Chapter 4: Bully You?

Night fell, blanketing the sky softly in dark clouds.

Selene adjusted her pajama pants and headed up the stairs, dragging her fingers through the smoothened wooden railings.

She arrived on the second floor of the manor.

Her gaze bounced back and forth between the left and the right hall. She took the left path, walking until she arrived in front of a room with not one, but a double door.

"Hm."

She reached out, turned the handle, and pushed ajar a little.

Surprisingly, the door was not locked.

Selene peeked her head inside first. She glanced around the room. It was empty of anyone. Dante was nowhere to be seen.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. With hands behind her back, she walked around the room, tipping things on the table as she took a look.

Eventually, she approached the bed and slipped into it.

Very soft. Not bad at all.

She curled her arms behind her head on the pillow and threw an ankle over the other. Then she waited.

She wasn’t sure where Dante had gone, but he was bound to come to this room. And in twenty minutes or so, she heard the creak of a door.

Selene opened her eyes. She glanced at the door, however, a frown emerged on her face realizing the entrance door was unmoved. She was sure she’d heard the creak of a—

"You LITTLE! What are you doing here?!"

The sudden snap of a deep ruffled voice startled her into a sitting position, nearly throwing her off the bed. She sat up quickly on her knees, shoulders rising and falling in heavy breathing.

She looked over. And she saw him.

Dante.

Wet black hair. A drenched face, a bare body with nothing, not even a towel around his waist.

He stood in shock. Naked.

And so did Selene, who could not even flinch but stared with a dropped jaw and widened eyes so broad it felt as though they could pop off their sockets.

The man’s physique was almost perfect.

And down there, he truly was a supreme alpha. Impressive!

"Sorry!" She looked away from him, turning her head behind. "Aren’t you going... to put on some clothes?"

Dante was pissed. He was glaring at her. "What are you doing here? And what is that on your face?"

"This?" She pointed at her face. "This is a face mask."

His frown deepened. "What the hell are you doing in my room? Didn’t I warn you not to cross any floor that isn’t the first floor? It was my room, and you broke—"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Selene interrupted him. She settled her feet on the floor, stood up, and grabbed the bedsheet as she approached him.

Her head was turned away, unwilling to look at him even as she tossed the bedsheet at him. "Put on some clothes. And if you’re going to shower, please lock the door, will you?"

"Lock the door?" Dante caught the bedsheet. "This is my bedroom!You walked into it, breaking—"

"Are you trying to bully me?"

"Bully you?"

"Why is my room a storage room?"

"That is where you will sleep," he spat.

"What am I, a servant?" Selene folded her arms. "I don’t even think any of your workers sleep in a room like that. So what are you trying to do?"

The man narrowed his eyes into a thin line. A few strands of his dark wet hair fell over his forehead, further darkening the glare he was throwing towards her.

He turned away from her, walked into his walk-in closet, and grabbed a bathrobe. He slipped his arms into them, tied the rope, and came back to her. "When your father and I made the deal we made, I never said I was going to treat you like some princess. The responsibility I have towards you is to make sure you’re not harmed, especially when I return you to him."

As he spoke, he approached her. Closer, closer until there was barely an inch of distance between them.

He lifted his hand and stubbed his index finger into her forehead, roughly tipping her head back. "That is your room, whether or not you like it. You’re not going to die, and you won’t get harmed sleeping in there."

"Oh I will!" she barked back. "There is no sunlight. It is too hot in there! Why don’t you go sleep in there if it’s so harmless?!"

"Well, princess, this is my manor and what I say goes! If you don’t like it, get out or sleep on the couch in the living room. I couldn’t care less. Now, I’ll let you get away with breaking into my room just this one time. I can be merciful sometimes, but don’t you try it again."

He stubbed her forehead again and again.

"Get out," he spat with a vile expression on his face.

Selene stared at him for a long few seconds. She turned around to leave the room. She had only arrived at the door when she paused. She whirled around on her feet, and without saying a word, she matched back toward him.

Dante, who’d already turned away, spun around, hearing her footsteps. He only had enough time to frown when this woman lifted her leg, using every ounce of strength she could muster up to stomp him directly in the stomach.

He was a supreme alpha, but so caught off guard, the kick sent him stumbling backward into his bed with a heavy thud.

His abdomen ached.

He looked at her. "What the f—"

"Don’t you ever put your filthy finger on me again! Puu!" Massaging her forehead where he’d stubbed her, she turned to leave. But just then, the door of the room creaked open.

She went still, freezing at the edge of the bed.

Dante, on the other hand, had also frozen, the expression of shock yet to even peel off his face.

At the same time, they both looked to the door, and there they found Meris standing, her face pale.

"What...is going on here?"

The glass of milk she held slipped off her finger and shattered on the floor.