Chapter 64: Flirting With Danger [3]
Outside the mansion, the moon leaned lazily on one side of the sky. The stars, scattered like broken glass, watched from their dark velvet canvas. Inside, Kael's words hung thick in the air, circling around her like invisible smoke, repeating louder in her mind than he'd spoken them aloud.
She stared at him. And then she started walking toward him, slow, measured steps like a queen descending her throne.
Her gown rustled against the marble floor, each step closer making his grin falter slightly. Her skin shimmered faintly under the magic light, but her face remained expressionless.
Kael tried to keep his composure, but her approach was intimidating. Still, he didn't let go of his smugness entirely. "This is what you get for that night," he thought. "You might've forgotten, but I haven't. How you made me beg for dinner that night? I didn't mind, honestly. I quite enjoyed it, actually. So thank you, darling, for the inspiration. You're about to fall into your own trap."
Now she stood right in front of him, looming over the sofa. Her stare was a dagger drawn with care. With a voice filled with icy disdain, she hissed, "What did you just say?"
He leaned back, exhaling. "Didn't you hear me the first time? Or do you just enjoy pretending I'm more foolish than you?"
Suddenly, a shimmer of soft blue light sparked in her hands. Kael's eyes immediately shot down, catching the glow. But he didn't flinch. Not even a little.
"You know that's not going to work on me anymore," he said, softly but surely. "You're not scaring me tonight. I've already braced myself for the worst."
For a brief moment, her eyes flickered with hesitation. The faint glow in her palms, sharp and ready just a breath ago, slowly dimmed and disappeared altogether.
"Why am I even doing this?" her thoughts whispered, colder than the air curling through the hall. "Why am I this desperate... just to drag him back to our room? What am I even trying to prove?"
The ache in her chest, quiet but persistent, pulled her inward. And before she could stop it, the memory came.
Not a recent one. Not from the days after their marriage or after the first fight or even the thousandth bitter silence or argument. It was much farther back. Much, much farther. When the world had been different. Slower. Softer. Less cruel.
---
Fourteen years ago...
The room was enormous, walls painted a smooth, pearlescent white that shimmered slightly under the filtered light of the early morning sun. It was the kind of chamber where fairytales might begin.
The windows were tall and arched, dressed in translucent curtains that danced gently with the breeze. Every piece of furniture gleamed with polish and precision, delicate chairs carved with gold inlays, a reading table covered in lace with several books arranged neatly atop it, and an ornate wardrobe that stood like a silent guard in the corner.
But it was the bed that ruled the room, large, regal, dressed in layers of white silks and feathered pillows, the sort of bed made for queens... or princesses who were told they could become one.
Sitting at the edge of that bed was a woman, her presence both quiet and absolute, as though the stillness around her bent to her will. Her back remained perfectly straight, her posture natural and unforced, yet every angle of her frame exuded an elegance that needed no words to assert itself. She was wrapped in a long, intricately designed gown of deep black, the fabric falling in seamless folds that veiled her completely, concealing her form beneath a shroud of shadowed beauty.
Her hair, long and impossibly silky, shimmered with the shifting hues of blooming witch hazel, starting as a rich golden-brown at the crown and gradually melting into a deep, luminous gold by the time it reached her shoulders. Each strand caught the light like threads of liquid silk. It cascaded from all sides, gathered at the back by a long lavender hair clip, then flowed in gentle waves down her back, with a few stray strands resting on her shoulders, as if placed there by the wind's own delicate hand.
In her lap sat a little girl, delicate, curious, and far too quiet for her age. Her silver hair spilled down her back in a silken wave, brushed smooth by a pale hand. The hand, as pale as freshly fallen snow, rested with a stillness that felt almost otherworldly. Its whiteness was not cold, but luminous, and its smoothness so refined it seemed sculpted from the finest porcelain, fragile and timeless, yet full of quiet strength as it combed the girl's hair. The little girl wore a soft blue gown, ribboned at the waist, the hem brushing her ankles. Her bare feet dangled just above the plush white carpet.
The only sound was the comb gliding through her hair, and the rustling whisper of curtains.
"Mother…" little Seraphina spoke finally, her voice light as a sigh.
A pause.
"Yes, Seraphina?" the woman replied. Her voice was calm, deep, and composed, like velvet pulled tight over stone.
The girl hesitated, her small hands resting over her knees. Then she asked, in the only way a child knows how to be blunt, "Why do you and Father sleep together? Why don't you sleep with me anymore? He doesn't even come home most days... and when he does, he always fights with you."
The comb didn't stop, but the air in the room shifted. A brief smile twitched at the edge of her mother's soft pink lips, glistening, deep pink, and delicate. It carried no amusement, only inevitability.
"Because I'm his wife, my little girl," came the answer, simple but final.
"You always say that." Seraphina pouted. Her young face frowned with innocent disapproval. "But I don't understand why that matters."
This time, the comb slowed. Her mother gently gathered a lock of silver hair and brought it over the girl's shoulder, stroking it between her fingers.
"One day, perhaps, you will. When you're older. When you're married. Then you'll understand what it means to have duties. The kind that come with being a wife."
Seraphina blinked, clearly unimpressed. "Duties? Like what?"
"Many things," her mother said, her voice even, almost distant. "Some you'll be proud of. Others... not as much. But among them, there is one you must never forget, no matter how strong you become, or how cold you feel."
She paused, resting her hand on Seraphina's small shoulder. Her voice dropped, almost like she was murmuring to the air.
"Never let your husband sleep outside your room. Even if he angers you. Even if he acts like he doesn't care. Never let the space between you grow too wide, Seraphina. Because that space, once it's there, it never truly disappears."
The little girl stared forward, quiet. Her mother continued, stroking her hair now with more care than before. "He has rights, my girl. He has a right to your presence. To your warmth. To your time. It is part of your duty to fulfill his wishes, even if he doesn't say them aloud. Even if he acts like a fool. Even if he doesn't seem to deserve it." A soft exhale followed. "That is part of being a wife."
Little Seraphina gave a small frown. Her blue eyes, brighter back then, sparkled, not with sadness, but a kind of stubborn defiance.
"That sounds boring," she muttered. "I won't do that. I'm not going to marry anyone. I'll stay with you forever."
Her mother didn't laugh. She didn't smile wide. She only pulled her into an embrace, gentle, firm, unrelenting.
"You'll have to," she whispered, her voice barely audible now. She pressed a kiss to Seraphina's cheek, then slowly pulled back, revealing her own face, soft and young.
Her features were delicate, her face an oval shape. Strands of hair fell gently across her forehead, the sides already framed with loose, wispy locks. A few pieces curled down the center, brushing aside as they turned to one side.
And her eyes, those soft golden eyes, held a faint sparkle, touched with a trace of childish wonder that hadn't yet faded. She was young. Far too young to be the mother of a five-year-old child. She whispered again, even softer this time, "You'll have to, my dear."
---
And just like that, Seraphina was back in the present. The moon hadn't moved. The stars still blinked softly in the sky. Her breath trembled, though she made sure not to let it show.
"Mother," she thought, biting down on the memory. "So that's why you said those things. That night. I had forgotten. Or perhaps... I just didn't want to remember."
She swallowed, her gaze falling once again to Kael, still lounging, still grinning, still playing the fool. Her fingers clenched tightly again, nails pressing into her palms.
"But still... must I really say it?" Her jaw locked. "Must I call this insufferable bastard 'honey'? A man I don't even count as my husband? This man who mocks me, who drives me mad with every breath, every smirk... and yet still makes me remember what I tried so hard to forget?"
The words her mother had spoken echoed again, "Even if he doesn't deserve it."
Seraphina closed her eyes. "This is infuriating. Truly infuriating," she muttered to herself, each syllable laced with sharp disdain.
Kael shifted on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other like he had all the time in the world. His gaze lazily swept over her, clearly enjoying the power shift. "Wellllll…" he drawled, dragging the syllable out like a taunt, "What're you gonna do, my dear cruel wife? Will you finally do it? Or are we calling it a night with a grudge again?"
Her eyes snapped open, glowing with pure disdain. The kind of look that made flowers wilt and men tremble. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked, her voice low and slicing. "Of course you are. You would enjoy this. We'll see just how long that grin of yours can last." Her voice had turned darker. More dangerous.
Kael flinched, just barely, but still waited, eager like a fool expecting the thunderstorm he'd summoned himself.
She looked like a wolf being asked to purr. Her lips twitched. She bit down on them hard enough to whiten the skin. Her breathing became shallow. "Do I really have to?" she whispered to herself. "Seraphina... just bear it. You can punish him later. But now... just for now, this matters. For some reason, it does."
She swallowed, and her voice in her mind kept chanting. "You can do it, Seraphina. It's just words. Just two stupid little lines. Say it. Say it and be done with it. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't." Her fists loosened slightly. Then clenched again.
Kael, meanwhile, was watching her like a child about to unwrap the most forbidden gift. His eyes gleamed with mischief. "Damn," he whispered to himself, unable to stop smiling. "She's actually doing it. She's actually going to say it. And she's... cute. Really, really cute when she's like this."
"Can't do it?" he teased aloud, unable to hold back, "Poor girl. Look at you. You're really suffering, aren't you? You're adorable, you know that?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Seraphina's brow twitched sharply. She hadn't caught the softness in his tone. Only the taunt.
"He's mocking me. Of course he is. Of course he finds amusement in this. As if I'm just entertainment for him."
Her chest rose and fell again. "Hh... hoo…" The sound escaped her lips again, half sigh, half growl, as her mind raced. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I say these simple, useless words? It's not like I actually mean them. It's not like I want to. Not in a million lifetimes. I would never…"
Kael's eyes widened slightly as he realized it. He had asked for this. Begged, even. Teased her over and over for it. But now that she was truly about to say the words he'd always wanted to hear, yet never had, something fluttered uneasily in his chest.
His heart was skipping. Racing. Ridiculous, really. Because he knew she wouldn't mean it. She hated him. She'd said so a thousand times, in ways colder than words could ever carry. And yet here she was, trying to speak, even as he quietly enjoyed her struggle. Choosing to say the words he had demanded. And though he'd forced her hand, he couldn't shake the feeling, deep in his chest, that she still held the power to withhold them.
Still… she didn't walk away. Her fists clenched again, fingers digging into her palms. "Hh…" Another failure. Her voice caught before it could even form the words.
Her eyes wandered, unfocused, drifting over the surroundings before settling back on him. "Get a grip, Seraphina. Don't humiliate yourself."
"Why is it so hard to say something this ridiculous? Just a few meaningless words. So why—why does it feel like choking on glass?"
"Calm down. Now's not the time to fight with your own thoughts."
"Focus on him. Say it. Or else… what are you even doing? The Captain of the Knight Order, and you can't speak two simple sentences? How disgraceful."
Her gaze shifted to Kael, he was still watching her, head tilted, curiosity clear in his eyes. Waiting. Her eyes narrowed. "Enough hesitation. This isn't a battlefield. It's just two sentence."
She closed her eyes and glanced around him for a moment. "If I put it this way... maybe I can do it," she murmured under her breath—her tone low, measured. Cold, but trembling at the edges. "I should give it a try."
Then, suddenly, almost without warning, Seraphina moved. Her body dipped forward, gracefully but swiftly, the shift so fluid and unexpected it startled Kael. One moment she was standing, the next she was beside him, leaning down, torso lowered, face inches from his.
Her gown slipped slightly downward as she folded her hands behind her back. A curtain of silver hair fell forward, spilling past her shoulders like a river of moonlight. Her lips paused, breathlessly close to his ear. And then...
"…Honey…"
A whisper. A single word. So soft it barely had weight, yet it cut through the air sharper than any blade he'd ever known.
And for Kael... everything stopped. Time twisted. Froze. The word didn't just reach his ears, it poured into them, melted into his brain, exploded in his chest.
Her voice was sweet. So sweet even. Sweet like spring rain after years of drought. Sweet like honey dripping from ripe fruit. Sweet like lullabies sung to a child who thought he'd been forgotten. Sweet like the moment you realize someone once cruel to you still remembers your name. Sweet like snow melting on warm skin. Sweet like something that wasn't supposed to exist, but somehow did, even for just one second.
His heart stuttered. His breath caught. A heat rushed to his face so fast it made his ears redden instantly. His entire body was reacting, wildly, uncontrollably, to a single, whispered word.
And it was her. She had said it. Not out of love. But it didn't matter. Because her voice, so rarely soft, so rarely human, had touched something raw and untouched in him.
"... come with me. I hate admitting it, but I can't sleep unless you're beside me."
She finished the line. The one he told her to say. Her voice, still barely more than a whisper, trembled on the edge of her pride.
Then she moved away. Quickly. Without another word, she turned her back to him. Her gown swirled behind her like a ghost disappearing down a hallway.
Kael remained motionless. His eyes were wide. His mouth parted slightly. He wasn't even sure he heard the second half of what she'd said. He couldn't remember. All he could feel was the echo of "honey" still dancing in his ears.
He had lost something. Or maybe gained something. Or maybe both. He didn't know. And for the first time in years, his grin slowly faded, turning into a truly awkward smile, his cheeks slightly red. It wasn't because she called him 'Honey' for the first time. It was the fact that she did. And so sweetly too.
He wanted her to fall into his trap, just for his own amusement. But somehow, he was the one who fell. Maybe not into the trap exactly. Still, he couldn't help but wonder. "Did she... did she do it on purpose, just to make me feel like this?"
The room was silent again. Too silent. As if the world itself was waiting to see what would happen next.
But neither of them spoke. Because in that fragile moment, caught somewhere between pride and surrender, between teasing and truth, something unspoken had slipped through the cracks. And neither of them knew how to hold it without breaking it. Something real.
Seraphina's expression remained unreadable. Blank, even. But not the kind of blank that meant she felt nothing. It was the kind of blank that tried very hard to hide everything.
Her fists had loosened. The rigid line of her shoulders had softened. She no longer stood like a soldier at war. Now, she simply stood… as if unsure what came next.
Yet, her ears betrayed her. A light flush had crept up them, coloring the tips a soft, embarrassed pink. And though her face barely moved, a flicker, just a flicker, of warmth had surfaced along her cheeks.
Her eyes shifted toward the window, toward the moonlight she could pretend to be lost in. "What the hell is wrong with me today?" she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. "How... how did I actually do that?"
Her mind betrayed her further, rewinding the memory, how she leaned in, how her lips neared his ear, how she actually whispered it. That cursed, ridiculous, utterly humiliating word. "Honey…"
"Ugh. I actually said it. Softly. Like some... lovestruck maiden in a terrible romance book. What in the name of sanity was that?"
She exhaled slowly, carefully, like even her breath needed to be reined in.
"I mean, sure. Fine. Whatever. I said it. It's not the end of the world. But... does it really have to feel this deep? Why did it sound like I meant it? I didn't. I couldn't. Not with him." Her eyes flicked away again. Too quickly.
Behind her, Kael still hadn't moved. His body was frozen in place, and though he sat like a man who had won, his mind was a chaos of spinning thoughts.
"I want to hear it again," he thought. "Just once more. Just once more. That exact tone. That softness. That ridiculous sweetness. What the hell is happening to me?" His heart was still racing. Too fast. Almost annoying.
And then Seraphina finally turned, slowly this time. Her arms at her sides, her fingers twitching awkwardly behind her back. She didn't meet his gaze directly, but she spoke.
"I did it," she said, her voice flat but her gaze shifting. "Exactly the way you asked. So, are you satisfied now? Don't tell me…" she tilted her head slightly, a sarcastic smile barely tugging at the corner of her lips, "...You've already fallen for me just from those unwanted, forced words. Hmm?"
She didn't really look at him, but her words hit even harder. Kael blinked. His lips parted, then shut again. He couldn't meet her gaze either. He looked down, scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, then touched the side of it as if trying to ground himself.
"I think…" he thought, eyes narrowing slightly, "I might be overdoing things. Or maybe… maybe my body's reacting strangely today. Probably something I ate. Or the wind. Or the room temperature. Yes, that must be it."
Then, foolishly, he added, because his mouth worked faster than his brain ever did, "So I was right, huh? You were thinking about me last night. Ha-ha~ My sweet, sweet wife secretly adores me~ She just doesn't know how to express it~"
The sentence tumbled out too fast, and he immediately regretted it. "Wait... what the hell am I even saying?" he muttered under his breath.
Seraphina gave him a long, level stare. The kind that made men rethink their entire lives. "You…" she began slowly, "insufferable… creature." Her tone dropped a few degrees in temperature. "I swear, Kael. You're being painfully dramatic."
He raised both hands in mock surrender, the grin tugging at his lips unevenly. "Me? Dramatic?" he scoffed, though the sweat trailing down the side of his temple betrayed his inner panic. "Pfft. Never. This is simply how I process trauma, darling. Don't judge me for being emotionally expressive."
"Is that so?" she replied, her voice laced with doubt and quiet threat.
Kael cleared his throat. He tried to lean back again, find his rhythm, push through the moment as if he hadn't just gone red to the ears from one whispered word. "…Well, if you say it like that, how could I ever refuse my dear darling's request?" he said grandly. "Alright, fine. I'm coming. Prepare the royal bed, my queen." He finished with a theatrical wink.
Seraphina turned slowly, her glare sharp enough to flay skin. "So you did plan all of this. You wanted to come from the very beginning. You just dragged me through this nonsense for entertainment, didn't you? You bastard."
Her words were cold. But… there was a flicker in her expression again. Something light. Something faint. The kind of smile that wasn't quite a smile. Barely there. Barely real.
But Kael saw it. His eyes lit up instantly. "Wait. Wait—hold on." He leaned forward. "You're... you're smiling. You're actually smiling."
Her face froze. The coldness returned in a wave. She snapped her gaze to him. "I'm not," she said stiffly.
"Yes, you are," he replied, grinning wide now, one finger raised as if he'd caught her in a life-changing crime.
"I am not."
"You totally are."
"I. Am. Not."
"Yes you—"
"KAEL." she hissed, arms now crossed over her chest in absolute defiance. "If you value your ability to walk, I suggest you stop talking right now."
Kael blinked. Then laughed. Not loudly, but enough to shake the tension off his chest. Even if she didn't mean it. Even if she regretted saying it. Even if tomorrow she went back to ignoring him again...
Tonight, she had whispered "honey." And smiled, even if only for a second. And that was more than enough to keep him alive a little longer.
---
(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...