LANCE slowly opened his eyes. He was sitting on a chair, the familiar dining room of his mansion in front of him. Feeling the stinging pain at the back of his neck, he suddenly remembered what happened before he lost consciousness. Someone attacked him!
At that realization, he tried to stand up but he was immediately pulled back down to the chair. He then only noticed that his hands were tied at the back of the chair.
“Shit- what is this?” he couldn’t help but exclaimed.
“Oh, you’re awake. Good.”
Hearing that voice, Lance’s head turned to the direction it came from. There, sitting at the bar stool was a man. He was wearing all black. The cap on his head covered his hair and half of his face. He also had a mask that was slightly lowered because of the spoon on his mouth. But most importantly, he was holding onto a tumbler of ice cream.
In this situation, one would think that the other was a dangerous person. But because of him, hugging that ice cream tumbler, it just looked comical in a way. But Lance couldn’t laugh. Especially when he could still feel the sting on the back of his neck.
“Ah, sorry, if I helped myself to your ice cream,” the man said. “I have a habit of eating sweets when I’m stressed out, you see.”
The other put down the tumbler, as well as the spoon, on the bar counter. Then, he pulled out the mask to cover up his mouth and nose. Now, Lance couldn’t see even one feature of the other clearly.
He narrowed his eyes at the man. He wondered what the other wanted with him. There were a lot of answers that entered his mind. Like if the other was a thief or maybe a psychopathic murderer. But the most believable to him right now was this.
“Are you a stalker?”
Yes, Lance believed that the man must be a deranged fan. He could no longer control his admiration for him and that’s why he sneaked into this house and tied him up like this.
Hildred felt the corner of his eyes twitched because of that dumb question. He suddenly had an urge to pick up the spoon on the bar counter and throw it at the other.
“From now on, don’t speak unless I ask you a question. Or else, I’ll ruin that pretty face of yours, okay?”
Lance stiffened at the blatant threat. Because the way the other said it with such a cheerful tone, as if he was just telling him the most interesting thing in the world, made it even scarier. Because it showed just how crazy the other was.
“Good. It looks like you understand,” the man said with a clap. He stood up and walked in front of Lance. “Now, shall we start?”
Lance felt the same chill he felt earlier. He suddenly realized that the reason why he felt that ‘chill’ might be because his subconscious was warning him of this crazy guy. He swallowed nervously. For the first time in his life, he started to pray. Hoping that whatever the end of this situation was, he wouldn’t actually lose his life.
“First, let me ask if you, why didn’t you register your ability?”
Lance showed a confused expression. He understood the question. But it felt like something completely unrelated to him. “I- I don’t have any ability.”
The man didn’t answer and just stared at him. Lance became even more nervous. But if this was all about him having some sort of ‘ability’, then wouldn’t he be able to solve this misunderstanding quickly?
“I have both level A physique and mental strength. The probability of me having an ability is very low,” he quickly added. “I think you mistook me for someone else.”
“If your name is Lance Reid, then no, I’m not mistaking you for anyone else,” Hildred said in a dry tone.
“But I don’t really have an ability!”
Hildred stared at the other. Lance had a frustrated and almost desperate expression on his face. He tilted his head. The other seemed to not really know that he had an ability. Hildred had read the short report that Lele made about this guy. Based on that, he could also tell that Lance had that rare pheromone ability. But if the other didn’t know about that, then that meant that he’s using his ability unconsciously.
Could that be possible though? Well, Wulf did mention that if Lance didn’t know about his ability, then he should just treat the other as a fool.
Hildred sighed.
“From here on out, I will give you a thorough lesson about your ‘ability’. So, listen carefully. Hmm?”
Lance suddenly had a feeling that if he said ‘no’, he would be beaten right there and then. Although he still didn’t believe what this guy said about him having an ability, he understood that he wasn’t really in the position to do anything but agree to whatever this guy wanted.
He could only nod at the end.
“Good. Now, where shall we start?” Hildred wondered. He’s not really good at explaining. No, rather, he didn’t have the patience for it. So, he simply went straight to the point. “You have a pheromone related ability. To make it simple, your body releases a certain smell that makes other people fall for you. It’s the reason why you’ve been very successful in your little sexcapades for the past years. In short, since you don’t know that you possessed such an ability, you unknowingly seduced all these people against their will.”
Lance heard what the other said, he also understood each and every meaning. But somehow, his brain simply couldn’t register it. He had a pheromone ability? The people he had a relationship with only agreed to be with him because of this so-called pheromone? For someone with a huge self-esteem as him, it was something hard to believe.
So, he could only stare blankly at the man in front of him.