Chapter 198:
A Trump Card
NOBODY KNEW BETTER THAN VIOLETTE that Yulan’s heart contained no pious feelings of kindness or goodness. It went beyond casting everything aside for Violette—Yulan never gave anyone else space in his heart. His staunch devotion approached fastidiousness. Compared to Violette, he’d consider anyone filthy and vile.
That was exactly what Gia liked about him.
“What Sina values isn’t procedure or emotion. It’s results. We don’t care about emotional investment or effort either. Whether a common man works himself to death, or a genius effortlessly snaps his fingers, we only distinguish between their results based on the benefits those results yield.”
If someone worked himself to the bone and had nothing to show for it, while a genius succeeded with no effort whatsoever, and you chose the former out of pity, Sina’s people would never trust you.
Sina’s people were daring and dauntless. They were results driven, endorsing survival of the fittest. They valued cruel power over merciful weakness and combat over compromise. It was truly a miracle that they weren’t at war with other nations. Sina apparently also had its fair share of daily domestic squabbles, but those disputes were so common that they were settled quickly.
They were a genuinely adversarial pack. Gia’s father led them, and Gia was likely next in line to take his place.
“You aren’t swayed by emotion either. You show no mercy. You stoically chase only what benefits you, with only one exception—Violette. You’re much easier to understand than impartial philanthropists.”
Over the past year, never once—not even for a split second—had Yulan’s heart driven him to act on behalf of anyone but Violette. Gia couldn’t comprehend how Yulan’s heart was constructed, not even a fragment of it. Yulan was surely equally baffled by Gia’s heart, which seemed guided only by carefree curiosity.
“You used me, so now I’m gonna use you,” Gia announced. “It’s a little give-and-take. I think this arrangement benefits you too.”
Yulan had rejected the notion of being at all useful to Duralia out of hand, but he wasn’t going out of his way to harm it either. It was Violette’s home—that was all the reason he needed.
The thing was, the steps he’d needed to take to secure his engagement to Violette were forceful, to say the least. Given Yulan’s unstable social standing, there was no better resource than several friends in high places. A diplomatic relationship with Sina was the most powerful trump card he could conceive of. Having been dealt that high card, Yulan was too smart to throw it away out of anger and resentment.
“Seriously…I hate you so much,” he grumbled.
“Really?” Gia chuckled. “Well, I like you.”
After the day Gia emotionlessly approached him, Yulan planned to keep his trump card hidden… But would he finally use it in the end?