Celine pressed his head down, her hand moving to the back of his neck, caressing the place where she had choked him earlier, "And you still drugged me, when you could have proposed this solution first. What's wrong with you?"
"Sorry...I don't know. I...It was the letter... I thought you were hiding it from me, and I got mad..." he began to ramble, trying to explain himself, feeling like he was on trial.
"Liar," she stopped his excuse.
Lucian hugged her torso, his hands pulling her closer, "You feel like killing me all the time, what's so wrong with me wanting to do the same...sometimes?" He sounded pitiful even to his own ears.
"It's because I want to kill you all the time that you shouldn't give me more reasons to do so," she argued, "Your hypocrisy is unbearable. I thought you were a saint who would never raise a hand against a woman, but look at you now, getting violent when things don't go your way."
"..." Lucian sucked on her nipple harder, his cheeks hollowing, as if trying to pull her soul out through her chest. He was too ashamed to look her in the eyes, so he kept his face buried in her chest.
He was just a lost kitten in search of home now. Yes. That's what he told himself, and shamelessly, he started to purr against her skin.
"Are you meowing?" Celine couldn't believe her ears. The man who had just declared war, was now acting like a cat who got caught with its paw in the cookie jar.
"Meow?" Lucian peeked up at her with his head tilted, his eyes turning round. His hair was a mess, and his lips were glossy. He even blinked slowly, adding to the effect.
"..." Celine pushed his face back into her breast, "You're ridiculous."
"Am I forgiven?" he asked, his voice muffled.
"No."
"Then I'll keep meowing until I am."
And he did. He meowed until Celine gave up and held him tightly against her, her fingers digging into his hair, as if to punish him, but all he felt was her unable to let him go.
Her legs wrapped around his waist, trapping him in a deadlock, as if to make sure he was not going anywhere.
And just when he started to feel content, the shackles came to ruin it. Lucian groaned as he pushed himself off her body, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness, "I have to go."
Celine didn't say anything. She watched him stand up, grab his things, and head toward the fireplace. She tugged at the sheet, covering herself with it, as if she was trying to hide the fact that he had left after he had successfully gotten her forgiveness.
Lucian pushed the hidden door, revealing the darkness inside, which he entered. He turned to look at her one last time before closing it, only to see her run at him, with an arm around her chest to hold her shirt, but Lucian closed the door, leaving her behind.
They argued and hurt each other, and it should have been enough for the curse not to activate, but it felt like the understanding and acceptance they had at the end of their fight was what triggered it.
Lucian slid down the hidden passage's door, his back against it. He activated his third eye to see her slid down on the other side.
Celine pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on top. Rejected. She had been rejected again, after giving her heart for him to step on it once more.
He closed his eyes, breaking the vision, unable to handle the look of dejection on her face. It still remained burned in his mind, as he got up and walked away.
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The trip to the Breezy Cove harbor was a quiet one. Lucian didn't have the energy to make conversation with anyone, and his men were wise enough not to bother him.
Lucian was sitting inside his carriage when he suddenly ordered his people to make a short detour.
Royal Academy holiday break was a month long, allowing the students to prepare for the Fall Festival. The heroine was back in her hometown, which was a small village near the Viscouny of Aramere.
She currently worked as a part-time maid for the Viscount's family and was often bullied by the other servants. One of them told her to sweep the main road. Even though it was not her job, the heroine surprisingly obeyed.
Lucian wondered where she found the guts to go against the most powerful men in the capital, but couldn't stand up to a fellow maid.
Anyway, it saved him the trouble of finding her. There were no high walls he had to pass to enter the Viscount's house she worked at, so he just stepped off his carriage for a small stretch.
Jax and Goblin climbed up a tree to get a better view of Lucian's new target, only to see a girl in a maid's uniform sweeping the road in the early morning. They were far enough for her not to notice them, but close enough to see her clearly through their binoculars.
They looked at each other and then at Lucian, questioning his new tastes.
"Did our Boss get tired of the courtesans already?" Goblin whispered to Jax. The girl was attractive, but in a plain way, not like the ladies Boss had around him before.
"I feel like Boss lost his mind," Jax whispered back, his mouth half-open, his eyes squinting at Lucian, "How can someone go from zero interest in women to suddenly wanting to collect them all?"
They continued to discuss Lucian's love life, slowly moving to their own.
Goblin wiped his binoculars on his sleeves before looking through them again, "I remember having a crush on a giantess who was twice my size. Maybe that's why I can't get myself to like any of the ladies around me."
"Twice your current size or your original size?"
"My original size. She was as big as a four storey building," Goblin explained.
"What did you even see in her?" Jax asked.
"She was big."
"That's all? You liked her because she was huge? No, stop. It's weird listening to a kid talk about his love life, even if he used to be a big guy," Jax shook his head to get the image out of his mind, "Tell me how to get stronger instead. You said if I stay and adapt to the environment, I can start its cultivation path, right?"
"Twenty years, give or take."
"WHAT...?! I don't have time for that... I need to become stronger, now." Jax was in a rush to save his mother, otherwise his father would never stop blackmailing him for money. Listening to her being tortured through the telepathic link he shared with her was excruciating.
"Nature has its own pace. We can't rush it, Vice Jax."
"Then how did Boss learn how to tame the ferals so fast? I can't accept this. There has to be another way. How about you teach me astral cultivation, Vice Goblin?"
"Only sixth ranked and higher can wield it. You are still first rank," Goblin hit Jax with another reality check.
"Then how did Boss do it at fourth rank?"
Lucian was a fifth rank now, but he was able to use the astral cultivation method to tame the ferals while still being a silver rank. (That's what Jax and Goblin assumed).
"It's still higher than first rank," Goblin stated the obvious, "You should stop comparing yourself to Boss, or you will only be disappointed."
Jax knew he shouldn't compare, but after seeing a hay head rise to power, he couldn't help but believe that he could do the same.