The Seductive Pretty Chapter 121: Drink Your Medicine

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Drink Your Medicine

Chapter 121: Drink Your Medicine

His face was the picture of obedience. His words were pure temptation.

Put together, they became a kind of provocation that was hard to describe without making it sound cleaner than it was.

Liora kept her eyes on Elias for a long second.

He had read her too accurately. He knew what she wanted. He also knew she would not act on it here, not with the driver’s seat under her and the road waiting ahead. So he leaned into that line with a kind of open, shameless invitation, as if daring her to prove him wrong.

Elias was playing with fire again, but he always seemed to know exactly where the burn began. One more inch and he would have gone too far. One more breath and the flame would have caught. Then, before it could, he pinched it out himself.

Liora turned her face back toward the windshield and stepped on the gas.

She ignored him after that, and Elias, for once, did not keep pushing.

She had been right about one thing. He did know where the line was. While the car was parked, anything he did counted as bait. Once she started driving, though, the same behavior could become a safety issue. If he distracted her and put both of them at risk, Liora would have a perfectly good excuse to do something about it.

He had no intention of handing her one.

So the two of them returned to the Blackwood residence in a posture that was not exactly dignified and definitely not something the staff should ever have to pretend not to notice.

The second the car stopped, Elias dropped the restraint again. He moved as if he were about to slide his foot under Liora’s blouse, reckless and unbothered, only for her hand to close hard around his ankle before he could get there.

Elias’s mouth curved into a faint pout. His expression went soft with innocence, as if whatever she chose to do to him would be accepted without resistance because he had neither the will nor the ability to fight back.

Liora did not indulge the performance. She turned slightly, reached for the shoes that had been set aside, lifted his foot with maddening composure, and put them on for him one by one.

His smile deepened as he drew his legs back of his own accord. "Thank you."

Since her service had been so thorough, he decided to spare her.

Let that teach her to give him attitude in his own face again.

After administering that small lesson, Elias reached for the door. Before he could get out, Liora’s voice drifted over, cool and flat.

"You stink."

Elias froze with one hand on the door and turned back to glare at her with both eyes.

Stink, his ass. He smelled good from head to toe.

[Is this also part of an ace operative’s basic professional standards?]

Obviously. What else am I supposed to do if I run into some trash woman with a very specific fetish? You prepare ahead of time and treat the illness at the source.

Liora ignored the look and got out of the car.

Elias ground his teeth in silence. She thought he smelled bad, did she? Fine. She could wait until they got to that kind of thing. When he was sweating all over her, she would be the one licking every last drop off him.

Liora entered the Blackwood residence before him. By the time Elias walked into the main hall, she had already disappeared.

He did not care much. If she wanted to sulk, she could sulk. Little Liora was the easiest person in the world to coax when he actually felt like doing it. Right now, there was a more urgent problem waiting under the name Serena Blackwood.

The house manager approached with lowered eyes and a careful voice. "Mr. Kane, Ms. Blackwood is waiting for you in her room."

Elias had always found the household’s deference oddly pleasant. He gave a slight nod. "Take me to her."

He still had no idea where Serena’s bedroom was.

"Of course. Please come with me."

Elias followed the house manager upstairs. At the end of the hall, she stopped in front of a door and knocked softly. "Ms. Blackwood, Mr. Kane has returned."

There was a pause from inside, followed by Serena’s voice, rough around the edges. "Let him... come in."

The hoarseness in that sentence was impossible to miss.

Elias turned his head toward the house manager. She seemed to know she had overstepped by saying anything, but she still lowered her voice and explained, "Ms. Blackwood’s fever hasn’t fully broken. Because of you, sir, she lost her temper earlier, and her condition seems to have worsened."

Elias thought back to Serena passing out that morning.

So he had made her sick enough to relapse?

"That’s good," he said lightly. "I should make her angrier, then. It’ll save me the trouble of hanging her from a streetlamp."

The house manager dabbed at sweat that was not actually there and wisely chose not to answer.

At that exact moment, the door opened.

Serena stood in the doorway.

Elias’s breathing caught for half a second. He had been cursing her a moment ago, and now the woman herself had appeared in front of him like a bill coming due. For once, even he had to admit the timing was awkward.

There was a faint flush across Serena’s cheeks. It gave proof to the house manager’s warning more clearly than any explanation could. She did not look ruined, because Serena Blackwood did not allow herself to look ruined, but her body was plainly not cooperating with her pride.

She lowered her eyes to him from that slight height advantage and asked, "Do you want me dead?"

"You’ll die before I do," Elias said.

That much, at least, was true.

Once he finished conquering all five targets, he would find a way to die and leave this world. In a certain sense, Serena had accidentally guessed part of his plan.

Elias lifted his face without fear and met her stare. "You still look pretty energetic to me."

The words had barely left his mouth before Serena’s hand curled into a fist and rose to her lips. She bent forward and started coughing hard enough that the sound tore through the quiet hallway.

For a breath, Elias’s expression showed real surprise.

"Even if I do die someday," Serena said, her cheeks flushing deeper as she forced herself back upright, "you’re going into the grave with me."

The fever lent a delicate color to her face, a softness that looked almost pretty until her words caught up with it. Her tone was still domineering enough to scrape.

Elias’s voice cooled. "What do you think you are, some ancient empress? You don’t get to bury people alive with you."

He said it like that, but Serena still noticed the difference.

His tone was not as harsh as before.

The house manager looked down at the schedule in her hand. "Your injection is due."

"Mm." Serena closed her eyes for a second, then gave a small nod. "Send the doctor up."

"Yes, ma’am."

The house manager left for the stairs.

Serena turned and walked back into the room. Elias followed her inside and immediately saw the rumpled bedding. She had actually been lying down before they arrived.

For Serena, who treated work like oxygen and weakness like a criminal offense, that was rare enough to be alarming.

She settled back against the bed, then looked at Elias again. Her voice sharpened with cold control. "Where did you go?"

Sister, you’re already this sick. Could you stop pretending to be an overbearing CEO for five minutes?

He was honestly afraid one careless sentence might send her straight back into a faint.

Elias stood by the bed and raised his eyes. "Liora already found me, so why ask when you know the answer?"

There it was again, that familiar talent for making every sentence land wrong on purpose.

Serena closed her eyes. Her brows drew together for a brief second before she forced herself back under control.

She had just adjusted her temper enough to speak when the private doctor arrived with an IV setup. The doctor worked efficiently, used to the kind of room where expensive bedding, feverish billionaires, and household tension all had to be treated as part of the furniture.

After the needle went in and the drip was adjusted, Serena’s face seemed even paler beneath the flush. The woman who usually looked made of command and self-certainty had been stripped down by illness until a rare crack showed through.

Elias looked at her and caught that fragile opening.

Sure enough, no matter how powerful someone was, sickness always gave them away eventually. The correct thing to do at a time like this was obviously to seize that weakness and deliver a fatal blow.

The doctor finished checking Serena’s vitals and said, "Until the fever is fully under control, she should avoid strong emotional swings. Stress and anger could make the symptoms worse."

Serena gave a silent, cold laugh.

With the things Elias kept doing, her recovery probably did not stand a chance in the near future.

She was about to dismiss the doctor with a few perfunctory words when Elias spoke first, his voice unexpectedly light. "I understand."

The doctor looked relieved. "With you looking after Ms. Blackwood, I’m sure she’ll recover sooner."

Then the doctor seemed to remember something and handed him a small dose cup with the medication. "Have her take this, please."

The doctor packed up and left the room.

That left only Serena and Elias inside.

Serena stared at him like she had just seen a ghost.

Elias’s voice stayed cool. "What? Do I look like I’m about to poison you?"

"Who knows?" Serena said.

His expression did not change. He only held the medicine out and said, calm as a nurse and insulting as ever, "Drink your medicine, Your Majesty."