Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 41: An Angel Working Under The Sunset

Orpheus was reluctant to release her from his hold, but the man sensed her discomfort when he noticed her biting her lip.

Oh, how we would give anything to bend down and kiss them sweetly.

But not now.

Not in front of his men.

And certainly not when she made it very clear and firm; she didn't wish for any more of his kisses.

For the entirety of his life, Orpheus never saw reason to display kindness to anyone or anything, yet that was slowly coming to fall away the more time he spent in Lady Karina's company.

'I want to be good to her.' Orpheus thought and before his expression could soften involuntarily, he carefully released her from his arms.

That was an utterly foolish thought.

He shouldn't have allowed his resolve to crumble like a twig snapping beneath a deer's hoof.

Lady Karina didn't like the way the Van Merikh generals regarded her.

They regarded her with curiosity and disapproval—a hardened look that made her vastly uneasy.

She didn't wish to remain any longer.

And ceasing her opportunity to escape the dark atmosphere, Lady Karina walked briskly across the hall, ascending the stairs with the satchel of food clutched as if she were being chased.

Now that she had Orpheus' permission to continue performing her duties, she quickly returned to her chambers with the food.

Ensuring that Kairie and Lady Drosera were well fed, Lady Karina merely sufficed with some cheese and bread as she made her way to the solar, where her tallies awaited.

Like before, Sparx sensed her arrival and emerged from his hiding spot. Unlike last time, he ensured his fire was suppressed so that his paws wouldn't leave scorch marks.

Lady Karina welcomed the little amber fennec fox's company as he perched himself on her lap, radiating warmth from his inner fire to keep her cosy while she worked.

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She needed to figure out, considering the estimated amount of produce that needed to be harvested, how many male labourers she would be required to hire.

And after an hour of studying the inventories, she marked down sixty labourers onto a tally table she used for the estimated harvests.

With five days to harvest, she would need to compensate them reasonably. She calculated how much she would need to pay them and applied it to the profit they would glean from the goods.

Much time had passed before she realised it for she truly loved this part of her duties.

Since her father had taught her to read and write from a very young age, a skill that most women were deprived of, Lady Karina enjoyed it immensely.

Here at Moonveil, ladies were treated as equals.

Well, that was before the Van Merikh invasion.

Even the female servants were given an education, a generous opportunity her father gladly offered to them.

Eventually, Lady Karina decided to take a break from her duties and lean back in her chair.

She ran her fingers through Sparx's fur, watching as the little creature was soundly asleep on her lap and snoring softly.

"I have not been taking care of you and the others as of late," she uttered apologetically. "Forgive me. If only I were granted an opportunity to come down to the hidden sanctuary, I would spend time with you and the others."

Lady Karina had begun to miss the company of beasts dearly, her mind recalling them individually as she wondered how alone and afraid they must have been since none of the Moonveil Guardians had visited them in over two weeks.

At the least, Lady Drosera would be able to go to them when the time had come.

Sparx stirred in her lap, ears perking up as his body jerked awake.

Lady Karina gasped, nearly startled by his sudden movements, but she knew his reaction was perhaps due to someone approaching in the distance.

She gently picked Sparx up, giving the little fox a kiss on his button nose before she set him on his feet and let him run off to his hiding spot.

Sunset was drawing in when Orpheus had grown weary of being in the company of his men, which was rather unusual since these men were like sworn brothers in arms.

He more than welcomed their companion, except this time perhaps.

He made his way to the solar, finding Lady Karina hunched over the desk, making careful strokes onto a vellum parchment with her feather quill.

Orpheus stood there for a moment, observing her and admiring the way the sunset's rays reflected off her perfect golden hair.

The lady was the epitome of an angel, if not something higher than it.

And Orpheus experienced an odd, foreign tightening in his chest, though it was not unpleasant.

In fact, it was a rather giddy feeling.

Something he'd never sensed before.

His dual-coloured gaze paid attention to the way her emerald green eyes held a glint of the sunset's reflection in them and how gracefully she handled the quill.

"It appears you have been seated in that chair for hours," Orpheus said as he approached closer. "I suppose there were indeed a great deal of tasks to handle."

"I am working out methods to manage future harvests," she answered without glancing up at him. "Judging by the patterns of seed growth throughout the summer later in the year, we will glean more produce. I am divining the future."

Orpheus, while he didn't exactly regard women with respect, didn't share the notions of the rest of the world that women were incapable of academics.

Such things never sat well with him.

And in fact, seeing Lady Karina work so meticulously and efficiently with her calculations was quite attractive, to say the least.

He noticed her nose seemed to scrunch whenever she paused at a calculation and how she softly clicked her tongue under breath when her ink ran out just as she made a stroke.

It was endearing.

Orpheus moved to stand opposite her, the desk between them, gazing down at her.

His dual-coloured eyes were unusually soft, free of the darkness, free of whatever hid beneath it when he was tense.

She'd never seen such an expression on his face before.