The Crown's Entrapment

As soon as their meeting with the king ended, Osman walked straight towards his chamber. Pulling out the hairpin he bought for Bella from his pocket, he stopped in his tracks just as he was in front of his door. Turning to face the door to Bella's bedchamber, he found himself wondering if she was still awake.

He stood there in silence, contemplating whether or not to knock on Bella's door. As much as possible, he didn't want to give Bella the undue pressure of having his presence hovering over her, but he also didn't want to hold himself back from showing her how serious he was with her.

"This is getting harder than I thought," he murmured with a sigh as he raised his hand to knock, only to put it down again before touching the door. "But I want her to have this hairpin…"

On top of that, he would be quite busy with the tournament along with his task together with Bartos regarding the patrol for the Dead Sea in the future. He wouldn't be able to see Bella in the next few days of the tournament because of it all, not until the contenders had finally clinched their spot in the final twelve.

After some time of contemplating and sighing, Osman finally gathered enough courage and knocked on Bella's door. Hesitantly, he knocked, partly hoping that she would answer.

"Who is it?" Bella asked from behind the door.

"It is I, Osman," he answered.

Just as quickly as he replied, the door swung open, and Bella came out of her bedchamber with a curious smile.

"Will you ask me out for coffee?" Bella excitedly asked.

Osman was caught off-guard by what she just asked him. Blinking, he couldn't help but wondered if she was just waiting for him to ask her out for coffee.

Paralyzed by thought, it took him a while to answer, giving Bella enough time to clue herself in on his intentions.

"I guess that's not the case," she pouted with a snort. "What is it then?"

Osman smiled at how she raised her eyebrows. "I wanted to give you this," he said as he handed her the hairpin. "I was in the market with your brother a while ago when I saw this. Seeing how it looks, I thought it'll look good on your raven hair." Osman explained while staring at Bella as she gingerly touched the hairpin.

Tilting her head to him, she flashed him a beautiful smile on her full pinkish-red lips. He couldn't help but fantasize about how those plum lips of hers would taste against his own lips. He felt like her smile alone was making him melt on the spot, and it took his all just to stop himself from letting his body do the talking.

"It's beautiful. Thank you for this Lord Osman," Bella smiled, raising her arm to arrange her hair up on the spot. Using the chopstick hairpin to secure a hair bun, she giggled. "I love how bright this red flower design is."

Osman gulped as he watched Bella reveal her flawless nape and the crook of her neck on him in slow motion. His fangs were threatening to elongate and sink themselves into her delicate skin.

He was already drooling like a mad dog as once again he started questioning himself if he could really bear Bella's rejection once she happened to have her own mate during the two years of waiting for the maximum time limit to feel the Mate Pull.

His pupils widened,… he inwardly cursed at the feeling of his greed building inside of him. The greed to have Bella for himself no matter what… He inhaled deeply, letting out a quiet exhale in an effort to calm himself.

"Does it look good?" Bella asked him, showing him her side profiles for him to judge.

"Looks perfect!" Osman almost cheered.

"This is my first time receiving a hairpin…" Bella commented. "Usually, I'd receive flowers from suitors, but I would always turn them down on the spot since I was waiting for another man."

"I guess I'm lucky then…" Osman lightly chuckled. "Hopefully, you won't turn me down just yet."

Bella had a pout as she mumbled, "I already turned you down last night…"

"You mean when you told me that you might still experience the Mate Pull with another man and that you still had two years to wait?" Osman chuckled.

Bella didn't comment further, and Osman took the opportunity to look into Bella's strong deep coal eyes. He had lived long enough for so many years to be able to read people based on their actions, mannerisms, and expressions, and dare he says that he was quite good at it.

Looking at her eyes like this, his lips stretched wide knowing how much she was being affected by his presence in a good way...

"I see… So you're assuming that I'll take those words as you turning me down? However, I interpreted it as you indirectly telling me to wait for you for two more years, so I plan to do just that, my little vixen," Osman lengthily remarked.

"I had thought that I already made myself clear that you don't need to worry about my own feelings. So again, just enjoy what we both have right now… Unless you're already annoyed by my presence?"

Her lack of answer made him ask, "Tell me honestly, Bella, are you getting annoyed with my presence?"

He knew the answer to his question already, but he still wanted to hear the words right from Bella's mouth. A while ago, her excitement on seeing him when she opened the door still vividly lingered inside his mind. Was he mistaken in his interpretations? He highly doubted it, but there was still a chance…

"Why would you annoy me?" Bella snorted. "It's not like you've been stalking me all day!"

"Hmm, how about some coffee together then?" Osman suggested with his sparkling eyes. "Or are you perhaps sleepy already, milady?"

Bella simply nodded, and Osman led the way to the nearest balcony available on the second floor of the castle where he and Bella could sit. There, he telepathically ordered his page boy to bring his things to them so that he could brew the roasted beans and prepare them before Bella himself.

"I heard you were a pirate before His Majesty turned you into a Lycan," Bella commented as she watched him prepare their coffee.

"Indeed, I am, and I was quite famous during those days; enough to have a hefty amount of bounty on my head…" Osman replied with a hint of pride.

"I would love to hear more about your adventures as a pirate then," Bella remarked, her eyes daring to and fro between him and the table. "But wait, how about your family?"

"I'm an orphan, Bella, a poor page boy who grew up inside a pirate ship serving its crews by doing different kinds of work on the ship," Osman explained.

"I honestly have no idea about my origins, but Captain Hans told me once that he found me as a baby inside a little boat hidden in the reeds on the banks of the Os River. There, he took me under his wing and named me after the river Os, just adding the word man since I'm a man."

Osman noticed how Bella's eyes seemed to swell at his story. Oh dear… The last thing he wanted to do was to make her cry because of an old sob story. As soon as his brewing finished, Osman quickly served coffee to her and humorously said, "Here's your coffee, milady. YOUR Osman at your service…"

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AN: Let's find out more about Osman around Volume 3 or 4 perhaps. *wink*