and he’d be alone with Renee, Nathan didn’t want his daughters to be out of his home every day.

"With them drunk, there’s no one to try killing me," Tobias whispered to Hazel.

"Again, I want to kill you. Couldn’t you have done this on one of the nights we had dinner? I cannot escape the stares right now," Hazel said, lowering her head so she could avoid the gazes.

"Oh! I didn’t know you were shy. That’s not something good when the queen will have a lot of eyes on her," said Tobias.

"It is not that I am shy. There was someone to yell that this wasn’t right. I don’t want to be in the middle of any arguments about what you planned. The queen is taking some time to come down here to greet us. Shouldn’t we go up to her?" Hazel asked, worried about the queen’s anger.

"See, if I go up there, Sofia might become an only child and she wouldn’t want that. We should let my mother come to us. Then we’ll know that she’s over her anger and putting on a smile to save face in front of the people here," Tobias answered.

He knew that his mother wouldn’t be happy with what he did, but he didn’t regret doing it. He wanted Hazel and he went right for it.

Tobias already had a solution to making this all work. The women in town were going to love what he did and see it as romantic, especially because Tobias had gathered a few men he trusted to spread information about his interactions with Hazel.

The most people angry with what he did would be the women not picked, their fathers, men from the court, and the queen.

Tobias spotted his mother speaking to Hans from the court. It looked like it was a calm conversation, but Tobias knew that they were going over what to do about this.

Not long after, Tabitha made her way down to where her husband and son were standing with Hans hot on her tail.

"Queen Tabitha," Hazel greeted the queen with a curtsy along with her sister and mother.

"Congratulations on your surprise engagement," Tabitha said, holding Hazel’s hand to welcome her just as Jeffrey did. "You will need to come with me. You and your family."

"And why is that mother? Let her celebrate with her peers," Tobias said, moving Hazel to the side so he would be standing before his mother.

"I don’t want to say it here. Get everything ready," Tabitha spoke softly to Hans. There was something she needed to confirm first so this rushed engagement wouldn’t bring any surprises in the next few weeks. "Jeffrey," she called, getting her husband’s attention.

Tabitha couldn’t tell if Jeffrey was doing a good job of hiding anger or if he was celebrating Tobias doing something so stupid. She couldn’t always be the serious one here.

"Yes?" Jeffrey asked, keeping his smile as they were still the focus of everyone’s eyes.

"Take care of the crowd until we return," said Tabitha.

"Don’t think I am not aware of what you are planning to do. Don’t let this get out," Jeffrey said and then left Tabitha’s side to go back to where they originally stood.

"Please come with me," Tabitha ordered the Wallaces.

Tabitha led the way out of the ballroom with the Wallaces following. She led them to a large waiting room.

"Forgive me for asking, Your Majesty. Why did we come here?" Renee asked, not liking this feeling she was getting from the queen bringing them here.

She understood that the prince had rushed things, but could they not stay around with all the other guests to avoid gossip about why the queen led them here? Renee hoped the queen and king wouldn’t accept it in front of others, but were going to ask that Renee and Nathan reject it now. That would not happen.

Tobias was glad that Renee asked so he could get some answers.

Tabitha sat down on one of the chairs. "It was a rushed engagement. There were only three days until the selection would be officially over and Tobias would have proposed to one of the remaining women. The court thinks we should check if Hazel is touched."

Renee gasped, turning to her husband.

"Mother, you cannot be serious. I did not touch her," Tobias said, leaving Hazel’s side to go to his mother. They never once shared a kiss. The most he did was hold her hand and kiss the back of it.

"That will be confirmed when the doctor comes to check," Tabitha answered. It was what the court wanted and honestly, she wanted it checked too.

It was a question that some might bring up and the palace would already have the answer to it.

"I did not touch her," Tobias repeated. "When this gets out-"

"It will not get out. We are here to keep the matter private," Tabitha replied, remaining calm despite her anger with Tobias.

"It will get out. Nothing stays a secret in the palace for long," Tobias said, against the doctor coming to take a look at Hazel. "I am giving you my word that I did not touch her. You think that if I did she would show signs of being pregnant in three days?"

Tobias wasn’t going to let the doctor get close to Hazel. He’d bet that the court was going to bring the twisted doctor who claimed he could get on if a woman was still a virgin by using some of his tools on her.

"Think of when this gets out what the people will say. That minutes after the proposal the queen rushed to check if Hazel was pregnant. You are writing the beginning of a scandal," Tobias said, his anger growing the more he spoke.

"Tobias, you must calm yourself. This is the only way for us to know that nothing happened any time the two of you were alone. It will be quick and-"

"Do not say painless because you have never been one of his experiments," Tobias interjected before his mother could speak on something she had no idea about.

"I didn’t do anything with the prince," Hazel spoke up to defend herself. She didn’t want to be checked if she had slept with Tobias.

As far as she knew, you could only tell if someone was a virgin from the first time having sex so what did the palace intend to do to her? Whatever it was, Hazel did not want to experience it.

"I stand by them that nothing happened," Renee said.

She knew her daughter well enough to believe that Hazel wouldn’t have been so foolish to let the prince trick her into sleeping with him. Renee liked to believe that she raised her daughter right so if Hazel said nothing happened and the prince was also saying it, then nothing happened.

"They are both saying that nothing happened, Your Majesty. Why put her through a test when we can go by their word?" Nathan asked as he was not putting Hazel through whatever the palace was preparing right now.

Tabitha sighed as once again she was the only one thinking about how things were normally done. "Unfortunately, this is not a matter that we can just listen to their word. The court will not let this matter rest so we must go forward with it. I believe what you both say, but please understand the position we are all in."

"It is starting to feel like the court has more power than the king and queen. Just say you don’t believe that I did not touch her. You can test her over my dead body. We are leaving," Tobias said, turning around to take Hazel to get out of here.

"Tobias!" Tabitha called, standing up. He had caused enough trouble with the proposal. Running away now when the court needed this answer so they could stay quiet would bring more problems. "Do not leave this room, Tobias!"

Tobias ignored his mother’s order and held Hazel’s hand. "Either you call this off or we leave and create a scandal right now."