Lin Wei stood frozen in the center of the courtyard as armed guards surrounded them. Their faces were blank, unreadable. Only the glint of polished metal betrayed the tension in the air.
"Step back, Your Highness," the captain said, bowing stiffly to Hamdan. "His Majesty demands an explanation for this… scene."
Hamdan didn't move. His hand clenched at his side, fury barely contained. "There's nothing to explain."
"Then why," the captain asked carefully, "is a palace maid out here with two princes at midnight?"
Lin Wei's pulse hammered. The sound of whispers rose among the guards. She could feel their judgment, their disgust—the maid who seduced royalty.
Before Hamdan could answer, Omar stepped forward. "Enough. Miss Lin was summoned by me."
Hamdan's head snapped toward him. "You—what?"
Omar's voice was calm, deliberate. "She was helping me with a confidential matter concerning the palace archives. You can verify it in the morning."
It was a lie, but a noble one. The kind of lie meant to save her.
Hamdan's eyes darkened. "Don't you dare pull me into your cover stories, cousin."
The guards exchanged uncertain glances.
Omar ignored him. "Escort Miss Lin to her quarters. If anyone questions it, they can speak to me directly."
The captain hesitated, torn between two princes. Then, reluctantly, he nodded. "As you wish, Your Highness."
As the guards lowered their weapons, Hamdan's voice sliced through the silence. "No. She stays."
Omar turned sharply. "Hamdan—"
"I said she stays," he repeated, his tone low and dangerous. "You think you can protect her with lies? You'll get her killed."
"Keeping her here will do the same," Omar snapped.
The air between them crackled. Lin Wei stepped back, dizzy from the pull of their anger, the flashing torches, the oppressive eyes around them.
She finally found her voice. "Enough! Both of you!"
The courtyard fell silent.
She looked at Hamdan first. "You keep talking about protection, but all you do is trap me." Then at Omar. "And you—stop pretending you can fix this with noble lies. You're both playing games I never agreed to join."
For the first time, both princes fell quiet.
"Take me back," Lin Wei said to the guards. "If the King wants answers, I'll give them myself."
Hamdan took a step forward. "You don't know what you're walking into."
She met his gaze head-on. "Maybe not. But at least I'll walk in on my own terms."
The throne room at dawn was colder than the night before.
King Rashid sat on the raised dais, his expression carved from stone. Around him, council members murmured like vultures waiting for the kill.
Lin Wei stood at the center of it all—small, fragile-looking, but unbowed.
Hamdan and Omar stood on opposite sides of the hall. Leila sat to one side, watching with a smile too sharp to be innocent.
"So," the King said at last, his voice heavy with age and authority. "A maid becomes the subject of every whisper in my palace."
No one dared speak.
The King's gaze fell on Lin Wei. "Tell me, girl. What truly happened last night?"
Lin Wei's hands trembled, but her voice did not. "I left my chamber because someone warned me I was in danger. I found two princes already fighting in the courtyard. If I've broken a rule, punish me. But I didn't seek this."
The room buzzed with murmurs.
One advisor sneered. "And who gave this… maid permission to speak to His Majesty without kneeling?"
Before Lin Wei could answer, Hamdan's voice cut through the noise. "She speaks because I command it."
The hall went dead silent.
Hamdan's eyes burned with defiance. "If there's punishment to give, give it to me."
Omar exhaled sharply, muttering, "You're making it worse."
But Hamdan didn't care. His gaze never left Lin Wei. "She's under my protection."
Leila's laughter rang out, silvery and cruel. "Oh, how romantic. The reckless prince defending his latest scandal. How very predictable."
The King's gaze snapped to her. "Enough."
Silence fell again, but it was brittle.
Finally, the King turned back to Hamdan. "You have embarrassed this family before, but never like this. You've turned the palace into gossip for peasants." His eyes cut toward Lin Wei. "As for you… you will be reassigned. Far from here."
Lin Wei's breath caught. "What?"
"You will return to the coastal branch of the royal estates," the King said coldly. "Effective immediately. You are to have no further contact with my sons."
Hamdan's jaw locked. "That's exile."
"It's mercy," the King said. "Do not test it."
Omar looked torn, his brows drawn. "Father, that's not—"
The King raised a hand. "Enough."
Two guards stepped forward.
Lin Wei's throat tightened. She wanted to protest, to scream—but what would it change? This was power. This was what royalty meant: decisions carved in gold and blood, with no room for the voices beneath.
She looked at Hamdan one last time. His fists were clenched, eyes burning with something between rage and regret.
As the guards led her away, the marble doors closing behind her, she caught one last glimpse of Leila whispering something into the King's ear—her smile blooming like poison.
Hours later, a palace servant carried a stack of newspapers into the council chamber. The headline stretched across the front page in bold English letters:
"THE PRINCE AND THE MAID: PALACE SCANDAL ROCKS DUBAI"
Beneath it, a photo—blurred but unmistakable—of Hamdan reaching for Lin Wei's arm under the moonlight.
Hamdan stared at it, fury simmering. "They published it."
Omar's expression darkened. "Someone wanted this leak. Someone inside."
Leila's voice floated from behind them. "Or perhaps the maid wasn't as innocent as you thought."
At that moment, Hamdan's assistant burst into the conference chamber, his face deathly pale. "Your Highness—Miss Lin's transport never reached the coast. Her convoy... vanished on the desert road."
Hamdan shot to his feet, the fury in his eyes morphing into pure dread.
She's gone.