Chapter 24：Sparks of Jealousy

"Hamdi can take you.  You don't have to walk to get to work.  Or I can take you on a teleport.  So is there a door around there, if you're afraid it's going to draw a lot of attention?"  Prince Aerus became more chatty than usual, and Lia still didn't understand the reason.

Just this morning, when they made love, Lia got something very different from before.  Prince Aerus touched her gently as if she was the most fragile pearl of great value, and Prince Aerus was so afraid that she would break or be damaged.

He treated Lia very gently, although still Lia never got a chance to run away.  Every time she begged Prince Aerus to stop, her pleas would fly away and not be heard.  Instead, Prince Aerus always whispered to her, "You will like it.  You just have to enjoy it."

If she remembered all that, Lia was again hit by disgust, both for herself and for her body.  He started looking for options to run back, only that she still needed a lot of information including how Prince Aerus found her in Neil's room.  When Lia asked Prince Aerus, he simply replied, "You don't need to know."  And after that rain of kisses landed on Lia's lips non-stop.

Now Lia's whole body was crushed, with the lower part of her body still in pain.  There were lots of kiss marks all over her body which she covered with makeup.  Then her swollen lips, Lia forced herself not to make a fuss about it.  If someone asked, if only it was possible, she would say that her lips were stung by a bee.

"I will walk as usual.  It's like you said that I don't want to draw attention."  Lia tiptoed while wearing her shoes, the bag wrapped around her body, with the uniform she wore very neatly.  She wore a black wig, it took much debate until finally, Prince Aerus allowed her to wear it.

Lia almost left and went out the door after she put on her two shoes.  She felt like she was being pressed hard when she was about to get out of her flat, where Prince Aerus was, to head to the cafe where she worked, where her cruel boss and her evil work partner were.  It's been a tough day, and Lia would never know when this would all end.

Lia hand grabbed the doorknob weakly.  She had already pushed it away and had almost left if Prince Aerus had not grabbed her arm and carried her down into his arms.  The roar of Prince Aerus' breath hit Lia's face, and she felt his sturdy fingers caress.

"You want to work?  You don't want to stay here with me?  Or we can move to the Ellipsis Plane together, or we can go places by teleporting."  Prince Aerus sounded hoarse, his body pressed against Lia's body, hugging her quite spoiled.

Behind him, Hamdi cleared his throat awkwardly.  He turned around and pretended to check Lia's kitchen which was quite cramped.  He also covered his ears, which were slightly elongated like those of the Elves, one of his ancestors.

"You've allowed me earlier, and we agreed that I can work because I still need money to survive.  You… you can't change your decision all of a sudden like this."  Lia lowered her head while her hands clenched in front of her chest, becoming a dividing wall between her body and the body of Prince Aerus.

If that's the case, then Prince Aerus would lead Lia's hand to where it should be, which was around Prince Aerus' neck.  It was quite difficult because Lia was a tiny girl.  So seeing that, Prince Aerus placed Lia's hand on his chest instead of being a barrier between them.

Prince Aerus sighed before saying, "Alright.  However, I have one condition.  You have to take off your wig.  Did you know that by covering up your hair color you are hiding that you have found your mate?"  Prince Aerus' tone sounded very demanding and impatient.  He just didn't want anyone to get close to Lia, to get close to his mate, without remembering which land he was in for the moment.

Lia's eyes narrowed and she bit her lower lip slowly.  Her heart was racing with her breath, which was panting with fear.  She was too afraid of creating a disaster in her own life if she said something wrong.  Lia knew she had to filter her words because the person in front of her was not human.

"You must know why I'm wearing a wig.  In my workplace, I am not allowed to dye my hair, if I am allowed then the colors should be muted like light brown and reddish.  My hair color is very striking.  This is not a Western Country.  People here very rarely have golden hair.  I could lose my job and find it difficult to support my life later.  Earlier… you said earlier that this was no big deal."  Again Lia looked down, too scared to see Prince Aerus's change in expression.

She could have lost the courage to lie, to fight, to rebel.  And if that had happened then her fate would probably be over.  The worse thing was no one could save her except herself.

Prince Aerus didn't necessarily understand that because for him it was very intolerable.  Some of the women in Hexa weren't even allowed to wear head coverings when their hair had turned golden, because then the male Elfagos would think twice about approaching them   But Prince Aerus tried to be wiser than before.  He remembered his destiny of soon being a father.

"Fine, I'll try to consider that.  Hair color to cover, alright I'll understand that for now even though in Hexa it's really rude."  Very subtle satire had been thrown.  "But why do you have to cover up my kisses and bites?  Why do you have to cover it up until it is not seen?  Doesn't it sound like you're shy and such?  Or are you trying to cover up the facts of all this so you can get close to Neil?"

Lia widened her eyes, like a glass that suddenly shattered due to slipping.  Her trembling body was now frozen.  All of her senses went numb, and she had almost forgotten how to breathe.

"How did you know about Neil?"  Lia glared, she started looking for loopholes if Prince Aerus did something really bad.  Because as far as she knew, cheating was the thing he hated the most.

"How did I know?"  Prince Aerus squeaked with his disgusted face, which suddenly dominated after a gentle sweep of his voice hit Lia.  "You were calling his name all night.  You thought I was Neil, and you couldn't stop touching me and controlling my every tantrum.  You went so wild last night, saying you love Neil."

Lia's breath caught in her throat, her mouth gaping in disbelief.  Now suddenly the back of her neck was shivering and her whole body was shivering.  She looked a little presumptuously into Prince Aerus' eyes, tracing every corner until she finally found a splash of red that was starting to creep up.

Lia's face and lips turned pale as she didn't know what to do to stop Prince Aerus' anger from growing even bigger.

***