After a night of intense battle, Steinbeck Fief’s army occupied the outer regions of Olm Fortress. First, they seized Sieg Pier and took advantage of the frozen river to board the trapped warships and successfully commandeer the warship fleet before the river melted. Usually, these navy soldiers only used the warships’ weapons to battle, so few had carried even a sword. Therefore, they were easily taken prisoner by the soldiers of Steinbeck Fief who forcibly boarded the warships.
When the Aldington River began to flow again, the line of their confrontation had already pushed to the opposite bank of Aldington River. Now, Steinbeck Fief’s troops controlled Sieg Pier as well as Aldington River’s fleet. The defending troops had lost their final natural barrier. The most fatal matter was that their chief commander had been captured by the enemy.
Now, Olm Fortress’s defenders were a host of dragons without a head, and the command structure was quite messy. After losing their chief commander, they had split into three, infighting groups. In her foresight, she had delegated her commanding power into three parts to prevent a chaotic situation in case she died in action. Although her original intentions had been good, power and authority could easily blind people, especially military power. Those three subordinates had already forgotten their original mission. Taking advantage of this situation where Earl Winissa’s fast was unclear to spread rumors that she had already fled or been killed in action, they used flimsy excuses to mass troops beneath their banner.
Earl Winissa had never thought that her subordinates would be so talented. She had been captured for but a day, but her subordinates visualized the scene of her death as if they had witnessed it personally. In addition, as if they were witnesses, they seemingly knew where she had died and what she had said. It was a waste of talent for these subordinates to live as commanders instead of working as bards or writers.
After losing Earl Winissa’s command, Olm Fortress’s troops divided into three groups. More than 10,000 soldiers still loyal to Earl Winissa were commanded by Earl Winissa’s housekeeper Norma. This group guarded Olm Fortress’s main building, Ord Castle. This was the rear of Olm Fortress and also the last line of defense. In the past, Earl Winissa would leave her housekeeper behind to guard the rear and manage her personal guards. Norma was Earl Winissa’s close girlfriend. Their families also had a close relationship. Before Winissa had left, she had handed command to housekeeper Norma at ease.
As for the other two groups of Olm Fortress, they were not as loyal as housekeeper Norma. Viscount Carlisle commanded over 10,000 soldiers and guarded Osi Castle, the southern area of Olm Fortress. That fellow was nominally Earl Winissa’s subordinate but had actually been recommended by Marquis Charles and been charged with secretly monitoring Earl Winissa’s actions. Now, Marquis Charles must have already known the current matters of Olm Fortress, but no one knew what Viscount Carlisle planned. Perhaps, taking advantage of the chaos, he would transfer these more than 10,000 people back toward the core of the Needham Plains and ignore Earl Winissa.
The most dangerous one was not Viscount Carlisle, but Baron Burke. He commanded over 10,000 soldiers and was stationed at Otto Castle, the northern part of Olm Fortress. In the past, his father had been one of Earl Winissa’s subordinate aristocrats and bravely stepped forward to block an arrow for Earl Winissa’s father, Earl Winger. A loyal military officer, he had gained Earl Winger’s recognition and been entrusted with important tasks. However, his son Baron Burke was not the same. This fellow hadn’t inherited his father’s heroic loyalty. He only sought a life of pleasure. Many times, he had engaged in evil things with other profligate sons, but out of respect for his late father, Earl Winissa had ignored it.
In this battle for Olm Fortress, Baron Burke took no action. To preserve his strength and maintain a political bargaining chip in the future, this fellow only watched as Sieg Pier fell into enemy hands. As Steinbeck Fief’s troops had captured Sieg Pier and attempted to gain a firm foothold, Baron Burke had been near Sieg Pier but refused to dispatch troops and recapture it. He also didn’t dispatch troops to rescue the trapped warship fleet.
The current command of Steinbeck Fief’s troops had already advanced to Sieg Pier. After some cleanup, this place became Clyde’s temporary command post. Soon after, Baron Burke arranged a secret envoy to visit Clyde’s party, saying he wanted to discuss important matters. Under the guise of being the Suzerain’s personal guard, he stood at one side and eavesdropped this secret meeting. After Princess Saras changed into her official attire, she secretly received Baron Burke’s envoy as Steinbeck Fief’s nominal Suzerain.
“I didn’t expect Lord Suzerain to be an outstanding woman like our former Suzerain Winissa. This time, Lord Baron Burke arranged for me to come make a deal with you. As long as it’s done, we can hand over Otto Fortress to you.”
“Earl Winissa is missing; she isn’t dead yet, right?”
“No, Earl Winissa has already died heroically in battle. Other than her housekeeper Norma, that stubborn woman, everyone including Viscount Carlisle believes the truth.”
The envoy had a sinister and crafty look, directly stating his purpose. Baron Burke wanted to take advantage of Earl Winissa’s misfortune to seize the succession rights to her fief since her brothers had no intention of inheriting it, so that noble rank could only be inherited by her subordinate aristocrats. Although Burke was not good at military affairs, he was proficient at the struggle for power and influence. He knew that he couldn’t compete with Viscount Carlisle or Norma; therefore, he immediately thought of cooperating with Clyde’s side. He wanted to borrow Clyde’s side to cleanup those two main opponents.
In return, Baron Burke promised that as long as he inherited Earl Winissa’s fief, he would declare himself a vassal of Steinbeck Fief and pay protection fees every year. In addition, he would also cede a number of cities and towns to Steinbeck Fief. The envoy had even brought several boxes full of gold coins to show his goodwill. At Clyde’s eye signal, Princess Saras agreed to the conditions after pretending to carefully consider the offer. The two parties then agreed to cooperate and attack Ord Castle. At that time, Baron Burke would lure the defending troops to open their gates in the name of reinforcing them before cooperating with Clyde’s side to launch a surprise attack on the defending troops.
“Lord Clyde, do you really want to cooperate with Baron Burke? I think that even without his cooperation, we can win for certain. After all, the other side is divided into three groups, and each has only around 10,000 people whereas our side has over 20,000 people under a unified command.”
“Saras, with cooperation, we can reduce our casualties. Go and explain the circumstances to Natalie and the others. I have some other arrangements. That fellow just sold out his earl and claimed to surrender; I don’t believe his sincerity!”
After the envoy left, Clyde asked Princess Saras to sort out communicate the information to the frontline commanders of Steinbeck Fief. As for himself, he walked to a bookshelf and turned a candlestick beside it to open a hidden door. Behind the door was a secret bedroom decorated with a pink tone, resembling a special room in a love hotel. There was a large circular bed illuminated by red candlelight, increasing the ambiguous atmosphere of this room. Clyde had entrusted the creation of this secret bedroom to his younger sister Lucifer, that bloodkin Lolita, who had arranged for her Bloodkin familiae to build it. Even like that, it had not been easy to build in such short notice.
Earl Winissa knelt on the pink bedsheets. There was not even a single strand of thread covering her body. Bound with red rope in a standard tortoise-shell binding method, she struggled to free her hands tied behidn her back. Upon seeing Clyde, her face became red. She wanted to speak but couldn’t due to a black, rod-shaped erotic tool.
“Winissa, did you hear? Your subordinates are thinking of selling you out.”
“Baron Burke, he… he is not that kind of person! You… put away your hands! This is not in line with aristocratic etiquette. Are you…”
“What aristocratic etiquette? I’m not a Suzerain, so that has nothing to do with me. Don’t move randomly; otherwise, I can’t guarantee that I will be able to restrain myself!”
“Don’t… don’t mess around. I’ll pay any ransom you want! Don’t…”
Clyde hugged Winissa, temporarily removed her wicked rod, and carried her into the secret room’s bathroom before depositing her in the bathtub. He then made her sit in his lap and gently washed her entire body like fondling a precious treasure. Earl Winissa’s face was bright red, and she lowered her head in embarrassment. From her previous Earl honorable status, she was now reduced to a prisoner. That huge drop in status shamed her into hiding her face. The other party lacked any consciousness. His hands moved up and down, groping her sensitive areas.
In the human nations of Ximengsi Continent’s Victor Alliance, defeated aristocrats would be treated with courtesy and wouldn’t become prisoners. The defeated side would pay the winner a ransom, which was also called settlement gold. Then, both sides would treat it as if nothing had happened between them. Earl Winissa had also predicted this at the beginning, yet who would have thought that she would run into this man who truly didn’t have any aristocratic demeanor? Since Clyde had controlled her mount, the unicorn Zhenni, Winissa had endured many humiliations starting with stripping herself in front of him. She had removed all her equipment and clothes including her undergarments. In addition, she had placed her hands behind her head and let the other party restrict her. The only fortunate thing was that the other party had had a little conscience. Seeing that she was suffering in her menstrual period, he hadn’t taken the next step.
“Never mind the ransom. There are things worth more than a ransom. You should understand that!”
“I… I don’t know anything at all! I don’t understand…”
Winissa’s expression turned red and hot. Naturally, she knew what Clyde referred to, but she didn’t dare to admit it. Now, both parties were in an intimate contact, and the other party’s gun pressed against her softest part. Winissa didn’t dare to look down at that ominous thing, and her body trembled, fearing the other party would lose control and directly “execute her on the spot.”
“If you don’t understand, I can help you, okay? Rest assured. Many cuties around me didn’t understand in the beginning, but now they do!”
“Don’t! Not that place… forgive… forgive… me!”
