“No.”
He froze.
“Tonight, I walk alone.”
For once, the king obeyed.
In the months that followed, Adrian did not pretend everything could return to normal.
Isabella did not forgive him quickly.
He had to earn back every piece of trust he had destroyed.
He ended the humiliating court games.
He removed those who continued mocking the queen.
Most importantly, he finally began listening to his wife instead of judging her body.
Months later, Isabella gave birth to two healthy daughters.
And for years afterward, people in the palace remembered the night King Adrian forced his wife to dance because he believed the whole court would laugh at her.
Instead, it became the night Isabella made the entire palace fall silent.
And when she opened the dress meant to humiliate her, the thing truly exposed was not her body.
It was the king’s cruelty.
