Chapter 246: Date with Chloe IV
It took more than a minute for Vlad to calm himself.
He turned to the attendant, who was silently enjoying the show a few feet away with a playful smile on her face.
"Miss, I need your assistance," Vlad called to her in a respectful tone.
"Yes, Lord. Please say the word," the attendant answered, returning to her professional composure.
---
Ten minutes later...
Chloe came out of the changing room in her pale lavender skirt, with Vlad’s coat draped over her shoulders.
Vlad and the female attendant were still standing outside, waiting for her.
Both her arms were carrying clothes. "I don’t need these," she said, extending her right arm toward the attendant.
"Is the size not fitting?" Vlad asked, noticing that the rejected clothes were more numerous than the ones she had selected. Heck! There were only two sweaters and a pair of trousers on her other arm, apart from the undergarments.
"I don’t like the color," Chloe replied in a flat tone, her nose turning red.
Vlad immediately knew that she was lying. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the price tags. She had only selected the cheapest set.
The attendant was about to take the clothes from Chloe’s arm, but Vlad grabbed them.
"We will buy them all," Vlad informed the attendant.
"But..."
"Shh!" Vlad placed his finger on her lips, silencing any protest she was about to make.
The attendant’s eyes lit up with happiness. She had made the right call by serving them properly and even giving them the privacy they needed each time, even though it was not allowed.
"Is there anything else you would like to buy?" she asked, barely keeping her face straight as her mind was already drifting off to the bonus she might receive.
"We actually do," Vlad nodded. "Show us some elegant gowns that would suit a lady in her late twenties or early thirties."
Chloe’s face turned toward Vlad in a silent stare.
"You wanted to buy something for Mom, right?" Vlad revealed, knowing what she wanted to ask.
"Oh, right. A gift for Mama," Chloe remembered, the deadly glare vanishing from her eyes.
After spending around half an hour selecting a dress for Elaria, the duo reached the billing counter.
The attendant needed an identity card to generate the bill. Obviously, Vlad used Chloe’s Black Card, which she had received after her Awakening Ceremony.
The attendant’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw the Black Card. This time, she couldn’t maintain her professional composure. It was the second S+ Ranked customer they had received in the same branch of the shop, after all.
As the attendant generated the bill on a screen, she revealed, "Ma’am, you may claim a five percent discount as a new customer, a fifteen percent Arcane Academy Student discount, and a thirty percent discount as a Black Card owner."
’A whopping fifty percent discount!?’ Vlad exclaimed inwardly.
"You are also eligible to become a VIP customer of Crimson Velvet," the attendant continued, her fingers trembling slightly now that she knew whom she was dealing with. "VIP customers may claim ten gold taels’ worth of clothes for free every month."
Even Chloe blinked twice upon hearing so many benefits.
"Please proceed," Vlad replied instantly with a wide smirk.
He knew why Crimson Velvet was offering such benefits. The number of S-Rankers and beyond Awakeners was extremely low. Not to mention, they would become prominent figures in the future. If such famous Awakeners were seen wearing clothes bearing the Crimson Velvet brand, it would serve as indirect promotion for the company. In that sense, they were receiving more benefits than they were losing by providing such discounts and rewards.
The duo had only just left the shop when Vlad received a message.
---
50 Credits have been credited to your account.
Sender: Chloe
---
Vlad side-eyed Chloe, who had just moved her phone back into her storage ring.
"It’s for Mama’s dress," Chloe revealed before Vlad could ask.
Including the discounts, the dress cost two gold taels and fifty silver taels, which was around twenty-five credits after conversion.
She had paid double the amount. Not to mention, the gift was supposed to be from both Vlad and Chloe, not her alone.
Knowing Vlad would argue about it, she continued, "You may pay for the gift for Dad."
"Aren’t you a sharp one?" Vlad chuckled, softly pinching her cheeks with both hands.
"Ang... your gloves hurt," she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut.
The gloves vanished from his hands, turning into nanoparticles, but the pinching didn’t stop since her cheeks were too fluffy, soft, and irresistible to touch.
Once Vlad had his fill, their date continued. They went to an artifact shop next, where Vlad bought a gift for Edren, one that would be most practical for his lumberjack father.
Now that Chloe had spent almost half the day shopping, it was obviously time for her well-deserved meal.
Surprisingly, she firmly refused to eat at the restaurant Vlad had selected. Knowing him, it must have been a very expensive place. She wanted to eat there with her whole family, not just Vlad.
Vlad had to settle for a normal restaurant for their afternoon meal, or more accurately, normal only compared to the one where he had wanted to take Chloe. Even this one was extravagant compared to the ones back in Barton City.
For the first time, Chloe strangely ate like a lady, taking only small bites and wiping her mouth with a napkin after every couple of bites.
"Are you unwell?" Vlad finally asked after a few minutes. "Or do you not like the food here?"
"I’m fine," Chloe groaned. "The food is fine as well."
"Then why are you eating like a human?" Vlad asked, concern clear in his voice.
She slammed the spoons onto the table, making him flinch. She was already annoyed enough that she couldn’t take a mouthful of food in one go, and Vlad’s remark was only adding fuel to the fire.
"Chloe, if you really don’t like the food here, we can eat somewhere else," Vlad suggested, thinking the food was the problem.
She released a long sigh. "Forget it," she muttered before picking up the spoon again.
She decided to eat as she usually did, shoving one spoonful after another into her mouth until her cheeks puffed out.
Vlad merely smiled at her before turning his focus back to his own plate.
They ordered pastries once they were done with the main course. Chloe stood from her seat and took the seat beside Vlad on the other side of the table.
She silently watched Vlad take a bite from his pastry with a spoon.
It was time for Attempt Four.