The Alpha and His Deadly Beauty

Hello, Mate

Out of the millions of ways to gain entrance to the manor, you might think Scarlett should have chosen a better route. So, why did Scarlett choose to seduce a knight as her ticket?

Because she just wanted to attend the ball.

Well, there were other reasons such as; the ball would make it easier for Scarlett to gain the alchemist’s trust, gain more information from unsuspecting nobles and alike, and she would have valid reasons to be ‘lost’ in the manor during a ball.

Also, because she wanted the music and tasty food. s*x seemed… an okay price for her. It was not like she valued her body like a temple in the first place. Some even had called her a slut for her bed mannerism in Tollyria. But as someone who had to survive by having so little… there was not a lot of option to choose from.

She refused to be ashamed of her choices.

The knight –Peter, visited her a couple of times before the ball. He bought Scarlett from the brothel house and gave her a small apartment in the city. He even bought her a dress, accessories, and a masquerade mask to go to the ball. This made Scarlett dumbfounded –for real, this time. It must have been a fortune to buy someone’s freedom from a brothel.

Poor lad, Scarlett thought, he doesn’t know what’s coming.

It had been only three weeks since the day they first met and two days to the ball. Peter came almost every night. There were nights when he truly made her moan. And there were nights when Scarlett just could not stand it any longer. So, she pushed the man underneath her and rode him while rubbing her own clit until she made herself and Peter c*m. Those nights, Peter would ask her, “H– how did you learn to do that?”

“I asked the ladies how I could please you more,” Scarlett would say, “A– are you not pleased?” She batted her eyelashes and that would seal the deal. Peter trusted her.

Up to the day of the ball, there was no talk about it on the street. What can you expect? The ball was only an event for the aristocrats. For the commoners who had to deal with thieves and assassins every damn night, they considered the ball to be an abomination. If you so much as mentioned the word, people would throw rocks at you. Seriously.

So, Peter and Scarlett had to hide in heavy robes to get to the manor. This was because Peter could not afford a carriage, which was the safer means of transport.

It would be suicide to reveal the marvelous dresses on the streets of the city. The last time an aristocrat who walked on the street had been covered in feces when he finally got to the manor.

Luckily, no one paid attention to two people in heavy robes walking down the streets. Again, it was a common norm. If assassins and thieves were common, mysterious people with robes were even more common.

They reached the gate of the manor in a complete state. Peter showed the guards his knight emblem on his sword. “She’s my plus one.” The guards nodded in respect and opened the gate for them.

The manor was not big nor glamorous. Well, Scarlett had seen the palace in Tollyria. This manor was only a tenth of the palace. The garden was depressing, with lots of dead leaves and trees. But at least, the music coming out from the manor sounded nice.

Scarlett held on to Peter’s arm as they ascended the stairs to the main door. A head butler greeted them. Unlike the guards, the butler recognized Peter almost immediately.

Now the ballroom was like a different world. Lots of candles on the chandelier were lit up, giving warm lights all over the place. Women with fancy dresses and men with neat clothing were dancing on the floor. Some were even talking in the corners.

It was not as depressing as the garden, at least.

What caught Scarlett’s attention the first time, though, was the food on one end of the room. And what caught her attention next was the man beside Governor’s Kaifu in the center of the room. The man was old, maybe fifty to sixty years old, judging from her drawn face and white hair. He had on a purple robe, the color of alchemists. And if the robe was not obvious, he brought a book with him.

Yes. He brought a book to a ballroom.

Peter whispered to Scarlett that he would catch up to his friends and would find her later. Scarlett nodded.

Goodbye forever, Peter, she thought, it has been nice knowing you.

Scarlett strode nearer to the group of aristocrats around Governor Kaifu. The short man was boasting about the one time he bid a famous painting. Dull. Scarlett kept one eye on the Alchemist. It was plain that the Alchemist felt awkward among people. Intellects are usually like that. Not that there’s anything wrong. It’s just an observable trait.

The Alchemist, Alphonse Vanders, had been known as a genius from an early age. His study in the Academia of Scholars and Alchemists was funded by the kingdom. But during some time in his twenties, his ideas became rather radical. Too radical, even to the point of him sacrificing human body parts for an experiment.

He was not innocent. So, Scarlett would not mind killing him to get her hands on the gem.

First, she got to know where he hid the gem. To do that, she would have to charm this genius. It would not matter if he thought Scarlett was smart or dumb. The trick to charm an intellect like Alphonse is to stroke his ego. So, as soon as Alphonse walked away from the group because of his losing interest in the topic, Scarlett walked directly to him.

This should be easy–

It was then that she smelled the familiar smell. Musk and lemon over mud and rain.

The wolf inside her gasped. ‘He’s here! He’s here!’

Unlike her wolf, that was excited, Scarlett became pale. She looked all over the room, trying to find the owner of the smell. But she could not pinpoint it to one person from the sea of people. At the same time, she was about to lose Alphonse. The alchemist had gone out of the room to a hallway.

Thinking that the mission was the priority, she followed the alchemist. Hoping that her ‘prospective’ mate would not recognize her as well in the ballroom. She strode fast and true.

Once she reached the hallway, unfortunately, she felt the smell intensified. She looked back to the ballroom, thinking that he might have been following her. But no one was in sight.

So, she continued her stride to follow the alchemist. The smell intensified even further. At that point, she panicked.

After memorizing where the alchemist went, she hid behind a pillar and again looked at the ballroom door. No one was seen in the hallway or near the door.

Then why… did I smell him?

She knew that even if he recognized her smell, she was in a completely different form. Plus, she was wearing a mask. It would be hard to identify her by smell alone.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her nose and mouth from behind. The same hand pulled her back towards a hard torso behind a pillar. His other hand pulled her hips towards him. There was no space left between them.

“Hello, mate,” the man whispered in her ear.