Yes, Lady Funina!

— Pulling.

Just as Frynn was tricked into using Flash, Ignite, Exhaust, and Silence by Richard's maneuvering, Clarinde finally finished dealing with the peacocks surrounding her. After noticing Frynn's unusual behavior, she looked at Richard with a probing expression.

Richard, however, said calmly, "Lady Funina is not a good drinker."

Claude understood.

It seems that Lady Funina has been tricked by Richard again today.

Then she noticed Richard looking at her with a half-smile, and her heart tightened.

Lady Funina's turn is over; it's her turn now.

Volume 1: Chapter 110 Are there still experts?

"How's the chat going? Did you find anyone you like?" Richard teased.

Clarinde's eyes held a hint of resentment. Having seen gold and jade, why would she be tempted by scrap metal?

Moreover, those so-called young talents clearly haven't exercised in a long time. They may have abs, but they're all the same size. And most of them are not young either, mostly over thirty. They also speak in a very greasy way. Clarinde doesn't like them, but due to social etiquette, she still has to spend time dealing with them.

"I'll change back into my old clothes for the next banquet," Clarinde thought.

Sure enough, no sooner had Clorind left than some guys, blinded by her beauty, followed her, feeling quite pleased with themselves.

However, he dared not approach Funina out of respect for her dignity and social etiquette. Instead, he patiently waited with his wine glass in hand, thinking to himself that he was being very gentlemanly and that the beauty would surely be moved by him.

Little did anyone know that the beauty was currently thinking about chest muscles, abdominal muscles, and all sorts of muscles...

Richard also noticed that as Clarinde arrived, the proportion of men among the people around her gradually increased, and the focus of the banquet gradually shifted towards her.

He glanced at Furina beside him and noticed that she seemed to still be in shock from the earlier scuffle, looking rather dazed. After a moment's thought, he asked Klorind, "Is there anything else?"

Claude was stunned. So you mean you want me to leave?

Richard, on the other hand, took it for granted. With so many eyes on him, how could he continue operating Fryna if he didn't get rid of him?

Richard had initially considered teasing Claudia, but seeing so many people, he decided against it and kindly reminded her, "There's a ball later, have you found a dance partner yet?"

Claude was stunned again. Seeing her expression, Richard laughed and said, "Didn't you arrange everything at the banquet? Didn't you know?"

It was indeed arranged by Clarinde, but she never intended to go up and dance herself. You could say it was a duel for honor, but dancing was really a bit of a challenge for this duel agent.

In the past, Clarinde's aloof demeanor and lack of formal attire made her very inconspicuous at banquets, so almost no one would invite her.

Given the current situation, even if Clarinde still harbored some hope, she knew that the ball later that evening would be the most troublesome time of the night.

Thinking of this, Clarin looked at Richard expectantly, hoping that he could save her from her predicament.

Richard noticed Clarinde's gaze and gestured towards a corner of the banquet hall. Following Richard's direction, Clarinde saw Lynette quietly enjoying her tea.

When Lynette saw Clorind looking at her, she waved her spoon-holding hand in a friendly gesture as a greeting.

Richard's meaning was clear: he already had a dance partner and couldn't help.

As for Furnessa, she usually doesn't participate in the ball; she's the one who watches from the sidelines, and occasionally she'll act as a judge to select the star of the night.

After all, given her status, even the most clueless person would know that inviting Lady Funina to be his dance partner is an impossible task; Lady Funina would never agree.

Claude thought Richard was just using Lynette as an excuse to make a fool of her, since a ball usually involves several dances, so a dance partner can't be just one person.

Richard could have danced with her first, and then gone to dance with Lynette. This way, Clarinde could have used the excuse that she was tired after dancing a dance to refuse those peacocks.

“Then wait until you and Lynette finish dancing…” Clorind attempted to book a time slot.

But Richard sighed and said, "We've already skipped one song, so I must have been exhausted by then."

Clorinde: ...

Oh no, he's already said all the words.

However, Clarinde is no longer the same as before; her mind works incredibly fast, and she came up with a solution almost instantly.

She knows Richard doesn't like the limelight, so how would you respond if she publicly invited him to dance?

Mr. Richard, you don't want to be the center of attention at the banquet, do you?

After all, compared to Clorind inviting him to dance, dancing with Clorind at the beginning of the ball would still attract attention, but at least it wouldn't be as conspicuous. It could be used as an excuse that the arrangement was made before the banquet even started.

Clarin conveyed her meaning to Richard in a subtle way.

“Clorind, I think you seem to have misunderstood something,” Richard said calmly.

"What is it?" Clarinde was not flustered when she saw Richard; instead, she looked at him with a half-smile.

She was all too familiar with that expression; Richard would always make that face whenever he was plotting against her or had some task to assign her.

"I just don't like being the center of attention, but that doesn't mean I can't be the center of attention. Besides, even if you invited me, I could refuse. Rather than accepting, I think my refusal is what more people would like to see."

Richard is right. It's like your crush confessing their feelings to someone else. As the pursuer, would you rather the person accept the confession or reject it?

I believe that most normal people, unless they are hopelessly devoted sycophants, would prefer the latter.

After Richard refuses, will everyone wonder why he refused, or will they hurry up and ask Claude to dance?

Claude clearly realized that she had been somewhat presumptuous; if Richard were so easily manipulated, he wouldn't be Richard.

This gave Clorinde a headache. Maybe she should just refuse outright. After all, she wasn't looking to find a partner anyway, and she didn't need to give these people any face.

After all, she was not only the strongest dueling agent, but also Funina's personal secretary. No one could force her to dance against her will, whether in terms of strength or status.

Well, Richard doesn't count, because if it were Richard, Claude thinks she would be quite happy to dance with him.

After all, dancing inevitably involves physical contact, and when women dance, they usually hold their male partner's hand with one hand and place the other hand on his chest.

Even though there were several layers of clothing between us, at least we could touch it, right? We could at least get a feel for the texture beforehand, just like eating cake wrapped in a plastic bag.

The phrase "to quench thirst by looking at plums" is an example of this.

Richard glanced at Clarinde, who was clearly lost in thought, and couldn't help but sigh. The morale was low, and the team was hard to lead.

Clorinde is getting harder and harder to fool. Now she's even threatening him and has her eyes on his body.

To be honest, Richard could clearly feel that ever since the day Clarinde saw his body, she had been looking at him much more often, and the way she looked at him was similar to how the men at the banquet were looking at Clarinde.

It is full of longing for beautiful things and possessiveness.

This made Richard somewhat emotional. Living a long life really does allow you to see all sorts of things. It wasn't that he had never been pursued by women, but most of them were because of his looks, abilities, money, and power. This was the first time he had ever seen someone like Clarinde who was solely focused on physical attraction.

Take Lynette and Frynn for example. They both like Richard as a person. In their eyes, appearance is a bonus rather than a requirement. Even if Richard is not good-looking, they will still like him after spending time with him.

Unlike Claude, she simply liked Richard's body. Before she saw or noticed Richard's physique, Claude's attitude towards Richard was clearly that of a friend, and she never overstepped the bounds.

Upon seeing Richard's physique, this guy seemed to have some strange switch flipped, clearly wanting to elevate their friendship.

After all, touching chest muscles, abs, biceps, etc., is obviously not something that normal friends of the opposite sex would do.

Before long, the ball began. Richard politely and skillfully declined the offers of many ladies and took Lynette's hand to indicate that he already had a dance partner.

Lynette obviously couldn't show weakness at this moment, so she changed her usual energy-saving mode and said a few more words than usual when she replied.

Richard was very popular, while Claurind's place was even more bustling with activity. Many gentlemen enthusiastically invited Claurind to dance, and some even stood up their dance partners to come and fawn over her, only to be caught red-handed and cause quite a few laughs.

Clarinde didn't waste any words with these guys. She directly rejected all the invitations, stating that she couldn't dance and didn't want to dance, and asked the gentlemen to focus their attention on other ladies.

Seeing Clarinde's resolute attitude, the peacocks expressed their understanding and immediately planned to show off their skills on the dance floor, hoping that a good dance might win the beauty's favor.

It's unlikely they'll treat her differently, since Clarinde's gaze has never left one person since the ball began, and the same goes for Frynn.

As Funina watched Richard dancing gracefully with Lynette on the dance floor, images of herself dancing with Richard involuntarily flashed through her mind.

When she looked at Lynette, her eyes inevitably held a hint of envy and longing.

Come to think of it, it seems like she hasn't danced in a long time.

Although Funina had never danced this kind of social dance with anyone, she learned it after watching it a few times, thanks to her artistic talent.

Over the past four hundred years, she has seen it countless times and has long since mastered it.

"Lady Fu Nina...Lady Fu Nina..."

As she was thinking, Funina suddenly heard a voice calling her. Coming back to her senses, Funina looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was Clarinde calling her from the side.

The reason was that while Funina was lost in thought, the ball was nearing its end, and everyone was waiting for Funina to announce the star of the night.

However, Furnessa's gaze remained fixed on Richard all night, and she didn't notice the other participants at the ball at all.

Fortunately, Funina was experienced and directly gave the choice to the audience members who were not participating in the ball.

Although the ball is an important part of the banquet, not everyone will attend. A considerable number of people in the audience are spectators. As the saying goes, the eyes of the masses are discerning. Giving the choice to the audience can also reflect the democracy of the Water God.

The ball's stars were quickly chosen: an old count and countess. Furna smiled and offered her blessings, which thrilled the elderly couple. The countess even asked Furna for an autograph, looking every bit the fangirl, saying that she had grown up watching Furna's performances and greatly admired her.

Furnessa wasn't surprised by this, since most Fontaines grew up watching her performances. Even those poor families who couldn't afford opera tickets could see her on the bench, since there were no tickets required to watch the trial at the Opiclie Opera.

After the ball, the banquet was drawing to a close, and many guests left the venue. Clorinde finally changed back into her familiar dueling agent uniform. Even so, quite a few guys who had witnessed Clorinde's charm still tried to invite her to a chat after the banquet.

Clarinde refused decisively, stating that she already had someone she loved and that the peacocks should be left for the other ladies to see.

"Lady Funina, there shouldn't be anything else to do later, right?" Richard asked.

Furina glanced at Richard, then at Clarinde.

Richard seemed confused as to why she was asking this, while Clarinde seemed to be asking her if she had any plans for the day.

"No further arrangements, Lady Funina." Returning to her duties brought Klorind a long-lost sense of peace. Indeed, being Funina's secretary was far more comforting than dealing with her suitors.

“In that case, let’s wait a little longer,” Richard said.

Although Funina didn't know what Richard was up to, she still agreed.

Once most of the people in the hall had left, Richard gave a slight bow in a standard gentlemanly manner, then extended his hand to Funina and said, "Lady Funina, may I have this dance?"

Funina's almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise, not expecting Richard to do this to her so suddenly. She instinctively placed her hand in Richard's and couldn't help but ask, "Why did you suddenly think of inviting me to dance?"

"Does Lady Furina want to hear a romantic lie, or a sour truth?"

Before Funina could even make a choice, Richard said to himself, "I've always wanted to see Lady Funina's dance. It must be incredibly beautiful. It would be even more wonderful if I could dance with her."

"And during the ball just now, Funina, you kept staring at me, practically saying 'I want to dance too.' As your subordinate and friend, it's only right that I fulfill your request."

Richard added at the end, "The first part is a romantic lie, and the second part is a spoilsport truth."

"I can tell!" Funina angrily stomped on Richard's foot.

Not far away, by a gramophone playing music, Lynette and Clorind watched the interaction between the two, then exchanged a glance, both seeing a complex and indescribable emotion in each other's eyes.

Lynette thought that Lady Furina really did have feelings for Richard, while Claude thought that Lady Furina's hand was placed in a very nice spot; she wanted to do the same, wondering what it would feel like...

Claude couldn't resist asking the question to Lynette, who had recently danced with Richard.

Lynette: ?

Are there any experts?

Volume 1: Chapter 111 You're not still a virgin, are you? (7K)

Lynette did not answer Clarinde's question until the next day at work.

Clorinde's situation also served as a wake-up call for Lynette: Clorinde, who seemed least likely to join the battle, was now applying to fight.

This made Lynette a little puzzled; why did Clarinde suddenly have feelings for Richard?

Based on Lynette's previous observations, Claurind was the kind of woman with a cold and aloof personality who would not easily fall in love with a man. In fact, in the nearly one year they had spent together, Claurind had never shown any feelings for Richard that went beyond friendship until last week.

But after just one weekend, Claude seemed like a completely different person. Lynette noticed that Claude's gaze lingered on Richard much more often, and the meaning behind her eyes was far from pure; it could be described as lustful, with no attempt to hide it.

Lady Funina's gaze toward Richard grew increasingly tender, and it was clear to everyone that she was completely smitten.

This is getting more and more difficult... Lynette thought with a headache.

"Linette, are you free tonight?" Richard asked.

The three women in the office all looked at Richard at the same time. What are you trying to do by asking Lynette out at night?

"Yes, but what do you want to do?" Lynette looked at Frynn and then at Clorind, essentially asking the question they most wanted to ask.

"Have you forgotten? The clothes from Chiori-ya are finished. I'll pick them up on my way home from get off work tonight," Richard said.

Lynette then remembered that Chiori-ya had informed her that the finished product was ready and that she could pick it up when she had time. Moreover, when she went to pick up the finished product, Richard would also go with her to try on the sample.

It's all because Clarind asked a weird question last night, which made her brain's CPU busy with work and how to deal with two rivals in the same office, leaving no room to think about something as trivial as clothes.

When Funina and Claurind heard about this, they refocused on their work. Oh, so that's what it was about. They had thought the two of them were going to do something indecent.

"Speaking of my custom-made clothes, hasn't the Senori-ya made any samples yet?" Funina suddenly wondered why her custom-made clothes were still nowhere to be seen.

“That’s perfect, I’ll ask around for you then,” Richard replied.