DISCLAIMER: I do not own Choices. This fun game belongs to Pixelberry! :)

Chapter Ten: An Unexpected Development

Thanking his bodyguard for all his hard work, Liam ended the phone call absentmindedly and placed his phone on the side table. Even after climbing into his luxurious bed, he couldn't relax at all – his mind was still trying to think of who had betrayed him at the bachelor party. As Bastien had just informed him, they had been able to buy the photos, which was a relief, of course – but there was still the matter of who had taken them in the first place.

Bastien had said that judging from the photos, only one of Liam's close friends could have been in the position to take them, and Liam didn't know what to think. He didn't want to consider the possibility that either Maxwell or Tariq could have betrayed him like that. In fact, he wanted to immediately dismiss the notion that one of those two could have done it, but as a prince, he had to look at the issue from all angles.

Sighing, he stared at the gilded ceiling of his room and started to go through that night's events in his mind one more time, to figure out if either Maxwell or Tariq had been acting suspiciously…

…when he heard a knock on the door. Happy about the interruption, Liam opened the door, and on the other side was Riley. She was still wearing her blue dress from the ball, looking beautiful as always – but for some reason, she looked a little… worried. Hoping he could make her feel better, Liam welcomed her in warmly and invited her outside for her to see his surprise.

But when she did see it, she had a peculiar reaction. The many candles that were flickering happily around the outdoor hot tub, not to mention the stunning view of the mountains – didn't make Riley smile at all. On the contrary, her eyes widened and she bit her lip.

"Oh… and you even went through all the effort to do this…"

She trailed off, sounding very troubled.

That really wasn't the reaction Liam had anticipated, and, worried that he had done something inappropriate – though truthfully, nothing about inviting one of his suitors to his abode like this was appropriate in the first place – he led her back inside, where they sat down on a small sofa.

But even after they had settled down, Liam didn't know what to do. Having gotten used to Riley's easygoing conversation, seeing her uncharacteristically pensive like this was something Liam wasn't sure how to handle. He didn't know what to say, or what question he should ask her to get to the root of what was bothering her – but she solved the dilemma for him. Looking at Liam straight in the eye, Riley spoke.

"I've come to ask for your permission."

"My permission? For what?"

"Your permission to leave Cordonia. Prince Liam, I don't think I can marry you."

(End of Chapter Ten.) (T-10/06/17.) (F-17/06/18.)

Chapter Ten notes: (B01-C08.) Remember in the earlier The Royal Romance chapters, when barely anybody liked Drake? :P I had no idea if people would even read my MC/Drake fanfic… but YOU did! :D

About my main Pixelberry fanfic: Hello! :) If you like Pixelberry's Hollywood U or Pixelberry's Red Carpet Diaries, then I encourage you to read my MC/Hunt fanfic "NYTMC 1: Not Your Typical Meet-Cute." It currently has 219,000 words (64 chapters), and it is written from Thomas Hunt's perspective :D

(Thanks for reading! :D Reviews make me smile! ^_^)