Chapter 79: Date with Seraphina
A/N: Check the previous Chapter. Seraphina’s character art in the evening dress is uploaded.
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Seraphina took her identity card out from the small handbag she carried in her hand. It was a black metallic card, identical to Chloe’s, making Vlad raise an eyebrow in intrigue as he caught a glimpse of its surface.
"You are an S Rank?" Vlad asked, unable to contain his curiosity. His eyes lingered on the card.
"S+," Seraphina corrected him, swaying her hair back in a smug gesture, a proud smile curling at the corners of her lips. "Do you respect me more now, errand boy?"
"What does rank have anything to do with respect?" Vlad replied, his hand resting behind his head in a casual shrug. "Respect depends on how you use that talent."
"You mean you do not respect me?" Seraphina asked, her eyes narrowing at Vlad sharply. This was the only conclusion she could draw from his words.
"I do," Vlad answered with a sigh as he realized his words were being twisted in a completely different direction. "Although you are bratty, annoyingly assertive, narcissistic, and manipulative..."
His words caused veins to bulge across Seraphina’s forehead, her grip on her card tightening until her knuckles turned white. She was about to show him his place when Vlad continued, "you are kind at heart. If it had been some other girl’s room I crashed into, I would have already been expelled from the academy."
She snapped her head to the front and muttered in a low tone, "I doubt any girl would have ratted you out." She was having a hard time deciding whether to be angry at him or not. She would never admit it, but none of the traits Vlad had listed about her were false. The realization only made her even more annoyed, a faint heat rising to her cheeks.
She slammed her handbag into his stomach and ordered, "Hold it."
Turning her focus forward, she slid her card into the narrow slot by the doorknob. A faint metallic chime sounded as it was accepted, the mechanism humming briefly.
A moment later, the door slightly opened with a click. Similar to the door at the Principal’s office, all Vlad could see was the white light beyond the threshold, a blinding void.
As they stepped to the other side of the door, before Vlad could even analyze what had happened, he was standing outside the Convocation Hall, the same building where he had enrolled in the academy. Before him stretched the busy streets of Velarum, people walking on the cobblestone paths in formal attire, either on foot or riding horse-drawn carriages that clattered along the worn stones. The steady hum of conversation and the clip-clop of hooves filled the air.
The medieval-style stone buildings lined up along the opposite side of the street, parallel to the Convocation Hall, their facades adorned with wrought-iron lanterns and wooden signs. It was still a sight that Vlad would never grow bored of, no matter how many times he saw it.
’Is the Arcane Academy in a different dimension?’ the thought appeared in his mind. There was no sign of the academy anywhere in the city. He wanted to ask Seraphina, but the question was abruptly cut short when she spoke up.
"The reservation for the meeting is at six pm. We still have a few hours before the meeting," Seraphina said, glancing at her bracelet-like wristwatch, which perfectly matched the elegance of her evening outfit. The delicate timepiece glittered with tiny gems.
"Do you have any plans, or would you like to come with me?" she asked, turning to Vlad with a tilt of her head.
’Didn’t she say we were getting late before?’ Vlad frowned inwardly before asking, "Do I even have a choice in the matter?"
A smile tugged at Seraphina’s lips, spreading into a playful grin. "Of course not. You are my errand boy. You must attend to my needs."
"Why did you even ask, then?"
"Just testing if you are being obedient or not," she replied, swaying her hair, letting the crimson strands hit Vlad’s face as she moved forward, her steps light and confident.
"Definitely a brat," Vlad muttered in a low tone, following her silently, his one hand holding her purse while other tucked into his pocket as he trailed after her through the bustling streets of Velarum.
The first place they arrived at was a luxurious clothing boutique, its glass display lined with mannequins draped in elegant gowns and exquisite dresses.
As the noble she was, Seraphina began pointing at one dress after another without so much as glancing at their price tags. Each dress she chose was of a different style, yet every single one seemed like something that would make her look absolutely stunning. The fabrics shimmered in shades of ruby, sapphire, and ivory.
Wherever her finger pointed, Vlad quickly picked up that dress, struggling to keep up with the rapid direction of her gestures. Before he knew it, he had become a walking wardrobe, his entire body hidden beneath a mountain of colourful silken fabrics that cascaded over his arms and shoulders, piling up to his chin.
"Are you buying clothes for the next five years?" Vlad asked, exasperated. Only his voice emerged from the heap, completely buried beneath the luxurious materials, with one eye somehow managing to peek out and guide his movements through the shop.
"Five years, as if?" Seraphina scoffed, finding Vlad’s words not even remotely amusing. "They are only for the next two months."
"But that is over fifty dresses."
"For fifty different occasions," Seraphina answered with a casual shrug, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Vlad had no answer to that. As he shifted his burden, a price tag fluttered down and landed on his face. He blew it away, catching a glimpse of the number: three gold taels. The price of Seraphina’s single dress was more than the years of savings Elaria had given him for his studies. His eyes lingered on the tag for a moment longer than necessary.
He realized just how different their worlds were. The gap between them was like heaven and earth, whether in wealth, power, influence, or talent.
Yet he did not feel even a hint of envy toward her. On the contrary, what he felt was motivation. If he wished to reach the moon, then reaching Seraphina’s level would merely be a milestone along the way.
"Commoner, stop spacing out and come here," Seraphina called, her voice pulling him from his thoughts. She stood near a rack of crimson gowns, gesturing impatiently.
"Right there, Sera," Vlad called out, weaving his way between the clothing racks toward her, the pile of dresses wobbling precariously in his arms.
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"Notify them. The target is outside the academy," said a woman in a serious tone, a pair of binoculars pressed before her eyes. Her voice was low, crisp, carrying the weight of command.
She was lying flat on the edge of the roof of a building opposite the shop where Vlad and Seraphina were shopping, her dark attire blending into the shadows of the fading afternoon.
The man beside her nodded sharply before quickly moving toward the stairs, his footsteps silent as he disappeared through the doorway.
The woman zoomed in on Vlad and Seraphina, and whispered, "You will not be entering the academy again... Seraphina Cendral."
