S

Well, the thing is. Scarlet was nowhere near alone, ill-treated and bullied. In fact, it was quite the other way.

"I don't fancy this," Scarlet tried a taste and threw out the rest of the food on the dish. Vance's eyes widened, "You've barely tried it!"

"Why do you have such a big reaction! It's not as though it was you who had whipped this up..." Scarlet retorted then realised that Vance had gone silent.

Right, it was him who had prepared this. Well she can't be blamed for this, can she? It really didn't taste that great. If she had known, she might have considered his feelings, just a little bit. Just that bit since he had been so accommodating to the point where she almost felt bad for treating this nation's Prince in this manner.

She was pretty sure that if they had a ranking on how well-treated a prince was, he could come in top from the opposite spectrum.

Doesn't he have any pride as the nation's crown prince? She wondered as he cleared the dishes without much hesitation.

"Desserts?" he offered and her face lit up. Vance turned to signal to his trusted aides and they left swiftly to do his bidding.

"You know that I'll have to head back to Sam, right?" Scarlet asked. She didn't know how else to break the truth. Direct. She might as well go in for the kill.

"Do we have to talk about this?" Vance asked softly. And Scarlet nodded her head and answered as plainly as she could, "You can't just keep me here forever, yes?"

"What if I'm bent on doing that?" Vance murmured as he looked at Scarlet.

She noticed dark shadows under his eyes. Honestly, this whole situation has been a deadlock for the two of them, so why can't he just let go?

"If you're bent on being the death of me, then go ahead," Scarlet answered hotly as she took the knife that was on the table and placed it against her throat. It was the worst move that she could conjure up from her storage of all the movies that she had watched. Goodness, does she really have to stoop to this level.

Vance's face scrunched up into disbelief, dismay then anger. "Am I that detestable to you? What does Sam have that I don't?" He asked hoarsely, thick with emotions.

A destroyer role, perhaps? She thought inwardly. Her mission had and has always been to subdue the destroyer, use whatever means available to dissuade him from destroying the world. This world so that she could be released into her real world.

It was what the system dictated. It was what the system demanded.

Vance grabbed the knife away from her hand with his own hands and she yelped in shock just as he threw the knife away and held her face in his hands.

He went dangerously close to her face. Their lips were just millimetres apart and he whispered into her ears.

"Don't ever do that again, you've just lost whatever patience I've been holding out for, Scarlet. As good as those previous days have been, I think it's time you realise how serious I am about this," he finished.

Scarlet froze and she looked at Vance. It was as though a switch had gone off in his mind and he was hell bent on creating this chaos.

Looking at Scarlet, his eyes turned darker and Scarlet backed away unsteadily but he gripped her waist and pulled her back to him. This time, it was fast and he didn't even bother to build up the momentum. Scarlet cried out in pain and he kissed her. She looked at him.

How could she even think that things were ever negotiable? Plus, the reputable and well-respected crown prince was such a distant memory that she could only look at this prince with horror and fear now.

"De....sserts?" Sonny asked and then he dropped the desserts when he witnessed the scene, "My bad, I'll leave, right away!"

"He...lp?" Scarlet yelled but Vance held her and took her in his arms. It looks like sheer darkness has befallen the place.