At this moment, Liora Voss's heart pounded like a drum. All the blood in her body seemed to rush straight to her heart, gathering beneath Elias's fingertips, as if it might burst open at any second.

  Liora suddenly reached out and gripped that smooth, glistening finger tightly in her palm. Only then did her movements slow as she pulled his hand away from her chest.

  Pying with fire.

  She wanted to say those three words to him, but her mouth parted slightly and the sentence died in her throat.

  She was worried—worried that the moment she spoke, her voice would tremble. The kind of tremble that only came when someone was extremely aroused.

  Elias paused when she grabbed his finger. Then, as if he had guessed something, the smile on his face deepened, his eyes curving into crescents.

  "What are you smiling about?"

  The moment the words left her mouth, Liora regretted them. It sounded far too defensive. Fortunately her heart had already settled, and her tone came out perfectly normal with no cracks showing.

  "Nothing."

  Elias smiled as he slowly withdrew his finger from her palm, inch by inch.

  "Let's go," Liora said, her expression unchanged as she took the lead and stepped forward.

  Elias followed right behind her, smiling without a word.

  He was looking at the system notification in his mind.

  [Liora Voss favorability increased. Current: 15%.]

  Under Liora's lead, Elias returned once more to that familiar presidential suite.

  Of course, everything inside had been repced with fresh linens. Not a single trace remained of what had happened the night before.

  But as Elias scanned the room, he spotted a problem.

  "Where is she? Why isn't Serena here?"

  From campus all the way to the hotel, Liora had been unusually quiet. Only now did she gnce at him indifferently and say, "She'll be here soon."

  So an hour passed.

  Elias's bright eyes stayed locked on Liora as he spoke, one word at a time. "This is what you call 'soon'?"

  In some situations, "soon" really could mean an hour, but in this world, wasn't it supposed to be the guys who took forever?

  Liora frowned. She was also growing impatient—not because she had anything pressing to do, but because sharing a space alone with Elias made her inexplicably restless.

  Elias had spent the entire hour on his phone until his neck ached. Rubbing it, he stood up from the sofa and walked over to the room's only rge bed. With a light leap, he jumped onto the foot of the bed.

  Smack. Smack.

  He raised a hand and patted the bedding firmly a couple of times, testing the mattress. The result satisfied him, and he nodded.

  The bed was even softer than yesterday. Serena definitely knew how to enjoy herself.

  The sound drew Liora's gaze. She saw Elias sitting there with his legs crossed, swinging them lightly. His shoes were half off, dangling from the tips of his feet wrapped in white socks, on the verge of falling but not quite.

  Elias suddenly looked over. "Ms. Voss."

  Liora quickly shifted her eyes from his feet to his face. "Hm?"

  Elias: "How about we just do it?"

  If her heart had been racing before, now it skipped a full beat.

  Liora stared deeply at him, unsure what game he was pying this time. Her mouth opened, about to respond, when Elias continued, "Your sister is taking too long. I'm tired of waiting. Since you two are sisters, you taking care of it is the same as her doing it. Once we finish, my task for today should count as complete, right?"

  His tone was completely casual, as if he were discussing an ordinary after-css assignment rather than something a kept boy shouldn't even say out loud. It didn't matter who did it, as long as it got done.

  What did he think his body was? And what did he think she was?

  This filthy whore.

  Liora looked at him and curled her lips into a cold smile. "If you really can't wait, you can go find one of the cleaning staff to help you out."

  She was mocking his desperation, but the boy's face lit up with genuine delight as he stood from the bed. "That counts too? You said it yourself—no takebacks!"

  With that, he jogged toward the door as if he really intended to find a cleaner to fulfill his duty. Liora grabbed him with one hand and yanked hard, sending him stumbling back onto the bed.

  Liora said coldly, "After the contract ends, you can go fuck whoever you want and no one will care. But right now, while you're still being kept, if your body gets dirty, the contract is immediately void. Your parents—"

  "Alright, alright." Elias interrupted her, slowly pushing himself up from the bed with a slight pout. "It was just a joke. Why are you so bad at taking a joke?"

  A vein throbbed on Liora's forehead. She took a deep breath, forcing down her anger.

  Elias checked the time on his phone. "Still not here? Then I'll sleep for a bit. Wake me up when she gets here."

  He flopped back down onto the bed, not bothering with a pillow, resting his head on his arm as he closed his eyes.

  Liora didn't even look at him. There was no way he was actually sleeping.

  The lights were bright, his posture was like that, and there was someone else in the room. How could he possibly fall asleep in this environment?

  Nine times out of ten, he was just thinking of new ways to tease her.

  Elias always took pleasure in toying with people, convinced he had everyone dancing in the palm of his hand. He had no idea that his so-called leverage was worthless—it all came from others.

  When she thought of it that way, his whole act became ridiculous.

  Liora gnced at him, then sat back down on the sofa. She wanted to see how long he could keep pretending.

  For a time, the room held only the sound of their quiet breathing.

  Half an hour passed like that. Even Liora, lounging on the soft sofa, started to feel drowsy.

  After hesitating for a moment, she stood up and walked to the other side of the bed to check on him.

  His eyes were closed, those long, thick shes like delicate fans. It was a peaceful, serene sleeping face that made Liora strangely think of the word "pure."

  What a joke.

  Had she caught Elias's stupidity? How could she possibly find a boy who tried to hook up with any woman at any moment "pure"?

  If he counted as pure, then everyone else in the world was an angel.

  Just then, a soft click sounded as the door opened. A slender leg wrapped in sheer bck stockings stepped inside.

  Serena Bckwood's face held a gentle expression, but the moment she saw Elias lying on the bed, it briefly turned icy cold. The corner of her lips curved into a contemptuous arc.

  She looked at Liora and asked, "What's wrong with him?"

  "He's sleeping."

  Serena closed the door. As she walked in, she slowly unbuttoned her cuff and gave a faint smile. "He really is carefree."

  Then she picked up a piece of fruit from the table and hurled it accurately at Elias's back.