The sudden proposal had Valentina blinking a couple times, clearly thrown off by her enemy's candidness. She was trying to read his motive but as far as she could tell, he didn't seem to be trying to trick her.
'Damn it, if Dahlia were here I bet she'd be able to tell straight away if he had secondary motives. As things stand, it doesn't hurt to hear him out at least, but I just have to take everything said with a grain of salt.'
"Alright, sure, I'll hear you out. No promises on a successful negotiation, but we can at least give it a shot."
Hearing her response, the dragon-kin's brows shot up. Clearly, though he was the one to initiate, he wasn't actually expecting anything out of this. Regaining some composure and clearing his throat, he began to try and make something work, being wary the whole time in case the Archduchess planned to pull a fast one on him.
