"Fuck you completely, you arrogant and condescending bitch!" I shouted back at her furiously.

"That’s actually my job and privilege, if you remember correctly," Elaine leaned in even closer, her breath coming out hot and heavy against my skin.

"You have no privilege!"

"No, Your Highness. A husband’s sacred and expected duty is to fuck his—or her—omega wife completely senseless every single time, knotting him deep and hard until he utterly breaks and submits."

I glared up at her with absolute daggers in my eyes, twisting my body low despite the pin for a dirty and desperate kick straight to her nuts—thud—sending her staggering back a step or two with a sharp, involuntary grunt of pain.

In a flash, I snatched a heavy silver plate right off the bedside table and hurled it spinning end over end directly at her head.

She dodged it nimbly with a quick lean, but I immediately pressed my advantage with another savage knee to her nut-shot followed instantly by a sharp heel strike aimed precisely at her jaw—crack! —landing solid.

"You filthy little omega bitch!" she roared in fury, surging forward like a tidal wave.

Her iron-strong arms scooped me up off the bed in one powerful motion, slamming me back down onto the mattress face-down with overwhelming force, her full and crushing weight trapping me utterly immobile beneath her. I

thrashed wildly and desperately in every direction I could manage, my silver hair veiling my snarling and furious face like a wild storm cloud, my legs kicking futilely against the unyielding wall of her thighs.

But she pinned down every single inch of me without mercy, her breath coming out hot and ragged right on the back of my neck.

"What’s going to happen to you tomorrow out there in that public arena for everyone to see? This exact thing—pinned down helplessly, completely broken, and begging pathetically under a real and superior alpha’s crushing heel."

"Do you think that will happen?! I will prove you wrong!"

"Your precious little ’dream’ of change ends right there in the blood-soaked sand." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I hate you so much that it physically burns inside me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice getting muffled deeply into the silk pillows beneath me.

In that moment, Elaine sighed heavily from above me, sounding almost weary and tired for the first time, her iron grip loosening just a tiny fraction but still not releasing me fully.

"I know that you do hate me with everything you have. Fine then—hear out my proposition carefully."

"What kind of proposition could you possibly have for me right now in this situation?" I spat out angrily, still struggling weakly under her heavy body.

"Let me fight Count Jennife in your place tomorrow as your official champion," she said clearly and directly. "I can crush her completely and easily without breaking a sweat—end the whole thing in just three clean strokes of my blade."

Shock froze me completely solid in place beneath her. What the hell?

"What exactly are you saying right now? Say it again much slower so I can understand," I demanded, my mind reeling.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you like you are simple or slow? It is me who will do the fighting. For you. Guaranteed victory."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously up at her even while still pinned down, lifting my chin as high as I could in open defiance. "Why exactly would you suddenly offer something like that to me right now?"

"Because I absolutely will not allow you to go out there and humiliate me personally by losing that duel as my official ’wife’ in front of the entire watching court and empire," she explained coldly.

"That’s your intention?!"

"My name and reputation must stay completely spotless and untarnished no matter what."

I glared up at her even harder than before, pure venom rising like bile in my throat. "Knew it all along! It’s always all about your massive ego and your precious reputation—isn’t it? Selfish to the absolute core, just like literally every single damn time before this!"

She held me pinned down there for one long moment more, her eyes searching deeply into mine with an intensity I couldn’t quite read, before finally releasing her grip with a frustrated huff and rising up slowly like a dark shadow peeling away from the light.

"Spread your legs then, Your Highness," Elaine commanded flatly from her looming position above me, her voice low and matter-of-fact as her knee nudged insistently between my thighs, eyes locked on mine without a flicker of hesitation.

"What?" I gasped out, still breathless from the struggle, silver hair plastered across my sweat-damp face, body pinned but buzzing with a traitorous mix of fury and heat under her weight.

"Just spread your legs nice and wide. I won’t fuck you full—not tonight. Let’s keep it simple and quick."

Her large hand slid down my side possessively, fingers hooking the waistband of my loose silk pants with casual efficiency, tugging lightly as if it were already decided.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" I demanded, voice hoarse but defiant, twisting my hips in a futile bid for space even as my core clenched involuntarily at her proximity, the room’s jasmine air thickening with her scent.

"I mean you can’t fight Jennife tomorrow in this state—limping, scent spiked from our rut hangover," she explained clinically, breath hot against my ear as she pressed closer, her free hand pinning my shoulder firmer.

"I know that! So, you should just leave me alone now!" I don’t want to do anything with her.

"What if she triggers your heat mid-duel with her alpha pheromones? You’ll drop like a bitch in season before the first clash—shameful for me, your ’husband,’ watching my omega wife melt publicly. This fixes it. I will rut your slick out, prime the mark fresh. No full knot, no risk—just relief to steady you."

"I don’t want anything!"

"Your Highness, I insist this."