NOVEL NEXT Chapter 258 To get something for nothing
Chapter 258 To get something for nothing
"Dragon... Shadow? What does 'Dragon Shadow' refer to, Lord Felix?"
Vanessa, well-trained, was indeed very flustered at the moment. However, she wouldn't be easily tricked into revealing any information.
Yes, although Vanessa was quite certain in her heart, she still hadn't confirmed if "Lord Felix" was indeed the king's illegitimate child.
In response to Vanessa's counter-question, Felix's face wore a composed smile. His piercing gaze seemed to peer into Vanessa's heart.
"Miss Vanessa, I'm referring to your most coveted 'Dragon Shadow'."
"Lord Felix, you really do have a sense of humor. I don't even know what 'Dragon Shadow' is. How could I possibly covet it?"
Vanessa continued to play dumb. Her organization, "Hidden Dragon," had a strict confidentiality requirement. Unless she could confirm that the other party was indeed Darmodar Das III's illegitimate child, she couldn't let any outsider know about the organization's affairs.
At present, Felix was merely toying around with the concept of "Dragon Shadow".
Although Vanessa was eager to find the Dragon Shadow, she still maintained her basic sense of reason.
"You've answered quite well. However, I'm not your superior in the 'Hidden Dragon', so I won't reward you." Felix breezily threw out another keyword: Hidden Dragon.
First was "Dragon Shadow," then "Hidden Dragon." In Vanessa's view, Felix was just one step away from spelling out the whole affair of the organization - these were their two most important secrets!
Whether it was the organization's name, Hidden Dragon, or the codename for the illegitimate child, Dragon Shadow, all these were the organization's top secrets that were strictly forbidden from being disclosed to outsiders. Now, with Felix mentioning them one after another, Vanessa even felt the organization's security was at risk.
— (It's really strange. Why does Felix know about these?)
— (Isn't he a wild Dragon Shadow?)
— (Could it be...?)
.
"Hidden Dragon? What is Hidden Dragon? Lord Felix, your words are becoming increasingly incomprehensible to me."
Vanessa continued to maintain her professional demeanor amidst the guesswork.
However, it seemed that Felix had grown tired of this cat-and-mouse game.
"Miss Vanessa, let me be frank with you."
Felix seemed to see through Vanessa's feigned ignorance, elevating the conversation to a higher level.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them to less than a meter. At such a close range, Vanessa could even see Felix's long eyelashes clearly.
"Miss Vanessa, I'm not just any Dragon Shadow. I am a Dragon Shadow who is currently being hunted down. My original partner has died, and the organization has not yet arranged for a new partner for me. Just now, I was actually testing you, trying to see if you were the new partner sent by the organization. But it seems that you're not... That is to say, you are indeed a member of the organization, but you are seeking the Dragon Shadow of your own volition. Am I right, Miss Vanessa?"
Felix's words finally broke through Vanessa's last line of defense. To her ears, everything that had been unreasonable tonight became reasonable after Felix's frank disclosure.
However, there was still one last thing that Vanessa didn't understand.
"Lord Felix, from the beginning, you have continuously insisted that I'm a member of that organization. I hope you can provide some evidence and not arbitrarily assign me a strange identity."
If Felix could even explain this matter to Vanessa's satisfaction, she would truly be left speechless.
.
What Vanessa did not expect was that Felix would respond to this question almost instantly.
"What more evidence do you need? Your actions have been quite evident, haven't they?"
Looking at Felix's expression that read 'Isn't it obvious?', Vanessa was puzzled.
"Obvious? What have I shown?"
Felix did not beat around the bush but rather directly articulated his reasoning.
Firstly, Felix appeared to be a commoner, and it was rather peculiar for a lady of Vanessa's stature to overlook the class difference between nobility and commoners and actively seek to make Felix's acquaintance.
Secondly, Vanessa was too hasty, prematurely addressing Felix with the respectful 'Lord Felix,' which was uncharacteristic for a young lady of her station.
After pondering, Felix concluded that Vanessa's attentiveness towards him could only mean one thing - either she had seen through his identity as the Dragon Shadow, or she was the next partner sent by the organization.
"Miss Vanessa, wouldn't you say that these signs are quite clear?" Felix queried.
After hearing Felix's deduction, Vanessa could no longer feign ignorance and had to admit that she was indeed a member of the 'Hidden Dragon'.
.
"Lord Felix, as expected of the Dragon Shadow, truly exceptional."
"Then, I would ask you to get to the point, Miss Vanessa."
Vanessa nodded, now that the conversation was open, it was time to change her fate.
Vanessa frankly stated that she had not been assigned a Dragon Shadow yet and had minimal influence within the organization.
The reason she approached Lord Felix was to confirm whether he was indeed the Dragon Shadow - if so, she planned to bypass the organization's rules and directly form a partnership with Lord Felix.
"You're quite bold, Miss Vanessa... You're not afraid that I might reject you and report your rule-breaking behavior to the Hidden Dragon?"
At this, for the first time in the conversation, Vanessa genuinely smiled.
"Lord Felix, you do enjoy a good joke. If you had such intentions, our conversation would not have progressed this far."
With this simple statement, Vanessa complimented Felix's intelligence and hinted that she had understood the situation.
Vanessa's statement successfully transitioned the conversation from a "mutually probing adversarial relationship" to a "collaborative relationship seeking mutual benefit".
As Vanessa had hoped, Felix indeed did not outright deny the possibility of collaborating privately.
However, this exceptionally talented Dragon Shadow, Felix, did not seem so easily persuaded.
.
"Miss Vanessa, to be honest, I'm not very satisfied with 'Hidden Dragon'. The abilities of its members are uneven, and working with you no longer attracts me..."
Felix didn't finish his sentence, indicating to Vanessa that his "conditions" were about to be stated.
Vanessa was not a naive young girl. She knew that Felix would be willing to cooperate with her out of self-interest.
The question was to what extent their interests could overlap.
"However, if you could help me with 'one thing', I might consider cooperating with you for a while."
Since the conversation had reached this point, there was no reason for Vanessa not to ask, "Could you please explain what this 'thing' is?"
At this moment, Felix shifted his gaze from Vanessa's face to the three doe spirits at her feet.
After observing them for a few seconds, he told Vanessa, "I would like to borrow the power of the 'Holy White Deer'."