Chapter 100 Test Of Character

*Sip*

Taking a sip out of his teacup, Arvell looked at the boy sitting before.

"So you must be the boy who saved Zen! Arvell was it?"

The boy flashed Arvell a friendly smile.

Arvell smiled lightly in response.

"James Verlice, I presume? Angela told me a lot about you."

James's eyes went wide as his cheeks reddened slightly.

Looking away, he began to scratch the back of his neck.

"W-what did she say?"

'He can't make his feelings any more apparent; he's like a child.' Arvell thought to himself.

'At least he's honest with his heart. Let's see just how well you fare when you fall in love. Don't forget… You're still a child yourself,' Lykos countered.

'I'm not that emotional of a person, as if I would fall head over heels like that.'

'Let's see.'

Throwing Lykos's words to the back of his mind, Arvell focused his attention back on James.

"Every time you were so much as mentioned, her face turned red like a tomato."

A small smile formed on James's mouth.

"Is that so…"

"She even chased Zen all over the house after he teased her."

James's expression changed when Arvell mentioned Zen's name; however, Arvell was too distracted to notice.

'Heh… I got my revenge like I promised. Let's see how you deal with that, Angela!' Arvell internally smiled with a mischievous grin.

She had caused him to almost get smothered to death by Lienna!

Furthermore… she also caused him to leave the bathroom before his skin could adequately heal.

Arvell couldn't just use Nether to heal it since he was using that same Nether to strengthen it.

He needed to let them heal without using his Nether manipulation abilities, and Angela's interference obstructed this process.

While he was fine now, it caused him needless pain and hardships.

Noticing that James had fallen silent, Arvell looked at him with a scrutinizing look.

It was about time he shed some light on the elephant in the room.

"So… Why did you want to meet me in private?"

After exchanging pleasantries with the Silvercolt family, while making sure to spend a little more time with Angela, James asked to talk to Arvell privately.

The Silvercolts were confused with this proposition, but before they could say anything, Arvell accepted his proposal.

While Wilfried and Lienna were caught off guard by the series of events, it wasn't like they could stop the two from talking if they wanted.

Angela and Zen didn't say anything either, thinking of it as a good chance for the two to get to know each other.

On the other hand, Reyna returned to her family the same day Arvell left to partake in the entrance examination.

Since she had not come to the capital in a while, she needed to pay a few visits to her relatives, her parent's acquaintances, and business partners.

She wanted to see Arvell yesterday, but Wilfried asked her to hold off until Arvell was feeling better.

Peace and quiet were something that helped the most in the recovery process.

If only the other people in his house realized this…

As James's family chatted with the Silvercolts, Arvell led James to one of the many unused lounges that peppered the expansive manor.

That's how they ended up in the current scenario.

James took a sip of the tea that the maids had brought earlier.

Closing his eyes, James savoured the exquisite taste of the tea leaves, along with their aromatic fragrance.

The Silvercolts only had the best of the best.

They had to keep up appearances as a ducal family, after all.

"I wanted to test what kind of person you were. That's all."

Arvell sighed to himself.

"I thought as much. I would also be wary if some stranger got close to the people I care about."

James let a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for not taking this the wrong way. I never meant to make you feel like I don't accept you or anything like that. If anything, I'm extremely thankful you saved Zen."

Arvell lightly smiled in response.

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There were many times Arvell wanted to abandon Zen, but… he kept that to himself.

Arvell looked James dead in the eyes.

"So… What do you want me to do? Some kind of trial?"

James brought his fingers to his chin, seemingly deep in thought.

"You know… I didn't think that far. I expected to gauge what kind of person you were from talking to me. But… I can't even get a read on you at all. Hmm…"

James's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at Arvell with a look that didn't do much to hide his visible excitement.

"I know! How about you tell me how you want me to test you?"

Arvell, who was calmly sipping tea, was caught off guard, causing him to almost choke on it.

"Urk!"

'I don't know if he's smart or a fool. He's trying to gauge what kind of person I am by seeing how I would try to convince him of my intentions.'

'I think he's the latter; he seems like the honest-yet simple type. Those types typically don't overthink things too much.'

'Hmmm… If it's like that… I have the perfect solution.'

Arvell's smile curved up into a crazed grin.

"You see… My philosophy is that a person's true nature comes through their actions. So no matter how many sweet things they say or how many times people say they care for you, in the end, if they cast you away without a second thought… That bond was never real."

Arvell clenched his fist hard under the table, to the point where his nails dug into his fleshy palm.

James's eyes blanked for a moment as he processed Arvell's words.

"I guess… That is true. I agree with the statement that a person's true nature comes through their actions. But how do you propose to show this?"

Arvell raised one of his fists and brought it down hard on the table.

It wasn't strong enough to break the table, but it rattled the teacups and mini saucers.

"How about we fight?"

***

AUTHORS NOTE:

WE DID IT!

We finally hit 100 chapters!

When I started writing this as a pet project, I expected myself to get bored of writing and go read some manga or web novels instead.

However, the more I wrote, the more I became invested in the story of RAAN, to the point where I wrote 5 chapters worth of just plot notes.

It had unknowingly become something precious, almost irreplaceable for me, and having all of you join me on this journey is something I am incredibly thankful for.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me as an author, and I hope you continue to support me in the future.

Ps. On a side note... I set a goal to hit 1k subs by 100 chapters. I am so happy to say we crushed it! We hit 1.6k collections!

- Sleepy Slime