Chapter 422 - 418: The Clown Was Actually Himself

He called out to the manager, his probing gaze darting back and forth between Ethan Sterling and the restaurant manager before he finally asked hesitantly, "What do you mean?"

’Waived? Why was it waived?’

"What ’what do you mean’?" Ethan Sterling retorted.

"What do you mean, ’waived’?"

Ethan Sterling looked at him, a trace of mocking amusement in his eyes. "It means exactly what it sounds like."

Tired of wasting his breath on the guy, Ethan Sterling called to the still-dazed Jameson Stone and Renee Reid, preparing to leave.

But how could the other guy let it go so easily?

’He was supposed to be the one making fun of them, so what was this? Waived?’

"Make yourself clear!" The man blocked Ethan Sterling’s group and turned to interrogate the restaurant manager. "This bottle of wine sells for twelve dollars. I only paid six. Aren’t you going to make him pay the rest?"

The restaurant manager glanced at Ethan Sterling’s expression. Seeing as the young man in front of him was also a high-level member here, he could only offer an apologetic smile. "Rest assured, sir. We will properly record your payment for the damages. You don’t need to worry about the remainder. We won’t ask you to pay anything extra."

Hearing the manager’s words, the young man felt that something was increasingly off.

’This isn’t about paying extra, it’s about the other guy not paying at all!’

"Why doesn’t he have to pay?" the young man asked relentlessly, the belated feeling that he’d been played slowly dawning on him.

The restaurant manager looked at Ethan Sterling again. Only after seeing Ethan give a slight nod did he state the truth. "Because Mr. Sterling holds our Aetherium’s Ultimate Black Gold Card."

"Wh-What card?"

"The Ultimate Black Gold Card!" the restaurant manager repeated.

But the young man suddenly flew into a rage, yelling, "Do you think I’m an idiot? You think this is my first time here? Your highest membership level is the Diamond Card! What the hell is an Ultimate Black Gold Card?"

"Sir, please don’t be angry. It does exist, but there are extremely few of them. Furthermore, the Ultimate Black Gold Card is not available as an upgrade for regular members. What you know is not wrong; the highest tier for regular members is indeed the Diamond Card."

With the manager’s explanation, the young man was instantly dumbfounded.

He stared at Ethan Sterling, a guy who was basically the same age as him. ’He’s the holder of an ’Ultimate Black Gold Card’ here?’

’But... no matter what card you have, you still have to pay for what you consume, right?’

"So a Black Gold Card can just get that six dollars waived?" The young man wouldn’t give up. He had already paid his share!

This time, before the manager could speak, Ethan Sterling cut in softly, "Not only can it waive that six dollars, but all of my expenses here are free."

"What?" The young man’s face was a mask of disbelief.

Seeing his expression, Jameson Stone found it immensely satisfying and snorted, "Because this place belongs to his family!"

The young man froze on the spot, as if struck by lightning.

’So, for this bottle of wine, even if he hadn’t offered to cover the six dollars and had pinned all the blame on that girl, they wouldn’t have had to pay a single cent anyway? It would have just been waived?’

’So he was so immersed in his little game, but in the end, he was the only one who paid the six dollars?’

The bottle was broken, and he was the one who paid for it!

In the end, he was the clown!

The amusement on Ethan Sterling’s face deepened. He had seen through the other guy’s malicious intentions from the start. Anywhere else, he might have gotten away with it.

But this was Aetherium. This was his sister’s territory. He wasn’t going to be taken advantage of here.

"Let’s go," Ethan Sterling said, looking at Renee Reid and Jameson Stone.

"Buddy, are you messing with me?"

Ethan Sterling’s gaze darkened as he looked at the person blocking his way. "I wouldn’t say I’m messing with you. It’s just that your own little scheme didn’t work out."

The guy’s glare was intense, fixed on Ethan Sterling’s face, but in the end, all he could do was swallow his pride and eat the loss.

"Fine. It’s just one bottle of wine. I can afford it."

Hearing this, Ethan Sterling let out a cold snort and, without another glance, sidestepped the guy and walked away.

Jameson Stone also shot the guy a vicious glare. Only Renee Reid kept her head slightly lowered as she passed him.

The young man watched their receding backs for a long moment before letting out a laugh of pure frustration at himself.

Growing up, he had relied on his good family background and doting parents to pull all sorts of pranks like this. Today was the first damn time it had backfired.

’Fine. Ethan Sterling, right? I’ll remember that.’

When Ethan Sterling’s group returned to their table, Renee Reid looked up, her eyes slightly red.

"Ethan, how much is still owed for the wine? I’ll pay it back."

Just because this was Ethan Sterling’s sister’s place, she couldn’t accept a freebie from him with a clear conscience.

"I know what kind of person you are. Don’t worry, I’ll ask."

With that, Ethan Sterling raised his hand and called over the same manager. "What’s the cost price for that bottle of wine?"

"Uh, one moment, Mr. Sterling. I’ll check."

A short while later, the manager returned and whispered a number in Ethan Sterling’s ear. A smile spread across Ethan’s face as he listened. "Thanks. You can get back to your work."

Renee Reid and Jameson Stone saw Ethan Sterling suddenly smile and couldn’t help but exchange a puzzled glance.

"Ethan, what are you smiling about?"

Ethan Sterling grinned. "The manager just told me the cost price of that bottle is between three and four dollars. The price fluctuates slightly depending on the year and batch, but it never exceeds four dollars!"

Jameson Stone’s face lit up. "S-So you’re saying the six dollars that kid paid is already more than the cost of the bottle?"

Ethan Sterling nodded with a smile in his eyes, then turned to Renee Reid. "See? I told you not to worry. My sister didn’t lose any money."

"The price of one bottle is marked up three times?" Renee Reid was a little shocked and also a bit skeptical. "Ethan, you aren’t just saying a lower price so I don’t have to pay, are you?"

"I wouldn’t do that. If I really wanted to trick you, wouldn’t it be better to say it costs five-something? Would that seem more believable to you?" Ethan Sterling explained. "But that’s just how it is. A bottle of wine that costs less than four dollars gets its price multiplied several times just by being sold in Aetherium. For example, the cola here is fourteen times the price you’d find at a supermarket."

Renee Reid: "..."

Jameson Stone breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, Renee, don’t overthink it. Besides, that big sucker already paid up. It was obvious Ethan knew what he was doing and was just trying to tick that kid off. Seeing how smug he was, I really wanted to punch him."

"Exactly. That guy doesn’t care about a few dollars, and he definitely doesn’t care about a bottle of wine. He’s just a jerk who was deliberately trying to mess with you," Ethan Sterling said, cutting to the heart of the matter.

Renee Reid had already felt there was something strange about how the bottle broke. Now that she had calmed down and thought back, it seemed like he really was the one who bumped into her.

Seeing Renee Reid still lost in thought, Ethan Sterling immediately changed the subject. "Should we stop eating? Let’s save some room and go up to the rooftop terrace for some coffee and dessert."

Jameson Stone readily agreed, playing along. "Yeah, great idea! Sweets put you in a good mood. It’ll help get rid of the bad vibes from earlier. Renee, you should eat a lot!"

Renee Reid could see that the two of them were deliberately trying to lift her spirits. Touched, she decided not to be a killjoy and pushed the incident to the back of her mind. "Let’s go!"