Chapter 73: I’m not your pet
"What are you scheming now?" Vlad asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. His gaze studied her face for any sign of trickery.
"How rude!" Seraphina gasped, clearly offended by his words. "As soon as you set a foot outside this room, you will be caught by the warden. Get out if you want to." She flopped back onto the bed with a soft thud, pulling the blanket over herself.
A moment later, light footsteps echoed behind her, followed by the rustling of fabric against marble.
"Could I get a blanket?" Vlad’s voice came from the floor.
Seraphina slightly lifted her blanket and peeked out. Vlad was lying on the floor, his hands resting behind his head as a pillow, his gaze fixed on the ceiling above.
"Did anyone tell you that you are a completely shameless person?" Seraphina asked, only her face above her nose visible from beneath the blanket. Her pink eyes peered at him over the fabric.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Vlad replied without hesitation, as if she had merely stated the obvious. His voice carried no trace of embarrassment.
She released a sigh of defeat.
"Shameless people are better than secretive ones," she said, her eyes looking softly at Vlad. The harshness in her voice had softened. "At least they openly speak their mind."
"So you don’t hate me that much after all," Vlad chuckled, a grin spreading across his face. "In that case, could I get that blank—"
Before he could finish his words, Seraphina threw a pillow straight at his face. The soft impact silenced him.
"I hate you the most!" she declared, sliding back inside the blanket. The fabric swallowed her completely. "You will only get this!" Her voice was muffled but clear enough.
Vlad placed the soft pillow below his head, the fabric warm against his cheek. Now that he had somehow survived the immediate crisis Lirien had put him through, his gaze took in his surroundings.
Seraphina’s room was anything but a typical dormitory room of the academy. It was massive, easily three times the size of Vlad’s room, even though he was sharing his with a roommate. The space stretched before him like a noble’s private chamber.
Vlad stared up at the ceiling from the floor beside the bed, and even from down there, the room felt excessive. The stone walls were draped in cascading panels of crimson and gold silk, their folds catching the faint moonlight. The floor beneath him was polished marble, pale as ivory, veined with thin threads of rose gold that pressed cool and smooth against his back. Above him, the four-poster bed loomed like a small monument, carved from dark mahogany, its canopy layered in sheer white silk and deep burgundy velvet, the curtains tied back with braided gold cord that gleamed in the dim light.
Across the room, tall arched windows with leaded, frosted glass let the moonlight scatter in soft reflection on the marble. It was the same window Vlad had been about to jump from moments ago. Heavy midnight blue drapes framed them on either side. A gilded mirror stood in one corner, its surface catching the faint glow of the room, while a carved writing desk sat near the window, its surface bare except for an elegant inkwell. Bookshelves lined the walls, every column filled with spines of various colours and thicknesses, clearly showing that this was the room of a studious mage. The opposite wall was framed with a wooden wardrobe stretching from one corner to another, large enough to store Vlad’s clothes for an entire year, and he still might not repeat an outfit during that period.
The room was filled with a sweet and attractive fragrance of roses, the same scent he had breathed from Seraphina’s skin, but much lighter now, dispersed through the space. Vlad wondered whether it was the room that made Seraphina smell like roses, or if it was the other way around. He decided it must be the latter, since the fragrance had been so strong earlier, almost turning his head blank when he had been on top of her. Not to mention the similar fragrance radiating from the pillow below him now, causing his heart to beat like drums against his ribs. Perhaps it had not been a good idea to use her pillow after all.
"The nobles really live in a totally different world, huh," Vlad murmured, his eyes darting towards every corner of the room, taking in the opulence that surrounded him.
"And commoners really have no respect for privacy," Seraphina shot back, her narrowed eyes peeking out again from beneath the blanket. Her pink eyes glinted in the moonlight. "First you barge into a lady’s bed at night, and now you are checking out her room."
"Well, it’s right in front of me. How can I not notice it?" He shrugged, moving onto his side, his eyes reaching Seraphina’s, who was glaring at him from the bed’s edge.
"By closing your eyes?" Seraphina said, stating the obvious. Her voice carried a hint of exasperation. "By the way, I did not get this room because I am noble. It is one of the benefits of being the Student Council President." A note of pride crept into her words.
Vlad kept looking at her face silently, scanning for something beneath the surface. His gaze was steady, thoughtful.
"What are you looking at?" Seraphina muttered, her head lowering deeper into the blanket until only her eyes remained visible.
"You have changed a lot from how I remembered you," Vlad said in a gentle tone, his voice soft and sincere. "Thank you again for not exposing me to the guards."
"I only did it because I want to take my revenge personally," she retorted, her eyes moving sideways, avoiding his gaze. "On that note, open the last section of the wardrobe and bring me a pillow, errand boy."
Vlad released a sigh as he rose to his feet, the cold marble pressing against his palms. He reached the last wardrobe and slid it open. The whole section was filled with multiple soft blankets and pillows of various sizes, all neatly stacked and arranged.
"Can I get a blanket for myself?" He asked as he took out a pillow, his fingers sinking into the plush fabric.
"Of course not. You are my errand boy. Why would you need a blanket?" Seraphina replied with a shrug, the usual smug smile returning to her face. Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Vlad’s brows furrowed in annoyance. He slammed the sliding door shut with more force than necessary and brought the pillow to Seraphina before lying back down on the cold marble floor. The chill seeped through his clothes.
"Good boy," Seraphina whispered, her one leg coming out from beneath the blanket, her foot reaching his head and patting it playfully. Her toes wiggled against his hair.
"What do you think you are doing?" Vlad asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Rewarding my errand boy," Seraphina replied, her toes digging into Vlad’s head with gentle pressure.
"I’m not your pet. Stop it."
"Don’t want to."
The crease on Vlad’s forehead grew deeper. He grabbed her leg and pushed it downward. He had only meant to remove her foot from his head, however she was much lighter than he had anticipated. Her whole body came down from the push, slamming on top of him with a soft thud. The breath was knocked from his lungs.
