Chapter 59: This is not for you to decide..

Colm only sneered. "That’s not for you to decide."

There was no other suspect. Whether Oisín was guilty or not, the Gallagher Family had to have an answer.

Colm looked at Oisín. The Iris Major General was strikingly handsome, and Colm truly admired him. If Oisín hadn’t cut off the engagement and turned to Fionn, Colm would already have locked him in the back rooms as his fiancé and made him suffer to let out all his stored-up hatred.

The beauty he had nearly won had slipped away, and Colm’s hatred grew even stronger. His greedy eyes moved over Oisín’s whole body, as if deciding where to strike first.

But when his gaze passed over Oisín’s collar and caught faint red marks, Colm was stunned for a moment, and then his anger flared. He kicked the table aside. "Well, Oisín, when we were engaged, I asked you to my bed and you played the proper, reluctant one, saying it had to wait until after the wedding. I thought the females of the Collins Family were so well-bred and noble. But I hear that just two days after meeting the Third Prince, you couldn’t wait to jump into his bed?"

Turning Colm down and then chasing Fionn was like rubbing Colm’s face in the dirt.

"..."

The Collins Family was famous in the capital, not just for its wealth but for its strict family rules. Oisín had always kept to good manners and protected his dignity, except for that one time he chased Fionn.

Only that one time, because he’d had no choice.

Oisín stayed silent.

There was a reason behind it, but he couldn’t deny it.

Colm sneered. "How disgusting. Your fiancé lies unconscious, and you turn around and climb into the Third Prince’s bed. I should tell every newspaper in the capital tomorrow and have them put it on the front page: Oisín Collins, only son of the Collins Family, Iris Major General of the Third Army. What a vile creature."

His family and his army comrades were Oisín’s weak points. Colm stared at him, but Oisín’s face didn’t change. His eyes were empty, fixed on some far point, as if his soul had left his body. Not getting the reaction he wanted, Colm narrowed his eyes. "Not speaking? What, you disagree?"

"No." Oisín lowered his eyes and actually smiled. "You are right to scold me."

"I’m right to scold you?" Colm’s eyes darkened with spite. He swept the wine glass off the table, and it shattered on the ground. He grabbed Oisín’s tie, forced his neck up, and raised his arm as if to slap him. "Do you really think that just because you’re with the Third Prince, I wouldn’t dare touch you? Imagine how he’d react if I disciplined you in his place."

"..."

Oisín thought flatly, Maybe he wouldn’t react at all.

Males were often unreasonable. Swapping females wasn’t unusual, and sometimes males even traded their wives. When things got rough and someone was hurt, a few apologies were all it took. The Third Prince had been gentle for two days, but after their night together he hadn’t even promised marriage. Oisín thought that in Fionn’s eyes he was probably just a pretty toy.

The Gallagher Family was powerful, and Colm was its only male heir. There were many benefits to siding with him. As for a "pretty toy" who had already been taken and had no choice but to offer up his family, he wasn’t precious. If he was disciplined, so be it.

But thinking this way, a slight bitterness rose in Oisín’s chest. He curled his fingers, then let them go, stiffly. A bitterness he couldn’t control spread through his blood and turned into an ache.

...It hurt a little.

The feeling was somewhat unfamiliar, like when his need for pheromones wasn’t met. Oisín was stunned for a moment and forced the strange feeling down. He smiled bitterly inside. Just two days of kindness, and I really started hoping for things I shouldn’t.

In front of him, Colm had raised his arm high, ready to strike.

The wind brushed his cheek, and the palm was right there.

Oisín sighed and closed his eyes.

He couldn’t avoid this punishment.

Morally, he was the main suspect in Colm’s injury. The victim had come to him, and there was no reason to dodge. By custom, he was a female and Colm was a male. If a male wanted to make trouble, a female couldn’t fight back.

Oisín thought calmly that he only hoped the slap would be light. He didn’t have much time, and he still needed this face to win Fionn over. If blood splattered everywhere and ruined the Third Prince’s appetite, it would cause more problems for the marriage, and that would be very bad.

The next second, something flew through the air and hit Colm’s hand with a smack, knocking it open. Colm, caught off guard, stumbled back two steps and looked up in shock and confusion.

Oisín paused too and looked up.

Lorcan was standing upstairs, he didn’t know since when. His face was noble, he wore elaborate clothes, and his hair was neatly combed. He held a pastry, tossing it up and down, watching the commotion in the courtyard with interest.

The System poked him. "Host, your aim is pretty good."

A pastry thrown from the second floor had landed right on the back of Colm’s hand.

Lorcan clicked his tongue. "Of course. All those grenades I threw in the simulator weren’t for nothing."

He came down the stairs with elegant steps and a straight back and stood next to the rumpled Colm, which made the only male of the Gallagher Family look like a rough brute.

Oisín was stunned for a moment but quickly smiled and bowed. "Good afternoon, Your Highness."

Lorcan ignored him and looked only at Colm. "What are you doing here?"

Colm smiled. "Oh, I thought Major General Oisín was being rude, and I wanted to teach him some manners on your behalf."

016 prompted, "Host, your line."

It helpfully showed it on the screen. The line was, "Teach him a lesson? Fine, go ahead."

In the original text, the Third Prince despised Oisín, especially for hurting a male. He was happy to let Colm lead in punishing him, and later, finding it amusing, he joined in, turning a proper banquet into something ugly. The next morning, news of the Iris Major General’s disgrace was the headline in every section, full of specific details that Colm had clearly leaked, and the public chatted about it with great delight.

Overnight, the Collins Family was shamed, and the Iris Major General became a laughingstock.

"Teach him a lesson? Fine," Lorcan stood between the two with his arms crossed. "Go ahead and teach him a lesson."

His tone was casual, as if he were talking about someone of no importance.

Behind him, Oisín’s pupils shrank, and his body went tense for a moment, then loosened as if he’d given up. His lips moved slightly, and he tasted a trace of blood on his tongue.

He stared at Lorcan’s striking profile, and the bitterness in his heart deepened.

To have shared such a tender spring night, and yet to say words that could ruin him so easily.

But in the next moment, Lorcan kicked the table leg, and the table crashed to the ground, and Colm tumbled down with it. The Third Prince looked down at him from above, his face full of anger.

"Teach him a lesson? Let’s see how you plan to teach him a lesson!"