Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP

Chapter 359 : The Snoring Beast and the Second Teacup (1900+ words)

The moment Roxana’s frustrated eyes climbed up and identified the owner of the hand pinning her precious bottle, her grip around its neck tightened considerably.Not quite enough to shatter the glass. Yet. The bottle was currently surviving on borrowed time and her last shred of patience.

"What do you think you are doing?" she hissed, every word soaked in enough venom to drop a lesser man on the spot.

Jax answered with a dramatic flair and that infuriating smirk of his. "What am I doing? The same thing I do every single day, Roxana. Babysitting. Except my favorite assistant professor has apparently downgraded her venue to a wine lounge, and the subject on today’s syllabus appears to be advanced self-destruction."

He tilted his head toward the graveyard of bottles on her table. "So my professional duty is compelling me to intervene. Because there has been more than enough assault on your poor liver for one day"

Roxana’s fury was exactly one syllable away from full detonation when the universe, in its infinite comedic wisdom, decided to lob a grenade into the middle of the situation.

A server arrived carrying a tray loaded with four fresh wine bottles for his troublesome guest. The scene that welcomed him was a thoroughly devastated table with three empty soldiers already lying dead on their sides, while a heated tug of war was being waged over the sole surviving bottle between the woman he was assigned to serve and some vaguely familiar face he could not quite place for Jax.

He cleared his throat and intervened with the polished arrogance of a man who believed his apron was a crown. "My sincerest apologies for the delay, esteemed guest. It appears my tardiness has caused quite the commotion here. However, I must ask both of you to refrain from escalating this matter any further. We carry a never-ending stock, and there is absolutely no need for conflict over a single bottle."

Then his chin lifted, and a dangerous little smile crawled onto his face. "And if you two are simply here to cause trouble using wine as a convenient excuse, then I am obligated to warn you that we have been given very strict orders regarding how to deal with troublemakers."

The server was that particular breed of man who had thoroughly marinated himself in the privileges of serving the Aleris household. He wore the family name and his own petty designation like personal armor, polishing both at every opportunity to inflate his pride and flatten anyone he deemed beneath him.

But that magnificent pride shattered into a thousand glittering pieces the very next second.

Another servant came rushing toward him in visible panic, leaned close, and whispered something urgent into his ear. Something neither Jax nor Roxana could hear.

The realization did not arrive gradually. It hit him all at once, like a building collapsing directly onto his skull.

The name was Jax. The same Jax who was currently the hottest topic of discussion across the entire continent, and especially within the walls of the Aleris estate itself.

The same Jax whom even the master swordsman Albert and his entire elite group from the order treated with genuine respect and careful deference. Men who bowed to no one were watching their tone around this guest.

The very same Jax about whom the head butler had issued crystal clear instructions to every single staff member before tonight’s party. Treat him as the highest priority guest at all times. If he is ever seen in any kind of trouble, take his side immediately. Even if it requires pinning false blame on the other party, regardless of who that party might be.

The server knew instructions of that caliber could only have originated from Lord Claude himself. Or perhaps from his terrifying daughter, which was somehow the more frightening possibility of the two.

And to crown the mountain of horror currently crushing his chest, this was also the very same Jax widely rumored throughout noble circles to be an underground mafia figure operating in disguise. A man with confirmed connections reaching into the most powerful houses on the floating island.

Every one of those thoughts stacked on top of the other until his legs simply filed their resignation. He collapsed to his knees, and his forehead greeted the floor.

"I am a fool! An absolute brainless fool who deserves to choke on his own tongue!" He began slapping himself across the mouth with both hands in rapid succession, like a man trying to extinguish a fire that existed only in his dignity.

"This wretched mouth of mine! This idiotic, reckless, suicidal mouth! Please, my lord, I am begging you! I am nothing! Less than nothing! I am the dirt beneath the dirt beneath your shoes! Spare this brainless cockroach who did not realize who he was messing with!"

Jax stared down at the groveling man with genuine confusion, completely unable to process how the man’s entire attitude had flipped faster than a startled chameleon falling off its branch. Then he glanced around and noticed far too many curious eyes already drifting toward their corner of the lounge.

’Great. I’ve been at this party for five minutes, and I’m already the dinner show. Then again, I expected as much. In fact, the show hasn’t even started yet.’

"Alright, enough with the theatrics. You are actively tarnishing my reputation with this circus." Jax gestured lazily toward the exit. "So do me a favor. Take your ass out of here along with that tray, and inform every single member of your staff that this lady is officially banned from receiving any further reinforcements tonight. She has had more than enough."

Then his voice dropped just slightly. "And make sure you warn them clearly. The woman sitting beside me will try to kill whoever stops bringing her wine. And I will definitely kill whoever keeps bringing it. So tell your colleagues to carefully pick their preferred method of dying and act accordingly."

The server scrambled to his feet, scooped the tray off the ground with trembling hands, and bowed so fast his spine nearly snapped. "Consider it done, my lord! Immediately! Without delay! And should you ever require anything at all tonight, even if it is simply someone to yell at, I am eternally and unconditionally at your disposal!"

Then he evaporated from the scene so completely it was as if the man had never existed in the first place.

The moment he was gone, the air between Jax and Roxana changed entirely. The comedy drained out of the corner like wine from a cracked glass.

Roxana was the first to speak, one hand still clutched around the neck of the bottle. "Funny. Really fucking funny coming from you."

Her voice started as something close to a whisper, but it was trembling by the end. And it was definitely not the alcohol shaking it. It was something far older and far more painful clawing its way back up her throat.

"You were the exact person who told me to go drink until I pass out. That I should stay locked inside my assigned mansion and pickle myself to death for all you cared." Her eyes burned into his. "And now you waltz in here acting like you suddenly give a damn? What is this? Boredom? Or did you simply run out of other people to ruin tonight?"

Jax scratched his chin with an expression of profound scholarly thought. "Hmm. Did I really say that? That genuinely does not sound like me at all. Are you absolutely sure you were not just drunk and arguing with yourself in the mirror again?"

crack

Roxana’s grip crushed the neck of the bottle. Glass split beneath her fingers, and wine bled across the table, soaking into Jax’s sleeve along the way. She did not even flinch.

"Don’t you dare pretend you forgot." Her thumb pressed against the broken edge, grinding slowly along the sharp glass while a thin line of red joined the wine on the table. "You told me to stay locked in my room and drink until my body gives out. You said my involvement in your life was nothing but a burden you never asked for. That you would finally live in peace once I stopped meddling."

Her voice fractured in the middle. She welded it back together through sheer willpower alone.

"I did as you said. I stopped prying into your life. I stopped caring for you. I gave you exactly what you wanted, that peaceful life I was apparently ruining."

She let out a hollow little laugh that fooled absolutely no one. "So congratulations on getting everything you wished for. But then answer me this. Why the hell are you sitting here instead of enjoying your perfect little paradise?"

A single tear escaped down her cheek.

And the moment Jax saw it, he moved. He pulled out his handkerchief, grabbed her bleeding hand with zero gentleness and zero permission, and began wrapping the wound with the rough efficiency of a man who refused to admit what his own hands were doing.

"Yes, you are right," he said evenly. "Things have been really peaceful lately."

"There are no damage costs piling up on my tab. The master bedroom is finally all mine. The rooms stay so neat I could host royalty, and I no longer wake up crucified on a floor of empty bottles. No one is trying her experiments in my kitchen, and I live free of the fear of dying as a guinea pig to her cooking."

He tied the knot on the handkerchief. "Rudiger and I sit at the dining table and enjoy our meals in blessed quiet. And you know what? That bastard Rudiger has been really happy these days too and you I am sure you know why."

"So in short. No chaos. No headaches. No interruptions."

Silence followed as Jax went completely still, and Roxana hissed at him through her teeth, fully prepared to put the broken bottle to creative use for mocking her pain to her face.

But his next words transformed her anger into something else entirely.

"And yet every single second of it makes me want to burn that mansion to the ground."

His fist clenched on the table. "The same food from before tastes blunt without an argument running across the table. The rooms are too clean. The silence is so loud it keeps me awake at night, because you spoiled my habits, you menace. I cannot fall asleep anymore without a beast snoring through the wall of the next room."

"And Rudiger’s smile? It is hiding questions behind it. Pain behind it. That bastard still walks in some evenings carrying two teacups, then realizes halfway and quietly pulls one back, thinking I did not notice. I can see the desperation sitting in his eyes. Why did she leave like that. Why has she not responded to him."

Jax’s eyes never left hers as he continued. "You infected my whole damn house, Roxana. You barged into my life uninvited, spoiled my habits, got me addicted to things people would laugh at if they ever found out. Because you made silence feel like punishment and chaos feel like home. And then you had the audacity to just walk out like that?"

He leaned forward, close enough that the noise of the entire party faded into nothing.

"You should take responsibility for your deeds, Roxana. Come back to the place you actually belong."

To Be Continued....