Chapter 237: You sure you wanna put a ring on that?
‘If this becomes more of a trend in the future, I’m learning how to read tarot cards or bugging Pathos on making me a handheld.’
=No anachronisms outside of the Library!=
Zhen Hai and Zhen Liu were currently sitting inside of a parlor room on the Corrada Family estate, with the former looking rather tense and nervous, with the latter looking tad bored.
‘Well…at least the decor doesn’t look like it came from a horror show…minus the plants.’
Unlike the Marquis de Howlite’s palor room, which was a bit larger, had decorations and art pieces straight out of a gothic era horror novel and had a generally icky vibe, the Corrada’s parlor was a tad cozier and had a more…victorian vibe. Except for the decorative plants that looked as if they would eat his fingers…strike that, definitely would eat his fingers.
While idly observing the plants, he saw a small fly land on one that had a funky purple and yellow color scheme. The fly melted into sludge that was quickly absorbed into the plant, the moment it landed.
The sight made him a tad queasy, so Zhen Liu wracked his brain for something to distract him from the sight. He settled in awkward conversation for the sake of clarity.
“Hey, Zhen Hai? Why are you proposing to Gianna?”
“Huh?,” the aforementioned subject went as he looked at Zhen Liu with confusion. He was a little surprised that Zhen Liu decided to ask this question now of all times, instead of…literally any time before now. Regardless, he might as well as continue this dialogue
“Why? What, you don’t think I’m good enough for her?,” Zhen Hai asked with mild sarcasm.
“No, I am saying she is arguably one of the most dangerous women in Stone Claw City and that’s without the reputation of the Corrada Family,” Zhen Liu answered back. “She could literally make your death look like an accident in a second. With a cup of tea no less.”
“Pfft. All exaggeration,” Zhen Hai defended, “you of all people should know how crazy rumors get. Didn’t you hear the ones floating around when people thought you were dead?”
“Fair enough…,” Zhen Liu conceded while thinking back on all the manwhore rumors.
The funny/sad part was that Zhen Liu wasn’t exactly wrong either.
While the “current” Zhen Liu didn’t really know Gianna, “past” Zhen Liu did…well…partially. He knew the rumors, and there were a lot of them.
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Gianna Corrada was the only daughter of Telana Corrada, was the foremost Scion of the Corrada Family and was known for being…passionate.
On more than one occasion, she had been courted or courted others in what could br described as “affairs of the heart so hot that the desert was cold in comparison”. Unfortunately, this passion had a tendency to…backlash, especially when the person that Gianna had sunk her teeth into happened to wrong her in some way, shape or form.
While the details were fuzzy, hell Zhen Liu wasn’t even sure if they were true, there were enough rumors and questions that made him and several others a bit apprehensive about Mistress Corrada.
The first and most popular involved a travelling playboy who had managed to sneak into the young lady’s heart with silver tongue and, supposedly, “magic fingers”. When the obvious happened and he cheated on her,multiple times, the man’s silver tongue was suddenly missing and the man’s fingers were horribly broken…with a missing pinky to boot. Nobody knows what happened to him afterwards, but rumors either pinned him as dead or at least avoiding Stone Claw like the plague.
The second was that involving a young lady from a family of famous dancers. The details on that little tryst as fuzzy to say the least, but on the plus side she didn’t get injured. She did however join a convent and became a hardcore nun. When people asked her what happened that led to this sudden religious born again moment, all she would say was the word: “spiders”.
Lastly was this loud brute of man, which…okay that had no mystery or intrigue behind it. She just literally smashed the man’s head into the ground for everyone to see. This was one of the few times Zhen Liu agreed with the result.
Regardless, as a result of all these affairs and then some, Gianna had developed the reputation of being akin to a wild rose, covered in self-immolating toxins.
And for whatever reason, Zhen Hai wanted to put a ring on that finger.
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‘In retrospect, it could very much been all Telana’s doing in order to “protect” her daughter…except for that last incident,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he thought back on the core he acquired from the Corrada’s matriarch.
In the interim between getting ready and getting here, Zhen Liu had the opportunity to analyze his new desire core.
Anything called [-Floating- Core of Toxic Control] was probably not a good thing, or at least it would definitely require more specific materials.
But back to the matter at hand, the fact that this was the most prevalent desire he could extract from Telana, especially an [Unusual] one, was probably an indicator for more nefarious things than he initially perceived.
“Besides,” Zhen Hai began to say while turning ever so slightly red, “the fact that she can kick my ass is…part of the reason why I like her so much. Her passion and willfulness is intoxicating.”
Zhen Liu looked at his cousin with surprise at this confession. Then again…kinda made sense that the battle hungry maniac would want someone that matched his passion.
‘Or maybe Gianna is sweeter and calmer than first impressions indicate?’
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=I believe the correct term here is ‘masochist’, Logos. But on a side note, it kinda makes sense for him to fall for Gianna.=
=Our lord’s mother is a scary strong willed woman, our lord’s grandfather was married to a scary strong willed princess, and our lord is currently dating someone who if I recall correctly, punched him in the stomach after coming back from the dead before crying in his arms in abrupt about face. Based on the data alone, it’s in his family’s blood to desire strong women. Whether or not this is also the case for the greater Zhen Clan is up to debate, or at least when we finally get to visiting them on Roaring Tide.=
<...are you implying our lord would basically buckle over backwards if an amazonian woman just...claimed him?>
=Possibly.=
‘Silence from the peanut gallery!’
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“I apologize for keeping the two of you waiting, there was a small logistical issue that had to be addressed before I could come and greet you two properly.”
“Not at all Miss Corrada, you look as lovely as ever.”
“I should hope so.”
Shortly after receiving the answer as to why Zhen Hai was attempting to propose to Gianna Corrada, the aforementioned lady herself entered the room, dressed in a lovely purple dress complete with a small hat.
‘Southern belle asthethic…wait…I think the technical term would be Golden Horns lady look?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself.
Shortly after Gianna arrived, Matriarch Telana Corrada entered the room as well, also in a purple dress, but hers was a tad more regal in comparison to Gianna’s dress.
For all intents and purposes, Telana Corrada looked to be the perfect picture of a clan matriarch, but if one were to observe closely, they would notice little details that suggest otherwise.
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=Depends.=
=The actions of our lord.=
