Chapter 84: Do whatever you want

Cessel didn’t lose a shred of hope hearing that refusal. He’d already assumed as much, that whatever he attempted here wasn’t going to be as simple as it looked on the surface.

Besides, this whole persuasion attempt wasn’t actually his real plan. He had another approach in mind for this.

So, Cessel led the man along with him toward a small restaurant located a fair distance from Canelo Academy.

The man, Julian, glanced around briefly. Cessel had brought him to a restaurant that served plenty of sweets alongside its main dishes.

He and Cessel took a seat not far from the exit. Since both of them were fairly well-known figures on social media these days, Julian and Cessel each wore a hat to cover their faces, avoiding public attention.

’Smells good.’

Julian thought to himself as he glanced around. The air carried a mix of fried food seasoned with perfectly balanced spices, along with the scent of freshly baked pastries.

He savored that scent for a moment, letting the noisy chatter of the restaurant’s other patrons fade into mere background noise.

After that, he spotted a waiter approaching with an order pad.

"Gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?"

Without a shred of hesitation, Julian glanced over the dark-covered menu book resting on the table, took a moment to browse it, then glanced at Cessel, who ordered a cold drink.

After that, Julian said nothing more and simply placed his own order.

Once the waiter left, Julian finally turned his full attention to Cessel, who now watched him with a confident expression, smiling as though he’d already secured exactly what he wanted.

’He looks exactly like a con man.’

Julian felt his stomach churn slightly, watching that predatory smile. He’d genuinely been startled earlier, when the Academy staff member had approached him and said Cessel Mivelo wished to meet with him.

He’d nearly felt his soul leap out of his body. But, fine, Julian had managed to stay fairly composed by now. Besides, it wasn’t like Cessel could actually do anything harmful here, not while they sat surrounded by a crowd of people, right?

Unless the man decided to act recklessly and lose all sense of judgment, Julian was fairly confident he’d be fine.

Beyond that, he’d come out of pure curiosity, what exactly did Cessel actually want, coming to meet him instead of Kina directly?

’Obviously he wants to use me to sway Kina, I’m just curious how he plans to go about it.’

Julian had also considered that if he hadn’t come, something worse might have happened instead, which was ultimately what had made him decide to come along and see exactly how Cessel would try to make his move.

"I won’t bother with small talk, since you don’t seem like the type who enjoys much conversation," Julian looked up, meeting Cessel’s gaze, who’d finally spoken, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What I want to say remains the same. Tell Kina to return to her family, immediately."

Julian didn’t need to think twice before parting his lips. "She doesn’t want to."

"Even if that might end up having serious consequences for you?"

How far would this man actually go for Kina’s sake?

Cessel was confident that no matter how hard this man might fight for Kina, he’d never take things far enough to put his own life on the line.

His smile widened slightly. "Of course, it might be difficult to touch you directly, given your status, especially with so many people watching your every move. I don’t know exactly how you’ve managed to fool everyone, but let’s just say, that trick won’t work on me."

Julian’s brow furrowed internally, genuinely feeling the urge to vomit straight onto Cessel’s face right then and there, thoroughly uncomfortable with that man’s smile.

But there was no way he’d actually let himself do that, so he stayed silent for a moment, forcing down the nausea churning uncomfortably in his stomach.

A flicker of cold sweat broke out hearing that threat. Still, Julian forced his mind to stay calm, as clear as possible, and he could spot plenty of angles worth exploiting right now.

One of them was the simple fact that Cessel was clearly underestimating him. Yes, he was underestimating Julian, who still appeared to be sitting at Rank-E, but in reality, Julian had far more skills than what showed on the surface, along with a mastery level well above what his current rank would suggest.

As long as he handled this carefully, he’d be able to slip through unharmed.

’Or, if it gets too difficult, I could just ask for help.’

But thinking back to what Aveela had told him made Julian realize that would be the wrong move here.

Julian had a problem with the people around him. The fact that he’d been misunderstood everywhere as some extraordinarily powerful master.

Given that, if he asked for protection now, it would shatter every one of those misunderstandings, and the consequences were completely unknown. And besides, what if Julian actually managed to secure protection?

Julian was fairly confident that Cessel wouldn’t immediately act on anything, the man would wait, striking the moment he found an opening.

On one hand, he might be able to ask Aveela for help. But Aveela was one of the pillars, rarely available, the woman was genuinely swamped with responsibilities.

In the end, whether he liked it or not, this was a situation that demanded Julian stay alert and make his own decision here.

Julian didn’t speak a single word for the next few minutes. His silence, in turn, seemed to amuse Cessel greatly.

"I won’t do that," he said suddenly, laughing coldly before adding:

"As long as you’re willing to cooperate, of course."

After that, both of them fell silent as a waiter approached, setting down one cold drink in front of Cessel and an enormous spread of sweets on Julian’s side, along with three additional cups of cold drinks.

Julian studied the sweets for a moment, then glanced at one particular item wrapped in plastic, sitting alongside the three cold drinks.

Once the waiter left, Julian let out a small sigh and looked at Cessel, speaking in a low voice:

"...Do whatever you want."

The sentence was short, but enough to wipe a fraction of the smile off Cessel’s face.

"You understand what you just said, right? No one’s going to protect you here, and don’t think for a second I lack the nerve to follow through."

But Julian simply shrugged. He was done here. So he stood up, lifting the plastic bag with a small smile on his face.

"Goodbye, Lord Cessel."

After that, Cessel was left completely alone. Julian walked out, pushing through the restaurant door and hailing a taxi outside.

Cessel sat frozen there, watching Julian leave, his expression dark, his fist clenching so tight it shattered the glass in his hand, spilling the drink across the table, splattering onto his own clothes as well.

"Haha," he laughed, veins bulging visibly along his forehead. "Since it’s come to this, don’t blame me for what happens next."

By then, Julian was already out of sight.

Cessel sank into his own thoughts. If Julian genuinely wasn’t willing to accept his proposal, then Cessel would simply have to be ruthless about it instead.

He’d just have to follow through exactly as he’d said before.

He pressed his lips together, about to walk off, when a waiter approached him with a long receipt, requesting payment.

"Sir, here’s the total for your bill."

Seeing that, Cessel froze. The entire lengthy bill was filled with everything Julian had ordered. His gaze then drifted to the table, still piled high with untouched sweets and food, not a single bite taken.

"..."

His expression darkened further, boiling with fury, to the point where, for a moment, the air around him shifted, turning bitterly cold, nearly on the verge of snow.

’That bastard...!’

Meanwhile, Julian, having returned to the Academy, found Kina walking toward the cafeteria alongside Ilunia, who appeared to have just finished her own training session.

He handed over the drinks and sweets with a cheerful mood to both Kina and Ilunia.

What Julian had just done meant nothing significant to Cessel, the man could easily afford to pay for it without a second thought.

But still, it felt genuinely satisfying to pull a little prank like that on him. Julian also finally felt a wave of relief, since he’d genuinely been drenched in cold sweat, terrified of getting caught.

Fortunately, Cessel had been far too preoccupied to notice what Julian had actually done.

’Serves him right,’ Julian thought.