Kissing Hellfire: Marry Me, Evil Lord
Chapter 181: Flames of Anger

Chapter 181: Flames of Anger

"I want you to be honest," Alec said, the way he held her stare intensely told Lauren he wasn’t convinced that she was being entirely truthful. "If there is anything else you are hiding from me, I want you to tell me..." His voice was calm and patient, his solemn eyes trying to force the truth out of her mouth.

Her heart never calmed. A storm was raging inside her, and she was having a hard time surviving the hurricane of emotion she was trying to pacify. She wanted to feign ignorance, to act nonchalant like she always does in the face of people trying to disprove her, but the thing was—it was a hundred times harder when it came to Alec. Perhaps it was because she never wanted to lie to him in the first place.

"You said," he whispered as he moved closer, his breath falling to her face as he bent for them to have closer eye contact. "You said you wanted to marry me for real." He took a pause again, like he was trying to talk it out slowly so she’d understand every word he said.

She breathed, but breathing while he was so close to her like this was no different from breathing on perilous flames.

"Marriage is supposed to be a union between two people who trust each other more than anyone. There shouldn’t be lies... there shouldn’t be walls and masks," he said so quietly and softly that it almost sounded like a hum. "You know that, right?"

"Yes..." She pressed her eyes together, accepting her defeat.

With the way he was talking to her, how could she continue to lie? There was no point in lying now. She didn’t want to accept it, but deep down, she knew that he knew. She wanted to confess it to him without being forced to speak so it wouldn’t sound so bad, but she could tell that she’d only create a rift in their relationship if she prolonged the truth. And at this moment, she realized nothing was more important to her than what she and Alec had. If she failed to protect the kingdom or herself, at least she was able to save their relationship.

"I’m sorry..." The apology came out smooth and shivery from her half-opened lips, perhaps the most sincere apology she had ever said to a person.

"Sorry for what?" Alec asked, wondering whether she was apologizing because she was admitting that she lied or because she couldn’t tell him the truth.

"Sorry because I lied."

The relief and warmth in his eyes made her heart flutter. It was like it was all he wanted; her being true to him, and a simple apology.

"So, what is the lie?"

Genuine curiosity flashed in Alec’s orbs, and Lauren knew that although he had a strong feeling she was hiding something, he didn’t have the slightest idea about Simon, and thinking how bad his reaction would be brought an upsetting twist to her stomach.

"I lied about why I left earlier..." She started, and she could tell how attentive he had grown from the few words she said. His face turned rigid and grim, and despite not seeing violence coming, she was still anxious, intimidated. Only Alec could strip her of her confidence.

"I know."

Her eyes widened. "You knew...?"

"A servant told me you received a present from an unknown sender, but when I checked our room, I didn’t see any gift box the servant told me about. Then I saw some remains of leather in the fireplace. Its smell didn’t waft around the room because you put a spell on it. You did it so I wouldn’t notice."

So it was the reason why he was still so dissatisfied with the reasons she gave him even though she sounded very convincing. She thought the servants wouldn’t say anything about it since it looked like a harmless present.

"If you knew, why did you act like you accepted my reason?"

"If I truly accepted it, what do you think the supposed punishment was for?" His lips curled darkly. "Besides, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. I had other plans on making you spill the beans, though..." The way he said the ’other plans’ gave Lauren dark scenarios in her head, making her breathing hitch.

Alec’s face turned grim again. "Now tell me. What was the present for? No one noticed your absence until I looked for you later in the afternoon, but I assume you must have left right after you received it."

She pulled away and sat on the edge of the bed. She didn’t think she could explain to him what happened with their proximity, so she had to put some distance between them. But what she did didn’t seem to please him. He moved to her front and took one knee down; his arm resting on the other knee while his other hand was on the edge of the bed beside where she was sitting.

She sighed, realizing he wouldn’t give her some space and she needed to talk to him on his terms.

"A pair of shoes was in the box," she began, her toes curling on her shoes, and her breathing faster than the normal pace. What were the odds that she’d get thrown across the room after she told him everything? It wasn’t the place, but the thought made her smile a little because she found it ridiculous.

"So you received a pair of shoes from someone, then?" Alec noticed the slight smile that touched her lips for a fraction of a second, which made him shoot one brow up at her. "You smiled. You must have liked the present. Who was the sender?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn’t smile because of that. I just thought of something..." She trailed off, deciding not to continue on that part. "Anyway, the present didn’t please me one bit. It was more of a disaster than a present, actually."

"Hmm..."

"There was a note that came with the shoes. The sender was asking me to meet him in a shoe shop downtown."

"Him. So, a man it is..." There was a subtle flicker of red in Alec’s eyes.

She swallowed hard. "Yes, and he blackmailed me. He said in the message that if I don’t come, Vivian will be harmed. He also told me not to tell anyone because he would know."

His jaw clenched.

"I was mad and scared and frustrated. I didn’t want anything to happen to Vivian because of me. That’s the last thing I’d want for my friends. I wanted to tell you, but you were busy, and I was afraid the person behind it had really the means to know if I’d tell anyone. More than that, I wanted to meet him for other reasons... he mentioned my illness in the missive, even the black mages, which brought me to the conclusion that the sender was with the rebels."

"And you went to meet him. Alone."

She huffed an inaudible "yes" and stopped breathing for a moment, her heartbeat booming in her ears like a thunderstorm.

His eyes were crimson now, in the darkest shade of red. His jaw was tight, ticking like a bomb, and his lips were pursed in a line. His hand gripping the edge of the bed created a deep dent as if he wanted to pulverize everything he could lay his hands on.

"But I wasn’t harmed in any way, Alec. I know he wouldn’t. Why else would he send me that kind of message and blackmail me just to meet me? It means he doesn’t need my death; he needs something else from me, and that’s what I came for. To know why he knew about my illness, how he was related to the rebels—"

"But you should have known better, Lauren!" His voice thundered; it drowned her loud heartbeat. "It could have been a simple death trap unlike you thought! You could have ended up... dead!" Frustration was etched on his last word as if he was reluctant to say it because he couldn’t stomach the idea.

"Only that it wasn’t a simple death trap. He wouldn’t drop a hint about knowing how to cure my illness if he meant to harm me using Vivian. Not that Vivian wasn’t enough to make me come running to wherever he was, but why would he evoke my curiosity through that? It’s because he wanted to talk about something, and I proved it right. Vivian wasn’t even there when I arrived. He only used Vivian’s name so I would come, but he did not abduct her."

Alec stood and moved a few steps back. Anger gleamed in his blazing red eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly; the flames in the fireplace flared more, and Lauren was worried their bedroom would soon be surrounded by fire.

He glowered at her, gritting his teeth. "Do you think returning unscathed and telling me you proved your assumption right is enough for me to tolerate your stupid move?"