Chapter 34: Is that a Koenigsegg? Is Kaelen really dating Black Rose now?!

"Huh?" Kaelen was taken aback by her request.

Is she flirting with me right now?

I guess being loaded and purchasing a luxury car worth 3.5 million dollars without batting an eyelid comes with becoming the object of admiration for many women.

Kaelen was pretty sure he’d be getting more attention and advances like this the moment he hit the streets of Stronghold 5 with the Koenigsegg.

But before he could reply, his phone began ringing, and he looked to see it was Cindra. It was at that moment he realized how much time he’d spent in the hotel and car dealership, and Cindra, who was the one that was supposed to be late, ended up being the early bird.

Kaelen almost chuckled as he dropped the phone in the cockpit without answering the call.

"No, thank you."

His plain reply slammed into Helen like an isekai truck, and her expression cracked.

"I have somewhere I’d like to go at the moment, and I’ll return it later today," Kaelen said and began closing the door.

"B-But how are you going to drive then?" Helen asked in amazement.

"I’ll figure it out," he calmly replied.

He paused for a moment to stare at the Koenigsegg’s controls. If only he were a Slime right now, he could simply devour everyone in that showroom and copy a driving skill, which would then be upgraded to an expert skill by the 10,000× Reward System.

Kaelen chuckled at his train of thought before he safely reversed the Koenigsegg and sped out of the showroom slowly but steadily, leaving Helen standing there in embarrassment after her employees witnessed her being rejected.

As soon as the Koenigsegg hit the road, it immediately became a sight of attraction, and Kaelen saw several people stop to stare in admiration, pointing as he drove by and taking pictures and short videos of the car. Even at a traffic stop, after the light turned green, every single car on the road waited for the Koenigsegg to pull away first before following.

Kaelen was impressed.

He had gotten the hang of the car’s controls and could safely accelerate up to 85 mph when his phone began ringing again, and he looked to see it was Cindra once more.

He decided to pick up this time around, and Cindra’s voice hastily came through.

"Where are you right now?"

"I’m on my way. I’ll be there in five."

"No, no. Don’t come here right now. The press is currently surrounding the restaurant because of us, so stay wherever you are and wait till we make it out of here, okay?" she said immediately, and the line went dead.

Kaelen was left confused.

"Us?"

Don’t tell me she brought Black Rose along after being exposed for stealing my credits.

Kaelen thought to himself in amusement, and since he was waiting, he decided to make a quick stop at the mall to buy some outfits to stock up the wardrobe of his new house when he moved in.

As soon as he arrived at the biggest mall in the area, before he could even park, all eyes were already on the Koenigsegg after hearing its V8 engine from a mile away.

He quickly found a parking spot and disappeared into the mall amidst the envious gazes.

Over the next few minutes, Kaelen spent his time moving around designer stores to pick out outfits to his taste, designer wristwatches, and stylish footwear.

"Sir, this jacket costs thirty thousand dollars."

"That’s cheap."

"Sir, this is a limited edition wrist watch that cost eighty thousand dollars, and we only have it in white and black."

"I can’t decide which one looks better on me. I’ll take the two."

He didn’t have a specific style and was only experimenting with what he felt looked good on him, and it didn’t take long before he began drawing attention inside the mall as well after the sales reps offered to carry his shopping bags down to his car, after Kaelen spent enough money in their stores to make them the best sales reps of the month by a wide margin.

In other words, Kaelen casually spent a total of five hundred thousand dollars on a single trip to the mall.

He was heading back out after buying to his satisfaction when he noticed a crowd starting to form in the mall’s lobby. His curiosity was piqued, and he moved closer to see they were watching a live broadcast on a virtual screen, with the headline that Black Rose and the Captain of the White Vanguard Guild had been spotted at the 5-Star Lunar Restaurant. When he saw the sheer size of the crowd surrounding the restaurant, Kaelen frowned as he stole a glance at his wristwatch.

If Cindra was really in there with Black Rose, then it’d take them a good amount of time to make it out of the restaurant.

After promising himself not to spend another night at the hotel, the end of the day was fast approaching, and Kaelen was yet to buy his house, while also planning on entering the game again that night.

He wasn’t willing to spend another night outside his penthouse, leaving him with two other options.

He could either find his way to some random real estate company that might not have the private houses Kaelen was aiming for, or he could help Cindra and Black Rose out of there to take him straight to the best one in the city.

With that thought in mind, Kaelen turned to take his leave when his eyes met someone’s gaze, and the red-haired girl froze on the spot as she stared at the approaching Kaelen.

Kaelen, on the other hand, was expecting his heart to do something funny after seeing the woman he’d obsessed over throughout his days in the slums.

But looking at her now, he felt little to nothing.

He admitted she looked even more beautiful after leaving the slums and getting a taste of the good life, but so was Kaelen.

I guess money really does change people, he mused to himself in amusement as he walked up to Stephanie with several sales reps trailing behind him with heavy designer shopping bags, and brushed past her as he continued on his way.

"Kaelen..." she trailed off after being completely ignored.

Stephanie mind ran through a thousand scenarios when she spotted Kaelen approaching her. But what she never expected was for him to walk by as though he didn’t recognize her, and leave the mall with several women carrying his bags for him.

She was even more shocked as she followed him with her eyes to see him enter the red sports car she’d spotted everyone taking pictures of outside, and her reality immediately shattered.

At that moment, she realized the man she’d seen casually drop $150k for a room at the hotel was actually Kaelen, and for some reason, he was wealthy now.

In fact, calling him wealthy was an understatement.

But even after witnessing it all and connecting the dots, she still found it very hard to believe.

It had barely been two months since she left a malnourished Kaelen behind with a burn on his chest.

As their last moment together resurfaced in her mind, she nervously bit her lip and didn’t know how long she had been standing there when the mall immediately burst into loud chatter as practically everyone paused in their tracks to stare at the virtual screen, pointing.

"Wait, who’s that?"

"Is that a Koenigsegg?!"

"Is that Black Rose’s boyfriend?"

"Black Rose has a man?!"

Hearing the name of her Guild Leader being mentioned, Stephanie felt compelled to investigate the crowd’s absurd claims.

She pushed her way to the front of the row to get a better look at the virtual screen, and immediately regretted it as her heart dropped at the sight of the live broadcast.

"... An unidentified man has just pulled up outside the 5-Star Lunar Restaurant in a Koenigsegg Regera—the ONLY one in Stronghold 5. He walked through the crowd to meet the Emperor’s daughter, Black Rose, who had just stepped out of the restaurant, romantically covering her face with his jacket and safely leading her away to his car. A scene straight out of a movie."

"Taking into account Black Rose’s infamous ice-cold persona, this man is the second person after Cindra known to be this intimate with the young Guild Leader. It’s very much possible we’re only getting to see the man behind her smile."

"W-What?" Stephanie blurted out in shock and surprise.

That... that can’t be.

Is Kaelen really dating Black Rose now?!