"Come on Arabella, we should leave and let them settle down." Andrea ushered.
"Can you give me a few minutes? I have something important to discuss with Alex. If it's okay with you." The last sentence was thrown at Alex.
"Uh, sure. I guess so." He didn't know what she wanted to talk about but he still agreed. "Alright, I will wait for you then," Andrea said and left the patio area.
"I will like to speak to him alone, Camron." She put a bit of emphasis on the word 'alone'. "Oh." He uttered and also left the patio area, he closed the glass doors behind him.
Alex walked to one of the chairs and sat. "What would you like to talk about Arabella, I don't think we have anything in common. Do we?" He raised one of his brows and crossed his legs, putting one over the other.
"No, we don't have anything in common."
"Then what is it you want to talk about." He asked again. Arabella walked to a chair that was opposite Alex and sat. She had her head down, making her hair cover her face.
"I would like to ask you for a huge favor, but before I can ask for the favor I would like to hear your answer to this question."
"You want to borrow ECs from me? If it's that, then I can give it to you, you just need to return it with 2% interest." He immediately concluded.
"No, No it has nothing to do with ECs per se." She refuted his conclusion immediately she heard it.
"Then what it is?" He was very curious now. He had a serious expression on his face as he leaned forward and sat up straight.
"Do you know what Bloodstones are? If you do then do you have any with you?" She whispered, but it audible enough for Alex to make out what she said.
['Bloodstone, what does she want that for?'] Alex thought.
['To eat, what else dummy?'] Al answered sarcastically.
Alex hissed at Al's reply. He placed his hand on his chin. ['What answer should I give her?']
['Make it a hypothetical case.'] Xander suggested.
"Hmm, supposing I know what it is and hypothetically speaking, I have one with me. Is that answer enough for you?"
"I know that bloodstones to the royal family don't mean much, and I also know that they have it in excess. I am not trying to insinuate anything here, I just want to ask for a bloodstone. I would do anything for it, as long as it's not sexual and it won't get me expelled from the school, I need it. Any size would do." She pleaded.
['The royalty thing again. What do I do?']
['Whatever you want, just be wise about it and play your cards right.'] Xander replied.
['Alright.']
"Is this what you are asking for?" He asked the obvious and brought out the red-bloody stone that was the size of a dumpling.
Arabella had her eyes wide open, she looked at it like it was the Holy Grail. The expression of joy and shock was mixed and present on her face at the same time.
'That's a huge bloodstone, I was expecting something a lot smaller, like a pebble.' She slowly stretched her hand so she could touch it, but before she moves any closer to it Alex withdrew it back into his ring.
"First tell me how much a bloodstone of that size is worth and what you plan to do with it. If I am correct, you do not have a bloodline class." He said.
"I I don't know, it's a rare treasure around here. If I had to estimate I would say around 5000 purple HD-ECs for a stone of that size. Even if you do not have a bloodline class you can still use a bloodstone to boost your cultivation just like you do with ECs. Using the bloodstone as a cultivation resource is even faster than ECs for people that do not have a bloodline class. But that is only the case for people without bloodline class."
-Pheww!!!
"That much!?" He whistled and exclaimed. "This stone is worth that much and your body isn't even on the negotiation table, I didn't know that there was a genie in the room."
['That's it, boy. I never knew you were this twisted.'] Al expressed his lewdness, and Alex ignored him refusing to banter with him.
Arabella knew that she had nothing significant to offer except her body, it was what she was most unwilling to do. Now that she had seen the bloodstone she started to rethink her choices. She was now hesitant to let go of the bloodstone more than she was unwilling to offer her body.
'I need the bloodstone to get stronger. The 5-year competition is around the corner and I need to get stronger quickly, if I miss my chance I don't know if I will ever be able to achieve dreams. My dream compared to my body is nothing, my body will live but my dreams can die if I don't get my hands on it.' She had come to a decisive conclusion after she had given it much thought.
"Alright, I will offer you my body but only for a night." She blushed as she said that. She couldn't believe that those words came out of her mouth, she wanted to take them back but knew that it wouldn't be favorable to her plans.
Alex only raised arched an eyebrow in response.
['A night! Only one night!! Woman you must think we are fools!!'] Al was offended by her offer.
"Okay two nights." Her breathing had changed like she wanted to start crying. Arabella's face at the moment was beetroot red. She looked at Alex and saw that his expression didn't have much change to it, only that his eyebrow arched higher.
The tears had started to gather in her eyes, two nights didn't make Alex budge and she decided to increase it again. "Okay fi Five nights or for how long you want it." She swallowed the saliva in her mouth and bent her back forward till her head was resting on her laps as she was seated.
A little sob could be heard in the silence. Arabella couldn't hold her tears back anymore, even as she knew how important the bloodstone was to her at this period she couldn't help but feel like she was giving an important part of herself away in exchange for it.
"Why in any type of hell would I want your body?" Alex rudely stated.
Arabella ceased her sobbing, she didn't know if she was meant to feel happy, sad or insulted. Happy because she wasn't going to be using her body in exchange for the stone. Sad because it was the only thing she had to offer in exchange for the stone. Insulted because her feminine pride just got smashed and stepped on like it was feces.
"Huh?"
"Do you think you are worth a bloodstone?" He rudely asked.
Arabella was too dumbstruck to give a reply.
"Exactly, you are not worth it."
"What Do you want then?" She asked nervously. "A favor in return for a favor. Don't worry, I wouldn't ask for anything that would make you get expelled or anything that has to do with your body. I don't even know what the favor would be at the moment, just know that you owe me a big one. There would be no time limit, the moment I ask for my favor I want it fulfilled with no questions asked no matter how big or small it is. Deal?" Alex had a sinister smile on his face that scared Arabella a bit.
She felt like she was sitting in front of a loan-shark and she was about to be eaten. "Okay, deal." Nonetheless, she accepted it. Alex brought the bloodstone out once more and handed it over to her.
'With this size of bloodstone, I should be able to reach the fifth-rank Nirvana realm.' She felt ecstatic. She smiled and gently accepted it from Alex's hand.
"Remember, you have just made a deal with death. If you refuse to return the favor when it is needed then believe me when I say that you would be killed in the most gruesome ways possible." Alex licked his lips as he threatened her.
Arabella flinched, she started having second thoughts. "Don't worry your highness, I wouldn't dare."
"Please don't call me that on these lands." He sighed used his fingers to rub his eyes.
"Thank you very much. I will never forget this." Arabella expressed her sincerity, she made a promise to herself to not let Alex down.
"Is there anything else?" He asked. "Ah, no. I will be taking my leave now."
"Wait, do not tell anyone about whom you got it from or where you got it from. Don't even speak of it or show it to another person, if not it would bring a lot of unwanted trouble." Alex warned.
"That's true. I have to look for a private place to cultivate with it then."
"You can use this place, there are three rooms in the suite. You can use the third room whenever you want to cultivate it. I will ask the steward to give you access to the room too."
"Thank you very much, Alex. I am deeply in your debt."
['More like the end of you. Girl, you don't know what you have gotten yourself into. Kekeke.'] Al cackled.
['Shut up Al.'] Alex said.