Chapter 30: What are you curious about?
"You’re acquainted with Alexander Greels?"
"Just yesterday," April said, her voice light and thoroughly refreshed as she took a sip of her tea. "It’s thanks to me he’s sitting at that podium right now instead of a hospital bed. So, I plan to milk him for all he’s worth very soon."
She snickered, a wicked, playful gleam returning to her eyes as she turned her head to look up at the billionaire. "Oh, he’s not a direct competitor of yours, right? Because I have a feeling you two will be seeing each other quite often from now on."
Xavier stared at the flashing news screen for a silent moment, considering the massive shift in the city’s retail landscape. Then, a ghost of a smirk touched his lips.
"No," Xavier said smoothly. "Our firms are two sides of the same coin. Logistics and commerce. Feel free to milk him for every cent he has."
Just then, a maid stepped quietly into the lounge, holding a silver tray with a cup of freshly brewed black coffee, which Xavier casually took.
"Breakfast is served in the dining hall, Miss April," the maid announced with a respectful bow before retreating.
Xavier took a slow sip of his coffee, his dark eyes locking onto April’s relaxed form. "Enjoy your breakfast."
April tilted her head. "Won’t you be joining me, Mr. Reed?"
Xavier was about to say no but then he paused, holding his coffee cup as he looked down at her. His dark eyes flicked toward the news anchor still talking about the dramatic Greels succession, then back to April’s relaxed form.
"Actually," Xavier said, setting his cup down on the tray for a brief moment to adjust his cuffs. "I think I will. A multi-billion-dollar government trade deal demands a celebratory breakfast, wouldn’t you say?"
He gestured for the maid to move his coffee to the dining hall, then looked at April, his expression unreadable but entirely focused. "I’ll head to the table. Join me when you’re ready."
He turned and walked toward the dining hall with a steady, commanding stride.
April let out a soft chuckle, stretching her arms above her head before sliding off the plush sofa. She didn’t feel a single shred of self-consciousness about her exposed back or her silk nightwear.
Walking into the grand dining hall, she found a lavish spread already laid out across the mahogany table—freshly baked pastries, warm hearty broths, seasonal fruits, and savory proteins that smelled absolutely heavenly.
Xavier was already seated, calmly reading through a digital brief on his tablet, though he looked up the moment she took her seat beside him.
"Samuel is already compiling the agricultural and industrial trade sectors you requested yesterday," Xavier said, cutting straight to the chase as a maid poured April a fresh glass of juice. "He will have the full layout ready for you by eight. But before you go running around the city with my chief assistant to bleed Alexander Greels dry, I have to admit I’m curious about your methods."
"What are you curious about?" She asked. "But I can’t assure you I’ll answer all your questions. I could for the right price, though." She winked.
Xavier leaned back, swirling his coffee. "You saved me from a cyber betrayal and a tragic dinner. And you mentioned that you’re the reason Alexander Greels is not in a hospital bed so I assume you saved him from some sort of accident. Do your ’readings’ always involve preventing disasters, or do you occasionally foresee things that are actually pleasant?"
April picked up a piece of warm, golden-brown pastry, taking a bite and savoring the rich flavor before looking up with a knowing smirk.
"People don’t pay millions for pleasant fortunes, Mr. Reed. Fear and greed are the ultimate currencies. I simply give people exactly what they need to survive... for the right price."
Xavier looked at her for a long moment, his dark eyes softening just a fraction from their usual piercing intensity.
She was entirely right. People don’t pay millions just to know if the rain would stop falling so they could go on a casual stroll. What they desperately wanted to know was if the rain would turn into a violent storm that would blow away their umbrella and ruin their shelter.
"But I don’t see only disasters, in case you were wondering about that," April added smoothly, casually licking the sweet glaze from the tips of her fingers. "If you have a specific thing you want to know, I could look into that specific future for you. But I’ll need a medium."
That part was an absolute lie. She had no idea if she could channel the Eye of Destiny to look into highly specific, customized futures yet. She could always try it out later, but the part about needing a medium was pure bullshit.
Her eyes were the only true requirement for her fortune-telling. Still, to make herself look more legitimate and add a little theatrical flair to her seer persona, she figured she should eventually get some tarot cards or even a high-end crystal ball.
Just then, right in the middle of her thought, the familiar crisp interface chimed inside her head.
[System Notification]
Status: Profile Alignment Detected.
Update: Increase in proficiency can increase your maximum number of daily insights, but it can also unlock specialized tools to help your career feel more authentic.
System Note: When the proficiency threshold is achieved, you may choose from a selection of provided fortune items.
So it speaks to me now, huh? April thought, her gaze tilting up just a fraction as she scanned the floating text.
Oh, that’s quite convenient. And I was just thinking about it. It’s like this thing can read my mind or something.
But the glowing screen still left a massive blind spot: it didn’t answer the exact question of how she was supposed to increase her proficiency.
She had already used her insight six times across the past two days. How many more fortunes would she have to read before her proficiency was high enough to add another slot to her daily limit?
Until the system gave a clear metric, she would just have to keep breaking the fates of the city’s wealthiest elites on a minimum number of times per day.
