Chapter 361: Massacre
Helen’s entourage smoothly entered Seagate City with a warm welcome from Kekaru, and was brought to a manor at the southern end of the city.
Along the way, Helen’s charming face was darkened and unhappy. Previously when Helen had come to Seagate, the citizens who had heard the news would crowd and crane their heads for a tiny peek at her face. However this time round, apart from Kekaru’s men, the road was only sparsely filled with citizens. These people only viewed her carriage from far away, not showing any signs of respect. This made Helen feel uncomfortable inside.
After properly arranging her personal guard at the manor, Helen declined Kekaru’s offer of a banquet in her honor, citing tiredness. She feared that Kekaru would assassinate her in his own castle. She was afraid of Kekaru‘s schemes. Just like her, Kekaru was not a benevolent person. It was entirely possible that he would take action at the banquet.
On the other hand, Helen also didn’t want to endure the inevitable unfriendly gazes at the banquet. She’d had enough of these looks of disdain. However, she couldn’t kill them just because of their hidden looks of disdain.
This manor was where Kekaru received distinguished guests. It had a large area that was surrounded by Helen’s thirty thousand strong personal guard. Helen was in the center of the area and was safe enough to sleep peacefully. The full moon slowly appeared in the night sky. At the door of a central luxurious and spacious room, ten guards stood tensely on duty. In the room, Helen was endlessly worrying alone.
Without any wind, the window voluntarily opened, and a cloud of grey fog suddenly flew in front of Helen. The fog stopped whirling when the window shut, revealing Han Shuo’s figure.
“You’re here!” Helen gathered her scattered thoughts, raising her head to glance at Han Shuo. She softly muttered, “Kekaru has always wanted to remove me from my position as Duke. He previously wanted me to marry his son Kasega but I declined. His Seagate City has always not fully obeyed my orders. If it wasn’t for me trying to prevent Helon Duchy from falling into turmoil, I would have long since acted against him, and not resorted to employing assassins.”
“I’ll make a trip there tonight. I’ll help you handle him!” Han Shuo calmly looked at Helen, as though he had just uttered a simple and common thing.
“If it’s possible, I want to work with you. I want to personally end his life. This person was the one who murdered my mother. I hate him!” Helen was a little unusual today, speaking to Han Shuo with some viciousness.
Wrinkling his eyebrows, Han Shuo considered for a while before replying, “How about this. You stay here, I’ll bring him over and let you kill him yourself.” Han Shuo didn’t probe the statement regarding Helen’s mother. Everyone was sure to have a few memories that haunted them. Han Shuo believed this incident was definitely not a pleasant memory. At times, to respect someone’s privacy was more moving than expressing respect on the surface.
Helen raised her head and deeply looked at Han Shuo, unclear if she had thought of something sad, her gaze a little frail. She laughed at herself, saying, “Thank you. In the end, I’m still a woman. Seems like I also need a man’s shoulder to lean on. After all these years, I’m truly tired.”
Smiling and nodding, Han Shuo tried walking toward Helen. When he realized Helen’s gaze wasn’t alert, he continued to walk towards her. When he reached her side, Han Shuo lightly embraced her. Feeling Helen’s shivering body, Han Shuo patted her shoulder and gently said, “It’s alright. I won’t ask about your past, but I will bring Kekaru in front of you. You can exact the price for his sins then.”
“Bryan, I don’t know if I should hate you. When I came over today, none of the citizens came over to welcome me. It looks like they’ve already started to reject me in their hearts. The main cause of this was you, but for some reason I can’t hate you. Why, Bryan, why can’t I hate you?” Helen leaned softly against Han Shuo’s shoulder, her voice a tired, weak whisper.
“Perhaps you should hate me, but if you always listen to me, not only will I not let you hate me, I’ll help you gradually be happy again. I promise!” Han Shuo whispered in Helen’s ear, adding, “Alright, you should first rest for a while. To decrease your hatred of me, I’ll first start with Kekaru.”
Lightly pushing away Helen, who’d exposed her weakness in the quiet night, Han Shuo silently left the room like a ghost in the night, weightlessly floating toward Kekaru’s castle. To Han Shuo, his only prey was Helen. As long as Helen held the reins of Helon Duchy, he could covertly control Helon Duchy without wasting any men or resources. At an appropriate moment, this secretly traitorous Helon Duchy could become a hidden blade in the coalition army, bringing Han Shuo immense benefits.
Although Helen was the Duke of Helon Duchy, she was still a woman. The most reliable way to treat a woman was to conquer her heart. A man should be publicly overbearing in the day, but gentle and refined at night. They was equally lethal to a woman. Helen was of great use to Han Shuo. Hence, Han Shuo didn’t mind spending some time to thoroughly and securely have both her and her Duchy in his palm.
Deep in Kekaru’s castle was a secret room guarded zealously by soldiers. In that room were the three people from the morning, gathered again at night. “Father, that woman is staying in Seagate City. We must definitely kill her before she leaves. Otherwise, once she leaves, I’m afraid we won’t have another opportunity.” Kasega looked at his father Kekaru, once again proposing his idea.
“Lord Marquis, I’m afraid this is our only opportunity. If we really wait till she returns to Helon City, it would be hard for us to act even if we wanted to!” Administrator Mori similarly advised.
Kekaru’s eyes were still calculating as he replied to the both of them, “I also know that. However, she has thirty thousand elite troops by her side. Assassinating her is no easy feat.”
“Lord Father, she can’t always be hiding within her thirty thousand troops. We only need to find ways to make her leave their protection. It’s not difficult for us to kill her in Seagate City. We only need a reasonable excuse.” Kasega replied.
“Lord, isn’t Young Master Kasega engaged to the Galileo Family’s Miss Lejeame? We can seize this opportunity to arrange their marriage in the next two days. With the Lord’s standing in the Duchy and with her being in Seagate City, she has no reason to not appear to express her congratulations. She can’t possibly bring her thirty thousand guards to the wedding banquet. As long as she comes, we’ll be able to kill her. What do you think of that?” Magistrate Mori’s eyes shone with maliciousness.
“Uncle Mori, this method isn’t bad!” Kasega smiled gladly, turning to Kekaru, “Father, what do you think?”
Kekaru’s eyes continued to spin in thought, only nodding after a while, saying “That could work. However, we have to be extra cautious, so I’m going to need to consider it more carefully. We can only act when we’re assured of success. This woman is not simple. We massacred her mother’s clan years ago, but she actually managed to escape. All these years, she’s clearly known that we were the culprits, but she’s never showed it. This calculating shrewdness is something no normal youngster would possess.”
“Hmph. I want to kill her the way the Lord Father killed her mother. This woman doesn’t give us face, going as far as rejecting my offer of marriage. And then she ended up being raped by an unknown brat. She brought that upon herself! What’s the use of a woman in such a high position? A guy still rode her in the end!” Kasega was still brooding over Helen’s rejection, and ridiculed her viciously.
“Capturing her is enough. We can’t touch her. I’ve promised Benedict Sackville to immediately hand Helen over once we captured her. After all, the thirty thousand family troops aren’t easy to handle. We still need to rely on Benedict Sackville’s help.” Kekaru reminded Kasega.
“Lord Father, I can still fool around right? It’s not even her first time anymore. Even when she reaches Benedict Sackville’s hands, he also won’t be able to tell! This woman has always been like a goddess high above, and I’ve long since wanted to sample the feeling of riding her. Lord Father, please allow me to taste this feeling!” Kasega seemed to be imagining the scene of Helen being conquered by him as he pleaded with Kekaru.
Kekaru was still extremely doting on his only son. He also knew that after Helen had rejected Kasega, his son had toyed three maids to death before calming down. He hesitated a moment, before nodding, “Fooling around is possible. However, after that you must erase that memory. If not, once Benedict Sackville finds out, it would be bad. We still need to deal with that person in the future.”
“Thank you father, thank you father! Haha. I’ve been wanting to ride that bitch for a long time!” Kasega smiled deviously and chuckled. Hints of obscene violence slowly grew in his face. Administrator Mori licked his lips, similarly forcing a few laughs as he itched on the inside. However, he knew there were things he couldn’t touch. Hence, he naturally didn’t dare to state any presumptuous requests.
As the three vicious vile characters were imagining a better future for them, a crisp abnormal sound suddenly came from under their feet. This secret room was underground, its perimeter reinforced with thick iron plates, impervious to the attack of blades, swords or magic. It was the safe haven where Kekaru discussed his evil plans.
Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be such abnormal sounds echoing with the thick iron plates beneath their feet. Therefore, when that abnormal sound appeared, the three despicable people were stunned for a while, all of them looking dumbfoundedly at the ground. However, before they reacted, the previously soft abnormal sound suddenly amplified. The three of them were shocked. Kekaru was the first to react, shouting, “Assassins!”
With this shout, Kekaru was the first to rush toward the opening mechanism, trying to alert the surrounding guards. Kasega took out a knight’s saber, focusing all his attention under his feet, ready to deal a fatal blow to anyone coming from below.
Clang!
An arc shaped disc violently burst through the ground with an ear piercing sound. The disc was extremely thick, and was obviously the iron plate that protected their feet. At the same time, a figure dashed out of the circular hole in the ground.
Kasega gave a loud shout, his sword piercing towards Han Shuo, who’d used the Demonslayer Edge to cut open a large hole with much difficulty. Han Shuo had wasted more than ten minutes using the all-conquering Demonslayer Edge to cut a hole in the iron plate, inwardly cursing the designer of the building. He wielded the Demonslayer Edge to parry the attack.
With a spate of clear clangs and bangs, Kasega’s knight saber was turned into scrap iron. One of Kasega’s arms had gone the course of his saber and turned into bloody minced meat. As Kasega screamed in horror, Han Shuo’s Demonslayer Edge was suddenly flung out, pinning Kekaru’s outstretched left hand to the wall. He’d run to the mechanism with much difficulty and had wanted to shout for help. The Demonslayer Edge was firmly embedded into the wall, continuing to pin his left hand to the wall, a distance from the mechanism.
“Damn it, who are you? Who let you in?!” Kekaru looked at Han Shuo, shouting miserably. His left hand was pinned on the wall by the Demonslayer Edge, fresh blood trickling downward in streams. The heart wrenching pain made Kekaru want to cry.
“My hand, my hand, ahhh…..” Kasega’s right arm was completely torn to pieces. Currently it looked like a skinned and sharpened slice of pineapple, streams of blood dripping from the meridians, gruesome beyond belief.
“Bloody hell, a birdface like you wants to encroach on my woman?!” Han Shuo snorted, ignoring the howls of the father and son duo. Walking to the front of the frightened administrator, he grinned as he asked, “Apart from old Kekaru’s three sons, five daughters and forty seven assorted relatives in this castle, are there any others that have the qualifications to succeed his position as marquis?”
“N, no!” Magistrate Mori looked at the grinning Han Shuo, his fear causing him to shiver uncontrollably. After answering while trembling, he cowardly kneeled before Han Shuo, crying, “This is nothing to do with me, don’t kill me. I am innocent.”
“Ok. Looks like we shouldn’t have missed out on anyone.” Han Shuo muttered to himself. Grabbing the administrator’s neck with one hand, he said, “The deadly trap you just displayed is extremely interesting. I’m afraid that people like you are the most scary, I can’t spare your life!” Han Shuo twisted his hand after he finished this sentence, making a clear crack ring out. The administrator, his back to Kekaru, hadn’t shifted his position, but he was now facing Kekaru with an agonized wail on his face. It was apparent his neck had been broken.