Chapter 15 - Maximus

"Hey, where do you think you are going?" The mysterious man held her hand when he noticed Katherine was going towards the training area.

Katherine paused and looked at him. 

'This narcissistic man. Does he really think he has the right to ask me anything after what he said to me just because he got a pair of enchanting pretty eyes that look like I want to drown in them?' Katherine thought before forcing a smile on her face. 

"Where do you think? I got my hand broken to complete this task. I need to tell the commander that he can't stop me from coming to the training area or training there. He also needs to stop harassing me by forcing his opinions on me," Katherine whispered. 

The man sighed. He looked into her eyes for a few seconds, and when it didn't look like she had any intention of moving, he shook his head before humming. 

He held her hand and took her to the training area himself. 

Prince Elwin, who was training the soldiers and had no idea what happened when he was gone to attend the call, turned around when he saw the soldiers stopping and looking behind him.

"Miss Delilah? Are you alright? How did you get injured?" Prince Elwin walked to her.

The commander looked at the cast on Delilah's hand and looked away. He couldn't believe this girl was seriously trying to find ways, going to this extent to be close to him now that he had rejected her.

"What happened here?" Prince Elwin asked no one in particular when he sensed the strange aura in the surroundings. He wasn't a fool to not understand it was related to the soldiers.

Everyone looked at Delilah with their lips pressed into a thin line. She would definitely snitch on them and take her revenge. 

"It's my fault, Prince Elwin. I wanted to learn boxing, but I didn't want to disturb anyone's training. That was why, I went onto it myself and got hurt. Got my fingers broken, but now I think I understand things better," Katerine said, surprising everyone. 

'Katherine? What are you doing? Why are you making a fool out of yourself in front of Prince Elwin? You need to seduce the Prince,' Daisy said, and Katherine hummed.

'Trust me on this,' Katherine whispered.

This was a perfect opportunity for her to get the commander some kind of punishment, win some sympathy from the prince and gain multiple points in strength and charm at once, but Katherine didn't want to use this opportunity. 

These momentary points won't give her anything in the long term. She needs to plan and execute.

"Is that so?" Prince Elwin looked at the man behind Katherine. 

Thinking that the man would ruin her game, Katherine immediately held his hand.

"If you said something against my statement, I will tell everyone you are madly in love with me, and that's why you are roaming around me," Katherine whispered into his ears, making the man turn his face to look at her. 

Katherine's breath hitched when she noticed how close their faces were. 

The man looked at the girl, unsure if he should praise her bravado or should just scoff at her stupidity. 

Everyone looked at the duo, unsure what they were talking about. Even Prince Elwin looked at them curiously. 

"She is stupid indeed," The mysterious man added, not saying anything further, and Katherine sighed in relief.

Prince Elwin looked at the girl, who was probably the first person to dare to get this close to this man. 

"If that's the case, I must say, please take better care of yourself, Miss Delilah. You keep getting in trouble these days, and it's not good for your health or our reputation," Prince Elwin said. 

He turned around and walked to the swords region. 

Seeing him moving, Katherine was about to move when the mysterious man held her hand and stopped her from moving.

"Maximus," The man said.

Katherine squinted her brows.

"Hmm?" Katherine asked, and the man rolled his eyes. 

"Stupid," He left her hand and started moving towards the soldiers. 

'Maximus? What did he mean by this word? Was this some kind of code? Some signal that I should know about?' Katherine started running her spy mind wild.

Daisy rolled her eyes.

'Sometimes too much intelligence and cunningness is bad too,' The demonic system commented.

'What is that supposed to mean?' Katherine asked. 

'It's his name. Didn't you ask him for his name? Doesn't it ring any bells?' The system asked her.

'Name?' Katherine hummed before chuckling awkwardly.

'Of course, I knew that. I just wanted to see if the system living with me has an ounce of intelligence,' Katherine said.

The system rolled its eyes at her stupidity. 

Now that the system was observing her, Katherine was more like a child who never got enough time to grow up. Her entire life, right from when she was a kid, went around plotting and planning so much that simple things and gestures were hard for her to understand. These were definitely the symptoms of someone who was forced to grow quickly and now she suspects everything around her. 

"Mr. Maximus," Katherine called his name, making the man freeze in his place. 

He didn't turn around but didn't move either. 

"Thank you," Katherine passed by him and went straight to the commander who took a break and was drinking some water.

The commander raised his gaze when she went to him, his friends ready to verbally attack her.

"I proved my point. Don't bother me from now on. I punched the first person that arrived and he stumbled too," Katherine smirked in victory.

"Yeah? How are you planning to train with this cast on your hands? Want to break some more bones, Miss delilah?" The commander stood from his place, towering over her. 

To his surprise, rather than stepping back in shyness like she used to always do, Katherine stepped ahead, challenging him through her gaze. 

Katherine smiled. 

"Five days, Mr. Shane. You will see me back in the same field challenging your sanity," Katherine said.

"And what if-"

Commander Shane stopped talking when he saw the elder king's secretary standing there behind the girl.

"Is that true that you asked Miss Delilah to punch the first man who walks here?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

Commander Shane immediately gulped. So this b*tch indeed snitched him.

"Secretary Maximus, it's not what it looks like. This girl has been harassing me for more than ten days, and it was getting on my nerves. I am sure you heard about the rumors too. She even pretended to commit suicide to get my attention. And today she crossed the line when she tried to lie and get her way into this training. How could I allow-"

"Since when did you have the authority to allow or disallow someone, especially a royal guest, from entering an area that belongs to the royals? Forgot your place?" The man asked, and Katherine looked at him with a beaming expression before she remembered she should be going behind the prince. 

"She, or anyone can train here as long as they don't cause any problems," Secretary Maimus said.

"Are you sure she isn't here to cause any problems, secretary Maximus?" Commander Shane asked before they turned towards the girl who was approaching the Pince now. 

Katherine walked towards the Prince who was giving instructions to some security guards. 

"Prince Elwin, can I ask you something political?" Katherine asked, wanting to dig some information on what happened to Black OPS nocturnal team after she died. 

"Sure, what is it?" Prince Elwin asked, a pretentious smile on his face. This girl was known for seductive charms, and thus it was best suited to not believe her innocent expression. 

"It's about…" Katherine found it hard to speak. 

What if these people start questioning her about why she wants to know about that traitor group and if she was related to them in any way?

Katherine chewed her bottom lip, thoughtfully.

"I recently heard about an organization. Black OPS, is there any information available about them in the library? I am mildly curious about how things work," Katherine said, her words surprising Prince Elwin.

Black OPS organization wasn't well-known even among some alphas. How did this girl hear about it?

"Who told you about -" Prince Elwin couldn't complete his sentence because in the middle of the battle, one of the men turned into wolf mid-fight and threw the other man towards them. 

Prince Elwin was quick on his senses and immediately held the girl's hand to protect her, but to their surprise, Katherine immediately twisted her body, bent and kicked the man away with equal intensity, supporting her body on her left hand before standing again.

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked, looking at prince Elwin with genuine concern before her brows furrowed.

Wait. Why was he swaying in his place? Did he get hurt or what? 

'It's not him swaying. It's you. Kudos on using all your strength in that hit,' The demonic system scoffed at her. 

All strength? Does that mean…

"Damn it," Katherine murmured as her vision turned black before she heard a distant thud.