Book 1 Chapter 16.4 - Trump Card
Su’s mood suddenly became a bit somber. He thought of the countless women he had encountered and seen, and he thought of Li as well. As for Persephone, her beauty could make all the men around her become ferocious wolves.
The mountaintop became silent for a moment. Persephone suddenly spoke an earth-shattering sentence. “Su, are you willing to enter the Black Dragonriders and from then on protect me?”
She didn’t look Su in the eye. She held her knees as she sat facing the night winds and stared into the distance.
In that split second, Su thought of the stunning and dignified appearance she first showed him, the enchanting charm she exuded after her shower, the passionate innocence during breakfast, the seriousness and carefulness while working, as well as the quiet and distant feeling she gave off today. For a moment, he couldn’t determine what exactly was the true Persephone. Perhaps all of these appearances were Persephone. These past two days, she had showed all sides of herself to him.
This kind of beautiful woman who was perfect in every aspect wanted him to become her guardian? If it was to lure him into entering the Black Dragonriders, then this type of cost was still a bit too excessive. The amount of benefits she would receive would vastly outweigh the losses.
Su also looked into the distance. He took a deep breath and said, “The Black Dragonriders don’t suit me. I apologize.”
The silence continued.
After a long time had passed, Persephone said, “Su, do you have someone you want to protect.?”
Su calmly said, “... There is. However, it might not be like how you imagine it.”
Persephone removed the pencil holding her hair together, and her deep gray hair fell down. Su’s heart pounded fiercely a few times. From the side, apart from the threads of silver radiance, the scattering gray hair seemed to be exactly the same as the little girl from back then!
Persephone was a member of the Black Dragonriders, and the Lanaxis from back then also had Black Dragonriders serving her. Su didn’t know what kind of status the little girl had after being brought away by Lanaxis and only knew that it was related to the Black Dragonriders. From her exceeding lavishness and extravagance, her position might be even higher than Persephone’s. It was possible that Persephone knew about the girl’s existence.
“I have a final trump card that will definitely make you want to delightfully follow me back, but I don’t want to use it yet.” That night, Persephone’s words suddenly emerged in Su’s mind.
Recalling Persephone’s sorrow just now, Su suddenly made a connection, and his heart suddenly pulled tight. Could it be that something happened to Lanaxis? If she collapsed, then what about the girl? When he thought about the exceedingly pretty girl and the fate that such an appearance brought, a fire gradually began to burn within Su’s heart.
Seeing Su’s slight transformation, Persephone seemed to sigh. In the darkness, she calmly said, “I believe that you have heard of the name Lanaxis before. Beside her was a girl with hair similar to mine. I believe this girl is the one that you want to protect, right?”
Su remained silent. He didn’t give a reply, nor did he deny her statement. It seemed like Persephone truly knew the history between himself and the girl, and perhaps this might be part of the reason for her favorable treatment of him. Together with her words related to the fate and status of women she spoke of just now, what was she trying to imply?
In the darkness that seemed like it would never disappear, Persephone’s cold and arrogant voice that possessed penetrative force continuously sounded. “You still want to protect her. However, the current you can’t even defeat a low level dragonrider, so what will you use to protect her? When the day of bad luck descends, what can you even do? With your current manner of survival, even if you were given five, ten years, what level of strength can you develop to? Fifth, or sixth level? With this level of ability, you can’t accomplish anything. The descent of misfortune is inevitable and not by chance. Within the Blood Parliament, the Spider Empress is not the only ruler.”
In the darkness, as Su watched Persephone’s hair fly about, he felt that it was just like the ever fluttering fate of those living in the age of turmoil.
“If I join the Black Dragonriders, I can become more powerful?” Su asked.
“Within the Black Dragonriders, the only thing that restricts an individual is their talent. If you possess unmatched power, then you can do whatever you please.” Persephone’s reply gave Su the two answers he wanted to know the most.
Persephone revealed her hidden trump card. Meanwhile, Su never had any cards to play right from the start.
In a tranquil voice, Su said, “Then I’ll join the Black Dragonriders.”
Persephone raised her hand and tied her hair up, once again using the pencil to hold it in place. She indifferently said, “I have given you the opportunity to increase your strength and gave you the chance to protect the one that you wish to protect. However, to allow you to join the Black Dragonriders, I need to make the entire Fabregas family my enemy because you killed Laiknar. I also need to prove to the parliament that your value is greater than the value of the intruder cell. Before you can prove this point for yourself, I need to provide an equivalent amount of asset to the parliament. After paying such a huge price, I need to return and make a report.”
Su knew that everything she said was the truth. Even if this was a transaction and what happened behind the scenes was ignored, just the stuff on the table were things he already felt were too much.
“What do you want?” Su asked.
Persephone turned around and looked at him. Her gray eyes contained a hint of green light. It seemed like her eyes were a bit similar to Su’s, only that Su’s eye was entirely green.
Persephone’s hand made the sign of a pistol. She aimed it at Su and said, “Become my man!”
Su stared blankly.
He possessed the ability of fundamental luck, but the conditions were in his favor to a ridiculous point. Su believed that even if he raised his fundamental luck to eight or ninth level and waited several hundred years, he still wouldn’t encounter something like this. This wasn’t a problem of probability, but simply something impossible.
Su awaited her next words.
Persephone continued, “Of course, right now, you don’t have the qualifications to become my man at all. Even if you became seven or eight times more powerful, you still wouldn’t. Moreover, after entering the Black Dragonriders, if others knew about this matter, with your current strength, you would be killed without anyone knowing why. Once you enter the Black Dragonriders, apart from some basic and essential help, you won’t receive anything else from me. You must deal with all enemies both up front and hidden. Then, you have to become strong, strong enough until you can become my man!”
“If there is a day when you obtained these qualifications, then I will accept you. If you become powerful enough to suppress me, then I will let you become my guardian. If it turns out that it was impossible for you to reach my requirements all along, then I will choose someone else to replace your position, but you will still be mine. I won’t stop you from protecting her, and if there is a need, you can choose to die in battle. However, when you die in battle, you still have to remember that you belong to me!”
Hearing Persephone’s powerful declaration, Su only chuckled. Her declaration was frank, sharp, and bare without the slightest fluffing up. However, this was reality.
The conditions were extremely good. Even though this was completely different from what Su wanted, he still didn’t have a choice just like seven years ago.
“We’ve reached a deal then.” Su’s words were just as concise as before.
Persephone released a light laugh and said, “If you entered the Black Dragonriders the first time I invited you, then there wouldn’t be all these conditions, but you made me use my trump card, so it became a business deal.”
On the subject of business deals, Su had always been a person of trust. Ever since Persephone appeared, almost every single event overturned Su’s general knowledge. He wasn’t naive. There was definitely more undisclosed information behind this deal, but he simply didn’t have the qualifications to know about them right now. The events that happened during these past two days continuously played in his mind. Su suddenly remembered that when she brought up her trump card, she also mentioned another wish.
Compared to the opportunity she offered, this wish seemed insignificant.
Su sat in silence, gazing into the endless darkness.
Back then, in Yorketown, that youth would have never expected that seven years later, he would once again undertake a similar responsibility.