Chapter 7

"I should have you flogged and locked up. How dare you touch me with your filthy hands?" He lifted his palm to hit her but Josephine just stared back at him, daring him to try.

She folded her arms and sighed when he placed it back at his sides. "I'll pretend this never happened. Just get out of my sight!" He brushed past her and Josephine's blood boiled; she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her.

"I don't know what stick you have shoved far up your silver spoon fed ass but I was here first, go find a different balcony to bitch on." She pulled him behind her and shoved his chest backwards.

The man only stared at his chest in shock, like he had never experienced something like this before.

His expression made Josephine scoff. "Now hurry up and get out of here before I really get angry."

She waved him off and as she turned around. Suddenly, the man gripped her wrist and pulled her closer to him. He stared at her face with a deep intensity that made Josephine blush; she began to wonder if there was something on her face. His blue eyes couldn't shine any brighter and his gaze was piercing. Before she could say something, Josephine caught a glimpse of Valentina and another girl right outside the balcony doors.

With a quickness, Josephine grabbed the man's shirt and pulled him behind a giant potted plant in the corner. She looked past the plant as the two women walked up and down, visibly searching for something or someone. Josephine looked down at the man squatted beside her; his face was close to her belly and her spacious puffy dress was wrapped around them so they wouldn't be found.

Josephine had instinctively hidden because she didn't want to deal with her step sister and the madness that followed her...however, she wasn't sure why she had pulled the annoying man along. Maybe it was brought on in the heat of the moment?

Nonetheless, as the man tried to speak, Josephine placed a finger to his lips and whispered, "Shutup!"

The man frowned at her and pinched her wrist. She glared at him.

Valentina and her friend let out a sigh of exhaustion and Valentina exclaimed in her exaggeratedly snobby voice, "I was certain that I saw him come out here!"

It almost sounded like a sob. Josephine wanted to laugh out loud; she couldn't believe how one person could always be so dramatic. But she kept her lips sealed as she didn't want to be found.

"Maybe he already left? Let's search somewhere else." Her friend patted her shoulder but Valentina swatted her hand off and yelled in her face.

"Where else could the crown prince be?" She turned around in a flurry and stomped back into the party with her friend following right behind her like a faithful sheep.

Josephine's eyes slowly turned to the man beside her in realization. She squealed in horror as she shoved him away.

'He is the prince? No...the crown prince...so he will be the king soon,' She pondered while rising. He got up as well, angrily dusting off his coat.

She couldn't believe she had been so rude and abrasive to someone that could have had her imprisoned or worse. Josephine wasn't narcissistic enough to believe that Luca's power extended far back to an era where she wasn't even Luca. She thought fast about how women behaved in similar situations, based on the period-dramas Luca had watched on occasion and immediately curtsied for the prince.

"Forgive me, your highness, for the stupid things I said before," She began then let out a laugh as if it was all a joke.

She needed to get out of here before she got into further trouble. Fast. The last thing she needed while trying to figure out her way back to her own time was to be sentenced to death. The prince looked at her in confusion then he got poker faced.

"Enough. I do not understand what game you're playing at but if all this is yet some other new ploy to win my favor and become my wife," The man stomped over, staring her down coldly with gritted teeth. "It will never work!"

Josephine stood perplexed. She couldn't even understand what he meant by 'ploy', much less how it would result in her becoming his wife. She stepped closer to him because she refused to be intimidated, prince or not. No one spoke down on Luca Torello, even if he was trapped in the body of a tiny woman.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Do you think I want to be here, wearing this grossly fitted and very uncomfortable outfit, being leered at and looked down on by shitty men like you?" She spat back.

The prince was stunned by her outlandishness; he had never experienced someone so frank and outspoken towards him before. He had also never been looked down on and threatened before...he wasn't even sure how to react to such things. Josephine stepped even closer and the look in her eyes terrified him for a second, making him even forget that he was the crown prince. How could a king be scared of a tiny cricket like woman?

"I'll have you know that you are speaking to your crown prince. You shall respect my position and remember yours," He gritted out his words but Josephine's eyes still blazed with unquenchable fire.

She had forgotten to be cautious around such royalty because the temptation to rip him apart was too great; they could have her executed later for treason, she didn't care. She would never let anyone treat her like she was below them.

"I don't care if you are the president of the entire planet. I don't know why I'm here and I don't care much for your shitty title or your shitty party!" She smiled smugly at him. "Oh and just a heads up; in the future, things like kings and queens are obsolete in most countries. The ones that struggle to remain are mere puppets. Your generations will die out and all you stand for will be lost. No one will remember you, you arrogant self-righteous tit!"

The prince's eyes widened and he lifted his palm to slap Josephine but she clamped her hand around his wrist. "How dare you? Unhand me!"

He then tried to pull his hand back but Josephine held onto it for dear life, using all her strength. He was much stronger than she had anticipated because once again, she'd forgotten that she was now a 'powerless' woman.

"Or what? You'll ask your dumbass yes-men advisors to write you a book on how to deal with people telling you the truth?" Josephine finally let go of his wrist and pushed the prince back. "Don't worry, princey, I plan on not coming for these stupid balls anymore. Goodluck to the dumb broad that ends up being your wife,"

When she said that, a wicked thought popped into her mind. "You might want to look into Valentina Romano, she'd be the perfect wife for you." She pushed past a shocked and completely astonished prince, and walked back into the ball where people were still dancing and chattering.

Their happy faces made Josephine want to throw up and when she spotted the prince storming out of the balcony behind her, she knew she had to hide. With the way she had acted towards him in private, she wouldn't be surprised if some guards picked her up at any moment and tossed her into a prison cell. Josephine slid past some guards fearfully and she tried to escape back to the front garden of the castle.