393 Beautiful
Time returned to three hours before Kang De woke up.
It was about 5:30 AM in the morning.
A small caravan filled with gifts advanced along the road with the melodious bells and headed in the direction of Red Maple City.
Even the night road was extremely quiet and without any waves.
It was as safe as being in the territory of the Twilight Dynasty.
A few days ago, this country was still burning in the raging flames of war. Bandits, chaotic armies, Twilight, Goethe, bandits, mercenaries, bandits… Many military forces fought, protected, or plundered in the war-torn land for their different goals and desires.
War meant chaos, the collapse of order, and the disappearance of morals. Intelligent creatures would be called wild again in the chaos of war. In the past, decent and polite people would also become pigs and dogs. Goethe a few days ago was really the most dangerous and chaotic place in the world.
The Goethe army was tired of dealing with the ferocious attacks of the elves and did not have the time to stop the bandits from plundering. The elves left them alone. They were happy to see humans kill humans.
At that time, Goethe was about to collapse under the elves’ attack. A group of hyenas followed behind Twilight, preparing to bite off a piece or two of flesh when Goethe fell. The collapse of a country was the greatest business opportunity.
It was not only the bandits, thieves, and even mercenary groups who were plundering everywhere, but the merchants and nobles of the various countries also wanted to take the opportunity to earn a large sum. There was even less of a need to talk about the maggots writhing in the shadows. The slave traders rushed to Goethe almost overnight. The young girls were the most popular goods, and the men and women in their prime were also outstanding slave workers. Of course, children were also very valuable. There were many ways to kidnap, cheat, snatch, and buy.
This chaotic and sinful feast had already been staged many times. Behind every destroyed country were suffering citizens and endless pain. Goethe was only one example.
Moreover, he was loved by the gods.
This was because just three days ago, the banquet of sin and madness that was about to happen stopped.
All hostilities immediately stopped. The great businessmen and nobles who were prepared to eat their fill also stopped and retreated from the layout. The slave catchers gave up on the mission, and the bandits fled in panic.
Just because of one person.
“There’s a saying in Cathay. ‘Dragon among men’. There’s another saying, ‘Martial artists are like dragons’.”
In the caravan’s carriage, a man was talking.
He had curly burgundy hair, neatly dressed clothes, a straight body, and a handsome but not frivolous face. He gave people an elite-like sense of stability, causing people to feel trustworthy at a glance.
On the table beside him, the magic lamp was long and bright and filled with papers and documents. One of the papers was a cut drawing. In the painting, there was a blue sky and white clouds. The sky was clear. In front of a distant and quiet tombstone, on the high platform, a Cathayan with short black hair and a robe was preaching enthusiastically.
The sun shone from the clouds like the gazes of the gods. It draped over his shoulder and surrounded him. The nobles, soldiers, and commoners listened attentively. The crowd spread until it was very far away.
This was the famous “Valentine National Cemetery Speech”, the photo version.
The content of the speech was on another piece of paper.
Glancing at the content, he curled his lips.
He could read the speaker’s heart and personality from it, but he did not agree with the content.
However, so what if he did not agree?
An expert with such strength was qualified to say his principles. He had to listen to those he could not defeat.
Only this made him envious.
He sighed and deliberately raised his voice, “I’ve always felt that the saying of a dragon among men is that the Cathayan is arrogant and conceited and compares himself to the dragons. However, if it’s used on this person, I feel that the dragons are benefiting.”
An inaudible sound of agreement sounded from the other end.
Then, a soft and delicate hand reached over and took away the paper of Valentine’s speech.
“What’s so good about this?”
The man shook his head and picked up another piece of information. It was the remains of the 60,000-strong army that had been killed outside Valentine. It had also been completely investigated by the top spies. The information had been bought from the Brotherhood and was first-hand and detailed. Unfortunately, the speakers of the Arcane Law Council and the chief mages of the various countries racked their brains and flipped through the ancient books, but they could not think of which forbidden spell Kang De had used.
He waved the information in his hand. “Only if he can smash out such a huge basin will someone listen to his speech and think that the content of this speech is very powerful. Otherwise, no matter how good it sounds, it’s only a joke. No matter how brave the Goethe people are and how strong they are, they can’t stop the elves. What’s the use of him saying this?”
The person opposite him was silent for a moment before saying in an extremely calm tone, “I like this.”
“…Up to you.”
The man shrugged and read this battlefield report again, then picked up another.
It was only four to five reports, and the time span was only a few months.
To a top expert who held a forbidden curse and deterred Twilight, it was ridiculously few. It was normal for the dossiers related to him to be filled with dozens of bookshelves in two houses.
However, there was indeed nothing they could do.
This person seemed to have fallen from the sky.
The information could be traced back to the Glory Sand Incident at the earliest and was also accompanied by diagrams. However, these diagrams had been hand-drawn by the intelligence personnel, but they were also impressive. The razed Glory Sand Manor, the excavated Goode family cemetery, the fragments of many members of the Goode family, and the built tower of corpses were very Cathayan.
However, the information further back… was gone.
Even if they thought of all ways to trace it back, with their powerful intelligence collection ability and vast connections, they could only trace back to one thing—the Princess of Goethe, Tina Tedrell, was chased by an elf main ship on the way to the Empire in secret. In the end, she landed safely in the territory of the Goode family and brought a Cathayan.
They could only deduce that the elf’s main ship had been sunk by Kang De.
Apart from that, there was nothing else.
The record of Kang De could only be traced back to the Glory Sand Territory a few months ago as if he had fallen from the sky and been picked up by Princess Tina.
However, even the information records of the past few months could pry out this person’s personality.
He was kind but not weak, decisive but not bloodthirsty. He had great power but was very restrained.
However, when necessary, he did not hesitate.
“Also…”
He liked women more.
However, his taste was very tricky.
He disdained the daughter of a famous noble who had sent herself to his door. He had never heard of him touching any maid or woman in Valentine. This was a little unbelievable, but it happened to reflect his hobby.
Clearly, he liked noble women.
...
For example, Princess Tina. He had shocked the world by fighting Twilight alone for Princess Goethe.
Moreover, he liked powerful women.
For example, the Crimson Queen also had a mysterious background, but she was extremely powerful and followed him every day.
Moreover, he seemed to like powerful and noble women.
For example, the Phoenix King.
The content of the Valentine peace talks had spread throughout the country. Everyone did not care about anything else, but they cared a little. The elves proposed to matchmake Kang De and the Cathayan Empress’s marriage. Kang De instead said, “Can I marry your Phoenix King?”
Moreover, the most coquettish thing was that outside Red Maple City, it was precisely because the Phoenix King, Delilah, arrived in time that Kang De stopped the destructive forbidden curse attack and did not flatten the expeditionary army.
These were all extremely confidential information. Coincidentally, because of this mission, he had the right to mobilize and check the most confidential information. The rumors were not groundless. There was enough reason to believe that Duke Tagris of Tiling who had appeared in Valentine was the Phoenix King in disguise.
Then this plot was a little meaningful.
Why did the Empress of Twilight pretend to be her brother, leave the country, and run to see a man?
Why was it that outside Red Maple City, Kang De had already made up his mind to kill, but the Phoenix King could stop him with a word?
...
How did she order it to stop? Why could she order it to stop?
The heart of gossip was the instinct of every intelligent creature, let alone the gossip of the Phoenix King.
Of course, gossip was gossip. Most importantly, it was not a coincidence if it happened twice.
Kang De indeed liked women of noble status or very powerful strength.
This was also the conclusion of the Brotherhood.
As information masters who wandered in the shadows, the assassins were also very good at playing. This information about Kang De’s personal preferences had an annotation from a mentor.
“Men from lowly backgrounds often enjoy things they could not enjoy previously as compensation after achieving a leap in class and obtaining power, strength, status, or authority, such as money, delicacies, extravagance, and most importantly, women.”
“We’ve done a statistic. Such upstarts disdain professional service women and are not interested in good women from civilian backgrounds. However, if there are noble ladies who live in a desolate place, they’ll definitely often support them or even buy them directly home. If they have the chance to marry a girl from a noble background, they’ll often not hesitate to pay a huge price. Many scams happen because of this. This is also one of our ideas for carrying out missions.”
“However, I don’t think Kang De is such a person. I went to Valentine to visit him. Although the time was very short, I communicated with this great forbidden spell mage at close range. His speech, thoughts, temperament, and instincts won’t lie. This is a person with a great soul. I don’t mean to flatter him, but I can determine that he likes noble or powerful women not because of the dirty thoughts of an upstart.”
“Perhaps the powerful Prince Kang De is only enjoying the process of being conquered.”
The assassin master left one last sentence.
“Gentlemen, you must understand that some people like to be passive.”
Yes.
That made sense.
When the man saw this, he revealed an inexplicable smile.
Although he had a noble status, he was only a worker. He was usually tired from running around. In order to relieve the huge pressure, he would always have some ingenious methods. The thing he liked the most was to be tied up, blindfolded, and kneel on the ground. Then, he would be humiliated, whipped, and mocked… This lowly shame would make him feel like he had completely released himself. This Prince Kang De was probably in this line of work.
It was only a little higher-end.
A noble and powerful woman…
At the thought of this, he looked up at the other party.
Her pale golden hair scattered all the way to the cushion. Under the magic lamp, he could only see an indifferent and beautiful side profile and light emerald eyes. That cold temperament was as distant as a mountain, giving people a cold sense of nobility. Your Majesty, is this also within your f*cking calculations?
However, why was it her…
Although she was beautiful and close, the man only glanced at her and did not dare to look again.
In his line of work, he had racked his brains and done his best. That was only the second most important thing. The first and most important thing was his self-awareness. He had always recognized his identity and only took the reward he deserved and did what he had to do. Arrogance was the cause of defeat. He had always remembered it clearly.
This was not a beauty he could covet. He could forget about it for the rest of his life.
So… what was she doing?
Did she know what His Majesty wanted her to do?
The man wanted to ask, but he did not know how to speak. The woman in front of him was cold and beautiful. Her figure was excellent and she was a rare beauty. She was like a fragile and delicate flower and looked like an ordinary weak woman, but he knew what terrifying power was hidden under this bewitching appearance.
It was better to say that he looked harmless but was even more terrifying.
He frowned and sighed.
The girl opposite him ignored him and quietly looked at Valentine’s speech. She took out a small notebook, picked up a pen, and recorded a few words.
The man sighed and continued to read the information.
The caravan traveled calmly without any accidents.
Goethe had simply become a holy place without any sins.
The army spread out and cast a large net to kill the bandits and bandits who had committed crimes everywhere. As for the slave catchers and mercenary groups that had been instructed by someone behind the scenes, they had long been quietly silenced by the mastermind to prevent attracting trouble. The Goethe people poured their anger of revenge everywhere. All the bandits who had taken the opportunity to plunder and kill were all hanged and stabbed to death. These Goethe soldiers did not go to the elf army near the jurisdiction at all and focused on suppressing the bandits.
No, not only did they ignore the elf army, but they would even sometimes send people to order the elves to send troops to eliminate the bandits after confirming the location of the target.
The reason was simple and sufficient.
“We have sufficient reason to suspect that this bandit army is a vicious dog instigated and nurtured by you! If not, prove it to us!”
Heaven had pity on them. Which army in the world could speak to the elves so unyieldingly?
In fact, the elves could only pinch their noses and pour all their anger on these bandits.
The more these things happened, the happier the Goethe people were, and the more grateful and impressed they were by that legendary man. Moreover, more and more gossip and rumors spread—d*mn, I understand the logic. The elves are so obedient. Is the Phoenix King really having an affair with His Highness Kang De? Otherwise, how could…
“D*mn, is the Phoenix King really having an affair with Kang De?”
Seeing the fourth piece of information, the man finally could not help but say in a low voice, envious and jealous.
The girl opposite him frowned. “Don’t say that about a king.”
The man was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, “Why? This is the truth…”
Before he could finish, he heard the girl say, “Because she’s listening.”
The man was stunned, but in the next moment, the sun outside the carriage exploded. The slightly hazy sky lit up with blazing light. For a moment, the packhorse neighed, and the guard cried out in surprise. An indescribable pressure passed through the carriage.
“…”
“…”
The man’s face was first stunned, then horrified.
What was going on?! Was this place very close to the camp of the Elven Expeditionary Force? Or had the Phoenix King’s spiritual perception already become so powerful? It could eavesdrop for dozens of kilometers?
—Then why should she listen to me?! Go listen to the corner of the Maple Leaf Palace! Listen to how her lover was so happy with the Princess of Goethe and the Crimson Queen!
The girl with the long golden hair sighed, closed her small notebook, and stood up.
The man gritted his teeth. “Wait!”
Then, he pushed open the door and got out of the car.
Not far away, the king surrounded by phoenix flames stood with her sword. She was wearing heavy armor and a phoenix-winged helmet that covered her devastatingly beautiful appearance. Only the location of her eyes burned with phoenix flames and could see all the sins in the world clearly.
Just standing there made the man feel guilty.
Not to mention that he had just said bad things.
Moreover, this Majesty must be in a rather bad mood these few days.
Her husband was gone and she had lost the battle. Moreover, domestic politics were definitely unstable. Before someone came to accept the huge expeditionary army and the subsequent peace negotiations, she even had to stay here to prevent further disputes.
However, she could not see Kang De.
She could only look at Red Maple City every day and think about how Kang De had done this to Princess Tina…
D*mn, it was too terrifying. The current situation was too terrifying.
At this moment, he heard the Phoenix King ask, “Why are you going to Red Maple City?”
Although the pressure of a king was extremely strong and revealed a sharp and heavy aura, the man was not affected. He had already trained in this aspect and immediately revealed a professional smile. He took two steps forward and bowed deeply cleanly, saying, “Foreign Minister Santos Chachell, dragon security…”
“—I’m talking to the dragon.”
Santos immediately shut his mouth and his heart sank.
As expected of the Phoenix King. She could actually tell.
Footsteps sounded behind him. The girl with long hair that almost fell to her knees was wearing a black dress and a white shawl. The obsidian sword-shaped earrings swayed slightly and she was expressionless, as if she was not awake. She walked over.
She bowed slightly and said indifferently, “Hello, Phoenix King.”
Delilah’s fiery eyes flickered as she said coldly, “If not for the Phoenix Vision, I wouldn’t have sensed a powerful upper-level dragon approaching me at all. It can transform into a human and even completely restrain its dragon might, magic power, and aura. It’s no different from an ordinary human, but under this beautiful body, the huge power of a dragon flows at all times… I know who you are.”
“The shadow of the Dragon Emperor.”
“The ultimate assassin of the Brotherhood code-named Dragon.”
“The founder of the Dragon Assassination Fist.”
She shouted coldly, “Why did you come to Red Maple City? Why did the Dragon Emperor let you come here?”
The Dragon Girl tilted her head and gently brushed her pale golden hair. She still had that indifferent expression and calm tone.
“Because I’m beautiful.”
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