The Cursed King

The naked man rolled his eyes when he heard his friend's words. 

"It's not my fault. They just love waging war." He closed his eyes and smelled the air. "By the way… the wind is not natural. There is no way someone's laundry can fly this high. We are 300 meters above the ground!"

He turned to the right and narrowed his eyes. "This is not your doing, is it?"

"Nah…. I am not that free to play games with you. I am busy," said the other man from inside the penthouse. "I am getting ready for important work tomorrow."

The naked man clicked his tongue in displeasure. He waved his hand and casually tossed the bloodied suit into the air. Then, out of nowhere, lightning came and struck the suit.

SWOOSH!!

The lightning burned the suit in the air and then it disappeared, leaving behind only a bit of ash particles. After making sure he had got rid of the stinking smell of  blood, the naked man felt happy again.

He went back to his sun chair and lay down in a relaxed manner. He closed his blue eyes and enjoyed basking in the moonlight.

Ahhh.. it felt so good and peaceful.

The man had messy white hair that went down to his shoulder, light blue eyes, tall and buffed body, with perfectly sculpted muscles in all the right places. Anyone would agree to call him handsome.

He was often pissed because humans never got his appearance right when they made his statues or paintings. However, as he said just now, he had retired centuries ago. He no longer easily angered by small things such as those. He was now a man of peace.

Moonbathing helped a lot in dissipating aggression. He wished more people would do this.

"The wind didn't feel natural," he muttered as he tried to enjoy his relaxation. "I wonder if there is another god roaming around this city."

TICK

TICK

He opened his eyes and looked to the sky. Dammit. It looked like it was going to rain.

*** 

Loriel arrived back at his penthouse and immediately changed. He took off his clothes and threw them into the trash. Then he entered his bathroom naked and took a hot shower. He was very annoyed by what happened tonight.

He could have enjoyed a lovely dinner with his wife, but those two pests dared to ruin the occasion. Beating up Julian in their hotel room was not enough punishment for them.

Loriel clenched his fist and punched the bathroom wall to vent his anger. He had never been this angry in ten centuries.

Hmm... maybe after Julian had recovered from his injuries, Loriel could come to him again and teach him another lesson.

Then, he would take care of their whole family.

Yeah... that's what he should do.

*** 

"Good morning, Elise! I couldn't sleep last night," Loriel waved at Elise when he saw the girl enter the dining room for breakfast. "So, I cooked."

Elise batted her eyes in surprise. "You cooked?"

"Yeah, I love cooking when I am stressed or bored. I think you know it by now."

Elise pressed her lips sympathetically. "Oh, no… What made you stressed?"

Loriel quickly waved his hands and chuckled. "No.. I was not stressed. I was bored."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, I was feeling bored. So, I tried a new recipe. You can bring the food to the office for lunch. Let's not waste it."

Elise remembered that Marc was so happy when she said she would bring extra food for him. Ah, maybe she should just take Loriel's food and give some to that guy.

"All right. I will bring some. Thank you." She sat down at the dining table put her bag on the chair next to her. "What time did you return from your jogging?"

"Around ten PM," said Loriel. He poured tea for them and clapped. A robot came and started serving breakfast for them. "I had a good exercise."

"I am glad to hear that. "

They ate breakfast and talked about their plans for that day. Loriel would meet his wealth manager again (which was, of course, a lie) and Elise would go to her baking class after office hours.

"I am so excited. I will learn to make muffins today," Elise gushed. "I will make delicious pastries and sell them to make extra money once my skills are good enough."

"You want to sell pastries for money?" Loriel didn't expect this. He thought Elise was just interested in baking. He didn't know she was learning so she could make extra money.

"Yeah. I mean… everyone loves a good muffin and cupcake," she shrugged. "Why not learn to make them and earn extra money?"

"Oh… don't you make enough with your current job?" Loriel asked.

"No. My salary is meager. I want to make more," said Elise. "I heard that modeling pays a lot, but I don't have any contact in the industry to enter."

"What? No, no... don't go into modelling. The industry is shady and there are many sexual predators there," Loriel quickly waved his hand worriedly. "You better sell muffins."

He knew it would be very easy for Elise to be a model. She was the most beautiful woman on this planet. She just needed to say the word, put her picture online, and express her desire to be discovered. 

Photographers would flock to her and designers would worship her. Loriel couldn't let it happen.

"Really? Oh.. that's horrible."

"Yeah, and the pay is not even good. Many models only get 'exposure' for payment,  or clothes from designers. They may look glamorous from the outside, but in reality, they are struggling to get by," Loriel added. "You are better off making cupcakes and sell them."

"I see…" Elise finally shrugged again. "So, I think it will be better if I just make pastries and sell them. I can sell them in the office. I can also take orders for special occasions."

"Yeah.. good idea," said Loriel. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling relieved.