Question

"Master Luca insists that I should go back with you, madam," Nicolaus said with polite bowing.

"You should have made some excuse and gone back with Luca. I am getting a headache thinking about what he would do to the poor girl. She must be afraid to be alone after Luca made her cry earlier," Irene kept talking as the car moved swiftly, leaving Winter's residence.

Nicolaus blinked hearing Irene's rambling from the front seat. He was speechless that Irene put that much hope in him to guard Ayana from Luca.

"Madam, I don't want to be rude, but I hope you remember that I am master Luca bonded butler," Nicolaus reminded Irene politely.

"…" Irene was speechless. She sometimes forgot the important fact that Nicolaus was Luca's bonded butler.

Vampires have this thing that is called bond. The majority of the vampires in District 2 used bonds to tie their servants or people with this power. Only the powerful vampires could possess this power. The vampires tied by bond would follow every order from their master.

There was no limit in making the bond. Sadly, Luca always thinks that things like that are bothersome. Irene only knew Nicolaus, the butler, and Leonel, Luca's secretary who bonded with him. There was rumour that the 12 colonels under him were also bonded with Luca, but Irene knew that it was not the truth.

Irene sighed. She really made a stupid mistake. Sometimes she forgot that Nicolaus would follow Luca's orders and not hers. Luca could give a simple order to Nicolaus to kill Ayana and the man would even serve Ayana's head on the golden plate.

It was fortunate that nothing bad was happening on the way to Winter Residence earlier.

Irene was tired. She didn't know that everything would be out of her control. She prayed in her heart that Luca was not going to harm the girl. It wasn't even a month after the wedding ceremony.

Irene could not imagine if Luca tried to do what he had done toward Skylar to Ayana. The poor girl would not survive this and maybe begging to be sent back home.

"I thought I have to stick with the couple since Master Luca dislikes being around humans. But since master Luca seemed fond of Miss Ayana, I think I won't be needed there anymore, madam," Nicolaus said calmly from the front seat.

Irene frowned when she listened to the butler. She was the one to find the butler so Nicolaus always acted so respectful and would do what he asked. Because he always seemed so obedient toward her that Irene always forgot the bond thing.

Luca takes interest in Ayana? Fond? Impossible! He must have planned something.

"What did he want now?" Irene murmured. She felt like her head was going to explode, thinking about her next step with Luca's sudden change.

***

In Luca's car

"What do you want?" Ayana asked with a cold voice, looking outside the window. Although she looked like she was enjoying the scenery outside, her body was on high alert since she could not predict what would come next.

Luca's harassment when they were in the car made her become vigilant when she was with the man. She tried to sit as far as possible from him which is kind of impossible since they were inside a car. There was not much space to begin with.

Ayana was actually reluctant to leave together with Luca, but it seems like she had no choice since Irene would spend some more time talking to Luca's parents.

Luca's laughing voice came after she asked that question.

"Who do you talk to? Is that person outside the window?" Luca asked with a mock in his voice, raising Ayana's annoyance. She had calmed down when they were dining together, but now that they were alone again, her brain could not stop processing what happened earlier.

Ayana gritted her teeth before turning her body, facing the man. Being in a state of constant anger and alert made Ayana tired, but she would not show it.

She has never been this tired just because of her own emotion, not since her father's death.

"What do you want?" Ayana repeated her question, this time she was looking at the man's eyes. She clenched her fist when she found amusement in his eyes, unlike her eyes that were full of anger and annoyance.

"Don't you feel tired asking that question? As long as I can remember, I told you the answer before you stepped out of the car, right?" Luca said with a smile.

"You need to relax, my dear wife," Luca said as he moved and took out a bottle of wine from the mini-fridge on the car. He then took two glasses from the hidden compartments.

He opened the bottle and poured the red wine on both of the glasses. The sweet fragrance of the wine filled up the car. It was so sweet that Ayana felt like she could taste how good it would taste in her mind. Her eyes glued to the glass in Luca's hand and imagined the taste in her tongue.

"Thank you, but no. I am not in the mood to enjoy anything," Ayana said when Luca offered her a glass. If only she was not in this situation, she would gladly drink that wine.

"You should have said that when I took out the glass," Luca said in a casual tone.

"You should have offered me first before taking out the glass," Ayana said, trying to match the man's calm tone.

"I thought you wanted some. Your eyes glue to the wine the moment I pour it on the glass that I misunderstood you," Luca said the words, but he didn't lower his hand and kept offering the glass.

Ayana held her breath when the smell became too much to resist. But after contemplating that the wine might contain something like a drug or even poison, she rejected it with more resolution. She did not know Luca and the reason he acted like this.  Moreover, she usually became very relaxed after a glass of wine. She needed to keep her head clear when talking to this man.