Chapter 383: Should I Kiss You, or Should I Strangle You?

Chapter 383: Chapter 383: Should I Kiss You, or Should I Strangle You?

Chapter 383 – Should I Kiss You, or Should I Strangle You?

Klaus blinked. He tilted his head, wondering if he was hearing things.

There was no way that—!

"What in the hell are you waiting for?" Love pressed, urgency in her voice. "I need you to pull this fucking dress off me."

"Why can’t you do it yourself?" Klaus asked, genuinely suspecting Love was up to something. This felt far too convenient. "Are you seriously telling me you can’t even unzip your own dress? That’s ridiculous."

"First, if I try to unzip it myself, I’ll ruin the damn thing," Love replied, her irritation climbing fast. "Second, you’re the one who picked this dress, bastard. Did you choose something this small because you think I’m fat? Is that what you’re trying to say?"

"What a damn Slander! I have nothing against fat people, okay?" Klaus defended himself, slowly standing. He set his tea down on the small glass table beside him and turned to face Love.

He glanced briefly at the many model posters lining the room’s walls; one of which, unsurprisingly, and just as Love had implied, coincidentally, was Love de Bayard herself.

Her poster was the largest. And, arguably, the prettiest.

Klaus ignored all of them and walked steadily towards Love, who was still complaining under her breath.

"But you don’t want a fat wife," Love shot back.

Klaus shrugged. "There’s a difference between having no problem with something and actually wanting it for yourself. That’s not cruelty. That’s preference, Love! Preference!"

"You disgust me," Love spat.

"You have some nerve," Klaus scoffed, hands in his pockets as he strolled over lazily. "Do you know how many times I’ve seen women online complaining that short men aren’t their type?" He raised an eyebrow. "Don’t bother answering. You don’t know, it’s far too many to count."

He sighed, tilting his head skyward.

"Thank god I was born handsome, talented, wealthy, and, apparently now a requirement, tall. Still, I feel for the brothers out there. You women can be brutal. And now you have the nerve to call us out for doing exactly what you’ve been doing for years?"

"You know what, Klaus? I have neither the time nor the interest in discussing this right now."

Klaus was fairly close to her by then. Love reached out, grabbed his wrist, and yanked him into the curtain with all her strength.

Klaus’s vision blurred as he suddenly found himself pulled inside, hidden behind the curtain with Love right in front of him.

He gulped, unconsciously, eyes catching briefly on her before darting away, unwilling to keep looking at what was right in front of him.

Love smiled at his reaction, a small thrill of satisfaction bubbling up inside her. She never usually cared what anyone thought of her body, or her looks.

She knew she was beautiful. That was simply a fact.

But with Klaus... with him, she always found herself reacting differently.

"I don’t like short men," Love said plainly. "Because I’m tall myself. I have no interest in being with someone I have to permanently look down at."

She turned, pushed the chair aside, and faced the mirror, her back now to Klaus.

"And I don’t care that you don’t want a woman like that. I’m not that type anyway."

"Feminine solidarity?" Klaus croaked.

"Fuck them all."

"No wonder you have no friends. You’re going to die alone. I’d bet my whole fortune on it."

"I won’t die alone," Love scoffed. "Because I’ll be annoying you right up until your death. And you’ll definitely die before me. Then I’ll spit on your grave, every single day. Not one day missed, don’t worry."

"Look in the mirror and tell me who’s actually more likely to die first," Klaus mocked.

Love’s face twisted. "Alright. Stop looking away and unzip this dress already. And hurry. If anyone sees us like this... I’d rather not think about what happens next."

"I knew this mission was a mistake," Klaus muttered, but he started unzipping the dress anyway.

The zipper really was stuck, and getting it off would require some care. Which wasn’t exactly easy for Klaus, given the circumstances.

Love wore a black robe reaching just above her knees, her long, smooth legs on full display.

Over it, she had on detached black leggings printed with hearts, giving her a look Klaus had never quite pictured on her before.

Her hair was styled differently too, falling behind her back like a wave of pink water.

No necklace this time, but a small piercing on the left side of her nose, and by the divine spirit of wind... Klaus had no idea something so small could look this beautiful on her.

His heart raced, hands trembling slightly, palms going damp. Standing this close, completely alone with a woman he genuinely didn’t know how he felt about, it was an experience Klaus never expected to live through.

Especially given their current situation, laced with the tension and danger of possibly getting caught.

It was harder than he’d imagined. And for a man supposedly trying to train his mind against sexual temptation, Klaus couldn’t quite name what he actually felt for Love in that moment.

There was only one thing he was certain of...

’...she isn’t exactly ugly, is she.’

Love wasn’t doing any better.

Watching Klaus’s flustered face reflected in the mirror made her own body flush warm.

His expression was oddly, unexpectedly cute. Cute enough that she nearly forgot everything he’d ever done to annoy her.

Her heartbeat refused to settle, and her body kept trembling whenever his hands brushed against her bare skin.

Love was thoroughly confused by herself. One question kept surfacing: why was she letting herself be this exposed in front of him?

Under normal circumstances, she’d have just ripped the dress apart and paid for it. Money was never the issue.

But all she could think right then was, ’let’s just mess with Klaus!’

Was that really all she wanted? To mess with him? Or was it simply—!

ZIIIIPP—!

Her thoughts cut off as Klaus finally got the zipper down. She exhaled, her shoulders easing slightly.

"Finally," Klaus said, wiping a bit of sweat away, turning to leave. "Please, can you be smarter next time? Know your size, and don’t wear something that doesn’t fit."

"Where are you going?" Love called out, smirking, lips trembling, heart pounding in her chest. "We’re not done yet."

Klaus froze mid-step. He turned back and saw Love seated on the chair, one leg lifted slightly off the floor, toes pointed straight at him.

"My leggings," she said, face flushed red, voice unsteady. "Take them off."

Klaus fell silent for a few seconds, struggling to make sense of what was happening.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he said, suddenly breathless. "You’re acting like a cheap whore, Love!"

"I’m used to you calling me a whore by now," she replied, unbothered. "A word I don’t think you understand at all."

She rose to her feet and closed the distance between them in one step.

"A whore," she lifted her hand and pressed it flat against his chest, then slowly slid it up towards his throat, "is someone who sleeps with every man she meets. Usually for money."

She began to squeeze his throat, gently, and Klaus said nothing, just stared into her pink eyes.

"Do you think I sleep around? I’ve never once, you absolute fucking dumbass."

"You don’t exactly look like one."

"Because it’s you," Love said, and Klaus’s heart skipped. She leaned in closer, her scent filling his senses.

Her lips hovered so close to his own that Klaus could feel their warmth, an unseen current crackling between them. Then Love spoke again,

"This is your moment, coward," she said. "Tell me the thing you never had the guts to say, when the Forbidden Rune was active."

"Why now?"

"I need to know."

"Why do you need to know?"

"Should I kiss you, or should I strangle you to death?" Love smiled coldly. "So answer me. Or you’ll miss the chance of a lifetime."

"You once told me it’s me who’s in love with you," Klaus started smiling. "Maybe it’s actually you who—!"

Her hand tightened around his throat. "Enough talk. Answer."

They stared into each other’s eyes, the tension between them thickening. Love’s body was pressed nearly flush against his chest, her dress hanging loose now around her shoulders, most of them exposed.

Klaus found himself in the worst possible situation. At the Opening Ceremony, things had been tempting, but only because the domain had been manipulating him.

Here, there was no manipulation at all, and he wanted this more now than he had then.

His throat went dry. He gathered his courage, parted his lips to—!

"Miss Bayard, are you finished?" A sweet, innocent voice suddenly rang out.

Klaus and Love jerked apart from each other so abruptly they tangled together instead, tumbling to the ground...right outside the curtain, landing in front of the sales assistant, whose blue eyes had gone wide.

"This... this isn’t what it looks like," Klaus tried to explain immediately, but when he looked down at Love beneath him, her dress nearly falling away, her chest exposed above her pink bra...

...he knew he was done for.

"Kill me," they both said at once.

—End of Chapter 383—