Chapter 2

“Did you shower?”

I noticed earlier that Julian was wearing a bathrobe. He had even taken the trouble to put on a pair of dress shoes for me.

“What’s going on here? You’re trying to humiliate me, right? Do feet that smell this nice after a shower count as humiliation? That’s clearly a reward!

“You’re trying to humiliate me, yet I have to teach you how to do it. Julian, are you even capable of this?”

Julian’s lips parted slightly.

The eyes of that aloof man, who had always seemed above the world’s petty concerns, were now filled with shock.

It wasn’t that I wanted to run my mouth.

I just had to resist the female lead’s inevitable tendency to submit to the male lead while being humiliated. I was afraid that if I didn’t act crazy soon, I would end up licking his shoe.

Ten minutes later, Julian was fully dressed and appeared with me in the garden of the villa.

“Who runs in dress shoes and a suit?”

“You don’t understand. A pure cotton T-shirt absorbs sweat, and sneakers let your feet breathe. If you want to humiliate someone, you have to make it as unpleasant as possible.

“A dress shirt doesn’t breathe, and dress shoes trap sweat. Run a few laps in those, and you’ll stink. That’s the only way to make the humiliation barely passable.”

At the end, I added, “You won’t be able to run dressed like that. Julian, are you perhaps not man enough?”

My words worked on Julian like the command “Ready, set, go!” The moment I finished speaking, he charged off in his dress shoes.

Unfortunately, the full-scale obedience test never reached its conclusion. Julian twisted his ankle after running only one lap.

He sat on the ground with a livid expression, waiting for me to help him up.

I reached out my hand, but he shot me a glance and pushed himself up with one hand.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone saw it, but you’re the boss. Your employees won’t make fun of you.”

I comforted Julian, then leaned over and sniffed beside him. “You smell nice and ripe now.”

Julian’s expression turned even colder. He was a neat freak to begin with, and my words dealt him another devastating blow.

He no longer cared about making me lick his shoes.

All he wanted was to get back to his room. He pressed one hand firmly on top of my head and rested his entire weight on me. “Help me back. I need a shower.”

The female lead of these angsty romance novels really had it rough. She not only had to be a billionaire’s kept woman but also serve as his human crutch.

…

After I helped Julian back to his room, I was only allowed to leave once the sound of rushing water came from the bathroom.

I followed the female lead’s memories and found the basement entrance.

Was this really a basement?

It was practically an entire villa built beneath another villa!

The bed was softer than my stomach. The crystal chandelier sparkled brighter than my life. The jewelry box alone was worth more than everything I owned combined.

I already resigned myself to being locked up by Julian for the rest of my life.

When Julian finished showering, he found me waiting outside his bathroom.

My gaze traveled up and down his body before finally stopping at his abdomen.

He wore nothing but a towel around his waist, and my unabashed female gaze made him visibly uncomfortable.

I unconsciously let out a wolf whistle.

He cleared his throat, trying to hide that brief moment of awkwardness behind a look of disdain. “You’re nothing more than a pet I keep. How dare you think you can seduce your owner?”

I ignored Julian’s mocking sarcasm. There was something more important to discuss. “Do you have an iron chain?”

Julian froze again.

I thought he hadn’t heard me, so I explained with hand gestures. “An iron chain—the thick, sturdy kind with a padlock. You fasten it around my ankle, and it limits how far I can move.”

Julian’s expression grew complicated.

He clearly misunderstood me.

He opened his mouth several times before finally saying, “Don’t waste your time thinking about that. I have no interest in that sort of thing.”

As he spoke, he hurriedly crossed himself and muttered, “Dear God.”