The All Powerful Mutt Tamer

Chapter 7

Alex could sense the heat of her disdain pulsing off from her words.

“Is this the low techniques poor pervs like you pull of lately?” She sneered, bringing Alex back to reality. 

He could feel the metallic taste of irritation on his tongue. 

Another high and mighty horse who thought they could trample on anyone that they come across.

“Don't you have a wide mouth for someone that's is trespassing into another person's room?” Alex raised his key cards, revealing the room number that was written on it.

The girl, whose name was Liora, moved off from the bed with practiced grace.

"I see," she whispered, her voice suddenly turning sharp as glass. 

“So you want me to believe that in some way, this is also your room? You perv?”

“You must have searched for my status, and then come up with a forced proximity plan. But what do you think, that we're living in novels? You sickly poor bastard?”

Alex frowned, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion and a tat miss of irritation"Searched? I don't even know who you are. I just spent my afternoon punching a noble in the face. I came back here to sleep, not to play games with a runaway princess."

"Don't lie to me!" Liora thundered, stepping forward. "I know your type. You’re one of those lowly students who think they can 'accidentally' run into an elite lady to secure a future. You probably hacked the room assignment ledger just to force this encounter. 

It’s utterly disgraceful. Using a mistake in the spatial wards to trap me here? You’re more pathetic than you look."

Alex let out a short, dry bark of a laugh. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his battered wooden room pass, slamming it onto the small, rickety table between them.

 "Room 104. Assigned to Alex of the Outer Slums. I’ve lived in this shithole for a week. If you’re here, it’s because you’re the one who got lost, not me."

Liora glanced at the pass, her face flickering with a moment of doubt before her arrogance returned tenfold.

 "A fake. It has to be. Do you really think I’d believe a commoner just happened to be assigned the same room as I was allocated?

You’re trying to hook up with an elite of my status by creating a scandal. It’s a classic, dirty trick.

"Listen, lady," Alex stepped closer, the Shadow Stalker emerging from his feet, its violet eyes glowing in the dark. "I have a family name to clear and a system to manage. 

I don't have time to 'hook up' with anyone, especially not a girl who thinks the world revolves around her hair ribbons. You want out? There’s the door."

“Fine..”

Before Alex could respond, a heavy knock rattled the door.

"Outer Scorn! Open up!" a gruff voice barked.

Alex opened the door to see the night warden, a man whose face looked like it had been carved out of a sour potato. The warden looked at Alex, then his eyes traveled to Liora standing in the shadows. He didn't look surprised. He looked annoyed.

"Warden, get this scorn out of here,"Liora grunted.

The warden sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Can't do it, kid. The spatial anchors for the guest quarters snapped during the awakening ceremony. Half the rooms are merged or swapped. The ledger is a mess, and the Master of Keys is drunk in the city.

So we had to do a quick fix, but the master that allocated the rooms was mostly drunk and sadly, nothing can be done about this mistake until tomorrow.’

She froze, unable to believe these words.

“So I am to live with him?” She growled when she finally founded her voice. 

“I'm very sorry miss but you will try not to kill him.”

“Isn't someone supposed to be apologizing to me too?”

The warden turned around with an irritated growl.

“This isn't an opportunity for you to try to do anything stupid. Stay on the floor while miss Liora stay on the bed. And if you do anything stupid, consider yourself dead.”

The warden slammed the door.

Liora turned to Alex, her face flushing with rage. "This is your fault! You bribed him! You did this!"

"Yeah, sure," Alex sighed, walking to the corner of the room and sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. "I’m so rich and powerful that I bribed the warden to let me sleep on the cold floor while a screaming noblewoman occupies my bed. My plan is working perfectly."

"You stay on that side of the room," Liora snapped, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around herself like armor. "If you even breathe in my direction, I’ll have your hands cut off."

"Keep talking and I'll let my dog eat your boots," Alex shot back.

Liora refused to sleep. She sat upright on the bed, her hand clutching her dagger, staring at Alex as if he were a poisonous snake. Alex, however, didn't care. He closed his eyes and let the Shadow Stalker curl around him, the cool energy of the beast keeping the dampness of the room at bay. He had bigger problems than a delusional girl.

When the first light of dawn finally bled through the cracks in the shutters, the door clicked open. The wards had reset.

Liora didn't say a word. She stood up, smoothed her dress with a practiced grace, and walked out of the room without looking back after refreshing up and forcing Alex to wait outside through the whole process.

Alex stretched his stiff neck, grabbed his bag, and followed a few minutes later. He had to get to the grouping arena for the morning assembly.

As Alex stepped into the massive stone arena, he noticed the atmosphere was different. Thousands of students were gathered, but a huge circle had formed near the center. In the middle of it stood Liora, looking like a goddess, talking to a group of Greduant ambassadors.

The whispers started the moment Alex was spotted coming from the direction of the intern dorms, the same path Liora had just walked.

"Is that him? The scholarship trash?"

"He came out of the same block as the Greduant Princess?"

"No way. He actually managed to trap her in his room overnight?"

The rumors were already flying, growing more distorted with every second. Alex ignored them, heading toward his designated spot, but a tall, broad-shouldered figure stepped into his path and he could feel the faint breathe of hostility.

He looked up and his gaze crossed path with that of Chris.

He looked different than he had yesterday. His face was a mask of cold, suppressed jealousy. He wasn't just arrogant now; he looked like he wanted to erase Alex from existence. Behind him stood a few of his lackeys, and further back, Julian was sitting on a bench, his jaw heavily bandaged and his eyes full of terror.

"You've been busy, haven't you, Alex?" Chris said, his voice low and vibrating with menace.

Alex stopped. "I'm a busy guy, Chris. Shoveling filth and dealing with idiots takes up a lot of time."

Chris glared at him, his hand twitching near the hilt of his sword. "You embarrassed one of my team members. Julian is a mess. His beast won't even look at a flame anymore, let alone fight. My sources tell me you used some kind of dark, illegal arts to shrink his lion’s spirit."

“Is that how lowly you've dropped?” He sneered.