The Cursed Alpha Prince's Replacement Bride Chapter 102: Warmth Equals Alexander

{Third Person}

Alexander did not answer imdiately. Instead, he picked up his utensils and began eating, as though her question had not been worth a response.

For a mont, Amara thought he would ignore it entirely. Then he spoke.

"I eat what I need," he said flatly.

Amara blinked and glanced across the table again before looking back at him. "That looks like enough for five people," she said before she could stop herself.

Alexander lifted his gaze and looked at her slowly. "...Are you counting?"

Amara straightened slightly. "No, I’m just—"

"Then eat," he interrupted calmly, leaving no room for argunt.

She paused, then lowered her eyes to the food placed in front of her. "I didn’t co here to eat."

"Yet you are sitting at my table," he replied.

Amara opened her mouth as if to argue, but then closed it again. He was not wrong.

After a brief hesitation, she picked up her utensils and took a small bite. Her expression shifted slightly, subtle but noticeable.

Alexander caught it imdiately. "...What?"

Amara shook her head quickly. "Nothing."

He continued to look at her, unconvinced. In the end, after a brief hesitation, she was forced to admit, "It’s just... it tastes better than I expected."

A short pause followed before he asked, "You expected otherwise?"

Amara froze slightly. "That’s not what I ant."

Alexander did not respond, but the faint shift in his gaze suggested he had heard enough.

The silence that followed was no longer stiff. It settled more naturally between them. Amara took another bite, then another, gradually easing into the mont.

After a while, Alexander nudged one of the dishes slightly toward her. "Try that."

Amara looked at the dish, then at him. "...Are you sure?"

He did not answer, which sohow felt like confirmation. She reached out and took a small portion.

At the sa ti, Ginger stirred.

The cat, which had been unusually still, suddenly leaned forward, its attention fixed on the food. Amara felt it shift in her arms and tightened her hold imdiately.

"No," she whispered under her breath. "Stay still."

Ginger did not listen. It stretched forward, trying to get closer.

Before Amara could fully restrain it, Alexander picked up a small piece of at and flicked it lightly toward the floor. It landed a short distance away.

Ginger froze, then turned and slipped out of Amara’s arms, darting toward the food.

Amara stared at him. "...You just did that on purpose."

"She was about to jump on the table," Alexander said calmly, as if that explained everything. "Should I have let her?"

"No." Then, Amara looked between him and the cat, still slightly surprised. "You didn’t threaten her this ti."

Alexander said nothing, but he did not deny it either. anwhile, Ginger, now fully occupied, had lost interest in the table.

Amara exhaled softly, relaxing. "Thank you..."

Alexander dismissed it with a small wave of his hand.

The atmosphere was quieter, calr, and no longer tense. After a mont, Amara rembered why she had co.

"I went to the Queen’s palace this morning," she said.

Alexander paused briefly, then continued eating. "And?"

"She brought up what happened yesterday," Amara said. "About you losing control."

That made him look at her.

"She asked questions in front of everyone. It sounded like concern, but it wasn’t. She wanted to say sothing that would make you look dangerous."

Alexander remained silent.

"The others followed her lead," Amara continued. "They twisted everything and made it sound worse than it was."

She paused briefly, then added, "Julia also spoke to afterwards."

That caught his attention imdiately. "What did she say?"

Amara frowned slightly as she recalled it. "She said I should stop dragging you into problems... that I am drawing attention to you and leading you into your enemies’ traps."

A quiet silence followed as Alexander leaned back slightly, with a steady gaze. "Next ti, you do not answer them."

Amara blinked. "What?"

"Just leave," he said simply.

She hesitated before replying, "That’s not easy. It’s the Queen. If I offend her, it becos a bigger problem." She paused, then added more honestly, "And I don’t want to leave you to clean up a ss I created."

Her words lingered. Alexander did not respond imdiately. Instead, he studied her quietly. This was an unexpected answer.

’She is thinking about ?’

The thought ca uninvited, and he found himself montarily unsettled by it.

Seeing that he had remained quiet, Amara shifted slightly under his gaze. "Did I say sothing wrong?"

Alexander looked away. "No." His tone had shifted, though only slightly. After a mont, he spoke again. "If she summons you again, inform first."

Amara looked at him for a second, then nodded. "Alright."

He did not explain further, but the aning was clear. And for reasons she could not quite explain, Amara felt a little more at ease.

Once again, a comfortable silence settled between them, as only the quiet clink of cutlery against porcelain filled the room.

Amara found herself eating more than she had intended.

At so point, she noticed sothing subtle. Alexander had slowed down. He had not stopped eating, but his pace was no longer as precise or efficient as before.

It took her a mont to understand the reason. He was keeping pace with her. But why would he do that?

She lowered her gaze and continued eating. After a while, she spoke again with a softer voice than before.

"Are you feeling better today?"

Alexander’s hand paused slightly at her question. It was a small pause, almost unnoticeable, but it was there.

He did not look at her imdiately. Instead, he set his utensils down with quiet precision before lifting his gaze to et hers.

"Why?" he asked.

Amara hesitated briefly before answering. "Yesterday... you didn’t look well."

He held her gaze for a mont before finally declaring, "It is not your concern." Though the words were distant, the tone did not carry the sa coldness as before.

Amara nodded gently and did not press him further. Still, her eyes lingered on him for a mont longer before she looked away.

Just then, a soft movent caught her attention.

Ginger padded quietly across the floor, its earlier caution completely gone. It paused near the table, glanced upward, and then, without hesitation, leapt lightly onto the seat beside Alexander’s left.

Amara’s eyes widened slightly. "Ginger—"

She instinctively moved, ready to retrieve it. But she stopped because Alexander did not react.

He did not push the cat away, nor did he glare or threaten it this ti. Instead, he simply glanced down at it with an unreadable expression.

Ginger, encouraged by the lack of resistance, stepped closer and settled beside his arm, its attention fixed on the food before him.

Nothing happened for a while. Then Alexander reached for a piece of at and held it out. Ginger leaned forward and took it carefully from his hand.

Amara stilled as Alexander did not hesitate or withdraw. Instead, he picked up another piece, smaller this ti, and fed it again with the sa quiet ease, as though the act were nothing unusual.

Ginger’s tail flicked contentedly as it settled beside him, completely at ease.

Amara watched the scene in silence. There was sothing about it that did not align with the image she had ford of him.

This was the sa man who carried himself with cold distance, whose presence alone made others wary, whose gaze could silence a room.

And yet, here he was, feeding a small animal with calm patience.

Though Alexander was harsh on the outside, distant and difficult to approach, beneath that there was sothing else. Sothing warr, sothing far less cruel than the rumours suggested.

She looked at him again, more carefully now. Alexander did not acknowledge her gaze. If he noticed it, he chose not to react.

Ginger, now satisfied, curled comfortably near his arm as though it had always belonged there.