Chapter 281 - A Weird Proposition (2/2)
”Well…” Valentia pondered on how she was going to word out her question to Vanadir as her eyes gazed to and fro. ”Do you know who the members of his team are?”
”Don't tell me…” At this point, Vanadir finally understood what she was trying to say, letting out a sigh of disappointment before asking, ”You're already a part of the Third Prince's team?”
Valentia remained silent as a reply to his question, prompting the Ninth Prince to think that her silence was a yes to him. Letting out another sigh of disappointment, he stood up from his seat before telling Dane that they were going to leave. The two then made their way towards the door before looking back at Valentia and saying, ”Well, then. It was nice meeting you, I guess. I hope the Third Prince is treating you we—”
But before he could finish his sentence, Valentia hurriedly stood up as he dashed towards Vanadir with an incredibly guilty expression as she shouted, ”It's a joke! It's a joke! Don't leave! It's just a joke!”
”…” Vanadir was left at a loss for words after hearing what she said. The same went for Dane, thinking that if it was a joke, then it wasn't really funny at all. It took Vanadir a few deep breaths to finally come back to his senses as a serious expression appeared on his face. He then asked her to make sure, ”Are you joking about the fact that you're a part of the Third Prince's team? Or are you saying that to bring down my hopes even further?”
”The first one! The first one!” Valentia hastily responded, signs of tears slowly welling up in her eyes. At this moment, she felt incredibly bad for what she had done, prompting her to bow down in front of him as she said, ”I'm sorry!”
Scratching his head in response, Vanadir looked at the current Valentia and let out a long sigh, which was filled with annoyance, as well as relief. While Valentia remained bowing down, he then told her, ”You do know that this event would dictate the future of the Seraph Kingdom, right? Do you think it's fine for you to joke about a matter like this?”
”I know but…” Valentia returned to her original posture as she answered in a slightly apologetic tone before continuing, ”I just want to ease up the tension you were feeling…”
In response, Vanadir let out yet another sigh, the expression on his face returning to that of normality. Noticing that Valentia was about to cry, the Ninth Prince went ahead and placed his hand on her shoulder as he said, ”Don't cry over something like that. It's fine, as long as you admit to your mistakes.”
He then let out a chortle as he continued, ”Also, you're already 25 for heaven's sake. If people saw the Healing Witch of the West crying in front of a prince, they would think that something special is going between the two of us.”
Hearing those words, Valentia hurriedly wiped the tears that were about to drip from her face as she took in a few deep breaths to calm herself down. A few seconds later, the expression she had was now back to normal as a light smile suffused from her face. After that, she went ahead and said, ”I'll join your team. You don't have to worry about anything at all.”
She then pondered over something before adding, ”Then again, my words from before were half-true. Although it isn't me that joined the Third Prince's team, someone else from our family did join him.”
”Well, we'll get to that when the time comes,” Vanadir pondered over her words for a bit before responding to it with a light smile. Since one of the reasons why they came to the Arcenon household was now done, Vanadir went ahead and opened the door with Dane behind him, only for him to stop as he felt Valentia tugging on his clothes.
Turning around, the Ninth Prince noticed that a light red blush suffused on her face as she looked down at the floor for a bit. In response to her tugging, Vanadir asked, ”What's wrong? Do you have anything else to ask me?”
”I was just wondering if…you know, there was a cute girl in your team other than me?” Valentia responded to his question with a question of her own, asking in a slightly bashful manner. Vanadir and Dane looked at each other for a bit in response to her question, which was soon followed with light smiles appearing on their faces.
The Ninth Prince then went ahead and looked back at Valentia before nodding, saying, ”Indeed, we do. Do you want to meet with her right now?”
In an instant, Valentia's slightly shy expression had now returned to normal as an ecstatic aura radiated from her. In a cheerful tone, she asked him, ”Can I?”
”Sure,” Vanadir replied with a light chuckle, only to remember that he had another thing to do in this household before heading back. With that in mind, he then added, ”Though it would have to wait for a bit. I still have something to do in this place.”
”Oh?” Valentia uttered as she raised her eyebrows. She then asked, ”And what would that be? If you need help, I'd be glad to help out.”
”No need for help,” Vanadir said as multiple nostalgic memories surfaced in his mind. Gazing at the corridor outside the meeting room, he then continued, ”It doesn't involve fighting at well.”
”I'm just going to say hello to my mother, that's all.”
”It's been a while since I've met her anyway.”
”I wonder how she's doing?”
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