Ragnar found it hard to believe that their family’s bond was enough of a reason to stop them from taking extreme measures. And remembering her reaction to him killing her crew members didn’t help her argument. Were they not family or something?

Although Ragnar doubted her beliefs in her family, he wasn’t about to question her morals or argue on how low people could actually fall.

Instead, he was getting quite impatient as her tale continued. “When does the hotel come into play?” He asked with a visible frown as he took a bite out of his cheesecake. The bite helped his frown relax a bit. but it wasn’t gone. Being done with the main course, he had noticed that they had several options for desserts as well. So, he was going through them one by one.

Aura, who was still sipping on her wine, not having moved past her third cup, said in a nonchalant tone. “Soon-soon, it’s almost here.”

Then without checking his reaction, she continued. “Although they had taken over the leadership of the family, they were still nowhere near our faction when it came to connections and financial resources. So since connections weren’t something they could simply take, they focused on what they could. And Aurora’s Sanctuary was, and is our family’s most prosperous business, for obvious reasons. And they already had me in their hands. Hehehehe…” A self-depreciating chuckle escaped her mouth as she mentioned it. Lowering her head, she emptied the rest of her cup in one gulp, her potential reappearing.

“I made everything so easy for them.” She didn’t notice as a crystalline tear marked a streak across her face. “I was fifteen back then, and Lucian had already emerged as a Walker. So, they argued, that I was too young and naïve to handle such a large business, and leaving it without a leader for such a long time might be detrimental to its growth. So, Lucian, who was going to be my husband anyways, could take care of it for me, since it would still belong to me in this case. And just like that, WITH NO FUCKING LOGIC WHATSOEVER, Aurora’s Sanctuary was transferred to Lucian.” Aura took several long breaths, having said her part. That solitary tear didn’t have any follow ups, just a fierce determination visible in her emerald eyes.

‘And then she says that the Sylvancrests are close knitted. Yea, no shit.’ Thought Ragnar.

Seeing that Ragnar didn’t have any immediate questions, Aura took the liberty to elaborate on her situation a bit. “Since they had used ‘me not being a Walker due to my age when the Centennial Surge came’ as an excuse to make Lucian the heir, now that I am a Walker and the Surge is still nowhere to be seen, I went to the council to confront them about it. And they couldn’t really refuse me directly, since it should have belonged to me in the first place, so they instead settled for sending me on this wild goose chase.”

After saying this, Aura fell silent, tasting a few desserts at random that were still left. She wasn’t really intoxicated from the wine after all, though it had worked wonders in giving her the confidence to let it all out. She suddenly remembered something and picked up the bottle, gesturing at Ragnar to have it.

Ragnar shook his head. He didn’t know why but he didn’t like the thought of consuming alcohol. Of course, it had nothing to do with keeping himself healthy, he doubted even the best alcohol would have any effect on him, he just didn’t want to drink it. Maybe he wanted to have his first drink with someone special, it was just a guess though.

As for Aura’s whole past that she had just poured out…

“Did you also tell them to return this hotel?” He questioned in his ever so casual voice.

Yeah, Aura had long realised that this was all he cared about, and she didn’t really mind since he was still a pretty good listener. Allowing her to vent to her heart’s content without many interruptions. Hence, she couldn’t complain. She wasn’t really telling him all this while expecting something in return.

In fact, she wasn’t sure why she was speaking so much today. She wasn’t even sure why she had had no repulsion towards the fact that they were going to share this suite. Shouldn’t this be something used by friends or family. But she hadn’t even given it a second thought, feeling strangely free from the normal reservations a girl her age should have. Maybe it was the purity in his eyes, which was in wide contrast with the attitude he shows outside. Or the feeling she gets whenever she’s with him, like he’s not like her, or anyone else she’s ever met. She can’t really put a finger on it, but something about him makes him feel… different.

As she was going further down this rabbit hole, an impatient voice pulled her out. “Did you?”

Breaking out of her strange thoughts and remembering what he had asked, she replied melancholically. “Naturally, and they refused at first, saying that it belongs to my future husband anyways so what’s wrong with him keeping it? But when I didn’t relent, they simply added it to the condition of me taking back the title of heir.”

Ragnar nodded and thought through her words for a few seconds. It was quite clear that her family had no intention of returning her anything, neither the position of heir nor the business. Even if they manage to overtake those Avians within the year, things still wouldn’t be so simple. But all these things wouldn’t be able to deter him since he had already made up his mind. “I know what I want from you after you have caught the goose.”

Aura furrowed her brows, slight nervousness visible in her eyes. Countless thoughts ran through her head within a second, it didn’t even take a moment for her to read into his word play, of course. From his timing, it couldn’t be… He wouldn’t ask for the Sanctuary, right? He can’t be that selfish. She couldn’t give this up. She would even be willing to pay the monetary equivalent of this brand over time but she can’t give this place up. And then his words came, leaving her at a loss for words.

“I want one of these suites, all for myself, permanently. You should be able to arrange it, right?”

Aura needed a few seconds to register the absurdity of his statement. And then she chuckled remembering her previous thoughts. She couldn’t help but question him. “Is… that it? Are you sure? You should give it some thought, since this doesn’t even require me to be the head of the family.” She said, since their deal clearly entailed a favour from the head of the Sylvancrests, so will he really settle for just this?

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Ragnar didn’t even take a second to think it over though. “Yeah, I am sure.”

He didn’t know why, but this place had really clicked with him. It wasn’t like he will make it his home, he just wanted to visit anytime he wanted and have… okay, maybe he will make it his home, and although he hadn’t asked the price for booking a room here, he was sure he couldn’t afford this lifestyle with his net worth. Maybe he would be able to in the future, or maybe after just the next trip into the Realm, but having it permanently as the favour didn’t sound so bad.

Aura gave him a small smile. This devil sometimes acted more like a child. “Well, then you can have it even if we fail, I should have that much say in its workings still.” She said in good faith.

However, her words had the opposite of the desired effect. His face turned completely serious as he spoke in a solemn tone. “There’s no need. I will take what I’m owed, I don’t take favours anymore.”

Aura was quite honestly baffled. “Since when!?” And she hadn’t even meant it as a favour, she just wanted him to have it for helping her.

“Since now. You can also return Red to your uncle. I can travel on my own.” He said without skipping a beat. Ragnar had thought long and hard about it, and he found out that he really didn’t like owing favours to people, in fact, he hated it. They just didn’t sit right with him. So, he will only be accepting what he’s owed. And if there’s something he isn’t owed and he still wants it, well then, he’ll just snatch it.

Something new for his code of conduct.

Aura stared at him with a dull look, for the third time just during this dinner. Still not having completely recovered from his words, she asked in passing. “You named him Red?” An unwarranted chuckle escaped her lips but she calmed soon after, thinking about the implications of his words.

Another sigh also wanted to escape her lips but she gulped it down along with another sip of the wine. It was quite sweet. Why did she only notice it now?

Aura was sure that her uncle did not expect anything from Ragnar when he arranged the mount for him. Anyways, knowing better than to argue with him, she could only attribute his actions to having another mood swing, and move on.

“Alright, I will send it back. And you can have the suite after I regain ownership of the place.”

Ragnar grinned. “Hmm, then you don’t need to consider the possibility of failing your task. Since I want this suite, I will have it.” He said, with confidence overflowing from his tone.

Aura smiled as well. Despite his twisted motivations, his words did manage to reassure her quite a bit.

With all the dishes having been emptied, Ragnar mentioned something that he had forgotten during the day. “I also need to get one of those spatial pouches before we leave HCR.”

Aura casually nodded as she said. “We will pass through the Nexarion Terry tomorrow, you can get it there.” As she ended, she suddenly thought of something and continued. “No, on second thought, I’ll tell someone to buy one and bring it here by morning, you can of course, pay them the proper amount.” She thought it necessary to mention the last part since she could already imagine his reaction otherwise.

Aura didn’t like the idea of Ragnar appearing in the middle of the city out of nowhere once again. Now that so many people had seen him using his abilities, it would clear all the fog around the fact that he did have something other than his shockwave ability, which might bring them needless troubles.

Ragnar didn’t mind that arrangement and simply nodded.

Although, they didn’t know that they had once again dashed the hopes and dreams of a certain Arcane Nexarion to have a chance encounter with them in the Trade Union of the Nexarion Terry. After which he would have asked them to join their crew, and Aura would have agreed, considering her circumstances. All that would have eventually led to him registering his name in the annals of history. Alas! It just wasn’t meant to be. Well, even he himself wouldn’t know, so how could they.

Before ending the dinner, Ragnar decided to question her about a few more things that came to his mind.

“How much do you think one of these suites would normally cost if someone were to buy them, with all the features and unlimited food?” He of course had to know in order to justify his own investment.

Aura could understand his intentions at a glance, so even if it wasn’t much, she would have gone through the effort of exaggerating it to satisfy his ego. She was quite satisfied with his attitude during the dinner and also in the lobby today, so this was the least she could do. This said something about him, since simply acting like a normal human had warranted some brownie points for him in Aura’s books.

Albeit in this case, there was no need to exaggerate. “I’m pretty sure that they have never been sold before, people have tried to buy it of course, but they just weren’t for sale. It would be really hard to put a price tag on it, honestly. Let’s do this…” She picked up her Ethlet that was kept on the chair to her side and started typing something. “I’ll ask Sierra how much the dinner we just had would have costed.”

Ragnar nodded, and they both waited for a reply as they sat in silence. Ragnar couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just tell the price of the suite but he didn’t mind since this method would also work perfectly for him.

They didn’t have to wait long as the reply came within seconds. Seeing the reply, even Aura couldn’t help but widen her eyes. She knew it would be a lot but even she had miscalculated it.

“It’s seven hundred fifty thousand enders.”

Another moment of silence hung over the room. Ragnar didn’t need to think any further. He would say it’s a fair deal. Although the stupid grin on his face said otherwise.

Aura couldn’t help but smile as well, the number didn’t cause any fluctuations in her heart. She would have even been willing to give him a share in the brand if they succeeded, but he didn’t ask, so she won’t bring it up either. It was a win-win anyways.

Ragnar, being quite satisfied with the deal he had struck, decided to ask something that really didn’t make sense to him. “You said that your grandmother founded the brand and then your mother inherited it, then they had to be pretty rich, right?”

Aura mechanically nodded, really not liking where it was going

“Then why are you so poor? Did they not leave you any money? Or was it also taken by the Knights somehow?” He knew that she wasn’t loaded since she had mentioned asking her uncle for money, why would a person with her background need to do that.

Aura sighed. This fucker just had to hit where it hurts the most. She would have preferred going to sleep on a happier note. Standing up, she spoke as she started walking towards the stairs. “No, she didn’t leave me any monetary funds, I got the brand and the title of heir.”

He watched her with a frown as she came back to pick up the wine bottle, before she walked off into her room. There goes all his hard earned brownie points.

Ragnar was actually quite surprised by the tone she had said it in. Since her words were filled with pure unadulterated hatred. Though it was quite hard to tell where the hatred was targeted… Her mother? Unlikely … The Knights? Or the person who did receive the monetary funds?

Ragnar wasn’t really interested in who got the money, he just wanted to know why she was poor. Since he had the answer, he stood up, leaving the dishes scattered on the table. They will be leaving tomorrow morning, so they didn’t have to worry about cleaning up.

Entering his room, he freshened up, before falling into the embrace of sleep. No matter how comfortable Earth was, it was hard to top the feeling of sleeping in a bed.