The Seductive Pretty Boy of the Matriarchal World-Chapter 45: Gentleness

The words had barely left Elias Kane’s lips when his pupils contracted on instinct. Serena Blackwood’s hand shot forward so fast his mind registered the danger a fraction of a second too late. Her fingers locked around his throat with zero restraint, crushing the air from his windpipe in an instant.

His body simply couldn’t keep up. Every muscle that might have fought back went slack under the sudden, merciless pressure. He could only force his eyes upward, meeting hers through the rapidly narrowing tunnel of his vision. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Serena’s eyes had already been shot through with red from sleepless rage; now they flooded darker, the whites and irises alike stained with a faint, terrifying crimson that radiated pure, ice-cold menace.

"Do you know what I do with things that have been used by someone else?" Serena asked, her voice deceptively even, the surface perfectly still while a tidal wave of fury churned beneath.

She spaced each syllable out like a verdict. "I throw them away."

Paired with the way she looked right now—bloodshot eyes, trembling frame, the quiet promise of violence—it was impossible not to hear the unspoken threat that she intended to dispose of Elias the exact same way.

Even System Theta, which almost never interrupted during active fieldwork, broke its own protocol. [Host...]

This version of Serena Blackwood was genuinely terrifying. Was the host actually about to be strangled to death right here in the presidential suite?

Elias didn’t waste energy answering the system. Head wrenched back by her grip, he looked up at her through slitted eyes and managed the faintest, almost amused laugh. "What else is there to ask... You already decided on your own answer anyway..."

Even if he swore he hadn’t slept with Giselle Frost, Serena would simply assume he was lying. With her personality, the moment suspicion took root it hardened into unshakeable truth. Doubt, once born, became fact.

Elias’s pale, refined face flushed a visible, deepening crimson from the lack of oxygen. A thin veil of moisture gathered in his eyes, turning to tears that slipped silently from the corners without a single sob.

But Serena knew these weren’t genuine tears of fear or surrender—just a physiological reaction. Even on the edge of unconsciousness, the boy’s expression stayed stubbornly defiant, as if death itself couldn’t force him to bow.

In that precise moment Serena finally admitted the truth to herself: no amount of brute force would ever break Elias Kane. Threatening his parents might extract temporary obedience, but his heart had never once truly yielded.

He was... an unbreakable bone.

Serena released him as suddenly as she had seized him. Without support, Elias’s body crumpled. He nearly collapsed to his knees, stumbling forward in a desperate, off-balance stagger before catching himself against the edge of the marble coffee table on legs that still refused to cooperate.

One hand flew to his bruised throat as violent coughs tore through him. The other pressed hard against his temple, fighting the spinning dizziness caused by oxygen deprivation. Long, agonizing seconds passed before the room stopped tilting.

Then Elias lowered his gaze to the palm that had been covering his neck. Fresh smears of blood glistened across it. She had actually drawn blood?

Yet the pain in his throat wasn’t nearly as sharp as it should have been...

His eyes drifted to Serena’s bandaged hands. The right one—the one that had choked him—now showed a fresh bloom of red seeping through the pristine white gauze. It was her blood, not his.

Serena followed his stare and realized the same thing. She felt the sharp, tearing sting in her palm; the scab from the night before had split open again under the force of her own grip.

She hadn’t slept at all. She had sat here pretending calm while the rage simmered like acid in her chest, unspent. Now the sudden surge of blood to her head brought a blinding spike of pain lancing through her skull.

Serena sucked in a sharp breath, staggering backward until she dropped heavily onto the wide leather sofa.

Elias thought, almost detached: What the hell? It almost looked like I was the one who choked her.

He was certain he possessed no rebound skill, and even if he did, it would probably have flooded Serena with intense pleasure instead of pain.

"You..."

Elias watched the woman sitting there in silence, head bowed, and actually wondered for a split second if she was about to pass out. He was on the verge of asking whether she was all right when she lifted her head and spoke in a faint, exhausted voice. "Take off your clothes."

Elias: "..."

Hearing that weakened tone, this was the first time he felt anything resembling genuine concern for one of these women.

Was she even in any condition to go through with this? Would she literally die on top of him?

When Elias remained motionless, Serena forced a thread of steel back into her voice. "Hurry up and strip."

Elias let out a silent breath of relief. That was more like the Serena he knew. He began undressing without another word—shirt, pants, underwear... even the thin white socks on his feet. He tossed them carelessly onto the polished marble floor and stood straight before her, completely bare.

His skin glowed like polished jade in the soft suite lighting, so pale and flawless that every mark showed in vivid contrast. The faint bruises and fingerprints Serena had left on him days earlier were still visible, like possessive signatures that refused to fade.

Yet his expression showed nothing—no pleasure, no resentment, no shame. Only calm, clinical detachment.

To him, sleeping with Serena Blackwood was simply another item on the task list. The faster it was completed, the better.

Any other emotion was unnecessary overhead.

Having read every single thought in his mind as clearly as if it were printed on his skin, Serena’s brows drew together for the briefest instant before smoothing out again.

She noticed the small adhesive bandage on the back of his hand, stained the same soft pink as her own wrappings—the unmistakable mark of an IV drip.

Softly, almost tenderly, she asked, "You went to get an injection?"

Elias blinked, genuinely caught off guard. He had heard Serena use gentle tones with him before, but those had always been part of her public mask. This one carried an unexpected thread of something real, as if she actually cared about his well-being.

He pressed his lips together, silent for a long moment, then answered quietly. "Mm."

"Come here." Serena beckoned with one bandaged hand.

Elias approached without much hesitation.

When he was close enough, Serena reached out and pulled him into her arms, guiding him to settle on her lap like a child who needed comfort. She cradled him against her chest, one hand gently stroking his back, and murmured near his ear, "Don’t catch another cold on top of this."

Elias, still completely naked from her earlier command: What kind of logic is this?

At the same time, the sudden tenderness raised goosebumps all over his skin, a visceral reaction he couldn’t quite suppress.

He knew from long experience that in the worlds he visited, the plot often diverged wildly from the original by the end, but the core personalities of these women only shifted in tiny, incremental ways. They never fundamentally changed.

Meaning a domineering CEO like Serena Blackwood would only ever show gentleness as a calculated performance. She was incapable of genuine concern like this.

Anything could be faked, but the system panel tracking Serena’s favorability toward him made it crystal clear: she felt nothing resembling affection. Only the burning, possessive desire to conquer and own his heart completely.

Therefore, this abrupt softness was one hundred percent another calculated move toward that exact goal.

She had discovered that force didn’t work on him, so now she was trying the gentle route.

Not a completely brainless pivot.

Elias bit his lower lip lightly, arranging his features into an expression of slight discomfort with this unexpected sincerity. He raised both hands and pressed them gently against her chest, voice low and hesitant. "What are you doing? I’m telling you right now—you can’t fool me..."