Chapter 360: Receiving some benefits
When Han Shuo and Helen returned to the army station, it was just as she had said—her family’s trusted aides were completely oblivious to Ferrodias’ actions. He’d obviously been acting in his interest, and Helen’s actions were written off as arresting and suitably punishing him.
Ferrodias’ original plan was to capture and bring Helen to Marquis Kekaru of Helon Duchy. After Helen, the pillar of her family’s army, disappeared, Kekaru would be able to defeat the Helon Duchy’s army and become the duke with Benedict Sackville’s backing.
After Han Shuo and Helen returned to the stationed army, they didn’t openly appear before the army. That was mostly because Han Shuo had plenty of methods to privately meet Helen.
After dealing with Ferrodias, Helen began traveling back to the nearby Helon Duchy. She had prepared her cover story of being attacked by assassins on her way back. Because no one except her people had survived, the news of the revolt hadn’t been divulged.
The next day, Han Shuo stealthily followed the army troops back to Helon Duchy. The Helon Duchy was as powerful as a province in Lancelot Empire. It too had five cities and more than ten different sized towns. Helon City acted as the capital city of Helon Duchy, located in the center of the duchy. The other four cities were each owned by the four marquises, although one was still reeling from their marquis’ death at Helen Tina’s hands during the previous civil unrest.
Marquis Kekaru was the lord of Seagate City, one of the four cities of Helon Duchy. Although he hadn’t revealed any intentions of revolting during the previous unrest, he’d suddenly decided to rebel this time. This person had apparently waited patiently for the perfect moment for a long while now.
Han Shou and Helen returned to the Helon Duchy together. Along the way, Helen gathered her private army, totaling thirty thousand troops, Helon Duchy’s most elite cavalry regiment, and all led by Helen’s most trusted family aides.
Seagate CIty was an unavoidable stop on the road back to Helon Duchy. After marching for two days, Helen’s army finally approached its gates.
Since Helen was a woman and a famous fire archmage, she had always stayed within a spacious and luxurious chariot pulled by four war-horses.
At this moment, apart from Helen, an additional person, Han Shuo, had appeared in the chariot as well. Within the spacious chariot was a soft rug that felt amazingly comfortable to step on. There was also some blush, powder, alongside some fresh fruits that sparkled on top of a small shelf.
Helen lazily leaned into her seat and looked at the relaxed Han Shuo before saying, “Seagate City is Kekaru’s territory. This cunning fox has always hidden his intentions in the past. Although I know he has done damnable things, I never could find an excuse to deal with him. Furthermore, he always has several experts protecting him. As long as he stays within Seagate City, it will not be easy for me to kill him.”
“How many city guards are in Seagate City right now? If you returned now, would he dare open the city gates and let you enter?” Han Shuo casually asked Helen while rudely plucking a bunch of grapes from the side. While looking at Han Shuo’s unperturbed attitude, Helen actually felt a comforting sense of security. It was as if she did not need to fear anything with this demon next to her.
“Although Seagate City has fifty thousand soldiers in total, only ten thousand of them are elite soldiers. The only way he can avoid outright battle is if he opens the city gates and welcomes me. Even though I can easily suppress him after entering Seagate City, I don’t have any evidence that Ferrodias’ revolt was secretly incited by him. If I act against him without any justifiable cause, I’m afraid the citizens and the nobles will raise a fuss.” Helen lightly wrinkled her eyebrows, annoyance seeping into her tone.
Only after Han Shuo plucked the last grape off the bunch and wiped his hands on the expensive rug did he reply, “Simple. As long as I kill Marquis Kekaru and all of his successors, you can use the excuse of finding the killer to take control of Seagate City.” Han Shuo continued, “Hehe, you are the duchess of Helon Duchy and you even have thirty thousand elite soldiers at your beck and call. As such, this is the logical move for you. Oh, by the way, you can also randomly arrange some people at the scene to falsely accuse your enemies of killing Kekaru. This will definitely hurt your enemies. Hm, in fact, I think Benedict Sackville of Narsen Duchy is a particularly viable candidate. What do you think?”
After being embroiled in Helon Duchy’s power struggle for all these years, Helen was well versed in scheming. Thus, after listening to Han Shuo’s suggestion, she smiled sweetly and nodded before replying, “Precisely my thoughts. As long as Kekaru and his heirs all die, I can justifiably allow my trusted aides to take control of Seagate City. Hehe, I already have the perfect candidate in mind. I already had this kind of a plan in motion during the previous civil unrest, it’s just that the assassins I sent were unable to complete their missions. But since you’re here this time, it will definitely be a success.
As expected from such a vicious woman. As soon as the discussion moved to this sort of topic, Han Shuo noticed a dazzling light shining from her eyes. Her mouth curved into a sweet smile that could seduce and arouse any man’s heart. Even Han Shuo felt a slight tug on his heart.
When this sort of woman hated a guy, they would try to bring about their death regardless of what cost they had to pay. However, when this sort of woman truly fell in love with a man, they would be willing to abandon everything just to be there for her man.
Han Shuo stared at Helen. Perhaps Helen didn’t hate him so much anymore, but he also knew that Helen was still not helping him wholeheartedly. Only when he thoroughly conquered her would she become a truly sharp weapon in his hands. Otherwise, he would only be harming himself.
To make such a person submit, both your body and mind was necessary to make her surrender. It was a long and hard battle for Han Shuo to have realized the importance of this. Only in this way could he influence her heart and slowly make her his vassal. One of the best examples of this was Emily.
Thinking about this, Han Shuo lightly laughed and moved his face close to Helen who was lazily leaned backwards. As Helen’s face paled in panic, Han Shuo suddenly pulled Helen on top of his thighs and rudely kissed her bright red lips, completely ignoring her will.
A very seductive fragrance entered Han Shuo’s nose from Helen’s body. This fragrance caused Han Shuo to become uncontrollably engrossed, just like how an alcoholic would be lost in the most excellent of wine. To his credit, Han Shuo did not actually kiss her without restraint. After a light kiss on Helen’s intoxicatingly red lips, he chuckled and released Helen. Then, laughing at Helen’s charmingly flushed face, he said, “I lost control of myself because you’re just too mesmerizing. Haha. Since I will have to take care of your enemies soon, I should at least get such a benefit right?”
“You….. You perverted bastard! You just stole a kiss!!” Blushing hotly, Helen scrambled off his thighs and glared fiercely at Han Shuo. Originally, she wanted to rush towards Han Shuo and get revenge, but remembering that he was a tiger in lamb’s clothing, she could only fiercely throw a crystal cup towards Han Shuo in a fit of rage.
He leisurely snatched the crystal cup out of the air. Cup in hand, Han Shuo leisurely poured out some wine and walked towards Helen hiding at the corner of the carriage, grinning, “Here, accept this cup of wine as an apology from me. Heh, as you know, I’m but a normal man while you are such a mesmerizing beautiful woman. It’s a miracle that I didn’t do anything else to you while riding in such a carriage. You better not anger me now!”
Being told off by Han Shuo like this, Helen felt her heart tremble as she angrily glared at Han Shuo. Even her slender white neck was starting to flush red. But in reality, being praised as a mesmerizing beautiful woman by Han Shuo made her a little happy. Since she would become his sooner or later, giving him some benefits in advance wouldn’t hurt.
“Fine, take it as I’ve forgiven you for now, but you can’t be so unruly in the future, especially when there are other people around!” Helen hatefully glared at Han Shuo for a moment. In the end, she obediently picked up the wine cup and took a sip in defeat.
“Of course, when others are around, you are the goddess of Helon Duchy!” Han Shuo promised Helen first, and then said laughingly, “But when it’s only the two of us, you will be freely assaulted by me!”
“Humph!” Helen glared at Han Shuo for a moment and then seriously said, “Alright, you’ve kissed me and got what you wanted. Soon we will be entering the city and perhaps, Kekaru will even be entering the carriage to welcome me. So, shouldn’t you be leaving now?”
“No problem, I’ll leave right now!” Han Shuo answered with a laugh. Suddenly, Han Shuo appeared next to Helen like lightning and licked her neck before lightly praising her as he walked away, “So fragrant!”
A burst of mist slowly floated out of the carriage without alerting a single imperial guard nearby. As the mist slowly scattered due to a breeze, Han Shuo had already disappeared without a trace.
Left behind the carriage was a Helen whose white neck had just been violated by Han Shuo before he left. A constant burning sensation kept coming from her violated neck, causing her heart to tremble and her face to blush. In annoyance, she could only spit on the floor and lightly say to herself, “This damned brat! He really is a damned pervert. I really don’t know if I can deal with him until after he has taken care of my enemies. Ai, meeting him has really put me at my wit’s end. How annoying!”
A few minutes later, Helen’s army troops slowly stopped in front of Seagate City. A sentinel had already alerted Seagate City of her arrival beforehand. Thus, Marquis Kekaru, who was within the city, should’ve received the news of her arrival.
At this time, Kekeru was in a small building in front of the city gate. He had a dark expression on his face as he listened attentively to his trusted aides who talked unceasingly, remaining silent himself.
He was attired in noble robes, and was of noble stature. His gray sideburns give him away as past his prime. Clearly, he did not have an outstanding appearance. But his outward appearance hid a pair of calculative eyes that seemed like he never ceased pondering.
“Sir Marquis, Ferrodias has died and the plan has most likely failed. Right now, you can be considered the biggest threat to the duke of Helon Duchy. Furthermore, that vicious bitch has never concerned herself with sentimentalism and likely knows that you are the instigator. You must not let her into the city, otherwise, we will definitely die as part of a bloody revenge.” The Seagate City administrator did his best to persuade the marquis.
“Yes father, this bitch is famous for her viciousness. If her elite army enters the city, our army will have no way of suppressing her. We can only borrow Seagate City’s defensive strength to stall and prevent her from entering the city. During that time, we can ally with other nobles before finally entering an official war.” Kekaru’s son, Kesega, was clad in luminous knight armor and did his best to persuade Kekaru as well. Nevertheless, Kekaru remained wordless as he walked back and forth while his eyeballs darted to and fro. It seemed that even he had become extremely anxious, losing his typical decisive nature.
“Father, hurry and make a decision. They will be arriving soon.” As the time ticked away, Kesega anxiously reminded him again after seeing Kekaru remain silent.
After a long silence, Kekaru deeply exhaled and said, “Open the gates and come welcome the duke with me. You guys cannot make any mistakes whatsoever!”
“Sir Marquis. This could cost us our lives!” The administrator hurriedly protested in fear.
“Don’t worry, even if she knows it was me, she doesn’t have any proof. Hmph! I’ve been in charge of Seagate city for so many years; both nobles and citizens support me. If she dares act against me without evidence, the citizens will not approve of her. You don’t need to worry, she shouldn’t dare openly take any action against me. But, if she still decides to use assassins like last time, we only need to be more vigilant and it will still be fine.”
“Furthermore, the time is not yet ripe for us to rebel. We could suffer a huge loss to the family forces she holds in her hand, and there’s no certainty we will come out victorious. But even if we do come out victorious, the conflict will just weaken Helon Duchy even further, and we’ll become the weakest among the seven Grand Duchies. Instead of such a result, we should continue controlling Seagate City and wait for a better opportunity.” Kekaru said to the two people.
After thinking about what Kekaru said, the two, although still unwilling, knew that his analysis was reasonable. Furthermore, knowing how futile it would be for anyone to try and change Kekaru’s decisions due to his decisive nature, they did not continue trying to persuade him.