Chapter 181
“Why did you turn down my offer?”
A feminine voice forced Joshua to come to a halt just as he was about to leave the waiting room of Reinhardt’s coliseum.
Joshua already knew the identity of the woman talking behind him, so he didn’t even turn his head as he replied, “I just don’t want to be a puppet or a lapdog anymore.”
“...” The conviction in Joshua’s voice made Lilith close her mouth.
“My life belongs to me. Everything I do is of my own volition, and I will never be under anyone’s control. It doesn’t matter even if it’s Emperor Marcus, my father, or you…”
“...!” Lilith’s eyes widened upon hearing that. Joshua’s words were filled with pride, and one could easily take his words for contempt against His Majesty the Emperor. If someone else were here and they heard Joshua’s words, they would denounce Joshua as a traitor to Avalon.
Lilith would have been angry as well if she heard such words from anyone else but Joshua. However, those words felt different when Lilith heard them from Joshua’s mouth.
‘I didn’t think too much about his departure from the Agnus Duchy. I thought he just got kicked out, but maybe…’?Lilith muttered to herself while blinking her large eyes.
“You don’t have to be worried about the Lion King. He isn’t the type to run his mouth, and if he does, I’ll take care of him,” said Joshua.
Lilith was startled out of her thoughts.
“You also don’t have to worry about me being the King of Reinhardt. I know how to handle myself, so a mere city isn’t a problem,” Joshua assured her. “I’ll show you—no, I’ll show them that I can do it without resorting to petty tricks.”
“You…” Lilith wavered.
Joshua had always been pretty confident in himself, but this was the first time Lilith saw him showing off like this. In Lilith’s eyes, it meant only one thing.
“You care about them a lot. Honestly, I feel jealous of them now.”
Lilith smiled softly. Her enigmatic silver eyes shimmered as she said, “All right, I’ll tell you everything I know about the Pontier Family and the Mercenary King, but before anything else, Joshua Sanders, I want you to answer my question..”
When her words fell, Lilith came closer to Joshua and asked, “Can I be your friend?”
“Friend…?” Joshua muttered blankly. There were more people wanting to be his friend this life than before.
At that, Lilith quickly followed up. “Well, if you don’t want me to be your friend, then I can also be your wife or girlfriend.”
“We can be friends,” Joshua answered almost immediately.
Lilith didn’t know what to say. Eventually, she recovered and started muttering, “You’re really hurting my pride here. I’ve never felt like this before, but I’ll let you go this time. I really thought that I’m not beautiful anymore.”
Lilith smiled mischievously and said, “We’re friends, but a deal is a deal. I need something from you. Well, I won’t ask for collateral, but I need a token to prove our deal.”
“A token?” Joshua tilted his head.
Lilith's smile widened as she nodded. “Yup, a token.”
Lilith quickly narrowed the distance between their faces, and they eventually got close enough to feel each other’s breathing.
***
There was a temporary tent on one side of Reinhardt’s coliseum. The final match had already ended, but there were still about a thousand people standing in front of the tent.
They were none other than the gamblers who bet on the outcome of the match between Joshua and Ulabis. Rather than happy faces; however, most of them looked to be in despair.
“This is wrong… Damned it! I didn’t think that His Highness would lose!”
“Who could have known that a fifteen-year-old kid would become the Champion?”
“Are we even sure he’s fifteen? With how he looks and the way he fought, I really can’t believe that he’s just fifteen. He’s definitely on par with His Grace Agnus!”
“Damn, what does that even matter?! My wife’s going to kick me out of the house. I just lost a year’s worth of savings!”
“Hahaha. That’s what you get for making a mistake. Well, I guess it can be considered fate as well.”
Many people were groaning and complaining right there and then, but there were also people who were laughing at other people’s misfortune, and they were those who had no money to bet on the match in the first place.
However, there were also people who were happy about the final match’s outcome.
“This is fun. It never gets old. The joy of betting on the underdog and winning will never get old,” said a middle-aged man while humming in joy.
“Are you really going to rub their losses on their faces, Mister?” Iceline shook her head and sighed at the sight of Akshuller’s overjoyed demeanor.
“Well, I’m just being honest about my feelings here. How about you? Why don’t you tell him how you feel?
“Please stop making fun of me...” Iceline coldly looked away from Akshuller. She looked like she had finally gotten used to his teasing.
“Hahaha, anyway…” Akshuller chuckled as he stared at the temporary tent.
He could clearly see a skinny man working with an abacus for quite a while now. The man had to have noticed Akshuller’s gaze because he stopped moving and looked in Akshuller’s direction.
Akshuller could clearly see piles of jewels, pouches bulging with gold, and a variety of other valuables behind the skinny man.
The skinny man spoke, “I have already calculated Sir Akshuller’s winnings. Sir, you won around thirty-six thousand gold.”
“Sigh…”
The people around Akshuller were envious of him, but Akshuller himself actually sighed in deep regret when he heard the skinny man’s revelation.
“If I had known that this would happen, I would have withdrawn my emergency funds to bet! Thirty-six thousand gold is a lot—yes, but I could have had more…”
There was a saying that people would still want more, even if their coffers were already full. The saying was definitely true. Akshuller was smacking his lips in regret, and he casually muttered words that could easily provoke anyone into slapping him in the face.
“Do you want to receive them all in continental coins? I could also give you a Reinhardt-guaranteed note of credit if you—” the skinny man started.
However, Akshuller shook his head before the man could even complete his sentence.
Cash was always the best method to withdraw your winnings. Holding so many gold coins in one’s hands had this certain, indescribable allure.
“Please don’t worry about it. I want it all in continental coins.”
“Oh,?all right.” the skinny man nodded and turned around. In short order, Akshuller received a hefty leather pouch. Of course, as usual, the skinny man explained the content of the pouch. “This pouch contains exactly 360 continental coins. Each continental coin is 100 gold at the current market rate. If you want to take a look—”
Akshuller already had a fair guess of the number of continental coins in the pouch before it even arrived in his hands. The moment it landed in his hands, he casually weighed it with his hands and smiled. “The weight is about right. Thank you.”
“...” The skinny man’s poker face finally broke, but he recovered in the proverbial blink of an eye. The skinny man respectfully bowed to Akshuller with the same poker face and said, “Please come again…”
“Iceline, it’s your turn!” Akshuller excitedly said.
However, he was forced to look at Iceline when he noticed that she was silent. No, it wasn’t just her; everyone in the vicinity was silent.
Iceline kept her lips shut as she stared in a certain direction.
“Iceline?” asked Akshuller with a puzzled look.
“There,” replied Iceline while pointing her tiny finger. “What is her name?”
A tall, slender beauty was approaching, accompanied by three men. She stood out. Men were particularly drawn to the curves of her body, but all aspects of the silver-haired, silver-eyed mysterious beauty were jaw-droppingly captivating.
Her presence silenced the crowd as she carved a path in the throng of people. She soon arrived in front of Iceline and Akshuller with a bright smile on her lovely demeanor.
For some reason, Iceline could have sworn that she saw a pair of devilish horns poking out of her hair, but it vanished the moment the young woman approached them with a smile.
“It’s been a long time—Ah! Congratulations on taking over the whole continent, Mister Akshuller!”
The silver-haired woman’s voice awakened Akshuller from his stupor as he awkwardly scratched his head and muttered, “Does every beauty on the continent share the same hobby nowadays?”
“What?” the silver-haired woman tilted her head in confusion. Akshuller shook her head while staring alternatingly between the silver-haired woman and Iceline. “What is the best swordswoman on the continent doing in a place like this? I’m sure gambling doesn’t interest someone like you…”
“Hm? Why wouldn’t I be interested in a place like this?”
Akshuller shook his head. He seemed confident as he responded, “The Lilith Aphrodite that I know would never be interested in a place like this.”
“...!” Iceline’s eyelids quivered the moment Akshuller revealed the silver-haired woman’s name. She had already been suspicious of Lilith the moment Iceline clapped her eyes at her. They were from different countries, so they had never met before, but Lilith was so famous that there was no way Iceline wouldn’t know her name.
Lilith Aphrodite…
Lilith was talented enough to become the best in any field. She was famous even in Avalon, and people often said that she was as talented as she was beautiful.
‘This woman…’?Iceline’s light violet eyes shone beneath the hood of her robe. Unlike Iceline, Lilith walked with her face boldly uncovered. Iceline had seen many famous people in Reinhardt, but she had never seen a famous woman who looked to be the same age as her.
Lilith seemed to have felt her gaze as Lilith’s silver eyes met Iceline’s light violet eyes for a moment.
“Hmm…” Lilith looked at Iceline for a moment. Then, she smiled and said, “Honestly, I can’t say that I’m interested in gambling, but I’m actually interested in something else.”
“What do you mean?” Akshuller asked, seemingly confused.
Lilith nodded and said, “My boyfriend just won and became the Champion of the Reinhardt Masters’ Battle, so it’s just right for me to be happy about his victory as well, am I right?”
“What?!” exclaimed Iceline. Lilith’s words dumbfounded her.
“Boyfriend?” Akshuller’s jaw dropped to the floor as he asked in disbelief, “Joshua is your boyfriend?”
Akshuller genuinely looked like he couldn’t believe that Joshua was Lilith’s boyfriend. Of course, there was no way it could be His Highness Ulabis when Ulabis was twice as old as Lilith. Moreover, His Highness Ulabis had a wife, and he lost to Joshua in the finals.
Akshuller also couldn’t even begin to imagine that Lilith would let herself become a mere concubine considering her prideful nature.
Iceline stared at Lilith in an oddly tense way.
Lilith seemed like she was reveling in the attention as she said with a smile, “Yes, he is.”
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