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“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?”
Istvan observed her from head to toe—Navi appeared to be worn out and absolutely too tired to do anything after she came back from Lumopolis. Dark circles decorated her eyes and she seemed like she was not in a very good mood, as if a small cloud hung just barely above her head and relentlessly rained on her.
“Yes. I was the one to schedule this session.”
Another thing he observed was that she still looked adorable wrapped in a cardigan that was somewhat too big for her. He wondered if it was a gift from someone, and if it was, he’d like to applaud them for their taste.
Ah, he got distracted again.
“You do know you can always reschedule anytime, right? As long as I’m free, I’d be more than happy to tutor you,” he nodded, trying to focus on the issue at hand.
Navi didn’t have the energy to retort back. Her brain took a longer time to process what he had said, and even longer to formulate what she was going to say back. In the end, she chose not to answer and only shook her head at his offer.
She had made arrangements with the Shadowlord prior to this session, where Istvan acted as her private tutor for anything that she wanted to learn. Be it finance, basics of negotiation, or even managing manpower. As long as it was still within his scope, he was always eager to teach her.
(Just last week they had a session about the art of intimidation, and Istvan almost died laughing looking at her since she wasn’t intimidating anyone with her frown. They scheduled another session later this month.)
There was no way she was going to reschedule. Navi was looking forward to this especially after that long, soul-sucking and excruciating celebration in Lumopolis yesterday.
“Taking care of yourself is important,” he swirled the glass of whimsky on his hand before taking a sip, “Didn’t I tell you that already?”
“Yeah, but,” Navi tried to stifle a yawn, though failed miserably, ”I like our sessions, I never wanted to miss it.”
Istvan chuckled at her remarks before he took another sip, “We could spend time together without you having to schedule a session with me.”
The only thing that was keeping her awake was the trail of the whimsky droplet that just happened to run down to his chin, so painfully slow, as if it was deliberately teasing her. For some reason unknown to her, she was hyper-aware of even the subtlest move he’d made today. It was particularly hard to restrain herself when Istvan licked the corner of his lips—just as though she wanted to jump over him and do it herself with her own mouth. Surely a busy Shawdowlord like him has more pressing matters to attend to, other than licking his own lips like that?
It wasn’t that Istvan was actively trying to tempt her whatsoever. The man himself was tempting. To her.
“Oh, like… just hanging out together?”
Navi quickly spurted whatever was on her mind once Istvan dabbed the excess liquid with a handkerchief within his reach. She realized that she was ogling at him and quickly averted her gaze, she didn’t want to be seen as a pervert after all.
“Yes. Why not?”
“Then I’ll take up the offer now, if you don’t mind?” No way in hell she would let this opportunity slip from her grasp, albeit she was only half awake and her body ached all over. Navi was quite embarrassed when she realized her own eagerness yet she couldn’t help herself. She had missed his company during her short excursion to Lumopolis.
“Honestly speaking, I’d like to recharge my social battery and talking to you does the trick. Attending the ceremony in Lumopolis was very draining to me.”
Istvan raised his eyebrows in curiosity, her excitement just now and the recent statement that came out from her mouth intrigued him to no end, “I’m flattered that you appreciate my company. Care to share what happened at the ceremony?”
“They all talk too much!” The man stifled a laugh at her straightforwardness as he knew what she meant all too well. Those Lumopolis nobles sure hadn’t changed their ways.
Navi then had to take a pause having to recall what made her upset at the whole ordeal yesterday. Something did happen to her, yet she didn’t raise this issue to either Vice or Carleen because, well, they were all in a very festive mood. Naturally she wouldn’t want to escalate it even further and tried not thinking about it, but it was hard not to.
“And it’s quite annoying how they all treated me…” she took a deep breath, and slowly continued to share her experience, “It was like I'm a rare object that currently has no owner. Some of the nobles even tried to get close to me, it was overwhelming!”
“Did they do anything to you?”
His question caught her off-guard—it was a firm one, almost the same as the other questions he would ask during any other tutoring session. But Navi had spent enough time to notice that there was a hint of intensity on his question, albeit only a little. She knew it wasn’t directed at her but it still surprised her nonetheless.
“You can tell me,” Istvan quickly faked a cough, he must’ve shocked her judging from her eyes widened upon his question, “It’s alright.”
“Oh. Um. One of them was a bit too close even after I told him not to,” Navi pulled her cardigan tighter around her and tried to calm herself down with the warmth provided, “But I punched him in the gut.”
There was a short pause that deafened the entire room before Navi decided to talk again, “Will I get into trouble, Istvan? I was lucky he didn’t alert the Lumo guards. Maybe he realized he was in the wrong for that.”
“You’re worried about that?” The man in front of her just scrunched his nose in disbelief, and sighed before continuing, “You ought to sort your priorities, but I’m glad you’re unharmed.”
The idea of her bothered by a completely random and probably lousy, no-name Lumopolis noble did rile him up. But what was there to do?
He wasn’t even invited to the celebration. If he was invited, Istvan would personally fend off those filthy Lumopolis nobles from her. He would hold her close the entire time they were there and glare back at them, only if they dared to do so. And maybe he would bare his fangs just to get them to squeak in fear.
“Why didn’t you come yesterday? Maybe they wouldn’t even dare to come nearby if you’re around,” she asked as if she could read his mind—she totally could, but Navi always sought permission before doing so.
“You’re kidding,” he quickly replied with amusement, “I’m literally the last person Lumopolis wants to face. Do you want to see those nobles shit their pants upon the sight of me?”
“Maybe? That would be funny, actually.”
“Agreed. But Schwartz would behead me if I did show up.”
Something caught his eyes when Navi was busy giggling over his remark. He couldn’t help but smile along, but the fresh scar on her face was difficult to ignore. Istvan promptly stood up from his seat and approached her. He then bent down a little and reached for her face, his thumb brushing her left cheek that was slightly flushed by his sudden touch.
“That’s new,” he pointed out the new mark on her face, carefully brushing his finger around the injury, “Did he do this to you?”
“Did he…?”
She placed her hand on top of his, although Navi was unsure what made her do that. It just felt right to her, “Oh, I got this from an encounter with Eclipsites. It’s just a small one, though… is it distracting?”
“I just happened to see it. It wasn’t that noticeable.”
Navi knitted her eyebrows for a moment, before a teasing came out from her mouth: “Are you saying that you’re paying extra attention to my face?”
“And what if I am?”
Oh.
She should’ve known that Istvan was the type to bite back. She huffed and stuck her tongue out at him, “You should’ve been flustered when I said that.”
“And yet, you’re the one who’s flustered,” Istvan flashed a smile at her as if he had won something big, he had always liked how expressive she was, “It’s alright, you can try harder next time.”
“Were you planning to do something if it was the Lumopolis nobles who did it?”
It wouldn’t be hard for the Shadowlord to track these so-called nobles down given the extensive network that he currently possesses. In fact, he was contemplating doing so after Navi left this room. Perhaps he would proceed to have a ‘friendly discussion’ with them, Umbraton-style. He needed to ensure that nothing similar would happen again to her.
“I’ll give them a piece of my mind,” was all he could come up with.
“Ah, shucks,” Navi didn’t even try to mask her excitement, the things she would do to see him in action even if he was just going to berate those old, entitled men, “I should have lied, then. Can we start over?”
“No can do,” Istvan replied with a chuckle and was relieved to see that she managed to regain her mood bit by bit.
Neither of them moved their hands from each other, but both of them know that they should. It lingered a little bit too long, yet it wasn’t enough, and neither wanted to be the first one to leave.
Istvan was quite ashamed to admit that he, too, reveled in her presence like what she did with him. She thought she was subtle, but Istvan caught her plenty of times already—eyes raked over him in the open—so he didn’t bother to hide it either. Especially now that the opportunity presented itself, and he knew he must seize it.
Maybe this was okay. Or maybe not.
Perhaps not today, he thought to himself.
Istvan was the type to calculate each of his steps cautiously, and yet, he was only acting out of impulses when it came to her. At the very least he knew that he needed to take a step back and reevaluate whatever the hell he was about to do.
Slowly, he pulled his hands away from Navi which earned him a confused look, “Apologies, you must’ve been startled that I suddenly touched you.”
She blinked repeatedly, trying to process what just came out from his mouth. Istvan’s words were always absolute and everyone who boarded the Colossus knew that. But she never thought that, for once, she would hear him saying something awfully untrue.
She slowly took his hand and placed it back to her cheek, “Actually, I don’t mind.”
Istvan could only raise his eyebrows in bewilderment, “Oh?”
“If–if it’s you. I don’t mind.”
Now it was his turn to blink in confusion. Truth to be told, he knew what she meant quite literally. But to have her acting so bold caught him by surprise. This was not the first time to dip his feet in the game yet he never really gave a serious thought about it. Being suave towards any potential partner was definitely not on his priority list in life.
“I knew it.”
“What is it?”
She pressed his hands on her face, and snuggled against it, “I knew your hand would fit my face perfectly, see?”
What was she doing?
Her brain was overwhelmed with a rush she had never experienced before, and her mind kept screaming at her to stop and run back to her room instead. She knew she should put a halt to this spectacular act of embarrassing herself even further, but she couldn’t help it. The poor Caelestite’s mind wandered a bit too far and unreasonably lewd today—what if his hands were somewhere else other than her own face?
It was as if all inhibitions were thrown out of the window along with her shame and logical thinking.
“Care to share why you’re being so bold all of a sudden?”
“Someone somewhere told me the concept of ‘high risk high return’ a few weeks ago,” she couldn’t stop talking to save her life even with no alcohol consumed, “Pretty sure it was in a business context, but I believe I could apply it somewhere else.”
“Oh, that would be me, I believe?”
A feeling of relief washed over Istvan as he realized that he was not the only one who acted out of the sudden impulses, and he continued to press on, “Say, what kind of return are you expecting, then?”
And before she answered his question, Navi took a deep breath to convince herself that there was no turning back after this: “This is my first time risking it all. Maybe you have a better idea since you’re more experienced?”
A bark of laughter escaped his mouth—it was sweet, intoxicating, made her heart full and Navi was ready to burst with thrill anytime soon—and he instantly leaned closer to her. Navi flinched a little as it was a bit unexpected although not unwelcomed. Without a doubt, she had waited for this exact moment all her life. She didn’t think it would be today.
“I can do more than just this.”
He pulled his hand away from her cheek just to tuck her hair behind her ear, and whispered so sweetly, “If you let me.”
She sucked in her breath in anticipation.
Her eyes were already half-lidded, enjoying the simple, slight touches from him. A low chuckle escaped from between his lips as his fingers unhurriedly dragged around her nape. It was as if his fingertips were set ablaze and scorched the back of her neck and yet she ached for more.
She wanted more. She knew she would explode with need if she didn’t have it soon.
Istvan searched her eyes for a moment when he saw her lips slightly parted, just as though to give her encouragement to say whatever she wanted to. Although he already had a pretty good idea of what would come out from her mouth.
And he knew he would like it.
“Haven’t you teased me enough? Don’t you want to kiss me?”
Istvan could sense her growing impatient by the minute judging from the fast breaths and the way her hands leisurely roamed on her own body. There was a slight waver in her voice and as much as he hated to admit, he actually enjoyed the view of her almost approaching her breaking point.
To see Navi risking her all was commendable, though. He ought to give her rewards.
“I might do just that if you ask me nicely.”
It would be easier for her not to indulge in him in the first place. But it was too late now that she knew how addicting his deliberate touches were. She yearned for him. As time passed, her desire only grew even stronger to the point it became unbearable.
And she eventually relented, albeit it came out in the form of a plea, a quiet whisper she barely managed to utter out.
“Please, Istvan?”
Her breath hitched when he finally placed both of his hands onto her face. She could feel the cold metal of his rings right on her skin, but the sensation wasn’t enough to distract her from the fact that he got closer to her, even closer than before.
Istvan, ever the tease, planted a chaste kiss on her soft lips. That only left her wanting for more.
Navi decided that she didn’t risk nearly everything just for a kiss, and so, she did what she had to—it was her turn to grab him by his shirt collar and promptly mashed her lips against his, she didn’t even wait for him to make the first move.
It was wet, sloppy and inexperienced, but she unmistakably was able to send the message across: that she was so desperate for him. She couldn’t get enough of his touches and the trace of whimsky on his lips.
It wasn’t enough.
“Getting a little bit aggressive here, aren’t we?” he whispered against her lips, her eyes fixated on him now.
He could feel her chest pounding with excitement and so was his own, it had been a long time since he felt this way. Slowly, he held her waist and lifted her to sit on his desk, their foreheads touching yet there was a minuscule distance between their lips.
Istvan knowingly deprived her from what she needed most—yet he wanted the poor Caelestite to beg for more.
“You’re my tutor, yes?”
She effortlessly took off her cardigan and threw it on the floor, showing more of her smooth skin, adorned with light scars and marks from the battlefield.
Navi knew that she had caught his full attention, and truthfully, she liked the way he gawked over her. She then leaned backwards just a little bit and craned her neck, the straps of her dress dramatically fell down from her shoulder and hung loosely on her arms.
Two can play this game of tug o’ war, after all.
“Then, teach me all that you know."
Of course he was amused at her choice of words, and normally he would banter back, oh, he had plenty of them stored somewhere on his brain. But the sight before him was too distracting, too tantalizing, he even had to take a short pause to regain his composure. It was hard not to do it right then and there.
Navi politely—and eagerly—requested for a ‘tutoring session’ from him, after all. How could he refuse such a plea, especially one delivered in such a sultry voice as hers?
And like a commendable tutor should behave, he would always strive to accommodate her requests.
As he removed the rings from his fingers, he confidently dipped his head right next to her ear once more, this time with a fierce determination to make her cry his name like a prayer for the rest of the night. And he would achieve it somehow, owing to the fact that he always knew what to do.
“Very well.”