His murderous glare caused her to take a tiny, toddling step back in fear, her board in her hands.
"Where are your parents? How could they let you play on the slopes by yourself?" he demanded, enraged. Despite this, he tried his best not to yell at the child.
However, faced with an enraged man nearly three tis her height, Lilie burst into terrified tears and ran behind Alia’s legs to hide, which made the corner of Matteo’s lips twitch. He was not good with children, nor was he in his best mood, but the wailing and crying were truly the cherry on top.
"Matteo, calm down! She’s just a kid!" Alia protested while Lilie blubbered behind her.
"Exactly," Matteo said. "Which is why her parents should’ve been watching her. Even if she didn’t injure you, she could’ve injured herself badly with how dangerously she went down the slope."
"The child was a little fast, but she was doing things perfectly fine," Andrea said, huffing. "The snow cushioned their fall, and the puffer jackets were enough to make sure nothing too serious happened. It’s really not that serious!"
Matteo’s gaze darkened at his words.
"The first thing you learn in snowboarding is to not block the paths of fellow skiers and snowboarders," Matteo said, every word coated with venom. "You said so yourself when you were teaching Alia the basics. Or are you claiming that your teachings are false?"
"Co on, Matteo," Alia said. "Andrea is a professional. He’s just looking out for the kid―"
"Protecting a child from scoldings isn’t looking out for the kid," Matteo snapped. "Besides, I have been observing the people on this slope ever since your lesson started. This girl was snowboarding perfectly fine and following the rules. All of a sudden, once you went down the slopes, she snowballed straight to you."
Matteo’s eyes narrowed as he took a step forward, only causing Lilie to shrivel further back, using Alia’s body to hide from his gaze.
"Did soone make you snowboard like this on purpose?" Matteo asked, his voice frostier than the air around them. "A bet? A dare?" If gazes could kill, the girl would drop dead right that instant. "Or perhaps soone promised you sothing in return?"
He would not put it past Emline to promise a child sweet treats in return for tripping Alia on the slope.
Or perhaps, the reason why the little girl’s parents weren’t watching her was because her parents were the one to put her up to this in the first place. Even though the majority of the tourists here belonged to the upper class of society, there were occasional tour groups from average families. The money that Emline Hawthorne could throw out was no small sum.
Why couldn’t Alia see it? Instead, his future wife planted her hands on her hips and glared at him mulishly as though he was the one speaking nonsense.
"Co on, Matteo, you’re being ridiculous and overly paranoid," Alia said, trying to keep her voice calm and even. If she started screaming, Lilie would be even more terrified."It was a simple accident. Move on. I’m fine, Lilie’s fine, this is the best scenario, all things considered."
"It is not!" Matteo exclaid, as if aghast by her words. "The best case scenario would have been you being unhurt."
"I am unhurt!" Alia exclaid, instinctively raising her voice, but her back muscles protested at her statent.
Not only that, the more they stood there, the more Alia could feel a throb everywhere else on her body as if it was determined to prove her wrong― the back of her neck felt strange, her head felt slightly light, and even her feet felt like they had been run over by a truck.
She couldn’t help the hiss of pain that escaped her lips, and Matteo’s eyes narrowed. Of course, his sharp eyes had caught the minute changes in her expression.
"You’re obviously lying," Matteo flatly said, causing guilt to creep through Alia’s chest.
She hadn’t been lying when she first insisted she was fine. It felt like nothing more than a minor bruise, and frankly, she couldn’t tell if her soreness was from the small incident or the night of passion they just shared. However, now that he had pointed it out, she sheepishly looked down.
Everything did hurt more than it was supposed to.
"Miss Alia should know her body best," Andrea said. If this was his attempt at diating, it only caused Matteo’s annoyance levels to rise faster than before. "She’s not a child― she can handle herself perfectly fine."
He then turned to Alia and eagerly pointed at the interdiate slopes again.
"I am sure your husband-to-be can take care of the child until we find her parents, Miss Alia, so how about we try the next course?"
"Y-Yes... I suppose we could―" Alia was cut off when a drop of red dripped onto the snow below, instantly dyeing it scarlet.
"No," Matteo imdiately said, gritting his teeth. "You’re heading for the infirmary. Andrea can bring the kid to her parents."
With that said, he reached forward and gently tugged Alia over to his side. He didn’t use much strength, but Alia hissed out in pain nevertheless. She didn’t need to see it for herself to know that there surely must be a bruise underneath the layers of clothing despite what Andrea claid.
However, the mont Matteo brought Alia to his side and away from Lilie, the little girl dropped her snowboard and broke off into a run. She charged off, kicking up snow as she scrambled away, quickly disappearing into the crowd of speeding skiers and snowboarders with no care for her safety.
"Lilie, no!" Alia yelled, but the little girl either did not hear her or did not care. She didn’t turn back even once, and Alia imdiately tried to go after her, only to be pulled back by Matteo.
"Are you insane?" Matteo barked. "You’re not going anywhere!"
"She’s just a kid!" Alia argued. "What if she gets injured?"
Matteo clenched his jaw and looked at Andrea. "He can go."
"I am just a private coach, Mr. Montgory," Andrea said with a sheepish shrug. "I don’t provide additional services."
Matteo’s fists clenched at his sides, ready to land square on this smug man’s face when Alia’s voice pulled his thoughts back.
"Matteo..."
When faced with her large, round eyes, Matteo had no strength to go against her words. He turned to Andrea and scowled. "Bring her to the infirmary directly," he firmly said.
Then, with one last look at Alia, he darted after Lilie, leaving Alia in the caring hands of Andrea.
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