Passionate Price.

"Wow, this is the infamous castle everybody talked about in the headquarter? How could this be? Did they not say the castle is hideous with overgrown thorns and all? This is so different, so cool!"

Butler Luther led two young men into the castle, they were of about the same age, in their early twenties. One had golden-colored rough long curls that reached his shoulders while the other had neatly styled black-colored hair and he wore eyeglasses.

"Be quiet, Lucian" the black-haired young man uttered with a straight cold face while he pushed his glasses back in place.

Lucian snorted and roughed his golden hair while he continued admiring his surroundings. In contrast to his stoic-faced partner, he looked like a corny playboy.

"Butler Luther, do you have the idea of why Master asked us to come to the castle?" The black-haired man queried.

"Do you kids expect me to know Master's thoughts now?" Butler Luther rolled his wrinkled eyes at the youths.

"Of course, you are the closest to the Master, old man!" Lucian voiced playfully, he ignored the looks that the butler threw at him. "But, do you really not know why Master asked the two of us to specifically appear in the castle today?" Lucian also asked.

"I don't know" Butler Luther answered sincerely, he was even more surprised and never expected that the master could allow anyone from the headquarter to step into the castle. The most surprising thing was that the master went to the headquarter by himself. Since he established that organization, he never showed his face or revealed himself to the people that he brought together and only acted in the shadows. This was the first time the master was coming out of his shell. Hopefully, he would be fine... the Butler thought.

"This is weird, don't you think so, Kai?" Lucian turned to his partner who nodded coldly.

"Butler Luther, are you hiding something from us? Do you know how everyone was scared when you asked for a batch of workers to be sent to the castle? Was our master not supposed to be a lone man? I mean, what did he need workers for? As if that was not enough, the scariest part was when master suddenly appeared at the headquarter yesterday, the higher-ups nearly broke down, it was the first time anyone was seeing him show his face in public. For someone like me who thought the master was a wrinkled old man who had just come out of seclusion... hehe, I was floored by his beauty, ah! The fulfillment of my romantic fantasies" Lucian chuckled.

"Watch what you say, Lucian. You are in the master's home not in your regular club" Kai uttered coldly.

"Hmph, I wonder how I ended up with such a boring guy as my partner" Lucian rolled his eyes. A maid came and served the two men a cup of coffee each, Lucian ran his fingers through his hair and winked at the maid. The maid blushed and scurried away.

"Butler Luther, when is master coming?" Kai asked, the butler looked up quietly, if it were to be in the past, his master would have left the room since dawn but now, things have changed after the master got married.

"He will be down soon" Butler Luther responded.

"Mm," Kai hummed, he raised his cup to his lips and took a sip.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Lena's lashes moved, and her eyes opened slowly. She yawned and looked around. Then she sat up abruptly, her green orbs became coated with alertness. She held the quilt close to her chest and looked a bit confused.

"It is morning already...?" She mumbled to herself in a voice filled with uncertainty but the morning sun that peeked into the room through the French window was a witness to the fact that it was a new day. But how...? She could barely remember how she ended up falling asleep the night before. Ever since she came into the house, she had noticed something, it was either she slept too early which was unusual to her, or she slept too deeply which was unlike her previous self. It was as though a force suppressed her stream of consciousness. She still found it difficult to figure out this strange occurrence...

Then, she remembered.

"Last night, did I..." She gasped and her fingers flew to her lips, the scene of her lips tangled with his, the feeling of that body rubbing against hers, the reminiscence of the sensation caused a blazing inferno to erupt within her.

"No...no...no...no..." She shook her head as though she was rejecting the scene that replayed in her mind.

"Are you going to stay in bed all day?" A familiar voice uttered, disrupting her thoughts and she looked up only to find him standing across her, he looked refreshed and was casually dressed while maintaining his immortal handsomeness.

"You— what are you doing here?" She asked with a stutter and a flushed face. Somehow, seeing his face made the thoughts that she tried to forget imprint themselves permanently in her heart. How could she have allowed him to kiss her?! And to kiss her so pleasurably... Wait— what was she thinking just now? Ah, her mind was so messed up

Alexandro arched his brows in amusement, "You forgot about last night so easily, dear wife" he said with a smile.

"There is nothing to remember about it!" She retorted.

"Oh... Really now, darling? Are you telling me indirectly to do something to help you remember what this discussion is about?" Alexandro drawled, his deep voice was laced with an intentional sweet melody. Her heart quickened and her face flushed.

"You don't know what you are saying" Lena uttered with a straight face, as though her red cheeks does not matter.

Alexandro tapped his lips and smiled. "I see... However, I am not that kind of man, I have to remind you whether you want me to or not—"

"You wouldn't dare!—" She interrupted him and her eyes became cautious. His next words caught her off guard.

"You should prepare, else, you will get to school late..." he voiced and after saying, he walked closer to her side of the bed. An unnoticed smirk played at the corner of his mouth while he leaned closer to her.

"What do you think I was going to say, wifey?" he whispered.

Lena, "..."

"I—I..." She was speechless for a moment, she had not expected to hear what he said, she thought he was going to talk to her about the... kiss. Her face blushed harder in embarrassment.

Alexandro laughed in delight, he got the exact expression that he wanted from her and that was enough to start his day. He tapped her nose slightly and said to her.

"Get prepared, I already told you last night, I agree to let you return to school so stop blanking out, people may think I treat you bad" with that, he straightened his back and walked out of the room, giving her space to dress.

Lena stared at the door, she was astonished but was glad at the same time. She can finally return to school. This has always been her wish, although she knew that the man only agreed because of the trick he played on her, she was still grateful. At least, he kept his words and let her return.

The thoughts of returning to school filled her mind and she forgot about the passionate price she paid...