Am I not enough, baby?

"What did you find this time?" A bat sat on Dexter's shoulder.

The king stroked the bat's head as it leaned and passed the memories of whatever it just saw.

"Can you believe this? He was the one who escaped from this palace but my pitiful baby ended up here, back to my den" Dexter laughed hysterically.

"You know what to do right?"

The bat with red glowing eyes nodded as it flew into the sky.

○○○

"You are my respected guest. Eat how much ever you want" Dexter said and continued to eat elegently.

"Or I persume that the food is not upto your liking?"

"No, your majesty. The food is delecious" Isaiah smiled awkwardly.

"I'm glad" Dexter leaned on his chair and gazed into Isaiah's eyes, staring at him longer than normal.

Isaiah shuddered in fright and glued his gaze on his plate. This made a smirk appear on Dexter's face.

Dexter applauded at Isaiah's courage internally. His baby was trembling in fear and yet he talked to him while pretending to be brave.

It is an honour to dine in the same table as the king. Dexter have never dined with anybody else except his family and other royal guests.

Isaiah didn't notice the jealous stares directed at him by the people working there because a mere merchant dined with their King.

Lily peeked at Isaiah several times and when their eyes met, she looked away which only made Isaiah's head tilt, puzzled. This kept happening for a while and Dexter noticed this exchange.

"Eat. Don't look around" Dexter said angrily which scared Lily.

Isaiah glanced at Dexter who smirked at him.

"Can you pass me the drink?" Dexter slyly asked.

Isaiah sat up straight and passed the drink. While taking it from Isaiah's hand, Dexter brushed his thumb on the boy's smooth skin.

Isaiah immediately withdrew his hand and gulped loudly.

Meanwhile, Lily ate without a care about the strange tension around her.

○○○

At the guest room, Isaiah saw an envelope visible from his coat pocket. That's when it striked him about the task of the  messenger that he met when he saved Lily.

The boy decided to use this opportunity to injure Dexter while he lets his guard down.

Lily insisted that Isaiah stay in the palace for a few more days. The boy turned down the offer but the determined girl kept persuading which led him to agree with hesitation.. or so Lily thought.

But the truth is, Isaiah was pretending to not agree. The offer was to his convenience.

The only thing which made Isaiah uncomfortable for the past few days was Dexter touching him. It wasn't excessive enough to scare him away nor the contact was little as to brush it off as repeated accidents.

○○○

One night, the sound of someone knocking at Isaiah's room door resounded. Isaiah panicked and hid all of his daggers.

Lily stood on the other side of the door.

"Why are you here, Lily?"

The girl requested him to call her Lily instead of calling her with other respectful titles before to which Isaiah assented.

"I want to talk to you" Lily nervously said.

"Yes?"

"Actually.. I wanted to say this for a while.. umm" Lily cleared her throath and continued, "I like you.." Isaiah eyes went round.

The boy didn't expect this confession from Lily at all.

Lily stood on tiptioe to kiss him.

But unfortunately luck wasn't by the boy's side. Right when she kissed Isaiah, Dexter who wanted to meet his Isaiah saw him kissing another girl and his niece at that!

'Are you not satisfied with driving me crazy?! Now you are even kissing a girl in front of me! Unforgivable! I won't let you off without punishing you for betraying me not just once but twice!! ' Dexter was extremely furious.