They had Chosen Death

"Master, are you still there?" Stuart came to report again, but he knew that Sinclair and Ainsley were in the in-ground hot tub. When he opened the door, all kinds of scenarios that he thought of had been topped. He thought these two still had some boundaries. Apparently, they had none.

With seemingly dead eyes, Stuart stared at this master and the human he chose. Ainsley was sitting on Sinclair, sleeping like a koala on his tree. He was even straddling the dragon in their underwear. How was this appropriate for friends?

"If it's not about Roth, you should find me later." As if he knew what Stuart was thinking of, Sinclair only hissed as he was caught in another strange position with Ainsley. Luckily, it was just Stuart; if it was someone else, the dragon would have made use of the hot tub's water. It was not like he was embarrassed, but he didn't want to be disturbed at all.

The little tornado was finally asleep, but Sinclair had to make Ainsley sit on his lap, so Ainsley wouldn't slide down and fall… like a sleepy child perched on their parent. The parent, uh, Sinclair actually had to give Stuart a pointed stare just to shoo him away.

Just when there was a peace that didn't involve Ainsley overthinking, Sinclair was not going to give it up. Perhaps only Roth's corpse could change his mind.

Stuart only rested his gaze at them, seemingly trying to debate in himself. There were reports that Sinclair needed to hear, but it was not conclusive of Roth's location. Even for someone who was found when he didn't want to be, the search was starting to test the limits of the servants. Moreover, they were almost reaching the city as the megayacht ran at its fastest speed.

"I shall prepare your change of clothes instead." In the end, he just gave in to his master and retreated from the room. As he closed the door, he then sighed.

Knowing that this would cause chaos, he massaged his temples. "The Princess Magnolia will grow hysterical over this." However, after saying that, Stuart actually broke into a ridiculing snicker. "I can't wait for her to see this."

…

It was already nighttime when the megayacht reached the city again. Ainsley didn't know what time it left the last time, but he was surprised that it could travel that fast. No wonder the floor wasn't swaying that bad; it was almost floating above the water.

However, when the servants of the megayacht lined up and bowed down to see off the master, Ainsley realized that one of them was missing. One of the maids that he had seen earlier didn't show up, and it was even the one who was glaring at him the entire time.

"One of the maids is missing from their line. Is she sick?" Ainsley whispered as he tugged on Sinclair's shirt. His eyes had left the servants the moment he asked.

"Really? I didn't notice." Sinclair, however, only dismissed the matter. "She must have decided to serve Father instead."

Ainsley only nodded. There was no way Sinclair would deliberately harm someone that served him, right? She must have decided not to return to the city with them.

They got in the car that was waiting for them by the harbor. It was a Mercedes-Benz sprinter that was fitted with a luxury bedroom. Actually, Ainsley was starting to question why most of Sinclair's luxury vehicles prioritized bedrooms. Did this man sleep everywhere he went, or was he using it for something else? It didn't even smell like women in there.

However, upon patting the bed and feeling the familiar slight shaking of being on the road, Ainsley quickly dropped his question and hoped to sleep again. They hadn't eaten anything yet, but the human grew addicted to the soft mattresses.

"Stuart, book dinner for us." Sinclair then massaged his temples. No wonder he felt like he had forgotten something very important.

He was so used to being on his own on trips that he had forgotten that Ainsley had to eat. He didn't forget about it in the megayacht, but now that he was thinking of something else, no one had even reminded him. Not even the little bottomless pit said anything about his hunger.

"Yes, Mr. King." Now that they're back in the human setting, Stuart had to refer to him as the CEO, instead. The secretary was at the front passenger seat, but he could clearly hear his master's voice behind the thick curtain divider.

Sinclair only sat down on the bed after he pushed Ainsley deeper inside. He then picked up his phone and looked at his messages. Most notifications were from group chats he had with other executives and other people. He selected his chat with Roth and only stared at the last five entries, which were all from him—ones asking Roth where he was.

'Are you taking the runt to the island?' That was the last message Roth had sent last night. He responded to it with a bird sticker that profusely nodded its head. It even had a cartoonish 'yes' written on it. He should have known that something was wrong when Roth didn't engage with a sticker battle with him that night. He was just too busy dealing with Ainsley.

"It would have been better if I find you in the city jail for going around drunk, but you just have to leave your arms behind." Sinclair pocketed his phone. "Who could have done this to you? Could it be that the cannibals noticed his movements?"

He then turned to look at the sleeping human. "Are they targeting both Roth and Leo?" His teeth gritted as his eyes morphed into those slit dragon pupils. "They had chosen death, then."

…

Pulse. Ainsley could feel his heart pulsing with the green mist in his sleep. In his dream, he was flying all over the city and coming to this one place. It was a rundown apartment, but he couldn't see anything inside. His vision was only like he was a drone crashing into the door, again and again.

It was as if the dragon heart was telling him to a place, even if he had not gone there before. He then released a breath as if calling out to someone.

"Garance…"