Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP

Chapter 364: Future Waifu?

Jax smiled at the quest window hovering before him.’So you’ve finally caught on that I’m about to ignite the war that’s been lying in wait for me,’ he thought.

’And judging by the mood of this place, it might just be the perfect stage for it, the kind of room where I can bait the powerful into bleeding for my sake. What makes it all possible is that she’s here tonight, and I’ve no intention of holding myself back any longer or playing dumb, since restraint only ever makes things worse, or hands her the time to cook up something truly horrible to throw at me.’

’Still, why exactly ten days?’ His eyes traced the glowing numbers. ’There’s no question the system either knows what’s coming or trips the instant it senses a real threat taking shape on the horizon. So those ten days have to mean something, because if I dragged her into a fight tonight, it would take a single night to settle the whole affair and not a breath more. And it didn’t even bother to name the person I’m meant to protect, which only deepens the riddle.’

’There are far too many questions hanging over me, and I may well be overlooking a piece or two scattered across the board. But one thing stands beyond all doubt. The reward is magnificent, the difficulty is hellish, and every last arrow on this board points me straight at Loki.’

His gaze sharpened to a knife’s edge. ’So for now, I’ll crush her first and let the answers sort themselves out in a few moments.’

Jax turned back to teasing Roxana, only for his mind to stall clean in the middle of it. Somewhere along the way she had stopped fighting the music and surrendered to it, and the change was staggering.

Her steps flowed as though she had been born mid-waltz, her spine carried itself without a single thought behind it, and the whole effortless picture of her dragged the words straight out of his mouth.

"Turns out there’s exactly one solitary trait of yours that convinces me you were born a noble."

Roxana arched into the next turn, circling him with a smug little tilt of her chin. "For your information, I am a princess, thank you very much."

"Is that so?" His smirk stretched wider. "Because anyone with a working pair of eyes would sooner peg you for a boozer or a back-alley brawler than royalty. No princess curses with the mouth of a dockworker, snaps with the temper of a stray cat, and scans a room like she’s already deciding which guest to hurl through the nearest window first. The one and only thing in this entire hall whispering that you’ve got blue blood in your veins is the way you dance. And the instant you open your mouth, even that little whisper grabs its coat and walks straight out the door."

Roxana’s eyes flashed hot for half a second, until she remembered how many times that exact jab had been thrown her way, and her counter was already loaded and waiting. "Oh, look at you, lecturing me on looking noble. Those very same working eyes would brand you the drunk of the pair the moment we stood side by side, even if I’d chugged an entire barrel into my belly first. Have you taken one good look at yourself? You’re a walking disaster, reeking of liquor and swaying about with a sleeve still drenched in spilled wine. Go on, ask anyone in this hall which of us looks more noble, and let them crush that precious ego for me."

Jax said nothing to that, because she had him dead to rights. He was in fact, an absolute mess at the moment, and every smudge and stain of it traced directly back to her.

Roxana glided through the next steps with her nose tipped high, thoroughly pleased to have shut him up. "By the way. What exactly possessed you to ask me for a dance so suddenly?"

The instrumental swelled on around them as Jax answered. "Think about it for a second. A moment ago every eye in this hall was bolted onto us, or onto me, really, the man who kicked off the whole commotion and supposedly left a princess in tears and a servant on his knees. You know how this goes. My reputation is a migraine on its very best day, and these gossip-starved leeches will spin the wildest, most baseless little legend about me the instant I hand them an opening."

He spun her gently as he went on. "And the spice in this room was through the roof. I could already watch three or four headlines writing themselves across the floor. So the smart play was to show every last one of them that we’re on perfectly good terms, and leave them nothing juicier to chew on than the usual deranged chatter between two maniacs."

"In short," Roxana said flatly, "you’re using me again to save your own skin."

"You catch on so quickly when you’re being insulted." He smiled. "We really ought to do this more often."

"Oh, how terribly foolish of me." Her smile turned sweet enough to rot every tooth in his head. "Do forgive me, Professor. By the way."

"Hm?"

Jax was not about to let that little jab slide. In answer, he slid his hand low along her waist until his fingers found the strip of bare skin there, and the touch made Roxana twitch and flush in the same breath.

Before she could recover, he used the moment to wrench her into a sudden, vicious turn.

The whole world tore out from under her, the room smearing into streaks of light and color, and it only stopped when she found her face hovering inches from his with that insufferable smirk waiting on the other side.

He had bent her clean back over a single arm braced along her spine, holding her there as though she weighed less than the wine on his sleeve.

"Oops," Jax murmured. "Looks like my inner dance demon slipped right out. I’m so terribly, terribly sorry."

Roxana’s face went crimson, her heart slamming against her ribs as her composure split straight down the middle. "Wha... t do... what do you think you’re... I’ll repay this, I swear I’ll—"

But the threat never reached its end, because a voice rang clear across the hall as the herald caught sight of the host descending the grand staircase.

-x-X-x-

[ A/N: Nick207, Littleboy18794 and Ordici T thank you for the golden tickets, appreciate it ????????

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