She didn’t lift her damp red head from the marble rim; instead, she maintained her eerie, loose posture as if she hadn’t heard a single thing.
The breath caught heavily in her chest for a fraction of a second as she calculated: *I wonder which of those four knights decided to come here?
Whichever one it is, he chose the absolute wrong time for a confrontation.* The gears in her mind turned with sub-zero detachment while dense ribbons of steam twisted and drifted through the expanse of the Royal Spa, concealing her submerged body behind a thick, foggy barrier and a heavy shield of frothing bubbles.
She smoothly raised the crystal goblet close to her lips, taking another small, measured sip, letting the rich crimson vintage spread warmth through her veins.
She deliberately forced her hand to remain perfectly static, refusing to allow a single micro-tremor that might betray her surprise.
The footsteps advancing from the entrance unleashed a faint, dry scraping sound against the warm marble tiles, immediately accompanied by the sudden expansion of a familiar aura heavy, razor-sharp, and suffocating the moment it saturated the room.
It was a dominant, crushing pressure that caused the water ringed around Roxy to vibrate lightly, casting small, consecutive ripples across the surface.
Her human instincts immediately recognized that the newcomer wasn’t a standard student; he was one of the monsters she had faced in the Grand Dining Hall just minutes ago.
The rising clouds of steam gradually parted under the physical movement, slowly revealing the towering, immense frame advancing toward the jacuzzi.
Their gazes locked squarely through the thick fog.
The newcomer’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second in absolute, staggering bewilderment that paralyzed his steps, his stare locking onto the vibrant red strands resting against the marble edge and the expensive bottle of vintage wine his personal property resting casually between her slender fingers.
The corner of Roxy’s mouth twisted into a wicked, highly provocative smirk.
She raised her goblet toward the horizon in a cold, arrogant gesture of greeting that dripped with pure defiance.
Her voice rolled out steady, calm, and completely unbothered, echoing through the heavy silence of the spa: “Welcome to your royal sanctuary…
I see you’ve come to enjoy the quiet as well.
But you’re remarkably late again.
Since the space here is quite grand, you’re more than welcome to share the water with me if your pride doesn’t object to it, that is.” Asher Frost stood in his towering, immense build, looking down at her with pitch-black eyes that resembled bottomless pits.
He maintained the rigid, severe detachment of his flawless features as if he weren’t looking at any human presence worth acknowledging.
The corner of his lip twitched with a subtle, almost imperceptible micro-flex, and he spoke in a dry, calm tone: “Of course I am coming in…
and I will share this water with you.” If Roxy hadn’t possessed an elite ability to discipline her facial expressions and project absolute immunity, the crystal glass would have slipped right through her slender fingers.
She had never expected her provocative dare to actually drive the Alpha to join her.
Her stomach tightened in a forced knot as the reality of her current situation set in she was completely naked beneath the churning currents.
She silently thanked whatever gods were listening for the dense, frothing layer of bubbles completely masking the water, rendering it entirely opaque.
She took a slow, measured breath, forcefully stabilizing her sudden internal tension, fully aware that any microscopic tremor on the surface of her skin would be instantly intercepted by Asher’s hyper-acute senses.
She anchored her gaze directly onto him, watching with manufactured indifference as he raised his hands in a slow, provocative motion.
He casually peeled off his heavy elite jacket, tossing it onto the leather bench.
Then, his long fingers began to unfasten the buttons of his white shirt one by one, the fabric opening up to reveal a broad, chiseled chest and rock-hard muscles shifting in perfect alignment with his steady exhales.
Roxy instinctively swallowed, the motion causing a faint, quiet click in her throat through the silence of the room.
Asher caught the minute twitch in her neck.
His fingers went static for a few seconds.
His eyes locked onto hers as he tilted his head slightly to the side, letting a trace of quiet mockery color his tone: “Did you back out of your generous invitation this quickly, human?” Roxy casually traced the rim of her goblet with her index finger, attempting to project total nonchalance.
She wore a wicked, manufactured smirk on her lips, her eyes completely unblinking: “Of course not…
there is plenty of room for everyone.” In a split second, Asher’s hands moved down to the button of his dark trousers, unfastening them with lethal routine.
The heavy fabric slid down to the marble floor, exposing his long legs and his massive, heavily veined dick pulsing with life.
Roxy instantly snapped her face toward the opposite direction, anchoring her stare rigidly onto the basalt wall.
The powerful thuds of her heartbeat began to hammer against her ribs with a violence that felt loud enough to echo in the empty space.
She ground her teeth together, cursing bitterly in the dark recesses of her mind: *Damn you, Roxy…
damn you!
How could you miscalculate so stupidly?* A sudden, violent vibration shot through the water of the jacuzzi.
The frothing waves rose sharply around her frame, signaling that Asher’s massive, heavy body had officially entered the wide basin with her.
He sat directly opposite her, widely parting his knees in a loose, dominant posture that stretched her nerves to the limit.
Due to his immense height and the reach of his legs, the tips of his warm feet explicitly brushed against hers beneath the surface.
Roxy flinched for a fraction of a second, instantly yanking her legs back to tuck them tightly beneath her body, fiercely defending her microscopic boundary.
Asher tilted his head back against the marble rim, looking down at her from beneath his frozen, hooded lids with a freezing stare: “It seems the space is rather tight for two here.” The jacuzzi wasn’t tight at all; it was engineered to comfortably hold several people, but the sheer, crushing mass of Asher’s naked proximity made the perimeter shrink around her like a physical shackle.
Roxy lifted her chin, rallying every ounce of strength in her gray eyes to lock them directly into his pupils, completely ignoring the physical contact from a moment ago.
She spoke with hard steel: “It isn’t tight at all…
perhaps you are simply unaccustomed to sharing things.” The corner of Asher’s mouth twitched into a faint smile that vanished as quickly as it came.
He inquired in a calm, casual tone that carried an entirely manufactured air of routine interest: “What do you think of the academy so far, then?
Do you enjoy the prevailing atmosphere here?” He conversed with an uncanny, smooth brilliance, lazily resting his muscled arms along the marble ledges of the basin.
He acted as though he wasn’t the exact same creature who had aggressively flipped gravy and burning chili sauce over her head in front of thousands of students minutes ago; instead, he looked like a polite stranger striking up a casual conversation in a passing hallway.
Roxy lightly swirled the crimson liquid in her glass, masking her focus by tracking the ripples inside the expensive crystal before responding in a dry, clipped tone: “The atmosphere is fine…
overflowing with absolute chaos and barbarism.” She took a small sip, continuing with a highly provocative smile: “And I happen to love chaos very much.” “That is exceptionally clear from your maneuvers…
perhaps I should call you Miss Chaos from now on,” Asher remarked, his dark eyes meticulously tracking the rotation of the wine inside her goblet.
Roxy countered lightly, “But my name is Roxy.” “Roxy…” He enunciated the name with agonizing slowness, as if tasting the syllables on his tongue, before adding with frozen stability, “I prefer Miss Chaos much more; it suits your actions.” Asher was dissecting every microscopic twitch of her face, tracking the curve of her lips and the hidden tension in her eyelashes, analyzing the steady vocal tone she was executing to construct a wall of audacity and confidence.
Right then, his inner consciousness stirred, and his apex wolf growled deep within his mind in a thoroughly surprised tone: *(She is bizarre…
haven’t you always been searching for something to break this endless boredom?)*