CHAPTER 201: _SERAPHYNE

Aurora’s POV

*****

After the catastrophe that was Lord Kyren revealing his true lineage to the rest of the family and then Lucian getting mad at her, she just couldn’t bear lingering in the palace a second longer.

She needed a break.

And what better way to do it than doing the one thing the Dark Hand seemed to warn her not to do?

That’s right! She was going to do some digging into them.

Or, at least try.

She let out a sigh when she walked into a compound she never saw herself coming back to.

It was the tier one hotel in the industrial district which she, Lucian, Elian and Axel had crashed into over twenty days ago.

Remembering the battle against the Umbra beast that night gave her the creeps. But it also reminded her that the Dark Hand started off as a mercenary organisation in the industrial district before it went out of control.

Aurora strutted through the front entrance of the hotel’s bar, scanning her gaze around. The smell of sweat, alcohol and wolves coiled in the air.

The lights were dim and the music soft, creating an atmosphere that was serene and wild at the same time.

Laughter echoed from drunk men from different corners of the bar while women either kept to themselves or forced themselves to laugh at the lacklustre jokes.

Aurora pressed her lips into a thin line, tapping her fingers together.

Where does she even start?

"Hey, that hurt!" A feminine voice chimed from the counter just then, forcing her to bring her eyes there.

She squinted at the scene.

Two men were standing in front of the counter, both of them standing tall and menacing in their black jackets.

One of them had his grip wrapped firmly around the girl standing behind the counter and even though the men had their backs facing Aurora, she could tell this interaction wasn’t friendly.

"What? You can’t take a simple joke?" The guy holding her scoffed, completely oblivious to Aurora’s scrutiny.

The princess moved closer slowly, not putting much effort into eavesdropping.

"Your ’joke’ was lewd and you know it." The bartender sneered, her eyes shaking with both defiance and fear. " I-I don’t want any trouble, okay? I..."

She froze when her eyes trailed to Aurora.

When their eyes locked, Aurora’s blood surged with recognition.

She was the same sweet bartender who served them that night. The girl went all out in answering Axel’s and Lucian’s questions about the Dark Hand that night.

As Aurora remembered this, the man who wasn’t holding the girl turned around slowly, facing her. But as soon as his eyes landed on her, he shrank with fear.

"P–Princess Aurora." He stuttered, quickly tapping his friend beside him.

"What?" The other idiot snorted at him before turning around as well.

As soon as he saw Aurora, his mouth parted so wide that she low-key felt like shoving her fist into it.

"Your... Your royal highness." The man let go of the bartender and fell to his knees alongside his friend, lowering his head. "It’s... It’s not what it looks like—"

"Oh?" Aurora smirked, stepping closer. "I haven’t even said anything yet. What are we talking about?"

Her eyes flitted to the bartender girl. The latter blinked at her erratically at first, but her face soon reddened, causing Aurora to arch a brow.

Was that embarrassment or—

"We were only playing around with her." The guy who noticed her first broke her line of thought with his stupid voice. "Please, can—"

Aurora couldn’t stand it anymore.

With a single step, she was already in front of them. She raised her right hand, bringing it down with a force that caused the air around her to whoosh.

SMACK!

The sound of the slap was deafening, sending air currents that blew strands of her hair over her face.

As for the man, his eyes widened with a mix of shock and pain. Saliva, a few teeth and blood spewed out of his mouth like bullets.

He plopped to the ground, groaning while his neck snapped to the side unnaturally.

"That’s for trying to justify your stupidity." She mumbled silently, ignoring the stares and gasps of most of the customers around them.

Aurora proceeded to grab the right ear of the man who had grabbed the girl in the first place, forcing him to straighten up and look her in the eyes.

His eyes quivered with so much terror she thought he’d wet his pants any second.

Well, good for him.

"As for you... You find it so fun to bully women weaker than you, huh?" She grinned cruelly, slowly raising him off the ground by his ear.

The man tried bearing it but when the skin around his earlobe literally began making ripping and tearing sounds, he broke.

"Ahhh!" He screamed at a pitch unexpected from a man his size, kicking aimlessly and whimpering. "I’m... I’m sorry. Forgive me. I... I was drunk and—"

"Oh, please!" Aurora sneered. "I’ve had my own share of drunken moments, and you don’t see me hitting on random strangers like flies to fresh fruit."

She usually might not go this far on any other day. But today?

Hehe... Too bad these jerks caught her in a sour mood.

"I’ll let you off with a simple warning." Aurora finally released him, tearing her gaze away from him when he fell to the ground. "Keep that thing between your legs under control. Or one of these days you’ll stumble on someone you won’t be able to bully into submission."

She stared at the bartender now, her lips twitching into a calm smile that was a huge contrast to her goddess of vengeance demeanour a couple of seconds ago.

As the men grunted, whined and dragged themselves the heck out of there, Aurora placed her hands on the counter. "Sorry about that. Did they hurt you?"

The bartender shook her head quickly, chest rising and falling. "N–No, your highness. I’m fine. Really."

Aurora’s eyes softened as she scanned her face. "You sure? Because it looked like you were two seconds from throwing a bottle at him."

That earned her a small, nervous laugh. "Maybe one second."

Aurora smiled despite herself. "Brave and funny. You don’t see that much around here."

The girl hesitated before tucking a loose strand of her short black hair behind her ear. "Thank you... for stepping in."

"Don’t mention it." Aurora leaned an elbow on the counter, studying her with more curiosity than she intended. "You were here the last time I came with my brother, right?"

"Yes. You asked me about the Dark Hand." Her tone turned careful, but her hazel eyes never wavered. "You can call me Seraphyne."

"Seraphyne," Aurora repeated, tasting the name like it carried a spell of its own.

For a brief moment, the world outside the bar dimmed—the hum of music, the chatter of men, all fading into a distant blur. The princess caught herself staring too long, caught in that calm hazel gaze.

And Seraphyne didn’t look away either.

Something unspoken flickered between them. Something far more dangerous...