Alice glared at the nonsensical man who stood in front of her. She should have known earlier that he was now her brother's advisor and could barge in here any moment.
She didn't think of that and now, she would need to figure out a way to get out of this mess she had gotten into.
"What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that, mouse." Alice gritted her teeth in annoyance, feeling a sweat pull from her forehead and hearing Matthew's reply which was coated with mockery.
"Please leave here now." she tried to utter in a respectful and tamed voice but even she could hear how disoriented her voice escaped.
Matthew turned his attention to the erotic book that had a cover of a barely dressed woman with two men erotically placed beside her. His lips twitched in excitement, intrigued that his once-innocent princess now enjoyed such typical books.
"I don't mind leaving...but I want to know what inspired this..." he raised the book to her face and withdrew his hand when she tried to yank it from his grip.
"Give it back!" Alice yelled in frustration.
"Don't be too fast, mouse. I'm sure you very well know what would happen if Leon sees this with you." Matthew's voice was so calm as he revealed a smirk while he spoke.
Alice face-palmed. "Is it so hard for you to mind your own business?!" he asked him while throwing him a deadly glare.
"When it comes to you, yes." his reply was smooth and curt.
Seeing her rudeness wasn't helping, Alice tried to calm herself down and go for a composed approach.
"Advisor Matthew, please give me back my novel."
"Not so clever to think that would work on me." Matthew laughed because he could thoroughly hear how insincere her voice came out.
She stared at him confusingly and gritted her teeth, feeling slightly embarrassed, not knowing the right thing to do in this case while panic shot up to her head.
If her brother found out about this, she would be done for. And the worst of all was Leon would never believe she would do something as silly as this! Even though she sometimes refused to admit it, she knew Leon trusted her a lot. That was no news in the kingdom.
How would he react if this good-for-nothing man said such a thing about her?
"Fine. What do you want?" she finally asked, already knowing Matthew's trickery method.
"Are you sure you would be able to do what I want, dear?" his voice came out surprisingly softer than expected and Alice noticed him move closer to her.
Her eyes widened at the sudden change in demeanour and she felt her heart skip a bit when his breath caressed her ear.
"Matthew!"
"Shh..." she tried to push him but she knew he would have the upper hand.
What was he doing?! Her thoughts spiralled.
Matthew gently rubbed his lips on her neck, nuzzling her and sending shocks all through her body.
The sudden move did not cross her mind, making her unable to react on time.
Caught unawares, Matthew hissed loudly and pulled away when he felt a sharp pain in his groin. Alice kicked him mercilessly down there when she noticed he had loosened his guard.
Because of the kick, the book that he had earlier held in his hand slipped and Alice quickly used the opportunity to pick it up before dashing out of the space and further out of the library room.
Since Matthew didn't think she could throw such a stunt, it took him some time before he recovered from the pain in his groin as he clasped it in surprise.
'That little...' he wanted to curse in his head but was clouded with pain and unsettlement.
Alice as well did not look back, especially after knowing how hard she had hit him there and she immediately opened the door of the library.
She was greeted by the same guards still protecting the door and when her face clashed with theirs, she threw them a weird smile that made them both give her a questioning look before seeing her run like a thief.
What was she running from?
The two guards questioned each other silently with their brows ached up when suddenly, someone else burst out of the library looking pissed.
Matthew didn't even spare them a glance before he followed the tiny figure that had outsmarted him, leaving the two guards there to continuously stare at each other in confusion.
------------------------------------------------------
Although it was morning, the corridors were unusually quiet, mainly because of the guests who had left the vicinity already.
Knowing she would most likely not bump into anyone if she entered the guest quarter as most of the guests had gone, Alice raced into the quarters with no obstacle, while consistently looking behind her to see if Matthew had caught up with her.
When she reached an alley, she paused for a brief moment and decided to properly hide the erotic book inside her dress pocket which was just big enough to accommodate it.
Huffing for air, she looked behind her again only to see that Matthew was on in sight.
Her eyes widened and without a thought, she ran through to the other corridor.
Seeing that she might most probably not be able to outrun him, she randomly opened the door to a secluded room without thinking and jammed it quickly while praying her plan would work.
Panting and out of breath, she looked around the dark room and noticed that it was unusually dim.
Why would a room look so dark during the day?
However, she didn't have time to think of that and could only pray that Matthew would not get to see her as well as expose her to her brother.
She slowly began to regret having followed Roshni's and Naomi's plan, realizing now that this was where it put her.
Looking through the pinhole of the door when her breathing had finally calmed, she saw Matthew pass by the entrance like he had gotten tired of looking for her and her heart skipped a beat as she looked away.
Minutes passed by and she looked through the pinhole again, checking if the road was clear.
When she felt confident that he would probably not be present there again, she turned around and attempted to open the door when unexpectedly, the dark room that had made her feel secure for a moment suddenly illuminated and lights filled it, making her jump in shock at the sudden brightness that assaulted her eyes.
"Uninvited guest...you can't just enter and leave my room whenever you like..." the deep masculine voice tsked as he sat comfortably on the couch, rolling the goblet that he held while scrutinizing the princess who had barged into his room without permission.
Alice's face turned pale on seeing him as if realization hit her.