Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

"I thought you were sorry. So, why aren't you answering me now?" Damien's icy stare bore into her. It was so intense that Katherine could almost feel her skin getting scalded. She darted her gaze away, suddenly feeling hot and more embarrassed.

She hesitantly unhooked her arms from around his neck, and she flinched when she heard him speak through clenched teeth, "Lower your hands, and I will throw you out of this room."

In an instant, she intertwined her fingers together to lock her hands on his nape and kept it there. If she could glue it in place, she most definitely would!

"Should I have not opened the door then? You're so quiet now, and you're no longer looking at me." He saw her close her eyes and purse her lips into a thin line. She was too scared to look at him now. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Katherine." 

Breathing out a long sigh, she finally opened her eyes and fixed her stare to his dark eyes that seemed to strip her naked with the way he was staring at her — she could only keep quiet… and blush.

"Well? Do I need to repeat myself?" Seeing that she was not about to say something, he began to repeat, "Are you sorry because you drank? Because you removed your clothes—"

"Aaaah!!! Stop!" Katherine dipped her face on the crook of his neck and nestled on it. "I'm sorry I drank. Don't be mad anymore, it's scary."

Hearing everything that she did last night just a minute ago, she could not possibly listen to them again. It was too embarrassing!

When she did not hear his response, she straightened up and slowly moved her stare to look at Damien in the eyes again. 

"Am I off the hook now?"

"What do you think? What about all the other things that you did, Katherine?" With a straight face, he added, "What about those things you did to me? Aren't you going to apologize for that too?"

"What do you mean?" she asked in a weak voice.

"You took advantage of me," he deadpanned. His shameless, amazingly great-at-lying-through-his-teeth mask was epic. 

And though Katherine was doubtful, she did not dare to call him out — she simply was a tiny kitten at the moment, trapped in his platinum cage.

She swallowed as she saw his serious face. Is he really mad about that? 'I mean… I guess…' her weak self couldn't win against Damien's tactics. "I'm sorry about that too…" 

"You're sorry that you kissed me?"

"Well… ye– no, I'm not… I mean." She was already blushing like a red tomato. 

"I'm not sorry that I kissed you… and for… for…" She couldn't say it. 

How could she possibly say, 'Sorry for stripping in front of you?' That was ridiculous, even in her mind.

And then it hit her, "Wait… Didn't you say before…"

Damien raised a brow, and he was already half sure of what she had realized at this point.

"Didn't you tell me to take advantage of you?" She cutely cleared her throat and mimicked his voice, "By all means, Katherine… take advantage of me all you want." 

He could feel the upper part of his lip twitch upon hearing her impersonation of him. 

"So, was that you taking advantage of me then? And you're not even sorry about it…"

She bravely nodded, "Yes." 

Damien didn't know whether he should laugh or cry upon seeing his woman like this. She was too adorable! Boy, she had grown up so fast, and they hadn't even started their training session yet. 

And before he could even protest, Katherine leaned in and smashed her lips to his, surprising him. 

"Are we okay now? You're not mad anymore?" she asked. "You forgive me now?"

With an earnest stare, he looked at her, sighed and nuzzled his nose and lips on her shoulder, kissing it before he looked at her again. 

"You're such a trouble-maker. Do you know that?" 

Katherine stretched her lips into a playful smile and kissed the tip of his nose. "You like me, anyway."

"Tch. You are a manipulative extortionist. But I still like you, yes." He playfully bit her shoulder.

Smiling, she felt better that he was no longer mad at her. Suddenly remembering what was sitting in the kitchen counter, she hopped off of him and grabbed him by the hand as she urged him to stand up. "Oh! You haven't eaten breakfast yet, right? I ordered something that I hope you're going to like… Let's go and eat it together."

Seeing her all chipper and excited, Damien could only allow her to drag him down the stairs until they arrived at the kitchen where he saw a paper bag from a restaurant placed on the kitchen counter.

"What's that?" He took a peek in the bag and watched as Katherine started to set the bowls on the breakfast nook.

"I wanted to cook some breakfast, but I realized that I wanted to eat something that I don't know how to make."

She grabbed their eating utensils from the drawer and continued, "So I decided to order instead, and then I found this restaurant that had really good reviews on their beef noodles. You like it very much, right?"

Damien chuckled as he listened to her explanation. He found his way on the nook and sat on the stool while he waited for her to join him.

"Sorry, I don't really know if this is good, but I just figured you might like it… If you don't, then… at least we would know that we shouldn't order from them again." 

She sat next to him. "Though yours would probably taste better than this… I don't know I just thought I should make it up to you."

"It's fine, Katherine. I appreciate it." He gave her a kiss on the temple.

"Okay… then shall we eat?"

Nodding, Damien lowered his eyes on the bowl of noodle soup for the first time, and the expression on his face turned grim. All of a sudden, everything around him went silent, and his hand trembled as it hovered over the bowl.

Katherine had already started to eat the beef noodles and gave it compliments. She was too engrossed that she had not noticed Damien's hesitation.

Carefully, he picked up some noodles with his chopsticks, and almost as though he was reluctant, he put it in his mouth. The moment that he got a taste of the food, he balled his hand into a fist and forced himself to swallow what was in his mouth. 

It was only then that Katherine turned to him and saw his strange expression. "Is your food okay?"

Her brows creased when her stare landed at his fist and trembling hands. Instinctively, she placed her hand over it and prompted, "Are you okay?"

As soon as her hand landed on his skin, his other hand flew to her wrist and gripped it hard, it almost pained her. "Where did you get this?"

Her heartbeat raced in her chest. She felt the sudden chill in the air, and the hair on her nape stood up. She did not understand why Damien was suddenly acting so odd. "What's wrong?"

Through gritted teeth and resentful eyes, he asked her the same question in almost a growl, "Where… did you get this?"

"I… I just ordered it online…" her voice broke, she was suddenly feeling scared.

"Give me the address." He said just before he got off the stool and saw her nod. 

Katherine watched him as he walked up the stairs in long strides and entered his bedroom. It took him less than two minutes to come back downstairs, and was already in casual clothes, ready to go out.

"Damien… where are you going?"

"Where's the address?" he asked.

Katherine handed her phone to him, the restaurant's website was on the screen, but he only glanced at it before he headed out of the door.

She didn't know what was going on, but she could only follow him into his car. Once they were settled inside, he stepped on the gas and the car sped out of the underground parking and into the traffic.

As scared as she was, Katherine was more worried about what was happening to Damien. She couldn't help but get nervous when he gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. 

"Damien…" she could only utter.

But instead of hearing his response, she heard the car roar as he revved up the engine, shutting her up and making her hold onto the strap of her seatbelt.