?

　　“Argh…” a pained groan left my lips as I felt Augustus suck on the sensitive skin of my neck. My hands immediately went to his arms, feeling the outlines of his muscles briefly before my fingers dug into the fabric of his sleeves to pry him away from me but this only led to him doing it harder. I could feel my skin aching and throbbing. “Augustus…!” I cried out, leading him to finally pull away.

　　The air was cold against my skin, raw and bruised now by his actions. He pulled himself further away to observe the love bite he left on me whereas I was a panting mess from that simple action. I could feel his eyes lingering on me, which only made me self-conscious about myself.

　　He slowly pulled my hand away from his sleeves, one hand at a time. “That’s your evidence.” He repeated.

　　I pulled myself out of my stunned state and looked over at him when he returned to his position. “You gave me a love bite?!” I hissed at him as my hand went to the spot where my skin was still damp from his saliva and yet warm from the freshly formed bruise.

　　“People won’t be questioning you about tonight once they see that. Why do you sound so irked? You wanted this, right?”

　　“I was just asking you a simple question!” I said, not understanding his logic.

　　Augustus shrugged. “It seems to me that you are hardly satisfied with anything. I could’ve just not given you an answer and ignored you but I went the extra mile to help you. I think you should learn how to be more grateful.” He said. Strangely, his words were not the reason I grew agitated, it was how he lacked any emotion when he said those words.

　　“You—”

　　“Go to sleep now. I would like some peace and quiet.”

　　I held my tongue but let out an irritated exhale before turning my body over to the other side, my back towards Augustus. This man was truly infuriating. As I tried to fall asleep for the night, my mind started to drift as I thought of one thing. I was curious to know how the book he was reading was going to end and as I waited for Augustus to finish the book, I fell into a deep sleep.

　　*

　　When I woke up in the morning, Augustus was nowhere to be seen. His side of the bed was properly made, no signs that anyone had laid on the bed at all. I did not think much about this as I assumed he went out to get some air or went to get a new book to read. I took a brisk walk back to my room as I was still dressed in my nightwear which was rather scandalous to be walking around in. When I reached my room, Anne was already inside waiting.

　　“Good morning, princess!” She greeted me almost too happily.

　　“Hello.” I greeted back, sleep deep in my voice.

　　“I’ll run the bath for you!” she said, the excitement in her voice was painfully obvious. When she approached me to remove my robe, I could have sworn that she let out a surprised gasp.

　　“What’s wrong?” I asked her, looking over at her.

　　Her eyes widened but almost instantly she beamed happily, eyes moving from my neck to my face. “N-Nothing! How are you feeling this morning, princess?”

　　“I feel like I always do.” I replied. Even though I had a good enough sleep in Augustus’ room, I felt tired the moment I woke up.

　　“Is your body hurting?” Anne asked.

　　“No, why would it—” I stopped myself immediately as I finally managed to get rid of the sleepiness that clouded my mind. Anne thinks I had intercourse with Augustus and I had to play along with that. “Y-Yes! My body is really sore, Anne.” I sighed as I leaned onto her for support.

　　“Oh my! Let’s get you to the bath!” she said, supporting my body. “Was Prince Augustus not as gentle as he seems…?” she whispered as though we were not the only ones in the room.

　　“He…um he was fine.”

　　“I can see that he became a little territorial.” She chuckled, probably talking about the love bite on my neck.

　　I sighed. “Well, yes, we need to cover that up today.”

　　“Leave it to me!” she said happily.

　　The day continued on normally with me doing my duties and juggling my time to do other things as well. I did not see Augustus around the entire day even though at the back of my head I did think of visiting the library to see if he was there. For some reason, I really wanted to know whatever happened to the Eastern boy who became king for one day. But alas, the mountains or paperwork and briefings from Gideon distracted me and soon it was night time already.

　　I laid on the comforts of my own bed, dressed in a new nightgown. It was shorter than last nights’, more decorative strings wrapped around that did not serve any purpose but for aesthetics. The colour was a deep red and I truly saw the appeal of it, but that does not mean that I felt comfortable wearing it.

　　“Princess, how long are you going to lay there?!” Anne nagged.

　　“Are you truly going to make me wear this, Anne? It’s embarrassing!”

　　“You look beautiful!”

　　I shot up in a seated position. “It is promiscuous!”

　　“Are you not trying to seduce these men, princess?” I paused. She was right in a sense. If Anne were to find out that I had not had sexual relations with Augustus last night then she might make me dress in something more revealing. “Are you going to see Prince Augustus again tonight?” she quickly changed the subject before I could continue to protest.

　　I did think about returning to him for the sole purpose of feeding my curiosity but opted against it unless I wanted people to start thinking that I favoured Augustus over the other two. “No, I’ll go to Isaiah’s room tonight.”

　　“The Monarch?” she blinked at me.

　　“Yes, why?”

　　“O-Oh, nothing at all princess.” She then looked down at what I was wearing and smiled widely. “I think he will truly appreciate such a sight.”

　　“Anne!” I blushed as I hopped off the bed. “Could you bring me a robe that would cover me properly? I don’t want to walk around the palace exposed like this.”

　　Anne laughed as she went to fetch the robe. I looked down at myself once more, wondering what Isaiah would think when he saw.

　　“Do you think Lord Isaiah likes complicated designs or plain designs?” Anne called back from my closet.

　　“Anne! Just get me a functional robe!” I fumed from embarrassment, much to the girl’s joyous laugh. She was enjoying teasing me but this was a nice feeling, the feeling of peace and delight which was slowly fading away when I realised that I had to spend the night with a man who threatened to kill me. “How exciting…” I muttered to myself just as Anne came over with a long dark robe that was sufficient in keeping my exposed body warm.

　　“I wish you a good night, Princess Cordelia.” Anne said as I headed for the door.

　　“Thank you.” I sighed as I dragged my feet to Isaiah’s room.

　　It was not as though I was dreading the thought of being with him, but I continued to wonder how he would treat me instead. Even though Isaiah acted rash and was very much controlled by his temper, I have seen moments where he had smiled and spoken nicely before, even if those were just a fa?ade.

　　But my initial plan to be deflowered by Augustus who I presumed to be the most timid among the three had gone to shambles. I do hope Isaiah would at least be gentle with me. When I reached his room, I could see the lights were on as it seeped through the bottom crack of the door. I stood in front of it, listening if he had a guest over but only silence followed. I lifted my hand and knocked twice.

　　There was no answer and I was wondering if these alphas lacked the sense of urgency. I knocked again, this time harder. I accidentally pushed the door open. I peeked into the room hesitantly. “Isaiah?” I called out but there was no answer.

　　I found myself growing worried now for his safety. If he was not in the room then why was his lights on? Did something happen to him? Did he get injured? All these questions flooded my mind as I pushed the door open for me to enter. I looked around the room, the absence of Isaiah was truly concerning.

　　“What are you doing here?” his familiar voice asked, deep and clearly irritated. I jumped from shock before turning to see him—donning only a towel around his hips while his muscular top half was on full display.