You Hit My Heart by Kylie Stanford

Chapter 2048: A Surprise Move sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The head guard knelt on the ground with a thud.

"Your Highness, please punish me alone. It was my dereliction of duty."

The other guards also knelt but did not plead for themselves. Instead, they spoke in unison, "Please punish us, Your Highness."

According to palace rules and their own sense of honor, pleading for oneself or accepting someone else's plea was seen as weakness and disgrace. Family honor was more important than life itself, so there was no other choice.

Clint waved his hand, and an attendant hurried to prepare cherries.

Joyce clenched her fist, biting down hard, her gaze becoming sharp.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you not confident?"

"Confidence is not the key issue," Joyce said through gritted teeth.

"Then what is the key issue?" Clint asked curiously.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," Joyce replied dismissively. She stretched her arms, doing some warm-up exercises. After all, she wasn't training every day now, and lives were at stake; she had to be cautious.

Clint patted the coffee table beside him. "Sit. Let them prepare while you have a cup of tea with me."

After a moment's thought, Joyce sat down next to him.

"Why do you have to do this?" she asked. "If you're doing it to show me something, it's unnecessary."

"Rules are rules," Clint smiled. "Besides, I'm looking forward to seeing your skills firsthand."

"If you just want to see me shoot, you could take me to the shooting range. The effect would be the same," Joyce frowned. "Why risk their safety?"

Clint glanced at Joyce, his eyes gleaming. "A shooting range is so

all he cared about? He was truly

Joyce a cup of

tea cooled her lungs and calmed

she set the cup down in

on his face. He genuinely wanted to

the attendant

stood up and lined up

placed a cherry

Clint a pistol as

carefully before

too far by giving her a large-caliber one; otherwise, no matter

her eyes to mentally simulate its model, recoil, wind speed, trajectory, and drop before opening them again quickly.

step forward and stood about ten meters

Standing firm.

their breath-including the attendants and maids watching nearby. Some timid maids dared not turn their backs for fear of disrespecting the prince; they could only lower their heads deeply. The row of guards was

they were all selected through rigorous processes and had basic composure; they stood

main concern was that their fear-induced trembling might affect her

she noticed one young guard trembling in

for

Turning to Clint:

shots into the sky or forest first? It's been

while sipping his

"Don't watch me; I'll fire some practice shots into the sky and forest first. When I'm ready to start for real,

hearing this and no longer felt

responded in

at targets in the sky-birds flying by-and then

young guard's cherry-topped head. With a bang followed by several

when