MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin



Shuri's eyes suddenly shone when she saw the wine that was brought by the waiter. She didn't know what kind of signal Adam sent, but it didn't matter in her opinion.

"Oh my, this is quite the interesting wine you have here?"

"It seems like you are quite the connoisseur."

Shuri didn't speak and simply gently caressed the top of the wine.

"Do you recognize this bottle of wine?"

Adam shook his head. He could easily find the information by cheating but he could feel that at this moment Shuri wanted to show off a little.

Why stop her?

Indeed, Shuri acted like a fan speaking about her idols.

"This is one of the finest types of wine, Romanée-Conti. It is the 'king' of the wine production area of Burgundy in France. It was the pride of Burgundy, and a wine master once said that Burgundy, just by relying on Romanée-Conti alone, was superior to all eight of the chateaux of Bordeaux. It is the most exalted red wine in the world."

Shuri continued to explain as if she was transfixed, her eyes already showing signs of intoxication, "This is a sort of flavor that can sink into your taste buds and your teeth. It is a flavor that feels as though it could burrow into every single cell of your body.

Its fragrance is a long-lasting one, and it is both exquisite and heavy, both delicate and strong, both balanced and condensed. It has the smooth, graceful texture of velvet. It is virtually the distilled essence of the finest strengths of Pinot Noir grapes. It is an inimitable, fantasy-like wine."

Shuri breathed deeply. It wasn't as if she couldn't afford some Romanèe-Conti. The lowest grade only cost between 6000 dollars to 23000 dollars. While she was extravagant enough to buy one regularly, at least once every year or so was enough for her.

The last one she had drunk was from a relatively old vintage, one near the year 2000 and while it hadn't been one of the legendary ones, she was still transfixed by the taste. [1]

Things started to change when you reached the high tier and the one in front of her was without a doubt one of the highest.

She gulped as she looked at the date "One unicorn vintage."

There were only 600 bottles made of the 1945 vintage and one bottle once sold at $558000 during an auction.

'Haha, Holy Shit…Yui is going to kill me.'

When Shuri finished her explanation, Adam could only laugh bitterly inwardly while keeping his reaction in check.

He had no particular knowledge of wine and just grabbed one that looked good. Though now it seemed like the choice he made had been a little too good.

$500K might not be too much for Yui. But this was a rare collectible. Taking it without asking for her permission was too much.

'Should I swap?' Adam mused quietly. Though with her experience, she should be able to differentiate based on the taste and Adam did not think he had enough experience to affect the taste of

Shuri gently caressed the bottle before shaking her head and placing it.

"Do you have another less expensive bottle? I do not have the means to buy something like this. Furthermore, it would be an insult to the wine to drink it in this condition."

Adam chuckled confidently while inward he was screaming in joy at the danger he just went through and managed to escape from.

Of course, he couldn't let go of this perfect occasion Shuri had handed to him.

"I thought you said you were richer than I could imagine?"

Shuri blushed a little, how could she have imagined that her words would be used against her so fast?

It was rather ironic considering her job and the fact that she always had to warn clients that their words could be used against them.

She usually would not be so careless. But she had to admit that she was slowly feeling more at ease currently. Her taut nerves were more relaxed and even breathing felt easier.

"*Ahem* I admit. I might have underestimated your establishment."

She had perhaps more than just underestimated it.

Any nouveau riche could come and build some VIP bar. This was perhaps one of the most common themes in all of LA and America. But this kind of wine could only be obtained by people with a lot of money and influence.

'I should do some research about the boss of this bar later.'

She was no stranger to people in the underworld. It was impossible to do her job without having to deal with them sometimes and having some connections was always very useful.

Of course, she was definitely not doing this just because she wanted to see and admire the entire wine collection they may have.

'Well, let's just have fun a little today.'

She realized that she was falling once again into her bad habit of thinking about work.

Adam, happy to have a good excuse didn't try to put down Shuri,

"I guess I got a little excited. Though if you don't mind, could you explain to me what is the best way to drink such wine?"

Since Shuri seemed quite interested in this, this was something worth asking and obviously, having more knowledge would not hurt.

Shuri hesitated. She didn't tell many people about her how much of a nerd she was for wine.

It wasn't as if she was ashamed but she had a certain image to uphold and she knew people could be quite ticked off when she tried correcting them.

She knew very well that the mysterious man in front of her was just using this as a tactic to get her to talk.

As a lawyer, she was usually the one using these tactics on clients or witnesses.

She had to admit that being on the other side didn't feel bad. Having someone willing to listen to you no matter how much you complained was a great feeling.

"Well, before I start, should you not bring another bottle?"

She felt slightly parched. If they had something like an authentic Romanée-Conti then she could only hope to guess what else they may have.

Adam nodded, "A moment please."

This time he made sure to send an "avatar" to speak with Yui. He decided that directly using sounds to talk to her would be too spooky.

Thankfully she gave him a good brand, obviously after laughing at him and telling him to not worry about the previous mistake, and then changed the appearance of this clone he came with the new wine he had selected.

Shuri's eyes lit up when she saw this one,

"A Chardonnay from Bâtard-Montrachet."

[1]: The winery's legendary vintages are 1929, 1945, 1959, 1969,1971, 1978, 1985, 1988,1989, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019.

Just to be clear about the price of that one who sold for 500k. The initial price was 30k. But ego clashed and people went Xianxia style auction which brought it to 500k

They sold another bottle and that one also went up to 400k.

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edit 19/05/23

(AN: Okay guys this is going to be long.

We are 10 days away from end of the month and I have 4.4K unlock. Firstly thanks for all those who subscribed and everyone else your support is magical. But I want to reach 10K unlock, this is one of the reasons I made this 99% off month. Which is why…I am going to try and write 3 chapters everyday for 10 days. I don't know If I will succeed but I will try. I have around 200 priv, if all of you guys unlock the chapter as they come then it won't be impossible.

This is both a challenge for me and an opportunity. If I reach 10k I will have a banner which means more promotion and ideally higher rank in the future. In the meantime, if I reach 10k, next month will still be 99% off for all tiers.

For those who are not in Priv and don't understand, 99% mean that simply by buying one of the Tier (10/20/23 chapters) you will only have to use 1 coin for unlocking for the rest of the month.

For example: With 99% off we have 444 coins base + 30 coins (If I post 30 chapters)

Without the 99% off it would be 444 coins + 360 coins (If I post 30 chapters)

I am making a great loss but if I can reach 10K unlocked chapters the Banner might be worth it. Since more readers will help, or perhaps I am just coping and it will fail. But heh, at least gotta try, right?

SUMMARY: Unlock chapters as they come, please. Sprint for 10K starting on 22. Peace.)