Chapter 206: Just you wait and see.
She turned her piercing gaze back to Victoria, looking her up and down with a new, more specific interest. "So you’re a subordinate as well?" she asked, her tone flat, neither believing nor disbelieving.
Being stared at so boldly, with such open scrutiny, ignited a spark of defiance in Victoria. Who was this woman to block the door? To question her? Almost reflexively, she reached out with her own senses, a delicate, invisible probe to gauge the strength of the obstacle before her.
It was like gently tapping on a mountainside and feeling the entire vast, imasurable weight of the earth behind it.
Victoria’s pupils dilated. A cold shock, sharper than any blade, shot down her spine. Her breath hitched in her throat. ’This is a joke...’ her mind scread, even as her body instinctively wanted to take a step back under the sudden, faint pressure that seed to settle on her shoulders.
’How co she’s almost as strong as Master? No, maybe even just as strong...’ The power she sensed was not raging or fiery; it was more as if she had co across sothing deep, old, and terrifyingly calm. It was the power of soone who was basically at the peak of 3rd tier, perhaps even evidently close to tier 4. This was no simple guard or housemate. This was a ruler standing in a doorway.
The Wolf King watched the play of shock and dawning fear on Victoria’s face. She gave a barely perceptible nod, as if Victoria’s silent probe had confird sothing. Yet, her verdict did not change.
"I’m afraid I still can’t let you in," she announced, her tone matter-of-fact, sounding casual in every way possible.
"Why not?!" Victoria’s reply was instinctive, a burst of frustrated protest that escaped before she could temper it. Even Emilia, now watching from just inside, looked surprised by the firmness of the refusal.
The Wolf King’s expression remained an unreadable mask of polite implacability. "Whether you belong to him or not is still up for question. I wouldn’t mind calling him down here to check whether you’re telling the truth or not," she said, and for a second, Victoria felt a surge of hope. But it was dashed by the next words. "But I’m afraid he’s rather busy at the mont. Disturbing him for an unexpected, unverified visitor would be... inconsiderate."
"Then what are you trying to say?" Victoria asked, the frown returning to her face, deeper now, etched with frustration and wounded pride.
The Wolf King’s gaze was steady. "Co back later. Perhaps tomorrow, if your reason for eting him is sufficiently urgent. As for now, I’m sorry, but I just can’t let you in. I hope you understand."
And without waiting for a reply, without offering a chance for further plea or argunt, her hand grabbed at the door nob. The door, began to swing shut.
Victoria caught one last glimpse of the interior of the house, the back of Lilia’s straw hat as she disappeared into the kitchen, the curious, slightly apologetic glance from Emilia, and then the wooden plane filled her vision. With a soft but definitive thud, and the click of a well-made latch, it closed in her face.
Victoria stood frozen on the stoop, the sounds of the city rushing back to fill the silent void left by the shut door. Her lips pressed into a bloodless thin line. Heat rose in her cheeks, a flush of embarrassnt, of anger, of sheer, impotent frustration.
Logically, she turned the Wolf King’s words over in her mind. The woman was right. She was an unknown, arriving unannounced. Su Ping was often engrossed in his work, and interrupting him for sothing that wasn’t a clear ergency was disrespectful. The protector was doing her job, and doing it well.
And yet.
That fleeting look she had seen in the Wolf King’s eyes just as she herself was about to step across the threshold... it hadn’t been just about duty or security. It had been a flash of sothing else. A sharp, possessive reluctance. A silent, fierce claim on the space beyond the door, on the attention of the man within. It was a look Victoria recognized intimately, because she felt it burning in her own chest.
’She’s no different from ...’ The realization was a bitter pill. ’All she wants is to hog the Master for herself. To be the closest, the most trusted, the first line between him and the world.’ A fresh wave of hot jealousy, cleaner and sharper than before, washed through her. But it was quickly followed by a cold, steely resolve. ’But I’m afraid I can’t let that happen. The only one I can stand to hog the Master is his wife, should he ever choose another, Anyone else, then I’m afraid that person will be non other than ....’ Her thoughts trailed off, but the sentint was clear. Anyone else was fair ga. And she had no intentions of loosing this competition.
She took a few deep, steadying breaths, forcing the storm of emotions down, locking them behind the calm, professional facade she wore like armor. Causing a scene here would accomplish nothing except making her look unstable and proving the Wolf King’s point. It would distance her from Su Ping, not bring her closer.
’ Curse that jealous hag! Just because she’s closer to tier 4, doesn’t give her the right to keep away from master.’
’ Tsk, what’s there to be frightened about, it’s just one tier, if I put my mind to it, I’m sure I can do the sa!’
With one last, long look at the unassuming door that had beco a fortress wall, Victoria turned on her heel. Her cloak swirled around her ankles as she lted back into the flow of the crowd.
’Next ti...’ she vowed silently, her mind already whirring with plans, she would not co as an unexpected petitioner. She would send word. She would have a legitimate, urgent reason that could not be denied at the door. She would ensure that she could et her Master directly, face-to-face, without interdiaries who looked at her with envy in their eyes.
It was the only way to spoil the futile plans of a few jealous hags who thought they could guard a treasure that was never solely theirs to begin with. The ga, she realized with a thrill that was equal parts dread and excitent, had just beco much more complicated. And Victoria was not one to back down from a challenge.
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