Chapter 73: Down there!
ELLA.
I woke up and for a brief moment, I simply stared at the ceiling in surprise. I had no nightmare.
The realization alone felt strange.
I hadn’t slept that peacefully since leaving the Bloodfang territory. No sudden fear gripping my chest. No memories dragging me awake in panic. No suffocating darkness lingering over me the moment I opened my eyes.
Just peace—quiet and unfamiliar peace.
But the surprise slowly faded the moment I turned slightly and saw who was lying beside me.
Lurgard.
He was holding onto me tightly even in his sleep, one arm wrapped securely around my waist as though letting go of me was impossible. A wide smile rested shamelessly on his sleeping face, making him look far too satisfied for someone who clearly wasn’t supposed to be here.
I panicked instantly.
What the hell?
How did Lurgard enter my room?
Hadn’t I collected the spare key already?
My brows furrowed deeply as I quickly raised a hand to my head, my head already threatening to ache from the confusion.
"How many spare keys do they even have?" I muttered under my breath in disbelief.
Honestly, these people were beginning to terrify me.
I was still trying to figure it out when Lurgard suddenly opened his eyes.
And instead of acting guilty for sneaking into my room...he started spouting nonsense immediately.
Complete nonsense.
The kind that made my face flush red almost instantly.
I glared at him and raised my hand to hit him before he could continue talking.
But before I could even react properly, he suddenly kissed me.
My entire body tensed immediately.
For a brief second, I completely froze beneath him, caught off guard by the sudden warmth of his lips against mine.
But then slowly...my resistance weakened, and before I realized it, I was kissing him back too.
The moment stretched quietly around us, and then suddenly...memories flooded my mind without warning.
Alex.
Back then, I used to wake up early every morning just to prepare his outfit for the day before he even opened his eyes.
I remembered standing there once, simply staring at him while he slept, completely mesmerized by him like he was some kind of fairy.
The moment he woke up and caught me staring, I had leaned forward to kiss him instinctively.
But instead of kissing me back, he pushed me away and told me to brush my teeth first.
The memory hit harder than I expected.
And ever since that day, brushing my teeth became the very first thing I did every morning before even speaking to him.
But somehow...even then, Alex still never allowed me close enough in the mornings.
The more the memories resurfaced, the tighter something twisted painfully inside my chest.
Tears slowly slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them.
And strangely....the more I remembered...the more desperately I kissed Lurgard back, almost like I was trying to prove something to myself.
"Theresa, let’s get married quickly..." Lurgard murmured between the kisses, his voice low and rough as his chest rose and fell heavily against mine. "...and have babies."
At first, his words didn’t properly register in my mind.
Everything still felt hazy from the kiss, from the warmth surrounding me, from the way he kept looking at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
But then...the meaning of his words finally settled and instantly, my heart started pounding so loudly I was certain he could hear it.
My eyes widened slightly in shock.
What?
I pushed him away quickly, my breathing uneven as reality came crashing back into my head all at once.
How on earth did we even end up kissing?
One second I had been annoyed with him for sneaking into my room, and the next...
This.
"Theresa, you can’t start a fire and refuse to quench it," Lurgard said.
His voice was lower now, rougher than before, as if every word was being pulled out of him with restraint. The emerald in his eyes had deepened into something darker, sharper, intense enough to make my breath hitch slightly without warning.
The playful expression he had worn earlier was gone completely. In its place stood something far more unsettling.
He looked like a predator now—one that had already locked onto its prey and had no intention of letting go.
I swallowed hard immediately, my throat suddenly dry.
Something about the way he was looking at me made it difficult to think clearly.
"Lurgard... come back to your senses," I said quickly, my voice tighter than I intended as I tried to put space between us.
Instinctively, I raised my leg to push him away, hoping to create even the smallest distance.
But he didn’t move back, instead, his hand caught my leg gently mid-air, carefully and controlled.
And before I could react, he guided it slowly until it rested against his chest.
The sudden contact made my entire body stiffen.
Then he lowered his head and pressed a kiss against my leg.
My face burned instantly, heat rushing straight to my cheeks as my heart began racing uncontrollably.
"I am sane, Theresa..." he murmured softly, his voice softening again, but there was still that strange tension underneath it.
He paused briefly, eyes dropping downward for a second as if acknowledging something I couldn’t see.
"But down here, it’s not."
My breath caught sharply.
Every nerve in my body seemed to go still.
"What do we do about it?" he asked again, this time almost innocently, as though the situation he had created was something completely simple to solve.
My face reddened even more, a mixture of embarrassment and irritation crashing into me all at once.
"Lurgard!" I snapped, immediately pulling my leg away from his chest before scrambling out of the bed entirely.
I moved quickly toward the door, desperate to put distance between us before he said anything more ridiculous.
"Lurgard—"
I barely even finished speaking before he suddenly appeared right in front of me.
My eyes widened immediately.
That was fast.
"Shhhhh," he whispered softly, placing his hand gently over my mouth before I could continue talking.
My heartbeat immediately sped up again.
And just before he could say anything else...
A loud knock suddenly echoed through the room.
