❝I respectfully decline, alphas. ❞
꧁━━━━━━༺༻━━━━━━꧂
➽ 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌 you're a maid, trying to live your life in peace, but you end up catching the attention of the notorious alphas.
ᴊᴊᴋᴠᴀʀɪᴏᴜsﾒғᴇᴍ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ
↝ ℜ𝔶𝔬𝔪𝔢�...
You spent the whole morning trying to avoid anything and everything.
Uraume woke you up, their pale hands tugging the thick curtains open, letting in a dull, overcast light. You blinked against it, your body sluggish as you sat up. You weren't sure if it was exhaustion or just the weight of existing in this place.
"You should get up," they said, voice as cool and impassive as always.
A dull throb pressed behind your eyes. You wanted to sink back under the covers, pull them over your head, and pretend none of this was real. But you knew that wouldn't get you anywhere.
With a sigh, you forced yourself to move. The sheets slid off your legs as you swung them over the edge of the bed, your feet barely making a sound against the cold stone floor.
Uraume watched as you got dressed, their gaze unreadable, arms tucked into the sleeves of their robe. Their presence was suffocating in its stillness, their silence pressing in on you as you ran a comb through your hair.
"You could explore the castle," they finally said, their voice void of emotion.
You scoffed, setting the comb down with a little more force than necessary. "And risk bumping into one of those animals? I don't think so."
Uraume didn't react, but something in their expression shifted—something you couldn't quite place. Their mouth pressed into a thin line, their eyes lingering on you for a moment too long before they exhaled through their nose and turned toward the door.
"Suit yourself."
And then they were gone, leaving you alone with your thoughts.
Even now, with no one in sight, something prickled at the back of your neck, like an unseen gaze crawling over your skin.
It didn't matter that this place was vast, larger than anything you'd ever imagined—because no matter where you went, they were there.
You weren't going to just sit here and stew in it.
So, you walked.
The castle was a maze of endless corridors, long and winding, the ceilings high and grand. Dark wooden beams stretched above you, and along the walls, thick velvet curtains hung heavy beside the arched windows, letting in slivers of gray daylight.
The air was laced with the faint scent of incense, clove and sandalwood clinging to your senses. The only sound was the muffled echo of your own footsteps against the stone floor, swallowed by the thick silence of the castle.
No one stopped you.
Then you found it. A door, different from the others.
It was large, thick with age, the carvings along the wood intricate and brutal—wolves with bared fangs, long claws curling around iron chains. A warning in itself.
