Chapter 209: I Am Dying
"You didn’t know?!" Jannah spat back, her chest heaving violently under the towel. "This is MY room! What the hell are you doing in here anyway?! Get out!"
Dorrent took two slow steps into the space, the crushing weight of his presence filling the room.
"I am here to clarify everything for you, Jannah," Dorrent said, his voice dropping into a quiet, serious frequency. "I told you in the car that I wouldn’t hide anything from you again. If you have any questions... any questions at all about anything, about your lineage, or about Bellero... ask me. I am willing to answer every single one of them with honesty."
Jannah let out a harsh, bitter scoff, her knuckles turning white as she pulled the towel tighter over her collarbone. She turned her face away from his intense gaze, her lips twisting into a sneer.
"I don’t have any questions for you!" Jannah snapped sharply. "I don’t want to hear a single word coming out of your mouth! Just turn around and leave!"
Dorrent frowned slightly, taking another step forward until he was standing just a few feet from her bed. "Don’t be so damn stubborn, little physician," he purred low in his throat, his tone carrying a firm patience. "I know for a fact that your mind is spinning right now. You have a thousand questions burning inside your mind, and I am giving you a direct, open chance to clarify everything with me."
"And why the hell should I ask YOU?!" Jannah shrieked back, her eyes flashing with mistrust as she glared into his handsome face. "I don’t trust you, Dorrent! I don’t trust a single breath you draw! I would rather die with curiosity than ask you a single thing! I will do my own research, find my own evidence, and figure out the truth myself! I don’t need you filling my ears with your calculated lies!"
Dorrent stood perfectly still, looking at her sharp, defiant posture. A subtle, wicked glint touched his silver eyes.
Without saying a word, he slowly unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. He began to deliberately release his S-tier winter-frost pheromones into the sealed bedroom. The heavy, freezing pressure exploded outward in a slow, invisible wave, instantly saturating the air, targeting her.
The biological reaction was immediate.
Jannah’s breath caught sharply in her throat. A sudden, traitorous wave of heat pooled within her abdomen, her internal walls giving a throb beneath the towel as her core recognized his frequency. Her cheeks flushed bright crimson, her knees suddenly feeling dangerously weak.
She knew exactly where this was heading. She knew how his perverted mind operated—he was going to use her body’s natural arousal to break her stubborn pride once again.
"Stop it!" Jannah gasped out, her hands shaking as she held onto the bedpost for support, her eyes wide with indignation. "Stop releasing those disgusting pheromones! Stop being so damn manipulative with my body, Dorrent! Why... why are you forcing this?! Why do you insist so badly on me asking you questions?!"
Dorrent didn’t stop the subtle flow of his scent, but he took one final step, halting mere inches from her shivering frame. He looked down into her flushed face, his expression carrying an arrogant calmness.
"I am just trying to be a good partner, Jannah," Dorrent murmured, his baritone dripping with a teasing confidence. "A good, devoted partner who listens to his fiancée and clears her doubts."
"A partner?!" Jannah yelled, her face burning like fire as her pride flared back up to fight the creeping heat in her veins. "You are an unhinged, perverted tyrant!"
She took a sharp, uneven breath, realizing she couldn’t escape his overwhelming presence unless she gave him what he wanted. She gritted her teeth so hard her jaw ached, glaring up into his eyes with venom.
"FINE!" Jannah shouted, her voice breaking with intense frustration. "Fine! You want me to ask questions?! I will ask them! But you better reply to every single one of them with absolute honesty, without spinning your lies!"
"Ask," Dorrent delivered flatly, his chest expanding as he waited for her to bring up her parents, the black cycle, or Bellero’s accusations.
Jannah tilted her chin up, her eyes burning into his with a strange, sudden, and unsettling intensity.
"What would you do..." Jannah whispered, her voice suddenly dropping its screaming edge, turning cold, "...if I died?"
Dorrent went completely rigid.
The teasing smirk on his handsome face vanished in a fraction of a second. His eyes narrowed into freezing slits, his entire posture turning into stone as her words registered in his mind.
"Do not utter such nonsense, Jannah," Dorrent growled out, his voice dropping into a dark, menacing register that made the air in the room turn instantly cold.
"Answer me!" Jannah yelled back, refusing to back down, her eyes wide and unblinking. "Didn’t you just say you wanted me to ask questions?! Didn’t you say you would answer honestly?! Answer the question, Alpha!"
Dorrent’s jaw locked tight, a sharp vein pulsing against his temple as he glared down at her pale, defiant face. "Why the hell are you asking such an absurd, ridiculous question?" he demanded, his voice rough and laced with a sudden, hidden edge of anger.
"Don’t you dare ask me questions back!" Jannah shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at his chest. "You are supposed to be the one replying! Answer me, Dorrent! What would you do if I died?!"
Dorrent took a step closer, his broad chest practically touching her shoulder.
"I won’t allow you to die," Dorrent delivered flatly. "You know damn well I will never let that happen. So stop talking about death."
Jannah let out a cold, sharp, and bitter laugh that sounded completely unhinged. She looked right into his eyes, her lips twisting into a smile.
"What if..." Jannah murmured softly, her voice carrying a mysterious weight, "...what if it’s from something you can’t help, Dorrent? What if it’s from something your wealth and your S-tier power can never fix?"
Dorrent’s chest heaved, a sudden, cold spike of panic piercing straight through him. He reached out, his hand clamping tightly around her shoulder, his grip almost bruising as he stared into her dark irises.
"Stop joking, Jannah," Dorrent growled out, his voice cracking slightly with an intense frustration. "It is not funny at all. Stop playing these sick psychological games with me."
Jannah didn’t flinch under his bruising grip. She looked straight into his eyes, her pale face completely calm, her voice dropping into a whisper that shattered the quiet of the room:
"I am not joking, Dorrent..." Jannah whispered, a tear slipping down her pale cheek. "...I am dying."