Renar brushed past her shoulder, about to leave.
"Can’t you open your heart for again?" Reia’s firm voice halted his step.
He frowned but didn’t turn to face her. She was the one who stepped closer.
"You and her... do you really think it’ll work? She and Zeran seem so serious." Reia coaxed him with that cursed sweet tone, the one that used to weaken his guard.
Renar let out a heavy sigh, visibly annoyed by her words.
"That’s not your problem. Just stick to the terms of our deal."
"But now people are assuming—"
"When were they not?" he cut her off. "As people of influence, our lives will always be full of assumptions and judgnt. We’d lose our minds if we tried to et every expectation. Just wait, they’ll forget soon enough."
He continued walking.
"Do you really love her?" Reia half-shouted now that the guests had all left the hall.
That damn question again.
This ti, Renar turned and looked her in the eye.
"I kissed you back because we both have dignity to protect. And... I’m not planning to love anyone. Not now, not in the future. That’s a luxury a cursed being like can’t afford."
His jaw tightened, fists clenched, before he turned away again, leaving Reia frozen in place with glassy eyes.
He knew he was being an asshole tonight. When Reia suddenly kissed him, he was shocked, keeping his lips shut for a long second... until he saw the horror on Lethia’s face.
When Renar saw the fury blazing in Lethia’s hazel eyes, sothing twisted inside him; so devilish instinct that made him want to make her jealous. It resulted in him closing his eyes.
But that only made things worse. Because the mont his eyes shut, the smouldering image of Lethia back in the art room flashed vividly in his mind.
He ended up kissing Reia with that face—Lethia’s face—burned behind his eyelids.
The cold air bit into his skin as he entered the parking lot, only freezing Lethia’s image deeper into his thoughts.
He wished he could punch himself in the face just to snap out of it.
Smack!
"Argh..." Renar grunted, his head jerking forward after a hard slap landed on the back of his skull.
"Open the door." Callista’s sharp voice accompanied her as she stood outside on the passenger side.
Renar growled low in irritation but didn’t dare protest; the look on Callista’s face was practically begging for a fight if he so much as breathed wrong.
"Are you out of your damn mind? How could you betray the family na like that? You trying to disgrace us?" she lashed at him the mont they were inside the car.
Renar didn’t utter a word, just started the engine and drove off from Reia’s mansion.
He let her rage on, not because he didn’t want to speak, but because he didn’t even know where the hell to start.
"We agreed a year ago that Zeran would be our party’s candidate for King, and now what? You’re leaving the party just to compete with him? I hope I get a fucking good explanation for this bullshit!"
Renar’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"The Moonstone that shines red," he said flatly. "Based on the papers my father gave , it needs specifically high altitude, a hill where the red moonlight can fully bathe the stone when it glows. And the only place that fits is Sharma Hill... which just happens to be under Reia’s family estate."
He explained it plainly, eyes fixed on the road.
"I need that hill to cultivate the red moonstone properly."
"And you still have the audacity to deny this is about love?" Callista scoffed. "You could’ve just bought the land."
"If it were that simple, I’d have done it. You know how Reia is," he snapped back.
Silence fell. Callista got the hint—she knew exactly where this was going. Reia was an ambitious woman who always got what she wanted. And judging by how she kissed Renar in public, it was obvious what her latest obsession was. She wanted him.
And now she probably thought she held the upper hand, owning the very thing Renar needed most.
"What about the King candidacy? Did she ask for that too?" Callista asked.
"Hm..." Renar nodded slowly, guarding his expression to hide any trace of a lie.
"You don’t need to worry about that. I’m not planning to win. Once the moonstone cultivation’s done, I’ll back out of everything."
Callista narrowed her eyes, watching him closely, convinced sothing still wasn’t right.
"So... I should just tell Grandpa what you told ?" she asked, pushing again. "You know he’ll lose it."
Renar only gave her a simple nod.
Renar sighed in relief when he saw Callista busy with her phone, not pestering him further. Lying to her was never easy.
His deal with Reia was simple; she would support him in parliant and stay by his side throughout the campaign. All she asked was that Renar wouldn’t shut her out and would accept her support, and in return, Renar could use Sharma Hill for his research.
But the mont Renar saw Lethia walking behind Zeran, clinging to him like he was her axis, it sent him spiralling.
It sparked a madness in him, one that drove him to blurt the role of king candidate with just enough flair to grab her attention. And maybe... a little pride, too, that refused to lose to Zeran.
Love?
Passion?
He couldn’t be bothered to define what he felt anymore. As long as that feeling was filled with Lethia’s presence for a long ti, he was even willing to forget who he truly was.
***
’A punishnt?’
When she first heard Zeran say he’d punish her, Lethia’s mind went straight into the gutter, jerking all over the place with filthy thoughts.
She nearly blurted out ’yes, please, punish ’ right then and there—sothing she’d never imagined herself saying to anyone. She never realised just how easily she could turn submissive with Zeran.
But...
She didn’t expect to be punished literally.
Lethia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fall asleep while battling the relentless throb between her legs. Even after she fingered herself and climaxed, it still pulsed, aching in need.
She tossed and turned, gripping the poor pillow tight, her fingers digging into it like it was the one to bla.
"Zeran Tuffin... you... I’ll make you pay."
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