“Hmmm? What are you looking at?” Mikel chuckled, enjoying the woman’s sullen expression. 

“That one right there. Go climb it quickly. I am hungry.”

Damned jerk! Didn’t you just eat an entire boar?! Sylvia was tempted to give the guy a piece of her mind.

But she could only swallow her indignation and try to reason with him. 

“Your highness… This… There is no ladder. I…”

“I am not blind,” Mikel interjected and cut her reply short. “Use your legs.”

I am not dumb either! I know that’s what you meant! Sylvia wanted to scream.

She looked at him, pleading the man with her eyes but Mikel seemed to have no intentions of budging from his stance.

He casually sat there, leaning back, resting on his elbows and humming, acting as if he couldn’t possibly understand what was stopping her from carrying out his orders.

In front of his oblivious facade, Sylvia could only helplessly admit her defeat and clearly declared. “Your highness, I have no idea how to climb a tree.”

Hmmm? Mikel looked at her, his eyes silently observing her reactions. 

The man’s lips then curved slightly upwards as he muttered as a matter of fact. “Is that so? Then let me help you out.”

He sprang up suddenly to stand on his feet, walked closer to the tree, and leaned on the thick trunk.

“Come here.” He waved his hand, signaling Sylvia to walk over to him.

Sylvia gulped and followed his orders, inching closer to him, bit by bit, all the more confused by this recent development.

He is going to help me? Somehow she found it difficult to believe this statement!

She walked over hesitantly wondering what the man was up to now.

As she neared him, he brashly grabbed her, pulling her closer and sandwiching her in between the tree and himself.

Sylvia gulped, her heart racing from being in such close proximity to the man. 

His shirt’s top two buttons were undone, the chiseled chest underneath partly revealed.

The sight of his bare naked skin made Sylvia even more flustered as she tried to squirm out from under him.

“Stop it.” Mikel blocked her exit, by planting his other hand beside her as well.

“Climbing a tree should be a very easy task for a kitten like you.”

The intimate pet name touched a nerve and Sylvia glared back at him, angrily retorting.

“Your highness, that would be the case if I was an actual cat!”

Mikel grinned in amusement. “No, my dear. You can definitely do it.” He whispered in her ears, assuring her.

“Just think of me as a dangerous predator waiting to devour you and your only route of escape is by climbing this tree.”

He lifted his head back up from her side and leaned forward, his lips almost touching hers.

Sylvia blinked, dazed by the man’s unique scent and his ensnaring words. He had the talent to talk in circles and somehow trap her in the end.

Mikel drank the woman’s delicate expressions, not moving an inch from his advantageous position.

“What? Shall we start the role-playing?” He asked, his words tickling her and at the same time making the hair on her back stand up in alarm.

“Ah… I… I… Aha Ha Ha. I will manage it myself, your highness. I don’t want to trouble you.” 

She tried to backpedal as fast as she could and go back to the beginning when the only thing he wanted was for her to climb the damned tree.

Let’s just stick to the tree climbing and leave the role-playing for another time!

Before the man could rebuke her words, Sylvia hurriedly ducked her head down underneath his lean muscular barricades and slithered out from his grasp.

She then gave him a weak smile before turning her head and facing the tree which might as well be her mortal enemy right now.

Sylvia had absolutely no experience whatsoever in climbing trees. She had never climbed a tree in her life before. 

Young ladies were trained in etiquette and manners and not in climbing trees! 

Without any other options, she had talked a big talk but now, she had no idea how to accomplish the task staring down at her face.

She gritted her teeth and waited, her hands running over the tree trunk, trying to see if there was any spot where she could get a foothold.

“Pick up the pace, kitten. The tree is not going to bend over on its own and lift you up.” Mikel tutted. 

Sylvia looked at the man one last time besieging with her eyes but the man simply stared back at her, a warm smile dancing on his lips.

Ah! You devil! Sylvia cursed him and finally held the tree trunk. 

She prayed to the heavens above as she pushed herself with great effort, putting one leg up and then the other.

She clung her body close to the rough coarse trunk and held on to a rotten branch on the side, sticking like gum to the tree using every which way that she could.

Ah! I hate you, you damned devil! 

She cursed the man and his obnoxious chuckles that she could clearly hear ringing behind her back.