Chapter 192: Respect Woven Into Fabric
A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.
Zane finally called Hena beautiful.
And he didn’t feel uncomfortable saying that.
Hena watched his eyes and they had no ulterior motives.
She had seen the eyes of men and they praised her beauty to win her affection or body or kill her and become a Crown.
But Zane said that with hopes of nothing in return.
Hena felt she was being called beautiful for the first time in her whole life.
"Yes. You are beautiful." Draxus chimed in.
Hena frowned.
"What are you talking about? Get to work."
Draxus turned to paper.
Everyone ignored him and Zane made Hena store the extra clothes on her ring.
Hena didn’t oppose that as she knew Zane wanted to keep his ring a secret.
"Calculate the price. Throw away our old clothes." Zane ordered Seb.
But Seb shook her head.
"I certainly can’t take money from a Scepter of Bronzers’ family."
Zane gave a glare.
"Two hundred gold lumens, sir." Seb folded right away.
Zane turned around.
He showed his back to Seb and held Hena’s hand.
"Give me money."
Hena said nothing and acted as if she was taking out money from her ring and handing it to Zane.
But instead it was Zane who was taking out the money from his ring.
He brought out a fistful of coins from his left hand.
"They aren’t enough." Hena whispered and shoved her hand inside Zane’s ring.
But as she did...
"Anghh!"
She flinched.
She jerked her hand back.
"What happened?" Zane asked.
"I felt shock. Like it hurt me."
Zane quivered his brows.
"Huh? That’s strange."
"Did you modify it so that no one else could take things out from it?" Hena asked.
That might be the case. So only I could use it. Good to know.
"Maybe. My skill does weird things."
Hena nodded and didn’t try anything.
She just wanted to fasten the process as she didn’t like Zane’s hand on her hand. It made her feel funny for some reason.
Zane didn’t know all that as he was focused on the coins.
His left fist was full of them but they weren’t two hundred.
So first, he emptied his fist on the counter and did the same thing again.
His left fist was full again and he emptied everything on the counter once more.
Seb wanted to tell him to empty the ring directly but he let the man be.
Zane emptied his left fist five times on the counter and it felt good enough.
"They might be more than two hundred but take all of them. I don’t have time."
Everyone nodded.
Zane came a long way.
When he brought weapons, he even asked for one coin in return and now he was clearly giving more than two hundred coins.
They felt like proud parents. Especially Hena.
His stinginess made her shiver when they were buying weapons.
Seb bowed many times in one second to all of them and with a wave, Zane left the shop in his new shining clothes.
People followed behind him in equally dashing clothes.
Heads turned to them on their own and this time it wasn’t because they saw a gutterborn, it was because they were genuinely worthy of attention.
"Now I know why you brought these." Hena said.
"Yes. They should think we are rich and big shots. We might get an easier entry in the church now."
"But what is Gilded Trash? You still haven’t told me." Hena asked again.
"It’s a slang I created." Zane replied.
"For what?"
Zane sighed. "For Halocrats and other rich brats."
"Oh. That’s a good term." Xavier liked it.
"I agree." Jammy too.
But Hena and Draxus said nothing.
Tesla also said nothing but he appeared fine with it.
"Not all of them are like that." Hena said.
"Yes." Draxus agreed with her.
Zane turned his head around.
"I agree. Not every one of them is bad. You proved that."
Hena smiled.
Zane returned the smile and focused ahead.
"But why did you call yourself Leon’s friend? Isn’t that too risky?" Tesla asked.
"Yes. It was risky but I couldn’t think of any other way to make him stop questioning me or be suspicious of me."
"Fair." Tesla didn’t argue after that.
Zane was in the front as he knew the way where they were going.
Darkness had begun to seep in but the sun was still there so light didn’t vanish.
They were going far from the Citadel as their target church was away.
But not too far away.
After all, it was still in the Veyndral city.
The shops were closing.
The vendors were going to their home with their empty carts.
Some had their carts full as they weren’t able to sell.
Some of those vendors handed free food from their carts to the hungry kids on the side of the road and a smile came on its own on Zane’s face.
But he also happened to see the power of his new clothes.
No one came in his way.
Many random passersby bowed their heads while walking past them.
They value clothes more than a person.
Zane shook his head at their thinking.
If he was walking normally, no one would have bat an eye but clothes earned him respect.
Eventually, Zane saw the church and began taking long strides.
Everyone else did the same.
In no time, Zane reached in front of the gate.
Two Enforcers were standing outside on both sides and for the first time, Zane saw a look of fear and respect in the Enforcers. Clothes worked on them too.
"How can I help you, sir?" One Enforcer asked.
"I want to meet the Flamekeeper. Horum, was it?" Zane revealed his purpose.
"I am sorry sir but you can’t me—"
TUNG!
The flame tower rang.
It was time for the last prayer of the day.
And that also meant...
Great timing.
No one could stop Zane from entering the church anymore.
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