Larissa who had Lila nervously walking behind her gazed emotionlessly at Leandro and Lazaro consecutively.
Once more, she was on a crossroad. Once more, a choice for her future was before her.
On the way back, while being escorted by Eleoner and the other military groups. Lazaro approached and she told him what she wanted to talk about right before being kidnapped. She asked his help to grow her strength.
Chills went down her spine when she remembered the smirk on his face as he stated his price.
'Be my full-time live-in-housemaid.' His tone as he said it resembled a growling wolf.
Larissa bypassed Lazaro without looking at him and directed her frozen countenance at Leandro, Right when she was about to open her mouth a thought passed through her mind. She knew she would die eventually if she stayed with Leandro, but if she left right now, that fate is still probable, and Lazaro's protection is uncertain as he's weaker than her and has very limited ways to build his strength and becoming his housemaid will probably be the same as a slave. Wouldn't she be merely exchanging chains then?
"...Larissa." Leandro said and sighed with relief, hope and yearning filled his tone. "Let's go home."
Staring into those hopeful eyes made Larissa feel a chill on her belly, it was genuine. She knew his feelings were. And because of that, it was all the more disturbing what he made her go through.
At the very least she wouldn't go with him, but she'd eventually die if she simply walked away. With Lazaro, she had hopes and nothing more.. Should she go alone and live well until her end, or become his housemaid and try to survive with him...?
A pair of thin but firm arms encroached her waist from behind and gently pulled her backward. Feeling his chest on her back Larissa looked up at the smiling Lazaro.
Existence is bound by the circumstances it creates. You can never be truly free, you're always chained to what makes you feel good or bad. Even gods are mere cogs bound by their nature. To be together is nonsensical but to be alone is even more maddening.-"
His golden eyes seemed to enchant her. Larissa felt the hairs on her body raise on her spine, His whisper went devilish low.
"You know the devil in front of you. You lived with him."
His finger sunk gently but suddenly on her skin making the butterflies swing their wings on her abdomen.
"I'm your new Devil, I might be better or abysmally worse. You don't know me, you cannot rely on me without thinking ten times, you cannot walk with me with confidence because you don't know where I'm going. All you know is that I kill without blinking and a demonic god said I'm similar to him. For all you know, I"m just a liar who toots his own horn."
He leaned in and gently slid his nose through her auburn colored hair, his hot breath touched her neck, Her eyes never left his face. As he smiled an released her, taking a step back.
'That's it? You won't promise or offer me anything?' She thought but did not spoke.
But he seemed to read minds. Instead of opening his mouth, he smiled. Not cheaply, nor condescending. It was the contented smile of the one who already saw the end of the story and was satisfied.
She hated that. His attitude, his tone, the expressions of confidence always etched on his face, his ruthlessness against other's haircuts. His over the top but always right teachings. The way he roasts meat with a free-spirited smile while joking and poking fun of others. As if they were not lost in a wild jungle. She hated it all about him.
Then she noticed, the stadium disappeared from her mind, even Leandro's disturbing gaze on her neck went away, all that is left are the bastard's smiling face and her thoughts about him.
She turned around and glanced at Leandro, with the most carefree and indifferent gaze that naturally formed on her face
"I want the divorce, I renounce any and all rights to your belongings, and if there's anything mine with you, I abdicate any rights to it, including my role on the research project. send any papers to my new home."
Not giving him a second more of her gaze, Larissa turned and walked up to Lazaro.
Leandro froze, not because of her words, her gaze. The fear she had of him, even the thick hate right under that fear. It disappeared. Like he became a passerby.
"LARISSA!"
The guttural scream resounded. Her back went cold and rigid.
"I took you in from the gutter! I did everything a husband owes to his wife! I only asked you to put the family and company first! And this is how you repay me!?"
Again, those arms riddled with injuries pulled her away from the fear. Lazaro locked his hands on her back. she leaned in on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.
He leaned in again. "Do you want to poke the anguished man while it still feels pain?" She discovered his sadistic grin then.
'A show as the finishing blow? He wouldn't care about being used for that?' She thought and raised her head throwing him a suggestive smile, She saw in his eyes that he loved the idea.
'Right, if it's only a show... then it's alright... right?' she asked herself while tiptoeing and meeting Lazaro's lips. His tongue invaded her mouth and treated as its home, he bends her back slightly on his attack. But it did not bother her. It was warm and wet. Natural. The noise faded form the background. Only his and her breath rushed breath on the moment mattered. She slowly opened her mouth and contrasting with the afternoon sky his golden eyes entranced her.
'...I really hate those.' She thought while she gasped for breath her neck and cheek reddened in a hot blush.
Leandro's raging curses resounded unceasingly with orders to kill. But his bodyguards knew better than to comply since orders from Leandro's father reached them. those on the crowd who liked gossip were delighted, those who envied her screamed and raged while calling her a whore.
But to Larissa, as her notoriety rose, it was nothing but freedom. Somehow their screams and future threats made her feel better than she ever did by compromising, for the third or fourth time she acted out of her own will and did exactly what she wanted.
After a few minutes, the thrash thrown from the stands adorned the court. Leandro's face turned cold and callous. His disheveled hair trembled in the air. NOt only did he lost face to himself, but to his company and family. Although he gained a lot of sympathies, that was not what the company lived on. But the future research meant too much for him to abandon over his own face.
"Larissa, regardless of your personal life, our research concerns the entire future of humanity. It should not stop due to love scabbles!" By the end, he couldn't help but get angry.
She jolted awake from her joyful stupor. Her eyes were suddenly coated with venom. It was common sense that she was a special high skilled healer, but now that her ability with plants became known her value for his research became inestimable. He'd anything to catch her.
She smirked much like Lazaro. "Your research can go on without me, just send me the bill for contract break. your research uses unaware people's resources and only benefits your own rank. It doesn't matter how many time you mention humanity, or how much you believe that. It's a lie."
Her smile stretched with pleasure. "No matter how many hard-ons you get when picturing yourself at the top of the world. You're only a figurehead to take the blows while your father and grandfather pull the main strings on your company. I desired wealth my whole life but with you by my side everything became disgusting. Let the world hate me, but from now on I will return everything done to me a thousandfold."
The poison on her voice was thick, the despise on her eyes undeniable.
It didn't take long for the silence she created to explode in whore callings and random things thrown in her direction.
She never felt more pleasure. Swaying her waist she leaned on Lazaro and whispered as if the rest of the picture did not matter
"I'll also return back everything done to my hair."
Lazaro smirk broke into a forced laugh. She snorted and turned her face away from him.
"I-I'm here too!"
Lazaro and Larissa's suddenly looked back.
Lila was staring at them with a complete red countenance.