The Beta’s Regret

Chapter 80

I froze in my tracks, my heart pounding in my chest. I had assumed Eros hadn’t noticed my presence, but his voice broke

that illusion.

Slowly, I turned around. my eyes meeting his intense gaze.

Eros’s expression was stern, but there was a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. My mind raced, desperately searching for something to say, a plausible reason for my presence in his office, I opened my mouth to speak, but no words escaped.

I gulped when I heard the voice of King Eros. My heart began to beat so fast that it was galloping at the speed of a thousand horses,

I feared it would fall out of my mouth at this rate.

Slowly, very slowly, I turned around to see Eros looking at me.

He still had the marker in his hand and gave me a small smile before returning his attention to his file.

“Come here.” He said and went back to sit on his chair, the file in his hand.

I gulped nervously as I slowly made my way towards him. I reluctantly approached Eros’s desk, my eyes darting nervously around the room.

As I reached his side, he motioned for me to take a seat in the chair opposite him.

He pushed the chair in my direction without looking up and highlighted something with his marker.

“Are you going to speak at all?” He asked without looking at me. Isank into the plush chair and hoped that it would just swallow me whole.

“I.. I am sorry.. I muttered weakly. He flipped the page, took a pen, and scribbled something on the paper. Eros did not say anything and kept reading intently for the next five minutes that felt like an eternity to me.

There were a few files scattered along the table and a huge map of the kingdom strewn across the length of the desk

There were a few stains of teacups, showing that he had been really working hard on it, and a few pins that marked certain important spots.

“Do you not know that it is a bad habit to eavesdrop on someone” Eros asked as he pulled the cap off a pen with his mouth and threw it on the table as he took another pen to write something.

I thought of what to answer and could not come up with an answer. Luckily, I was spared from answering him when there was a knock on the door.

The servant I had met on my way to Eros’s office had returned with another round of tea.

“Yeah, come in. Eros muttered as he began pacing through the room while reading the file.

He flipped a few more pages and was done with the file as he tossed it on the table and picked another one

The file had landed on the edge of the table and it was going to fill down, so I stopped its fall. A few loose pages came out of the file, which I began pleking up

As I collected all the papers and put them in a stack, Eros’s voice reached me.

But it was not directed at me. “Eden will prepare the tea. You can leave.

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Chapter 80

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servant who had just poured black tea into the cup and reached for the sugar. He didn’t

work and it did not look like last night had affected him in any

day and was still reading the files instead of lunging at me the second I

would do upon seeing me again. Either that, or

he did neither, and that was

promptly left, glad to not

the tray. Placing the papers I had collected on the table,

“Sugar?”

I put

I asked, and he only grunted again. I took the cue and poured the milk while reaching for a spoon

the only noise in the big office. I would have argued with him that I am not his maid to serve him tea/coffee, but he had found me eavesdropping on him

moment.

was under his protection. I meekly handed him the cup, which he

face for a change in expression, but there wasn’t any. He only placed the saucer again, but I had been looking elsewhere, so

tea fell on the table, spilling it all over the files

cursed as I let out a startled cry and hastily pulled some tissues

had stained and the marker ink was spreading through the white pages,

weird

busy tidying the desk and

mumbled, “I am sorry, I

of me, My hair was askew as I tried

me was firm.

his and I quickly looked down, not

cried, but he simply plucked me away from the table and pushed me

the chair and my body had not even gotten time to react to his touch before he had dropped ine again, letting go of

still, Eros ordered, and I gulped nervously. When he saw that I was not moving, he went to the cupboard

before king off the lid, I peered intently and realized it was

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Chapter 80

aid box.

going to

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placed the box beside me and squatted down. Without saying a word, he took my hand in

doing before he wiped away some of the dried bits off my hand and I saw redness spreading through

the tea in my hands. He

his face, covering it partially. He was being so tender; it was heartwarming to

to me, and he was not even the least

another plaything for him

swallowed it. The silence was too much to bear and seeing him not yell at me

done with it so I

to the papers that were lying all over the place, the ink of

am sorry, I

on my arms and I tried not

mine, and he could squash it in an instant if

he got up from the floor and went back to his

burned hand with another as he

answer me. He

“Hmm?”