Chapter 43: He Pulled Up His Pants And Left?
Chapter 43: He Pulled Up His Pants And Left?
"I’m sorry... I didn’t know, or I would’ve taken my time," Loki murmured, his voice thick with a mix of exhaustion and genuine regret. "I'm so sorry."
Creak. Squeak. Creak.
The bed protested loudly beneath them, its springs groaning in a steady, rhythmic cadence with every movement. A warm, slender hand rose to brush against Loki's cheek.
"Stop saying sorry," she whispered. Her voice was strained, tired, yet remarkably tender. "It is good... It doesn't even hurt... much."
"Mwah."
Loki leaned down, capturing her swollen lips in a passionate, bruising kiss. They had been kissing roughly for hours, and he poured every ounce of his remorse into the embrace. Beneath him, her curves felt like silk, her dazzling, affectionate eyes locking onto his. She gripped his shoulders desperately, her muffled, exhausted moans quivering with the raw intensity of a woman experiencing her first true love. The sound deeply moved his heart.
"Loki, I’m happy... I'm cumming!"
If anyone burst into the room right now, they would probably assume he was sleeping with Vice Principal Lisa Swallow after having one too many drinks the night before. But Loki would gladly call them idiots. This clearly wasn’t the rigid, professional Vice Principal.
"Cumming!"
As Loki finished inside of her one last time, the morning peace shattered.
Click. Creak.
Loki froze, assuming the maids had unlocked the door for their morning cleaning. Beneath him, his lover panicked instantly. She grabbed the bedsheet, pulling it over her face and exposed body in a frantic blur.
Tucking away his irritation, Loki rolled off his lover to scold the intruder, but the words caught in his throat. The person stepping across the threshold froze, too. For a second, the room was dead silent. Then, both men pointed fingers and shouted simultaneously.
"Thorin, you bastard! Knock next time, damn it!"
"Loki, you bastard! Why are you fucking in my room and my bed?!"
Loki blinked, finally taking in his surroundings. He was in a third-floor guest room. He hadn't realized it was the specific room assigned to Thorin, nor did he know why the door had been unlocked. Thorin being here was easy to explain—it was Loki's house, and a simple misunderstanding had occurred.
But then Loki looked past his brother's shoulder. Two more figures were standing at the threshold, peering into the room. Loki's blood ran cold.
"Prince Vali? Princess Lana?" Loki stammered, pulling himself up. "Why are you in my house?"
Neither of the royals wore their academy uniforms today; it was their day off. Vali looked sharp in a tailored black nobleman's suit, while Lana wore an elegant red princess dress. The moment she realized what was happening, Lana covered her eyes with both hands, though she couldn't help but peek through the slight cracks in her fingers.
Vali, however, wasn't looking at Loki. His eyes were locked on a beautiful, slender arm reaching out from beneath the blankets, hastily dragging a pair of panties and a white dress off the floor.
The prince stood dumbfounded. He recognized that dress. It was the exact outfit Lisa Swallow had worn yesterday. He distinctly remembered her calling his bluff, proudly claiming she would never use her body to secure Loki's allegiance. Instead of being angry, a thrill of pure satisfaction shot through Vali. His sister was witnessing this entire scandalous display, and Lisa had seemingly delivered Loki right into his hands. Vali smiled inwardly, already planning a grand reward for Lisa's "good work."
Despite his internal triumph, Vali maintained his polite royal facade. He looked at Loki and Thorin, who were still fiercely trading silent glares, and then glanced at his blushing sister.
"My sister saw something she shouldn't have," Vali noted smoothly. "Thorin, perhaps let your brother get dressed first?"
Only then did everyone fully register that Loki was completely naked, his shoulders heavily decorated with love marks from a drunken, chaotic night shared with two different women. But the second woman wasn't standing around to be judged. A sudden ripple of magical energy hummed through the air. She was casting a spell.
Thump. Buzz.
Recognizing the shift, Thorin lunged forward, grabbing the edges of the sheet to rip it away and expose the hidden woman. Loki reacted on instinct, throwing his weight forward to push his brother back and delay the reveal. Thorin stumbled backward with a curse, but the momentum tore the blanket away regardless.
The sheet fluttered to the floor, revealing... nothing.
The bed was empty, save for a messy pool of fluids and a stark, small bloodstain—the unmistakable mark of a woman's lost virginity. Relief washed over Loki; she had escaped with her dignity intact. Acting quickly, he grabbed his pants, slipped them on, and snatched up the high-heel shoes she had left behind, sliding them safely into his space ring.
Thorin stared at the empty bed, then at Loki. Realization dawned on him. His brother had physically assaulted him just to protect a woman he was sleeping with in his bed. Something inside Thorin snapped.
Bang! Thud!
Loki saw the punch coming. It was a raw, aura-less strike, born of pure brotherly fury. Loki didn't even try to dodge. He knew he deserved it.
The fist caught him squarely over his left eye, the force knocking him flat onto the floor. Grunting, Loki cupped his face. He could already feel the skin swelling; he was definitely going to have a massive shiner by midday.
Thorin stood over him, breathing heavily. He pointed a trembling finger at Lana, then down at Loki. "I hit you for disrespecting the Princess," Thorin barked, his voice tight. "I don't care that you disrespected my space. But I'm here to tell you that I'm leaving!"
Loki lay on the floor, propped against a nearby chair, his eye stinging fiercely. But through the pain, a bitter realization hit him. Thorin had already packed his bags. This bastard was planning to abandon the household long before this morning's disaster; he was just using this fight to justify his anger.
Now that Loki had his pants on, Princess Lana finally uncovered her eyes completely. She looked at the bruised Count, the ruined bed, and then turned her gaze to Thorin. The young man was already packing his remaining belongings into a large, pristine Space Ring—the very one Angelica had gifted him the night before.
Vali watched the silent exchange. Seeing that Loki wasn't going to argue or try to stop his brother, the prince stepped forward, a friendly, calculated smile gracing his lips.
"Our apologies, Count Loki," Vali said smoothly. "We won't hold the Princess witnessing this against you, as we did come into your home unannounced. We escorted Sir Thorin here because he required transit, and we are taking him back to reside at Albion Castle." Vali paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "By my parents' direct order, Thorin is now Lana’s Protector Knight. He must remain by her side to ensure her safety. Apologies for the short notice."
Loki merely waved a dismissive hand. Out of the corner of his good eye, he saw Sylvia and Shade entering the room. A frantic maid had called for the Duchess's intervention the moment the physical altercation began. (Unbeknownst to the royals, the vanishing woman had also given Sylvia a quiet warning on her way out)
Shade pushed past the royal siblings without a word. She squatted directly beside Loki, her fingers glowing with a faint, icy blue light as she applied a soothing layer of frost to his swelling eye.
Sylvia stepped in front of Loki, her posture rigid and imposing, effectively shielding him from any further outbursts from Thorin. She turned her sharp gaze to the uninvited guests.
"Good morning, Prince and Princess," Sylvia said, her voice dripping with aristocratic ice. "However, I believe bypassing the master of the house and failing to let the staff properly greet you was incredibly rude. If you had simply waited in the drawing-room, this entire incident could have been avoided, correct?"
A tense silence fell over the room. Under normal circumstances, members of the royal family would never dream of barging into the private living quarters of a high-ranking noble. The entire situation felt entirely orchestrated. It smelled of a deliberate trap.
"Sister-in-law, I brought—" Thorin started, attempting to defend himself.
"Shut up, Sir Sky," Sylvia interrupted, her voice cutting through the room like a blade. "And get out of my home. You are no longer a member of the Northern Duchy. You are a Knight of Castle Albion. Because Loki is your brother and this was a sibling dispute, I will not press charges for striking a Count. Leave."
Loki winced slightly, not wanting to see his brother dressed down so ruthlessly by Sylvia. But she was the Duchess, and she was executing her noble duties flawlessly. He couldn't stop her. Besides, his eye hurt too much to argue.
Thorin stood there, looking profoundly wronged. A bitter irony twisted his features; he was getting kicked out of the house he was already trying to leave.
"Sniff~!"
The distinct sound of someone inhaling deeply echoed from the doorway. Ayala came walking in from her quarters at the end of the hall. She looked at Loki, glanced at Thorin, and then pointedly smelled the air.
"So, he caught you having sex with a woman in his bed, and he had the nerve to hit you just because the Princess saw it, right?" Ayala asked, a wicked smirk playing on her lips.
In truth, Ayala didn't need to guess. She had used her <Heighten Awareness> ability to shamelessly eavesdrop on their late-morning activities from the comfort of her own room. She was purely here to tease them.
She turned her gaze toward the completely stupefied Thorin. "You'll need to find yourself another teacher," Ayala said dryly. "My curriculum doesn't accommodate Knights who bring royal rats to peep on family affairs."
Without waiting for a response, she spun on her heel and strolled back down the hallway. Thorin stood frozen, suddenly questioning his entire life identity. Ayala was literally the only Full Knight instructor currently teaching at the Royal Academy. By losing her favor, his advanced training was shattered; he would now have to seek out three separate, lesser teachers to make up for her single class.
But the morning's chaos wasn't over yet.
Step. Step. Step.
Pushing past the two royal siblings, a barefoot Shehuang walked calmly into the room. She was wearing nothing but a skimpy, semi-translucent black teddy. Her gaze swept over the room before locking onto Loki's closed, blackened eye.
"Who..." she began, her voice dropping to a dangerously soft, melodic register. "...Hit... My... Master~?"
Ayala immediately paused her retreat, slipping back to the doorway to watch the impending show with immense amusement. Vali, Lana, and even Thorin didn't take Shehuang's entrance seriously. To them, she was just a 0-Circle Eastern servant woman. But those who knew her true identity held their breath, the air in the room instantly turning heavy.
Loki felt a sudden, suffocating wave of killing intent radiate from Shehuang. Knowing she was four full Circle levels higher than him, he knew he couldn't physically restrain her if she decided to paint the walls with his brother.
"Shehuang, don't..." Loki pleaded, his voice desperate as he scrambled to his feet and grabbed her bare arm. "He's my brother. It was just... siblings expressing their feelings. He didn't really hurt me, I swear."
Thorin and the royals watched, utterly bewildered by Loki's sudden panic over a servant girl.
Shehuang looked at Loki, offering him a sweet, deeply seductive smile. "Master," she murmured softly, her eyes glinting with a terrifying light. "Just like with your horse... if you don't teach naughty children a proper lesson, they will grow up thinking they can keep hitting you. Hitting you is the same as hitting me."
Before the words fully registered, an instinctual sense of mortal peril spiked in Thorin's chest.
Whoosh! Bang! Bang!
No one in the room saw her move. Thorin didn't even have time to raise a guard before two violent jolts slammed into his face, accompanied by blinding flashes of white light upon impact.
Thud!
The force threw Thorin across the room. He crashed hard against the wall and slid down to the floor in a heap. When the dust settled, everyone stared in horror. Shehuang was standing in a perfect, rigid horse stance, a small, tender fist extended exactly where Thorin's face had been a millisecond prior.
Gulp.
Prince Vali and Princess Lana swallowed hard in unison. They hadn't just failed to track her movements; her speed defied the very laws of physics they understood.
Shehuang slowly pulled back her fist, looking down at the stunned, bleeding Knight on the floor. "If you punch my Master, I'll give you two," she said, her voice entirely devoid of emotion. "If you stab my master, I'll give you two. And if you kill my master... everyone you have ever cared for will be sent to join him in the afterlife."
Clap. Clap.
She lightly patted her hands together, dusting off non-existent dirt, and casually strolled out of the room. She looked entirely unbothered, completely unaware that she had just made the Prince of the realm pucker his asshole in pure terror. Ayala followed closely behind her, her expression filled with profound respect as the two women immediately began chatting quietly about Loki.
Loki let out a long, ragged sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had held back her true strength, or his brother would currently be a headless corpse.
Thorin staggered to his feet, groaning as he wiped a trail of dark blood from his broken nose. He grabbed his packed bags, refused to look anyone in the eye, and began shuffling toward the door. "I'm leaving..." he muttered, his voice hollow. "My job is to protect the Princess now. I'm leaving. Goodbye."
Vali offered a strained, polite wave as he began backing out of the room. Lana kept her head firmly down, entirely too ashamed to look Loki in the eyes after what her presence had caused.
Watching their retreating backs out the window, Loki's filter finally broke. "Fuck. He really just pulled up his pants and left?"
The family butler stepped in, ensuring the royal guests were escorted off the property immediately without causing any further incidents. Shade gently pressed a fresh layer of ice against Loki's bruised eye. "Does it hurt?" she asked softly.
Loki watched the royal carriage pull away from the estate through the window. He nodded slowly. "My heart hurts a lot."
Sylvia stepped up beside him, gently rubbing his back in a rare show of open comfort. Losing Thorin to the royal faction was the exact nightmare their family had been trying to prevent. But once Angelica started manipulating someone from the shadows, it became almost impossible for them to tell right from wrong.
After changing into proper clothes, Loki made his way down to the second-floor study where his elusive morning partner had fled.
While teleportation in and out of the heavily fortified mansion was strictly blocked by defensive wards, short-range blinking between rooms within the interior was perfectly functional. That was how she had managed to escape the bedroom and find Sylvia at her desk.
Loki pushed the door open to find a remarkably disheveled woman sitting nervously on the sofa. He walked over, sitting tightly beside her, and gently took her trembling hands in his.
"Lisa, I am so sorry," Loki said softly, a faint, self-deprecating smile on his face. "I honestly had no idea that was my brother's bedroom. But hey, the sheets and pillows were brand new, so don't worry too much, right?"
She had managed to find a comb to fix her wild hair, but she was still wearing a borrowed robe. Loki reached into his space ring, pulling out the high-heels she had been forced to leave behind during her frantic escape. He had told the royals that he wasn't sleeping with Vice Principal
Lisa Swallow, and he meant it. This was Ex-Vice Principal Lisa—his new lover. He would happily deny her identity to the high heavens if anyone dared ask.
"Loki..." Lisa murmured, her eyes searching his face anxiously. "Did any of them see me before my magic took me away? Did they recognize my Lightning energy? I don't... I don't want you to suffer because of me."
Loki patted her hands gently, trying to soothe her rising panic. A moment later, the study door clicked open, and Sylvia and Shade walked inside, closing it firmly behind them. Sylvia quietly reclaimed her seat at the massive mahogany desk, while Shade slid onto the couch on Loki's other side, pressing a fresh pack of ice against his black eye.
"Loki, who hit you?!" Sylvia teased, a faint, knowing smirk playing on her lips. She looked over at Lisa. "He got that black eye protecting your escape, you know. Make sure you find a way to properly make it up to him." Sylvia's expression turned serious as she leaned forward. "I take it you will be staying with Loki now? You won't abandon him for the Balder faction?"
Lisa squeezed Loki's hands tightly, turning to face the Duchess with absolute certainty. "Duchess, I told you last night that I will never hurt Loki. I promise you that. Plus... he is my man now. So..."
Her voice trailed off, a deep blush creeping up her neck.
The night before, following a tense family dinner, Sylvia had brought Lisa into this exact office for a long, grueling conversation. They had unearthed a century's worth of political misunderstandings regarding her father, Count Swallow, and the untimely death of James Sky. They talked at length about Loki, and why Lisa had so drastically altered her view of the young Count. By the end of the night, Sylvia realized that the petty political tricks Lisa had pulled under royal orders were childish at best, born of coercion rather than malice.
Afterward, Shade had enjoyed a long, sensual bath with Loki, leaving him thoroughly relaxed and a bit tipsy. Looking for a nightcap, Loki had wandered into the library, where he found Lisa reading late into the night. The pair had shared several more drinks, completely losing track of time.
Sylvia had simply gone to bed, entirely unbothered by where her husband might wake up. She knew exactly how the two had stumbled up a flight of stairs in the dark, accidentally wandering into Thorin's vacant room.
Sylvia let out a soft sigh, her features softening as she looked at Lisa. "Given what Vali and Angelica are currently planning from the shadows, you are more than welcome to stay here. Use Thorin's old room as your own—once the maids thoroughly clean it, of course."
Lisa's blush deepened significantly, the vivid, chaotic memories of the previous night flashing through her mind. "I'll report everything Vali tries to coordinate through me," she promised, her voice dropping to a fierce whisper. "As of right now, the Prince still believes I am entirely loyal to his orders.
If the secrets surrounding my father can stay buried, that is for the best... but I will choose Loki over my father's secrets in the end. I swear it."
Shade shifted beside Loki, her tone switching to a crisp, professional business manner. "We won't be able to accompany our husband when the Secret Realm trip begins," Shade noted gravely. "As Loki's mistress, we are officially counting on you to watch his back out there."
"Thank you, both of you," Lisa replied, a wave of profound relief washing over her features. "Ayala is joining the expedition as well. Between the two of us, I promise you that no one will touch Loki outside the Secret Realm."
Hearing his wives and his new lover interacting so seamlessly, the lingering ache in Loki's chest began to fade. He had lost his brother to the dark machinations of the royal court, but the incredible women surrounding him were more than capable of filling the void Thorin had left behind.
"Thanks, ladies," Loki muttered around the ice pack.
Then, Shade entirely ruined the tender, emotional atmosphere.
"You two really stink of sex," Shade said flatly, wrinkling her nose in theatrical disgust. "Go take a proper bath and get down to the dining room for breakfast. We have an incredibly long day ahead of us."
Blushing furiously in shared shame, Loki grabbed Lisa's hand and practically dragged her toward his personal bath.
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