The Crown's Entrapment

Chapter 571 The Winner

Gilas's heart skipped a beat as he waited for Clara to come to a decision. He was burning hot with arousal at the moment, and his mate's smell wasn't helping him at all. And that's not to mention the clear scent of her arousal wafting through the air. It felt so overwhelming, and he couldn't help but feel so ecstatic about it. He wanted to do the thing with her while he was sober for goodness sake!

"I... it's embarrassing... I mean, Mother will wonder why- uhm... we suddenly had to go on our own way," Clara hesitantly reasoned. "Besides, it's cold. Let's just continue with our journey together with Mother like this. Keeping me warm will be enough. Maybe... Uhm... Later maybe... I... I'll help you r-remember..."

That was more than enough.

Gilas chuckled as he embraced Clara with his warmth. She was so adorable, acting shy like this whenever she expressed herself. Still, this was great progress in his eyes. She was opening up to him. She could feel the Mate Pull, and it was more of an advantage he could use to get her closer to him.

Smiling, he pulled her closer to him, comfortably settling his chin down on her shoulder. It felt so nice. It was cold, but their bodies' warmth was more than enough to keep their blood burning.

[So later... I guess you'll make her scream your name again, right?] Ham excitedly remarked. [At least make sure you're sober this time.]

"Tell me, what else do you want to do? I mean, I'll make the time so the two of us can go out together more often," Gilas enthusiastically offered. "I want to make you smile and have fun, Clara. How about we go out ice skating at Twilight Lake later?"

Even before Clara replied, he was already looking forward to doing a lot of things a couple would do with his mate. He imagined himself often going out often with Clara, spending more and more time with her alone the moment he set his eyes on her.

It was silly to see things as they were now. Why, he could still recall the times he tried to approach Clara before to attend the occasional festivities, with the latter simply going out with Darius instead of even seeing him. Seeing the bright smile on her face whenever she was with Darius forced him to simply look at her from afar, and he was content with living like that for so many years... Well, he took the liberty of making his presence occasionally known by annoying her. That way, she would spare even a quick glance at him.

"I'm sorry," Clara murmured, making him freeze. He had forgotten to put up the Bond wall against her.

Twitching his mouth, Gilas awkwardly massaged his nape. It was really unintentional.

"Sorry," he murmured back. "I forgot to put up the wall. I didn't mean for you to hear my thoughts like that."

"Well, we can do anything you want from now on, Gilas. Just please take the initiative in doing everything you want," Clara remarked, her tone coming out as barely a whisper. "I can tell you if I don't want it or if I'm not comfortable with it. I... Like I said, I want to make things work between us. I know I'm taking things slow and you're probably feeling tormented because of the Mate Pull, but I'll try my best to catch up with you..."

Her wall was down, so he could currently feel how genuine her emotions were at the moment. "Thank you, Clara," he whispered as he continued to snoop his nose onto her skin.

Heavens... Her arousal was still there, and he was dying to service and relieve her from it. Unfortunately, her current answer still remained a no...

But later though?

His blood boiled with great tension and excitement just thinking about it... So much so, he even reigned his horse in to make it move faster than the usual pace.

"Are we in a hurry?" Clara breathed.

"Well, I am. We need to arrive at our stop soon," he answered with a bright smile. He wanted to tease Clara and tell her how she smelled right now, but he controlled himself. She had mixed emotions running deep within her, and he didn't want to make her feel even more awkward and embarrassed. He wanted her to be as vocal as she was just now.

"When will Calypso's fight with the challengers start?" Gilas offhandedly asked, trying to open up another topic that would help them distract themselves from their feelings. The heat between them was just too much to contain and silence... Not even the cold brought by the winter was enough to get their thoughts away from being perverted.

"Oh, that? In two weeks' time," Clara replied. "There's still a lot of things to settle."

He nodded in understanding. "Do you have any qualified members that you think can put up a fight against Calypso?"

"Yes, there's one," she remarked. "Rigor is a strong opponent for sure..."

Gilas hummed in acknowledgment. He knew Rigor. He couldn't help but frown as he recalled his previous encounter with the man. Right, it was one of the men he had threatened before about Clara.

He unknowingly chuckled upon recalling how he managed to shoo away all the men trying to pursue his mate... Unfortunately, he failed to shoo away one man, and coincidentally, that man was the King, which Clara wanted to pursue.

"So it's you, huh?"

Once more, he was caught off guard.

[Hahaha!]

Gilas inwardly cursed even as Ham rejoiced in his clumsiness with putting up a wall in the Mate Bond. What was with him just now? Was it the overwhelming excitement about Clara opening up to him that he ended up constantly forgetting to put a wall on his thoughts like this?

"Well, uhm... I guess I'm guilty..." he awkwardly admitted.

Clara chuckled. "I'm curious about it now, Gilas," she smirked. "Tell me, how did you manage to threaten all the men trying to pursue me without me finding out anything about it at all"

"It's way too simple, actually... Those men have egos to protect. All of them lost against me in whatever terms they preferred for a fight, both physically and mentally,". Gilas boasted. "From there, they would just keep quiet to prevent their failures from coming out."

Those men didn't want others to know how easily they lost against him. There was no way they would spread rumors about him fighting them all one on one in a battle or game over Clara.

"In the end, you're the winner against all of them then?" Clara humorously joked.

"Well, not yet. I can only declare myself a winner once I managed to conquer your heart, Clara," Gilas hoarsely replied. "I won't be greedy... I'll be content with you letting me slip inside what available space there is left for me in your heart."

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