Aethernea Episode 87 – Put it on my tab

Episode 87 – Put it on my tab

Previously:

Elaru picks up Kiel’s ring and the two of them go to Black Pearl restaurant where she intends to give him the ring and explain its usage. Unfortunately, as they enter the lobby of the restaurant, they run into Rhur Rroda – Kiel’s older brother, and his date. Kiel and Rhur engage in a word battle.

Rhur’s eyes narrowed. “So, you two are an item after all? I assume you haven’t yet told grandfather about it?”

Kiel stared at Rhur, deliberating how to respond. On the one hand, Elaru and him weren’t romantically involved, so he should dispel the confusion and just be honest about it. Especially because his grandfather would throw a fit and make their lives difficult if he thought them to be together. Elaru was definitely not the kind of a girlfriend he would approve of.

Not to mention that if people got the wrong idea, this would impact his social and school life in the future.

On the other hand, denying their relationship was exactly what Rhur wanted to hear. Admitting it would be like giving him permission to court Elaru.

In the end, Kiel gritted his teeth and responded: “You misunderstood, older brother. Elaru and I are just good friends.”

Rhur’s smirk turned into a grin upon hearing those words. “I see… does that mean that Lady Wayvin is single?” Rhur winked charmingly.

Elaru blinked a few times blankly. “I suppose.”

“How rare. Such a beautiful and talented young lady, yet single. Men of this world must be blind.” Rhur smirked, giving Kiel a meaningful look, as if saying “I’ll be happy to take her off your hands.”

Kiel sighed. “Dear older brother, not everyone has the leisure to entertain beautiful ladies like you every day.”

Rhur chuckled. “No need to beat around the bush, little brother. It seems to me you haven’t found that special lady yet. Why don’t I introduce you to some high-class ladies? Perhaps you will find one that is to your liking.”

Kiel’s eyebrow twitched. Rhur was insinuating that Kiel wasn’t interested in Elaru, hoping to drive a wedge between them. He clearly didn’t believe that their relationship was pure friendship with no romance involved.

“Thank you for the offer, older brother. I know that you are on pretty close terms with most noble ladies around our age. However, to be frank, I’d be more interested in meeting those ladies that you haven’t had close relations with.” Kiel smiled and looked at Rhur “gratefully”.

Rhur smirked and moved his glass in a toasting motion towards Kiel. Most people would think the expression to mean “As you wish” but Kiel could tell that what he actually meant was “Good luck. You will be hard pressed to find a lady I haven’t done yet.”

“Well, it has been great to catch up with you, older brother. But Elaru and I have places to be and can’t afford to entertain you any longer.” Kiel downed his glass of wine and declared.

“What places are those? Perhaps we are going the same way.” Rhur didn’t wait for Kiel’s response. He called for the waiter and requested for the receipt, worried that if the waiter wasn’t quick enough, his brother and the redhead would slip away.

Kiel was about to politely scold Rhur for putting his nose where it didn’t belong, intending to get up and depart with Elaru, however, Elaru stopped him. “Hold on. You wouldn’t want to miss this.”

Kiel swallowed his words and turned to look at Elaru. A mischievous glint was in her eyes. A glint that meant that someone was about to get a shorter end of the stick.

Kiel furrowed his eyebrows. What does she intend to do? He followed her gaze to Rhur, who had just been handed the receipt.

However, before he could figure out Elaru’s intentions, suddenly Rhur’s confident and soft smile stiffened, and his face visibly paled.

Elaru took a sip of her wine and added cheerfully. “Master Rhur, are you alright? You are looking a bit pale?” Her mouth couldn’t help but curl into a sly smirk. “Perhaps you should drink more wine? That should help with the blood flow.”

Rhur’s eyebrows started twitching violently. If he was a person with less poise, he would be spewing blood from frustration right about now. Drink more wine?! Help with the blood flow?!? This vixen…! She did it on purpose!! She has been teasing me all along!!

Suddenly, Kiel’s eyes widened in realization. His head snapped to the side, and his eyes zoomed in on the small text on the wine bottle.

What he read left him speechless.

Lileron Passion was a two-hundred-year-old limited-edition wine produced from a rare variety of grapes. Its price was no doubt staggering.

No wonder it didn’t appear on the menu. Even grandfather would not casually drink such wine.

“Elaru, just how expensive is Lileron Passion?”

A merry laughter reverberated inside his head. “Let’s just say that your brother won’t be bringing girls here for a while…”

Kiel’s lips involuntarily morphed into a wide grin, and he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out: “What’s wrong, older brother? Don’t tell me you didn’t bring enough money to pay for the meal? Do you need me to lend you some coins?”

Rhur’s eyebrow started twitching more violently. Wasn’t that the exact thing he asked Kiel earlier?!

And that wasn’t even the worst thing! He had promised to pay for the meal! He couldn’t go back on his own promise!

Rhur coughed softly, but his throat seemed to be a bit dry. “You sure like to joke, little brother. How could I let my little brother pay with his hard earned quest money? If I, the future head of the family, don’t have enough money to pay for my meals, then who would have enough money?”

Although he said that, his next words directed to the waiter revealed the reality of the situation: “Put it on my tab…”

Rhur looked bitterly towards the wine bottle. How did the redhead know of this wine? It’s as if she picked it straight from the list of top 10 most expensive wines!

After getting his emotions in control, Rhur’s smile returned to his face, and he looked back at Elaru.  “Elaru Wayvin… I’ll remember this.”

Rhur Rroda wasn’t stupid. As soon as he saw the bill, he realized that he had been played for a fool. This little red headed vixen was an extremely good actor. She was pretending to be ignorant and harmless while plotting against him from the start. And he fell for it. He even ordered two bottles of Lileron Passion. Those two bottles were more expensive than their weight in gold!

Elaru grinned widely, finally revealing her true nature. “I too will remember such a wonderful meal. We should repeat this in the future.” Then she motioned her glass of wine towards Rhur as if saying “Cheers” and downed it.

Rhur’s eyebrow involuntarily twitched again. Only if you pay for it next time. – he thought, but what came out of his mouth was completely different: “I am looking forward to it. It was a pleasure meeting you, Lady Wayvin.”

This female was a lupax in meep clothing. But that was alright. He preferred the feisty ones. It was much more satisfying to subdue those who are putting up a fight than those who surrender quickly. The more difficult to deal with his prey was, the more fun it was to catch it.

Rhur wasn’t discouraged in the least. No. It was quite the opposite.

You won this round, Elaru Wayvin. But next time, it will be my win. Rhur’s eyes lit up with even more fervor than before. Oh, how I will enjoy spanking you into submission…

He could barely restrain himself. He could barely wait.

In fact, as soon as he got home, he would investigate this girl. He would not leave their next meeting to fate.

“The pleasure is all mine, Master Rroda.” Elaru responded with a small smirk still playing at the corner of her lips.

“Please call me Rhur.” Rhur smiled a dazzling smile that was no less brilliant that Kiel’s pretty smiles. You can leave the “master” for bed talk.

Elaru responded with her own dazzling smile. Ayah looked away, those two smiles were so bright one couldn’t look straight at them. “As you wish, Rhur.” She spoke in a husky voice that gave Rhur pleasant chills.

* * *

The two “couples” walked out of Black Pearl, the atmosphere around them looked perfectly amiable on the first glance. Luckily, even peacekeepers weren’t allowed in the vicinity of the restaurant, let alone Rroda men, so Kiel and Elaru didn’t run into an ambush on their way in and out of the restaurant.

“When will you be returning to the mainhouse, little brother?” Rhur asked. He needed to repay him for this trick the two of them played. And his own home turf would be the perfect place for it.

“I have a few more things to take care of before I stop by.” Kiel said nonchalantly. “I’ll be there in a few days.”

“Feel free to bring Lady Wayvin with you. I’d love to show her around the Rroda mainhouse.” Rhur winked. Kiel’s eyebrow twitched. Lady Wayvin this, Lady Wayvin that, can you be any more annoying?

The two couples moved towards the crossroads so slowly that they couldn’t go any slower. Rhur wanted to see in which direction the two were going so he could choose to go in the same direction. Kiel, on the other hand, had exactly the same idea, which resulted in both of them trying to fall behind the other one.

In the end, they reached the crossroads at the same exact time. The two brothers stared at each other, neither taking the initiative to choose a path.

In the end, it was Elaru that broke the stalemate by pulling Kiel by the arm and Accelerating to the roof. She half smirked half smiled and waved Rhur goodbye in a relaxed, slightly taunting manner.

Her being able to use Augmentation magic caught Rhur by surprise, so he didn’t react to follow fast enough. Augmentation magic?! Isn’t she supposed to be a commoner? Where did she get a mana purifying artifact?!

When Rhur came back to his senses, it was already too late. The two of them had jumped down from the roof to the other side of the building, away from Rhur’s line of sight.

Before their feet even touched the ground, their auras completely disappeared.

Rhur swore internally and decided to drop the pursuit. He didn’t want to seem like a stalker. He shouldn’t cling too tightly.

After turning invisible, Kiel and Elaru waited for Rhur to leave, before returning to the Black Pearl restaurant once again. This time, disguised under two black cloaks.

It would be both embarrassing and suspicious if the same two people who just left the restaurant came back once again. However, they couldn’t leave before they fulfilled what they came here to do.

* * *

As soon as the two of them were once again alone in the room, they removed their cloaks and stared at each other. Both of their faces slowly morphed into wide grins, looking like two scheming vulpies.

Finally, they could let loose everything they wanted to do and say.

“I should have known you had an evil plan up your sleeves!” Kiel let out a deep chuckle.

“Indeed. Considering how many times I’ve one-upped you so far, you should have seen it coming.”

“Ah! So you finally admit to doing it!”

“Did I say one-upping? I meant to say team-upping with you to beat your brother.”

Kiel rolled his eyes. “We did make a good team. Did you see his face when he saw the bill?”

“Priceless!” Elaru burst out in laughter.

“I wish there was an artist here to capture the moment into a painting.” Kiel sighed regretfully.

“No need for the painter. His miserable expression shall forever stay imprinted in my memory. Oh, such poise, such elegance! Simply the epitome of grace!”

“Pffft!” Kiel could no longer contain it and joined in on her laughter. “You have no idea. He is so graceful that if you punched him, he’d fall down with such incomparable grace! Even if you pushed him down the stairs, he’d do a fabulously graceful roll to the bottom!”

“Nooo!” Elaru covered her mouth with her hands in both shock and excitement. “Don’t tell me you pushed him down the stairs before?”

Kiel smirked. “I was grounded for half a year, but it was totally worth it.”

“Uuuuu! Who would have thought that Kiel Rroda has a violent and devious side too?” Elaru’s grin was so wide it couldn’t get any wider. “Nice! I wish I could have seen that!” She gave him a thumbs up.

“There are plenty of staircases in Muni… if you know what I mean?” Kiel winked.

“Kyaaaa~~ Stop enticing me! If I run into him inside Muni, my hand just might accidentally slip…”

The two laughed merrily until their eyes were red from tears and their faces hurt from grinning too much. Several times, they managed to calm down, only to look at each other and burst into laughter once again.

It had been a long time since Elaru had laughed carefreely like this.

And for Kiel, it had been an even longer time. A time so long that he couldn’t remember ever laughing like this.

Coming up in the next episode:

Buried deep down within him, there was a sleeping monster that was everything he didn’t want to be. A dangerous, bestial, sleeping dragon capable of doing anything to get that which he desired. A ticking time bomb that just needed a trigger.

“How did you…?!?!” Abruptly, he stopped himself, realizing he almost gave himself away. “I mean, you have me confused with someone else.”

He hesitated and looked to the right where a youth was slumped face first on the bar, surrounded by several empty liquor bottles. One would think that the pretty faced youth was unconscious if it weren’t for his mumbling under his breath and hiccups that shook his body every few seconds.

“Ah. You are either talking about Light or Night.”

“Can you be—believe what happ—ened to me today? I got—robbed…” An especially vicious hiccup made him pause for several second before finishing his statement. “In broad daylight!”

Chapter end