Chapter 105: Mr. Aoyama, You Have a Great Talent for Acting

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Mr. Aoyama, You Have a Great Talent for Acting

Kensei Aoyama spared a glance at Rian Sinclair’s expression as he spoke. Seeing no objection from her, he continued.

"You must understand, Miss Sinclair, that Sakuran citizenship is incredibly difficult to obtain. Furthermore, with an entire nation backing you, you’d be able to do as you please no matter where you go. This offer is entirely to your benefit."

Rian took a nonchalant sip of her tea. Instead of replying to him immediately, she remarked, "Mr. Aoyama, this tea of yours is really lacking."

Since Kensei didn’t have a deep understanding of Veridian language and culture, he assumed she literally meant the tea was poor quality. "Miss Sinclair, I will brew a fresh pot for you. After all, our country is the birthplace of tea," he said.

At those words, Rian slammed her teacup onto the table, her face full of impatience. "Have you seriously never studied history, Mr. Aoyama? Oh! I forgot, your country’s history is much shorter than ours. It’s perfectly normal that you wouldn’t know."

She then proceeded to give this ignorant, obnoxious Sakuran a history lesson.

"Orion tasted a hundred herbs and encountered seventy-two toxins in a single day. He used tea as an antidote, thereby discovering its medicinal value.

"From then on, tea made its way from the vast, primordial forests of our southwest to the rest of the world. Moreover, the *Tea Classic* written by our very own Rwan explicitly states that tea was invented in Veridia."

Rian’s gaze was chilly as she looked at Kensei. This was a typical Sakuran from The Sunken Isles.

She had absolutely zero affection for this shameless nation that claimed everything as its own and refused to admit the truth even when the evidence was shoved right in their faces.

Kensei’s expression stiffened. However, since he needed a favor from her, he kept his mouth shut and focused his attention on the tea. Beside him, Kaede Aoyama assisted with the brewing, speaking eloquently about the profound culture of tea. Rian watched from the sidelines, her brows furrowed tightly.

She wondered, "Question! What should one do when a flunking student tries to show off their intellect in front of a genius? Waiting online! Urgent!"

Such good tea was being utterly ruined. There was immense culture involved in the art of brewing tea. Back in the countryside of Basilia, an old neighbor of hers had been a master at it.

Rian used to go over and help out often. The old man hadn’t been able to withstand her thick-skinned persistence, and seeing that she had potential, he had taken her under his wing. Identifying, appraising, and tasting tea—there was profound knowledge in all of it.

But... the old man had been gone for quite a long time now.

A fleeting trace of sorrow flashed through Rian’s eyes. Watching Kensei’s incredibly clumsy tea-brewing skills, she felt he was truly a disgrace to his ancestors.

Deciding that out of sight was out of mind, she simply turned her head away. Fortunately, Kensei was so engrossed in his clumsy display that he didn’t notice her reaction.

A moment later, her wandering thoughts were pulled back by Kensei’s voice. "Miss Sinclair, please."

Rian pursed her lips and frowned at the freshly brewed tea on the table. It wasn’t quite at the level of absolute garbage. But it wasn’t far off, either.

Rian looked silently at Kensei’s inexplicably confident expression. She wondered, "Where on earth does he get his courage? Did Fish Leong give it to him?"

She couldn’t bear to look at it for more than a second, afraid she might flip the tea table. The aroma was unnatural, and it had been steeped for far too long.

Leaning back in her chair, Rian crossed her arms and looked at Kensei. "Mr. Aoyama, if you don’t know how to brew tea, don’t force it. You’ve completely ruined perfectly good tea leaves. Likewise, don’t try to forcefully claim things that don’t belong to you."

Kensei’s face turned livid. He slammed the teapot down onto the table. "Miss Sinclair, what is that supposed to mean?!"

Rian gave a helpless shrug. "What else could I mean? I’ve certainly seen the sincerity of your Sakuran people—inviting me over just to serve me such inferior tea."

Kensei’s expression was ugly; he was on the verge of exploding with rage. However, seeing the sheer disgust in Rian’s eyes pushed him over the edge. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Rian!"

Rian leaned slightly away from the source of the noise. "No need to yell. Your daddy isn’t deaf."

His face ashen with fury, Kensei viciously swept everything off the table. She had immediately stood up and stepped back, but the hem of her dress inevitably got splashed with a few tea stains.

Rian lowered her eyes to the stains on her dress, her gaze unreadable. "Mr. Aoyama, are you having an episode? Do you need me to call a doctor for you?"

Kensei’s face was dark. He looked up and glared at her viciously. "Rian, do you really think you can walk out of here?! This is Sakuran, not Veridia! Your actions are under our surveillance, and we have the evidence to arrest you."

Her face full of disgust, Rian looked at the man who had lost his temper. For the sake of her dress, she took another step to the side.

"Mr. Aoyama, is your Sakuran tradition of playing the victim and shifting the blame still going strong?"

Rian pulled over a clean chair and sat down lazily. Resting her chin on her hand, she looked mockingly at Kensei, who could only rage in sheer incompetence. The man stood up and snarled, "You’ve disrupted the public order of The Sunken Isles! I’m going to sue you in the International Court of Justice! I’ll sue your entire country!"

Kensei was filled with righteous indignation as he listed Rian’s supposed crimes. Anyone out of the loop would have thought she had truly committed some heinous atrocity.

In response to Kensei’s meltdown, Rian offered a fair critique: "Has anyone ever told you that you have a real talent for acting, Mr. Aoyama? For example, right now, you’re doing a fantastic impression of a three-year-old throwing an unreasonable tantrum."

Infuriated, Kensei pointed a trembling finger at her, stammering, "You... you..." but unable to form a complete sentence.

Rian stood up and smoothed out her dress. Looking at the stains on the hem, her eyes brimmed with icy hostility as she stared at Kensei.

"My dress is dirty. Yet the person who ruined it hasn’t said a single word of apology and is even trying to slander me. Are you really refusing to change your old habits, intent on carrying out this behavior to the bitter end?" She then lifted her gaze to meet his. "Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Aoyama?"

Though she spoke of the dress, she was actually alluding to the 300,000 victims.

Kensei understood the subtext, but he refused to acknowledge it. "Miss Sinclair, there are many benefits to being an honored guest of our country." He tried to use the backing of his nation as a promise to change her mind.

Rian’s eyes were frosty. "Mr. Aoyama, has anyone ever told you that you’re incredibly noisy?"

Kensei’s face turned livid, unable to squeeze out a single word in retort. Rian had lost all patience; she truly didn’t want to spend another second in this country.

Wanting to wrap up her business early so she could go home, she turned to leave, but her hand paused on the doorknob. "Mr. Aoyama, you better go have a good chat with your Emperor about where you all should relocate. Once the time is up, I’ll be making my move."

Too lazy to stick around and listen to Kensei’s thunderous rage, she pulled the door open and left. Hearing the commotion, Quentin Sinclair immediately stepped forward. Seeing her come out, he asked softly, "Miss."

Rian glanced at Quentin, noticing that the surrounding atmosphere had grown somewhat tense. Quentin stood slightly to her front left, keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings at all times.

Seeing Quentin’s guarded posture, Rian reached out and gently patted his shoulder. "Let’s go."

Seeing this, Numa Aoshi looked nervously at the door behind Rian. Then, Kensei’s voice rang out. "Miss Sinclair, your way of thinking is so unique. Our Emperor would very much like to meet you. Why don’t you come with me for a trip?"