I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 273: Persuading a Noblewoman

XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, outside the gates of the royal palace.

“Did you really have to give me that information, Your Highness?” Dane could not help but slightly complain as he was not expecting the two to have that kind of relationship. In response, Vanadir lightly grinned as he snickered, replying, “Well, if you think about it, who wouldn’t be attracted to a beautiful woman? I just said that to deter you from making any advances on her.”

“What do you mean by that, Your Highness?” Dane asked as he felt that there was something more to the Ninth Prince’s words. “Does she have a fiance or something?”

“Nope, none at all,” Vanadir responded as he shook his head left to right. Listening to his answer, Dane could not help but think to himself, ‘If she doesn’t have a fiance, then why deter me from doing so?’

“Then, is there a special reason as to why you’re deterring me from doing so?” Dane asked after pondering over it for a bit, to which Vanadir responded with a light sigh, “All I can say is that if you get too close to her…”

“Expect yourself to turn into a puddle of blood the next day if you two engage in those kinds of things,” he added, making Dane shudder as he did not expect such a statement to come out of His Highness’ mouth.

Letting out a sigh of his own in response, he was now determined to only be cordial with Valentia since he did not want to end up as a puddle of blood one day. Thinking that it was not a good thing to continue on this train of thought, Dane went ahead and thought up of another topic as Vanadir asked him as to whether or not he still had more questions before departed.

After a few seconds or so, Dane eventually opened his mouth as he thought that her title was quite weird. He asked in a curious tone, “Now that I think about it, why is her title the ‘Healing Witch of the West’, Your Highness? Is it because her class has something to do with healing?”

“Pretty much,” Vanadir said nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders. “The ‘Healing’ part of her title was added just recently, to be honest.”

“Wanna know her original title?” he questioned Dane soon after, to which Dane lightly nodded after thinking that it was better to know more about his future team member.

Scratching his head for a bit as he recalled her previous title, Vanadir said, “If I remember correctly, her previous title was ‘Crimson Witch of the West’. The reason why she got that title was because she killed over a thousand people with a single strike. I forgot if it happened due to a small skirmish or due to a certain war.”

Hearing that his future team member had exemplary combat sense, Dane could not help but let out an inward sigh of relief as he thought that their current lineup was still biased towards the offensive side. Nevertheless, since this new team member of theirs also had healing capabilities, it was now part extreme offense and part endurance.

“Do you know what her class is, Your Highness?” Dane soon asked Vanadir, wanting to know her class so he could formulate strategies that would allow their skills and spells to synergize. Surprisingly, contrary to Vanadir’s openness to answering his questions all this time, the Ninth Prince only let out a light giggle as he said, “That’ll be a secret for now. Don’t want the other teams to know our members, right?”

“Ah…understandable,” Dane muttered as he thought over it for a bit, lightly nodding soon after. At this moment, he had no more questions to ask Vanadir regarding Valentia. With that, Dane asked the Ninth Prince if he was ready to depart, to which Vanadir hastily replied, “Ah, please wait for a bit. I still have something to ask you.”

“What is it, Your Highness?” Dane tilted his head, curious as to what His Highness was going to ask him. Taking in a deep breath, Vanadir went ahead and questioned him, “Before we make our way there, are you fine with following my every order?”

“Pardon?” Wondering if he had heard wrongly, Dane asked, prompting the Ninth Prince to repeat the question once more. After repeating it one more time after that, Dane could not help but ask Vanadir, “Is there a reason for this kind of request, Your Highness.”

“I’m asking for your consent, just in case,” the Ninth Prince replied succinctly. He soon added, “Also, the orders I’ll give you are all orders wherein you’ll benefit, so don’t worry that much.”

“If you put it that way, then…” Dane pondered over it a bit more, eventually nodding as he muttered, “I have no choice but to accept, no?”

“Glad to hear that.” Vanadir smiled in response before telling Dane that they should make their way towards the Arcenon household. Dane nodded as a response to the Ninth Prince’s words before going ahead and summoning all of the energy inside his body, forming a magic circle that soon enveloped the two.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, the two disappeared from the sights of the guards who were vigilantly guarding the gates. At this moment, they were now making their way to Telmerann Province, the place where the Arcenon family’s main household resided.

Other than being the province where one of the Seraph Kingdom’s noble families resided, there was nothing else that stood out from the province. At most, one would only be able to say that the Telmerann Province was a province that specialized in mass agriculture, employing mages and warriors to increase the province’s crop exports.

Whoosh!

Eventually, after twenty minutes or so, the two of them had finally at their destination, being a few dozen meters away from what seemed to be a manor spanning a kilometer in terms of length and width. Its front side was covered in tons of foliage while a few teenagers dressed in slightly lavish clothes could be seen frolicking around.

“Haah…haah…” In contrast to the peaceful scene in front of the manor, Dane was panting heavily as he felt that the energy in his body was close to being dry. Vanadir, who was beside him, could not help but look at Dane with a gaze of concern as he asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m…haah…fine…” Dane eked out a response amidst the immense amount of exhaustion he felt from using a huge chunk of his energy in bursts. Although he absorbed energy from a few high purity mana stones along the way, replenishing his mana to acceptable levels, he still could not help but feel like a few boulders were stacked on top of his body at the moment.

Mustering all of the energy that was circulating throughout his body at the moment, he channeled it towards the tip of his right pointing finger, opening up a rift barely big enough for a small stone of mana to drop on his palm. Without hesitation, Dane absorbed all of the mana in that stone, which turned into a pile of dust not long after. Using the mana he had absorbed, he went ahead and summoned more mana stones, eventually returning to his normal and healthy condition.

Noticing Dane’s now healthy complexion, Vanadir went ahead and asked one more time just in case, saying, “Are you alright now?”

“I’ve never been better,” Dane replied with a light chuckle as he took a few steps behind the Ninth Prince. After doing so, he then said, “Let us make our way to the manor, Your Highness.”

In response, Vanadir silently nodded as they headed towards the manor at a pace that was neither fast nor slow…to those who have ascended to their respective classes. In actuality, it only took them a few seconds to arrive at the area of the manor filled with foliage.

At the very moment they arrived, they were greeted with peculiar looks as the people who were in the grassy part of the manor did not recognize the two. In response, the two of them looked at each other for a bit before shrugging their shoulders, thinking that waiting it out would be the better option.

“May I ask what you two are doing here?” one of the guards of the Arcenon family, who was guarding the teenagers that were frolicking just a while ago, decided to come up to them and ask politely.

“Royal orders,” Vanadir lightly smiled as he responded before going ahead and exuding the aura of Seraph royalty. It was at this moment that everyone in the grassy part of the manor realized who they were looking at. In their minds, only one person would come to the Arcenon family under royal orders.

It was none other than the Ninth Prince, Vanadir Seraph!

Whoosh!

In an instant, the teenagers, as well as the guards, went ahead and kneeled on one knee as they greeted Vanadir with, “We welcome Your Highness to the Arcenon family household!”

“Ah, there’s no need to do that,” Vanadir said to them, feeling a bit embarrassed as he did not expect them to do such a thing. Nevertheless, the people continued to kneel on one of their knees, leaving the Ninth Prince with no choice but to let out a sigh. He then looked at Dane and asked, “Do you think this is enough for them to notice we’re here?”

“I think so, Your Highness,” Dane replied succinctly. Just as he was about to come up with more ideas as to how to attract the Arcenon family’s attention, a middle-aged man dressed in servant clothes hastily made their way towards the two, prompting Dane to say, “Ah. Someone’s coming.”

Whoosh!

After a couple of seconds, this middle-aged man appeared in front of the two, radiating an aura that seemed to say he was the paragon of subservience. With the man’s clothes complemented by his pitch-black hair, his light blue irises, and his amicable smile, one could not help but feel at ease as they looked at this man.

“It is nice to see you again, Prince Vanadir,” the middle-aged man said as a greeting to the Ninth Prince. In response, the Ninth Prince replied, “Indeed. It has been a long time since we’ve last met.”

“Uh…” Dane said all of a sudden, prompting the two to look at him. Noticing that he had obtained the attention of the two, he timidly asked, “I apologize for the intrusion but…might I ask who you are?”

“Quentin Arcenon, an 11th generation servant of the Arcenon family,” the middle-aged man, whose first name was Quentin, answered in a calm and unhurried manner, making Dane feel like he was listening to the soft breeze of the wind.

“Might I ask what brings Prince Vanadir and his companion to the Arcenon household?” Quentin looked at Vanadir soon after as he asked this question, to which Vanadir unhurriedly replied, “Is Valentia there? I want to meet up with her.”

“Ah.” Uttering a sound, Quentin instantly understood what Vanadir was trying to do. But since he was a servant, he did not have any authority to meddle in these matters as he replied, “Please follow me, kind sirs, to one of the meeting rooms in our household. After that, I will call for Lady Valentia to come to you two.”

With the two of them nodding in response, the two were then led towards the inside of the manor, allowing the teenagers and the guards in the grassy part of the manor to sigh with relief. Although they were curious as to why the prince was here to meet with one of them, they thought that it was better to not know.

Eventually, after crossing through a few corridors, the two were finally brought inside into a meeting room that was decorated simply. In the center of the room was a coffee table while two leather chairs could be seen on opposite sides. Facing those things was a large bay window, allowing those who conversed in this room to be basked in the warm sunlight as it was still early in the afternoon.

After Vanadir and Dane made themselves comfortable in the meeting room, sitting on the two unoccupied chairs, Quentin went towards the door as he said, “Now if you may excuse me, let me call Lady Valentia to come to you.”

“Ah, would you like me to bring back some drinks or snacks?” Quentin asked, to which Vanadir lightly smiled as he responded, “Some tea and cake, please.”

“As you wish, Your Highness.” After respectfully bowing to Vanadir, Quentin soon closed the door to the room, allowing Dane and Vanadir to be alone.

“Dane, I’d suggest you stand behind me before Valentia enters,” Vanadir said all of a sudden, prompting Dane to tilt his head in confusion. Before he could ask the reason why, the Ninth Prince went ahead and explained why, saying, “Although she has great combat power and healing skills, her personality is on…the eccentric side, to say the least.”

“I see…” Dane said, slightly understanding as he went ahead and stood up from the chair, standing on the left side of Vanadir’s seat as they went ahead and conversed about what happened in their lives to pass the time. Eventually, the door to the room was opened, prompting the two to look at the person who came.

What greeted them was a woman in her late 20s, wearing a light blue dress that accentuated the nice curves of her body. Complementing such a body was jet-black hair that reached up to her waist while her irises were as blue as the oceans. If one looked closely, one would even see a hint of crimson red on the tips of her hair.

“Well, if it isn’t Vanadir!” the woman shouted all of a sudden as she let out a raucous laugh. She then made her way towards Vanadir before hugging him, shocking Dane, who was looking at all of this happening. After a few seconds, the woman released her grip on Vanadir, sitting down on the unoccupied chair. While that was happening, Quentin, who was behind the woman all this time, went ahead and placed the cake and tea Vanadir requested on the coffee table in the middle.

After that, Quentin respectfully bowed to the two before making his leave, leaving the woman, as well as the two, to their own devices.

“Long time no see, Valentia,” Vanadir said with a smile on his face. He then asked her, “Did you really have to hug me that tightly in front of Quentin?”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve last met, you know? How could I not hug you?” Valentia responded with a giggle as she poured herself a cup of tea. In the next instant, the contents in the cup she poured was downed in one gulp as she went ahead and helped herself to some cake afterward.

Looking at this, Dane could not help but think that his image of Valentia was slightly shattered by her current actions. To him, her current actions felt unreserved, as if he was looking at a somewhat boorish man around his age wolfing down some cake and tea.

“So? What made you come here? Is it because of my return from a trip?” Valentia soon asked Vanadir as she was finished eating a slice of cake. Shaking his head in response, Vanadir responded, “You know how it is. The war for the throne is coming up and well…”

“Ah.” The Ninth Prince did not even need to finish his sentence for Valentia to understand why he came here. She then pondered over the matter for a bit before looking around the surroundings. It did not take long for her eyes to fixate on Dane, radiating a faint aura of seduction in the process.

While Dane felt a bit uncomfortable from the gaze, Valentia looked back at Vanadir and chuckled as she said, “I see you came prepared. You really know how I operate, huh.”

“A prince should always look exemplary at all times,” Vanadir responded as he chuckled as well. Soon after, Valentia stood up from her seat, making her way towards Dane before looking at him from head to toe. As a light red soon became apparent on her face while her breathing became slightly coarse, she asked Vanadir, “Mind if I do that for a bit?”

“I can give you one hour,” Vanadir instantly responded while Dane became more confused as to what was currently happening. While he felt the force of multiple beasts pulling on his arm while the door to the meeting room was closed shut, the only sound that came out of his mouth before that was, “Eh?”

Bang!

With Vanadir alone in the room, he went ahead and poured himself a cup of tea while faint sounds of voices could be heard outside the room.

“You do know what you’re doing, right?”

“Haah…do I really have to?”

“He did tell me that I have one hour to have my way with you so…”

“Haah…fine.”

“…”

“Yes! That’s the spot! More! Give me more!”

“Put a bit more force into it! I want to feel your touch!”

“A bit deeper…a bit harder…yes! That’s it!”

“Ahh…good tea,” Vanadir said as he sipped on his tea, passively listening to the faint sounds that resounded.

——–

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