CHAPTER FOUR

I sat slumped in a high-backed velvet chair, my palm pressed firmly against my forehead as I stared down at the paper on the table.

It felt as if the ink were mocking me. Row after row of intricate political geography, complex state economics, and military history stared back at me like a foreign language.

Lifting my head, I looked up at my assigned tutor in absolute confusion before my features twisted into a frustrated scowl.

"I don't know any of this," I protested, my voice echoing sharply in the quiet closed room.

Kei stood perfectly still beside the desk, hands clasped behind his back. He merely raised a single, dark eyebrow. "Even the Beta children know that basic knowledge, Your Highness."

I narrowed my eyes. 'Is he belittling me?' I gripped the feather quill tight in my hands.

After our first and second meeting, I had already decided that I don't like him that much. And I don't want him to think taht I am just a meek a prince who don't even have any bones to bite.

Yes, I am aware that I was different from the others Alpha. But I was really trying, and right now, I want him to listen and looked at with respect. I am an Alpha and I wanted to be treated like one.

"And how am I supposed to know any of this?" I let out an annoyed hiss, the irritation bleeding into a defensive edge. "No one has ever taught me this before. It is not a secret that I've spent my entire life lying on my bed."

"Which is exactly the purpose of today's test," Kei replied, his tone entirely unmoved. "You are to answer what you do know. From there, I will evaluate what you lack and teach you accordingly."

I raise my brows. "You are too formal, the way you talk is like listening with a dead man reciting his life or so whatever, you save the puppet speech for my father."

I bite my tongue when I didn't recieves any response. 'Fuck this is actually insulting, why can't he just fucking show any emotions or even talk normally? Everything he said always forces me to want to hide in a corner away from any humilations.'

 "I said, you speak like a puppet, Beta." I repeated slowly, I could actually heard my heart beating fast as I waited for his reaction.

When he still didn't talk. I let out a frustrated huffed as I give him a fake smiles. "What? Did my father forget to give you a tongue?"

"50 minutes."

My smiles falter as I heard his short words. Fucking 50 minutes. I didn't even get to take revenge for the two times he had humilated me. And now, looks like this will be the third one.

I sighed. 'Acting tough and cool doesn't really suit you that much, Mace. But then, you just gotta continue to act like a real one.'

"45 minutes."

I let out a bitter, defeated laugh, tossing my head back. "Really, I just told you. I can't answer any of this. If you teach me first, then maybe I could..."

Kei didn't bother answering verbally. Instead, with a motion so blindingly fast it left a blur in the air, he brought his wooden training stick down.

Crack!

The wood struck my forearms where they rested lazily on the table. I flinched violently, a sharp hiss tearing from my throat as I dragged my arms back against my chest. "Ow! Damn it, that hurts! You can't just hit me because I don't know the answer, this is abuse of power!" I groaned, glaring up at the taller man.

"Remove your hands from the table," Kei commanded coldly, tapping the stick against his own palm. "If you cannot manage the simple dignity of proper posture, I find it difficult to believe you can manage a kingdom. Hands off the table. Sit up."

My face flushed a deep, glowing red, scowling at him, I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, deliberately using my hand to throw my feather quill off the desk. It clattered uselessly onto the floor with a sound. 

"Listen, I didn't agree for this! You're supposed to be my martial arts instructor." I gritted my teeth. "Its supposed to be physical, you teach me how to punch, you teach me how to kick. You teach me self-defense now!"

Kei calmly looked down at the discarded quill, then his icy gaze slowly drifted up to lock onto my eyes. "If you do not possess the mental capacity to comprehend basic strategy, what are the chances you will stand a chance in a physical defense lesson? A warrior who cannot think is merely a corpse waiting to happen. I will only teach you to fight once you prove you are knowledgeable about the things that matter."

Frustration exploded through my veins as I heard his words. Pushing past the lingering softness in my legs. I puffed my chest out and stood up abruptly, then I let out a low, defensive growl as I took a threatening step toward my tutor.

'Okay, this is it. This is where you show him your Alpha side.'

But I didn't even get to half cross the distance before he moved. With a sudden effortless precision, he raised his wooden stick and pressed it directly against my shoulder, stopping me dead in my tracks.

I blinked as the physical pressure pinned me in place.

"Go back to your seat," Kei said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous tone. "And focus on your test."

I blinked again before I shook my head defiantly at the sheer audacity of this Beta, ordering me around like this. Not even giving me a chance to live up with my fantasy. "No. I want to leave. Let me out of this room right now." I demanded.

Kei slowly pulled the stick off my shoulder, before stepping forward to invade my personal space. The sheer size and imposing appearance of him forced me to instinctively take a hasty step backward.

I gulped back my saliva. 'Fuck... he's actually so tall, he could crush me with just his hands–wait, why are young backing out, Mace? Idiot, you're the alpha here. Right! I'm the alpha here.'

Desperate to regain back my control, I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat and puffed out my chest more as I tried to look as intimidating as possible.

"A Beta has absolutely no right to order me around," I hissed, baring my teeth in a desperate display of dominance. "I am an Alpha. And I am your Prince."

Kei didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. Instead, a cold, mocking smirk slowly spread across his handsome face. "Is that so?"

My head automatically nodded as I tilted my chin more with a slight hesitating grin. I mean, I was not sure if he was being sarcastic or not but I still stood in my place. "Yes, and as your Alpha I order–"

"In your seat. Now."

My shoulders slightly slumped back as I flush under his dominating gaze. 'Right, back at my seat– wait, no.' I paused as I realize I almost fell for his fake authority.

I glared at him, a sudden, desperate thought crossing my mind. 'Alpha! Alpha! I'm an Alpha..'

Gritting my teeth, I tried to push past my physical limitations and force my Alpha pheromones to flood the room.

Attempting to project an aura of absolute command that would force a mere Beta to drop to his knees.

But with my scent being too weak, too fragile, and completely lacking. It did nothing.

Kei still stood there, completely unaffected, with his cold annoying smirk never fading.

My lips formed into a thin line. "I won't listen to someone who is lower than me," I murmured, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to sound mighty like earlier.

But Kei leaned down slightly, the fresh, sun-kissed grass scent of his presence subtly sharpening in the air. I slightly avoided his gaze by looking at his hair instead. "I'm afraid this lower person is too close to killing you if you still choose to disobey.''

My eyes widened in absolute shock, my earlier bravado evaporating like mist. I stumbled back another step, my back hitting the edge of my table desk. "Y-you..." I pointed at his face. "you're threatening me? I will tell the King! I-I will tell my father that you're threatening me. It's a crime! To threaten a prince is an act of treason and I'll make sure you'll pay for this!"

Kei's expression instantly wiped clean of any amusement, returning to that terrifying, impenetrable mask of stone. "Sit down, now."

I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms. The bitter taste of reality flooded my mouth. I knew I couldn't do anything. I had no political leverage, no real knowledge, and absolutely zero fighting skills. I was entirely at this man's mercy.

'If threatening him with my father didn't work, what else could I do but to stay silent?'

'And my acting didn't even worked, I feel like a jester playing a joke with my tutoe.'

Thinking about the way I acted earlier makes me blushed like a maiden. I felt like a complete fool. All those hours I’d spent locked in my room last night, meticulously studying those popular yellow books, rehearsing my alpha growl in the mirror until my throat felt raw, practicing that tough, unbullied, commanding stare I’d read about a dozen times... had been an absolute waste of time.

According to the books, the Alpha was supposed to command the room with a single word. They were supposed to make the Beta and Omega tremble. But in result? I was just a prince playing pretend, and Kei didn't even have the decency to look intimidated..

Lowering my head, I slumped back into my chair, my voice dropping to a defeated murmur. I didn't bothered to act mighty again. "The King will not like how you're treating me..."

Kei stared down at me, his golden eyes boring into the top of my head. "The King," Kei murmured, his voice laced with a dark, chilling promise, "will have absolutely no idea of what I want to do to you right now."

My breath suddenly slowed. The subtle danger in those words sent a shiver straight down my body, paralyzing any remaining urge to protest.

Fearing what might happen if I pushed any further, I quietly gripped the edge of my seat, lowering my face completely to avoid looking at the terrifying man standing over me.

The silence in the room stretched for a long, suffocating minute. The only sound was the frantic, uneven beating of my own heart.

Unable to bear the deafening tension, I slowly, and cautiously tilted my chin up, trying to peek through my eyelashes to see if my tutor had turned away.

He hadn't.

Kei was already looking straight at me, his intense, calculating gaze fixed unblinkingly on my face. But as he shifted his weight, the collar of his uniform suddenly pulled slightly to the side.

My breath completely trapped itself in my throat at the sight.

Because there, hidden just beneath the edge of his high fabric on his neck, was an angry red mark peeking through. It wasn't just a wound.

Because I knew what this familiar mark meant. This was a permanent brand.

And as I stared deeply at it, the mark on my own waist also suddenly flared once again with a white-hot burning pain.