Chapter 206

206 Don’t date the crazy one, please! part Hours went by without Athela noticing, time flies by when you’re having fun and that was precisely her case. She didn’t know much about Ryu, he had been rude towards her but she knew full well it was justified. Now she got to know him, she found out he was playful, cheerful and easygoing which really surprised her because the image everyone had about him was that he was this serious, strict and hardworking person that expected a lot from people under his care.

When sun was about to set, Athela finally remembered the motive behind the whole date and she faked a cough before speaking.

“Tell me Ryu, are you truly not interested in becoming a noble?”

“I haven’t put much thought into it really, so far I haven’t met a single noble”

“What about me? what about my cousin?”

“Oh, do you mean your cousin, the one that lured me into the woods and tried to sell my friends into slavery and have me killed or worse? Thinking back on that, I’m not that interested”

“Come on, I’m being serious here. I know what my cousing did was wrong and I’ll have a serious conversation with her, but that’s not what I’m asking you”

“I don’t get it, why are you so stubborn about it? why can’t you just find someone else?”

“You don’t know how it is, as a lady all that was ever expected of me was to find a nice husband, hopefully marrying to money because of the state my house was in. But my father, he was a good man, he never once complained to me for taking sword lessions, for becoming an adventurer and he let me do whatever I wished. He never once complained that I was already past my twenties and had no suitors”

.....

“I still don’t see why did you have to choose me”

“You were a newcomer, someone completely oblivious to Celarent’s history. Even now you still don’t know the powers at work beneath our seemingly peaceful society, yet you showed wealth, wisdom and... charisma. I admit that you didn’t catch my eye at first, but after you made that clever device I knew you were the one. I’m not that smart...”

“You don’t have to say things like that Lady Athela, you are an incredibly talented person”

Ryu attempted to comfort her.

“But you can’t deny my words, I’m stupid, there are lots of things I don’t understand and they all expect so much of me. Being noble is a burden because the fate of so many people rest upon your shoulders and of all things, the heir of house Celarent had to be born stupid. I heard the elder maids all the time, they always compared me to my cousin. They all said that as long as I was able to get a good husband everything would be ok, and since I was beautiful I would have no trouble at all. But that was far from the truth, I never did well in society and most men felt threatened by taking a high level adventurer as their wife.”

Athela started shedding honest tears in front of Ryu, it wasn’t a facade to get him to pity her, yet that’s exactly what happened. Ryu offered her his handkerchief and she dried her bitter tears, still looking at him in the eye.

“Mister Ryu, no, Ryu... I know I look tough and I don’t know the first thing about seducing men”

“Is that why you insisted on talking to me when you were naked that time?”

Athela blushed slightly at Ryu’s remark.

“Well, yes, I don’t know the first think about how men think, they always told me how it was so easy and all I had to do was get naked and wait, but I promise I’ll learn how to satisfy your needs in bed. I’ll let you do anything you want and i’ll learn, I’ll be a good wife, an obedient one and I would never be violent towards you, so you don’t need to worry about that. There’s a lot of things I don’t know, but I’m willing to learn.”

Ryu didn’t know how to reject her without making her cry and Athela took his silence as hesitation and she sweetened the deal even more.

“I’ll give you everything I have and you’ll be able to live a peaceful and luxurious life in the keep. Please, all I’m asking you is to restore house Celarent to its rightful place. I owe this much to my family”

“Well, this is awkward but, I must refuse. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, but I would never get married out of convenience”

“If it’s love you seek, I won’t get in the way if you take other spouses, as many as you want, you can build a harem for yourself for all I care”

Athela pleaded, she did make a convincing case, but Ryu had already made up his mind.

“I’m sorry Athela, I can’t marry you”

Far from giving up, Athela gathered up all of her courage and drew closer to Ryu. She brushed her hair to her back and she whispered in his ear.

“Then how about you give it a try tonight? maybe you’ll change your mind afterwards”

Ryu felt shivers run down his spine, a beautiful woman was whispering such things on his ear, of course he was moved, but then he realized those words were very uncharacteristic of the clumsy Athela he knew.

“Was this Mia’s idea?”

“Wha-what? how did you know? did she tell you?”

“Of course not, but you just confirmed it, what made you think it was a good idea to begin with?”

“Well... she’s a succubus!”

“Did she also tell you that until a short while ago she had never fed from a human?”

Athela was left in a daze, she placed her hand over her chin and pondered for a while before asking.

“Does this mean you don’t do that sort of things with her?”

“I only kiss her so she can sustain herself, we’ve never done it before and since she says she’s never fed from a human, she’s not as experienced as you might expect from a succubus”

Suddenly, Athela felt heat rise to her cheeks, she had been tricked into thinking that following her advice would lead her to her goal, but now she wasn’t as confident as before so she had to utilize her last resort.

“Ryu, listen to this, even if you don’t marry me, if you help house Celarent rise up and retake control over the city, I’ll still give everything I promised”

And so, she made a vow deep in her heart, that it didn’t matter to her if she was to be seen as an outcast by noble society, as long as her house was to rule Celarent, she would give her everything and dedicate her life serving Ryu.

The date ended at dusk with a gentle hug in between them, but things became awkward once Athela noticed a bulge in Ryu’s pants.

“Is that what I think it is?”

She managed to say in a muffled voice.

“N-no! it’s not it!”

The wurm hatchling slithered down Ryu’s pants and fell to the floor, making her sigh after losing her last hope of being able to seduce Ryu.

“Come here pal”

Ryu picked the little wurm and placed it on top of his shoulder and waited until Athela got inside the house and then he rushed towards Bardun’s place, which was where he was currently staying.