The room is dark. Unlike what one would expect from a seamstress's room. I expected more color, more pattern, and a vibrant feeling. But with only two candles being lit in the room, the room instead gives an eerie feeling.

Lyall is sitting on a large chair at one end of the room. He crosses his leg as his fingers tap on the chair's arm. His claws are out.

On the other hand, Nari kneels in front of him, with her head touching the floor. At a closer look, her shoulders are shaking.

The maid and Grey stay outside while I step into the room. Grey looks at me with a conflicted look when the old maid closes the door, leaving me in the dark with Lyall and Nari.

I don't know how Lyall does it, but when he twirls his hand in the air, the light from the candle gives an orange glint on his claws. Even I gulp at how sharp the lycan king's claws look.

"I believe I told Marissa to escort you back to my room," Lyall says. Marissa must be the old maid that greeted me.

The depth of his voice sends shivers down my spine. I don't know why my legs suddenly feel so tired right after hearing his intimidating tone.

"I asked Marissa to take me here. It's not her fault." Even with the eeriness crawling on my skin, somehow, I am not afraid. Unlike Nari, who is shaking on the floor. "What are you doing here, Your Highness?"

He twirls his claws, making my sensitive ears hear the slight wind-cutting sound as proof of how sharp those claws are.

"A little bird told me that other than Grey, someone visited my room this morning," he says slowly, "But I didn't give any other person permission to do so."

Lyall's gaze shoots through me sharply.

"I believe Nari here," Lyall drops his claws on the chair's arm, easily puncturing deep into the cushion. Exactly like a sword cutting through a cheese, "is the perpetrator. Is that right, Mars?"

I keep my mouth shut, bidding my time to figure out how to answer this question. It seems like a trap. But I don't know if the sword will keep me safe or turn to me if I say my truth.

"You are my person," Lyall says. His emerald eyes magically glint in the dimly lit room. The fires from the candles are all reflected in his eyes. "If anyone dares to harm you physically, mentally, or even try to smear your reputation, that person will be punished, Mars."

When I still keep my silence, his eyes soften for a while before he continues, "Letting someone who has tricked you off, just like that, is also an insult to me because you're my person. It's okay to tell me and I'll punish her so it won't happen again."

I realize Lyall is giving me a choice. I can just tell the truth and let him handle the rest. That way my hands would be clean from whatever would happen to Nari.

"Please," Nari's voice quivers in fear, "Please... I thought I was helping Miss Mars. I didn't know that making her pretty is a sin. Please forgive me."

Lies.

Although I am impressed by how she can twist the situation with her words even while shaking so badly. Those are pretty yet pitiful words. Her words also confirm to us that people are overhearing our conversations. If they only hear Nari's words, they'd think that I am the one being overdramatic, that I am the evil one for asking Lyall to punish her despite Nari's pure intention.

Lyall disregards Nari's pleas. His eyes still hold my gaze. "The only truth I will hear is from your lips, Mars. And what I consider the truth will be the laws in this kingdom."

I know what Lyall is implying with his words. He knows about the possibility of people watching Nari's room. Perhaps his sharper lycan sense can even locate them when I could not smell anything weird. And yet he is telling me to not mind what people would think, as he will take care of it for me.

But if I let him handle my problem, that would mean I am still dependent on him. Ganesh has let me realize that in order to really claim a new life in this kingdom, I have to be able to stand on my own two feet, too. People need to respect and beware of this ordinary werewolf girl.

This reason alone tempts me so much to just let Lyall punish Nari.

So, I have made up my mind.

Raising my chin, I look straight at the king's eyes and lie, "I was the one who asked Nari to come to the room. If you must punish her, punish me."

I decided to take on the blame myself, to let go of the anger I felt.

Lyall's face grows darker as the silence stretches in the room. At that moment, I finally can hear a faint heartbeat from behind the door of the room. The listener could either be Grey or the maid from before.

"Are you sure?" Lyall's voice is deep and cutting.

"Yes," I repeat, "I asked Nari to come. So, if you must punish her, punish me instead."

Nari gasps with her face still on the floor. She must never have thought that I would cover up for her despite knowing well what she had done.

The king goes quiet for a while. He taps his fingers on the chair's arm that he punctured with his claws before. Without my words, he doesn't have a reason to punish Nari now.

"Why?" He is asking why I choose to cover Nari up.

"Because every kind gesture is always rewarded, Your Highness," I say as I approach the kneeling Nari. I pop out my claws and graze Nari's silky orange gown. In a light but slow movement, I scratch the woman's back. My sharp nail can easily dig into her shaking spine.

"Please..." Nari mumbles on the floor.

If it's only me, I bet Nari would have tried to fight back. But the greatest warrior in the lycan kingdom is with me, and Nari could do nothing but beg for her life. Still, this way, she will know that I am not afraid of her.

I bend so that my mouth is close to her ear to whisper, "And I will collect my reward."

When I straighten my posture, I see Lyall smirking with excitement in his eyes. Honestly, his expression surprises me. It's like he is proud... of me... but why?

Lyall scoffs into a peal of dark laughter. He retracts his claws, then brushes his chin as if pondering his options.

"So be it then. I see that I almost make a hasty mistake then," he says lightly, still smirking, "Thank you for clarifying, werewolf girl."

In return, I smile lightly at him. "I'm glad then."

The lycan king stands and walks out of the room without even saying anything to Nari. When the door opens, there is no one behind the door. Not even Grey or the old maid. So we still don't know who the listener was. Well, I don't know who the listener was or if there was any listener, to begin with.

Lyall takes a few steps but then stops in the middle of the hallway. He is waiting for me to catch up to him.

But I need to stay to say this to Nari, "Come to the room tomorrow morning at 6 AM sharp."

"What?" Nari raises her face to look me in the eye. She flinches when our gaze meets and I consider it a good thing. There is a firestorm brewing inside me today.

"You heard me."

"But I... I..."

"Like I said," I say curtly, "I will collect my reward. Come or you'll be punished." Without waiting for Nari's reply, I turn to follow Lyall out of the room.

We walk in silence for some time until we reach the hallway to our room. Well, Lyall's room, to be exact. Not really my room. The soreness in my feet appears again. I am so ready to shower and go to bed before dinner.

"So... the eagle. How did you do it?" I need something to break the ice.

Lyall shrugs. "It was magic. Quite an intricate and expensive magic, to be honest. I was not truly present in the village. Magic connects the eagle with my mind, so whatever it sees, I see. Whatever it hears, I hear."

"And if you're jealous, the eagle is jealous too?" It's a light-hearted question, meant to tease him. But Lyall's face becomes serious.

"You do know that you defending Nari in front of me is like serving a platter of insults to me, right?" Lyall asks just two steps before reaching the room. He is avoiding answering my question about him being jealous.

Tch. Petty.

I blame my pregnancy hormone for acting without really thinking. Or perhaps I am just fed up with the day and couldn't contain my irritation any longer that I am doing something impulsive.

To answer him, I quickly grab his collar and pull him to me. His weight is too heavy for me, that my body stumbles to the wall across from the room's door. If it wasn't for Lyall, grabbing the wall to take his weight off of me, we both would have fallen to the floor.

But I keep pulling him to me until our lips crash together. I claim his lips and am not letting his collar go.

Lyall responds back with kisses instantly. Soon enough, I feel fireworks exploding in my lips and throat. He puts his hand on my cheek and presses his face to me, too. His body moves to trap me even more with the wall while I cling to his collar.

Soon, my head spins from the kisses. I feel hot and cold at the same time.

I don't want to stop, but my lungs need air, so I break the kiss and take gulps of air to refill my lungs. When I can breathe better, I put a smirk on and ask, "Is this good enough to repay the insult you received?"

His lips open to a smile, giving a hot yet electrifying gush of breath to my face. "Marsha, insulting the king gravely is only redeemable by death. Are you ready to give your entire self to me?" His voice is low, and deep, and it sends chills to my bone.

His finger caresses the skin under my scrub, just above my pants. Then he slips his finger between my skin and the pants. "Shall I rip this ugly scrub from you?"

Raising my eyebrow with a smirk, I say, "I thought you said it could only be redeemed by death."

"That's for others," he says, "For you, I'll settle with the taste of your body. Besides, I need to ingrain more of my scent to you to repel that Duncan guy from approaching you anymore."

He picks my entire body up with one hand. My feet circle his waist so naturally. "Wait...," that's when I realize what I just did and hesitation finally catches up to me.

"Congratulations for successfully making me jealous," he says while carrying me so easily to enter his room, "Now, I shall reward your kind gesture, don't you think?" The last bit has a sarcastic tone.

"Lyall, wait..."

He throws me down to the bed and shuts my lips with more kisses. One of his hands pulls down my scrub pants in one smooth motion, revealing my white panties.

My stomach turns wildly. That's when the panic creeps in.

–to be continued–