The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 120: A Proposition

Chapter 120: A Proposition

Dani paced back and forth at the private study where Abel’s servant had told her to wait. She wanted to have a private word with him, so she went straight into his residence instead of doing the usual method of actually telling him beforehand. As such, she simply had someone inform the Chancellor about it as soon as the meeting in the throne hall had wrapped up.

Showing some hospitality, the servant that was accommodating her served her some snacks.

"That’s a surprise." Dani raised an eyebrow as she unknowingly voiced out, "I didn’t think that a pure vampire Curb like the Chancellor would have human food."

"The Chancellor is someone very considerate, milady," the servant smiled slightly. "While he doesn’t enjoy human food, he still wants the kitchen to buy it for all his servants in this residence who enjoy them."

Dani simply smiled at the servant who curtly bowed at her before leaving.

"Hah, considerate? I doubt that!" she scoffed as grabbed a grape and put it inside her mouth. "As if that man can even think of such a concept."

"I am indeed considerate, don’t you think?"

Dani let out a cough as she inadvertently swallowed the whole grape she was eating. Abel just announced himself in the worst possible way. She didn’t think he was already here, so one can imagine her surprise when she heard his voice sounded from behind.

For a brief second, she choked on her own surprise before Abel quickly offered her a glass of water. "Here."

Taking the glass, Dani quickly took a drink to clear her throat. Swallowing eagerly, she let out a sigh as she finally felt her airways clear up.

"Feeling better?" Abel chuckled.

Dani closed her eyes as she did her best to ignore his teasing. Instead, she let a few beats of silence pass as he allowed him to simply stand there and wait. Unfortunately for her, she watched as Abel sat in front of her, his arms and legs crossing as he waited for her to speak.

Blinking, she took another sip of her drink before promptly composing herself. She then cleared her throat before speaking. "Nothing happened between us, so there’s no need for us to proceed with the marriage," she insisted. "Gossip will die down in time. We simply have to weather the storm and we’ll be fine."

There was no way that she won’t try anything that’ll somehow make this marriage not happen. She refused to get married to this man!

"No. We’ll proceed as I said, Dani," Abel directly stated. "You don’t have a say on this Dani. You don’t even have any recollection of what happened last night." He raised a brow as he asked, "Tell me, why are you even against it? Do you have someone special in your life right now?"

"No, but that doesn’t mean that I’d agree to this ridiculous thing of marrying you!" Dani exclaimed. "I’m a mage, and I have basic knowledge of human anatomy, so I know perfectly well that nothing happened between us last night!"

To her surprise. Abel only smirked at her words. The man was obviously doing things on purpose to annoy her. Why? He was planning something, but she didn’t know what...

"Hmm... How about a proposition?"

"Huh?"

Dani narrowed her eyes at Abel, her mind whirring as the possibilities filtered into her head. A proposition?

"You see, Queen Mother won’t let things slide by so easily," Abel smugly hummed. "I know her enough to know this, Dani. How about we just let things happen and do what she wants? I mean, I’m sure you don’t have plans to leave the Queen, right? You want to stay with her for the rest of your life. Am I correct?"

"Just go straight to the point, will you?" Dani gritted her teeth.

"I’ll provide you with everything you might need. I’ll give you a name and a good title while also being the Chancellor’s wife," he nonchalantly shrugged. "You’ll practically have access to anything you want here in Valcrez. Also, if you’re that uncomfortable with being my wife, then we can just simply be a couple by name. I won’t force you into anything. I’d even set you free the moment you find someone you like..."

"Set me free? Is that even possible once you’ve already marked me during the Coupling Rites?!" she incredulously questioned. "Isn’t that the same as me being yours for the rest of my life?"

It was just impossible even while she was hearing it. Everything Abel just said to her didn’t make any sense. Being in a relationship, even if it was just by name, was the last thing Dani wanted!

"You’re a mage, right? Can’t you just cast a spell so that the binding of the Rites won’t be permanent?" Abel casually asked. "I’m sure you Ebodians have all the means to make even the most controlling of spells be undone."

"It’s not as easy as you just said it would be," Dani growled. "First off, magic doesn’t work like that. And second, just because you think it’s possible doesn’t mean it is."

Well, technically, it was possible, but there was no way that she’d say that to him. And she wasn’t even lying that magic didn’t work just because they wanted it to work. If she wanted to do the ritual to undo the Coupling Rites, she was estimating that she’d need at least half a year of work to be done in preparation for it. Assuming that she wouldn’t have any help, that was far too long for her to even want to do it.

And the worst part was that it didn’t even take into account all of the ingredients and reagents she needed to even do the spell in the first place.

"Oh, I’m sure a mage of your caliber already has an idea of what I’m talking about," Abel smugly scoffed. "I can see it in your eyes already, you know?"

Dani blinked. Surely, he was just bluffing. "You don’t know that. Didn’t you say that I was the mage between the two of us?"

"And that means that you’re the one that knows exactly what I’m talking about," he pressed with a teasing smile. "Also, don’t think that I haven’t thought this through. I’ve read a few books about spells, and there’s an obscure ritual that can make even the most binding of rituals useless."

She narrowed her eyes. Was he saying what she was thinking he was saying? "And what exactly is that spell?"

Dani was expecting him to still be bluffing. Instead, he actually pulled out a book from behind him. Staring at its cover, her eyes widened the more she stared at it.

Was he going through her things without her permission?!

"Where did you get that?" she accusingly questioned.

"From the palace library?" Abel scoffed as he waved. "What? Do you think I was going through your things somehow? Do you own a copy of it as well?"

Dani blushed in embarrassment as she sank into her seat. Did he really get that book from the palace library? But that book was as rare as she thought they’d go...

"As I was saying... It says here that there’s a spell that can make binding rituals temporary if done before the Coupling Rites were completed," Abel pointed out as he opened the book in front of her. "It even says that it’s fairly easy to do. It’s just tedious enough that not a lot of people do it."

"That’s... exactly what I was thinking," she shook her head in resignation.

"So that’s that," Abel chuckled. "With that spell in place, we can do the Coupling Rites and I can let you go once you find yourself the love of your life. I won’t even care if you say you hate me afterwards. I’m a man of my word, and I’ll do exactly what I say."

She rolled her eyes as she fell into deep thought. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but just think of accepting his offer if only to make this whole thing stop being a problem. Sure, she didn’t care about the rumors, but the possibility of it damaging her Queen’s reputation was still something she had to consider.

There were also some merits to being married to the Chancellor of the Valcrez Kingdom. She could gain access to even more information that could help her liege, and she’d even have the freedom to break away should things get too uncomfortable for her...

And that wasn’t to mention the spell she had controlling him still...

"You know what? Fine. Let’s get married."

"So you’re-"

"But first, I order you to never lie to me," Dani cut him off with a pointed stare. "You’ll keep to your word you just offered, and you won’t impede on my freedoms should I deem your actions as such."

"Yes," Abel droned out before he seemingly broke free from her spell as he glared at her. "Hey now. You didn’t even need to do that."

"I’m just covering my bases," she scoffed as she stood up. "It’s also a reminder that if you ever try to pass something under my nose in this arrangement, I won’t hesitate to fully control you."

"Your word is loud and clear, Lady Dani," Abel sighed.

Shaking her head, Dani stepped forward and offered out her hand. Likewise, Abel did the same and they both shook hands. She could only hope that she did the right thing...