Chapter 117: Accepted The Bet
Evelina opened her mouth to instantly reject the absurd bet.
It was laughable to her that this woman, who did not even know her name, was gullible enough to assume that she’d accept such a bet.
The only thing that Evelina needed at this moment was information, information about all the people who held power in the Capital. So no more surprises happen in the future.
Rest, she had no intention of playing along with a noblewoman’s delusional power trips. Sp, she moved to turn Railley Snow down.
But before the first syllable could leave her lips, a familiar chime echoed in her mind.
[Ping!]
[Mission: Know The Capital]
[Premium Skill Available: State Secrets]
[Description: A master list containing all the information, major strengths, public flaws of the royal family members and noble houses in the Jade Dynasty!]
Evelina’s eyes twinkled. Right what she needed.
But befor she could process it, the System continued.
[To unlock the Skill ’State Secrets’, Host must satisfy the System Core by picking either one of the two choices:]
[Option A: Accept Railley Snow’s challenge. Accumulate 100 million gold within one month and shatter the Jade Dynasty’s market boundaries.
Reward: 50,000 System Gold+3 Premium Survival Blueprints]
[Option 2: Reject the challenge.
Penalty: Host must immediately initiate an unfiltered conversation with the Main Target ’Ace Alvarez’, confessing every single details of the night he was sick, including the exact mouth-to-mouth medicine feeding style used to save his life.]
Evelina’s words froze instantly in her throat.
Her mouth was sealed completely shut as she stared blankly at the glowing blue interface floating in her vision.
Mouth-to-mouth medicine feeding style?!
The memory she had long buried along with the desperation of the situation emerged again.
A fierce heat rushed straight up to her cheeks as her mind flashed back to the freezing cabin.
If she had to look Ace in the eye and admit to that, this thick-skinned, shameless man would never let her live it down. His delusions would explode past the point of no return.
Railley, seeing Evelina’s sudden silence, misread the hesitation entirely.
She assumed the astronomical sum of a hundred million gold had finally broken her arrogant spirit, ’Just as I expected. She probably had never heard of such a huge sum in one sentence,’ Railley smirked.
A triumphant sneer spread across Railley’s face as she crossed her arms, "What’s wrong? You don’t dare?"
The surrounding local merchants and officials began to snicker quietly, "Of course she doesn’t dare. A hundred million gold? Even the wealthiest grand clans would need to liquidate half their estates to show that much liquid gold in thirty days!"
"She was just talking big..."
Railley’s laughter was light , "If you want to back out now, girl, I might let you off easily. Just drop to your knees right now, slap your own face ten times, and leave the man behind. I am a gracious noblewoman, after all."
"Oh? Who said I don’t dare?" A cold smile slowly crept back onto Evelina’s beautiful face as her emerald eyes locked onto the woman.
For a moment, Railley was dumbfounded. The pair of eyes... they looked way too familiar for some reason, unsettling her beyond reason.
"A hundred million gold in a month. I accept your bet, Lady Snow. Prepare your knees, because thirty days from now, you will be the one to grovel at my feet."
The crowd collectively gasped, several elderly merchants nearly fainting at heraudacity.
Behind her, Ace was completely stunned.
But the shock lasted for only a second before his thick brows furrowed deeply, his handsome face clouding over with a gloom that made the nearby air feel heavy.
She accepted?
Ace stared at the side of Evelina’s face, his heart twisting.
She had actually used him as a betting collateral. She wanted to get rid of him that badly? She even dared to think of giving him away to another woman?
If there was someone else standing there, Ace could have used more logic and assumed they were simply playing along.
But with Evelina, he could never ever be confident. She might really think of using any opportunity to get rid of him.
Without a single blink, she had put him on the chopping block like a piece of cheap merchandise.
And Ace didn’t know what made him so angry.
Evelina’s dismissiveness.
Or just the mere thought of being near any woman who wasn’t her.
He wanted to grab her right there, throw her over his shoulder, and demand what she truly took him for.
But with thousands of eyes watching, he forced his jaw shut. No matter how upset he was, he would never be an obstacle on her path.
And this was something Ace had been adamant about early on, without even realizing.
On the other side, Railley was ecstatic, "Excellent! Everyone here is a witness! One month from today, we will see who crawls!" With a triumphant wave of her silk fan, she turned around and marched off the deck, her silver-armored guards following closely behind.
Later that evening.
Evelina and Ace walked in a tense silence until they finally stopped inside a small local inn tucked away in a bustling commercial sector.
The tavern downstairs was packed with wealthy travelers and foreign merchants.
The elderly innkeeper rubbed his hands together, looking apologetic, "I am truly sorry, milady, milord. But as I just disclosed, we only have a single room left for the night."
Evelina frowned. This was the tenth inn they had checked since leaving the docks.
Because the capital was incredibly bustling with the grand seasonal trade markets, most of the high-end inns didn’t have any vacancies at all.
She sighed and turned slightly to look at Ace.
From the look on Ace’s face, it was completely obvious that the man was on the very verge of some cataclysmic explosion.
Just the pressure vibrating off him was actively scaring the other patrons away from the front desk.
Evelina knew more or less that she was the one who had caused this dangerous mood.
Putting him up as a wager to a snobbish noblewoman wasn’t exactly a gentle move.
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