Westheid’s guess was correct. The next day, he heard from Yolanda that Reiya had left the Imperial Capital.
Upon her return, the Fourth Princess completed her deploynts with incredible speed, petitioned to guard the border, and then left the Imperial Capital.
None of this was delayed in the slightest; she had used her Royal Family privileges to forcefully push it all through.
This caused a bit of a stir in the court of the Holy Tree Palace. After all, Reiya... was simply too special.
She was the Demigod scion personally chosen by the Divine Ancestor. Even though she had refused, who knew if the Radiant Holy Tree might have a whim and ask again? Besides, who said that refusing the position of Demigod ant she couldn’t compete for the Imperial throne?
Reiya’s sudden proactive attitude made the nobles of the Imperial Capital suspect the Fourth Princess might have designs on the throne.
Only Westheid knew why Reiya had left so decisively.
’The Silver-haired Princess is probably savoring her wonderful first experience every second of the day. If she didn’t get away from soon, she probably wouldn’t be able to resist turning back to ruthlessly drain dry again.’
’Just thinking about it is terrifying.’
After Reiya left, the other Branches of Prosperity also departed the Imperial Capital one after another, returning to their own territories.
Luyetan left Rozana behind to serve Duke Qinghui. At the sa ti, she gave Westheid a terrifyingly vast amount of wealth to command.
The wealth of the Yuanshi Territory was incomparable to that of the Qinghui Territory. Even if he borrowed from the Imperial Central Bank, he could never have secured such an astronomical sum.
The Shadow Fla Duke departed even before Luyetan. This elder among the Branches of Prosperity did not co to negotiate with Westheid in person as Luyetan had, but instead sent a direct and clear reply.
Friends of the Oath shall watch over one another.
I shall dispatch n to accompany you before Duke Qinghui’s departure at the end of the month, to assist you in reclaiming your holand.
There was no ntion of compensation at all. It seed to be unconditional aid. And from the looks of it, was the Shadow Fla Duke planning to send troops directly?
This was sothing even Luyetan couldn’t do. To dispatch his trusted forces from his own territory to fight a reclamation war against Chaos would almost certainly result in heavy losses.
This was equivalent to him taking a huge loss just to help Westheid.
’The Shadow Fla Duke... what an honest man!’
Moved, Westheid began working nonstop on the preparations to return to the Qinghui Territory.
The specifics were just: buy, buy, buy. Supplies, vehicles, food, warships, weapons, and armants—he bought them all in huge quantities. After all, Yuanxi Palace was footing the bill for everything!
With such lavish spending, everyone in the Imperial Capital knew Duke Qinghui intended to wipe away his past disgrace. And thanks to the publicity during this ti, Westheid’s public image had greatly improved.
Therefore, everyone greatly admired Duke Qinghui’s spirit, but almost no noble was willing to make a large investnt in the matter of retaking the Qinghui Territory.
It all ca down to the sa thing: the risk was simply too great, and any investnt was almost guaranteed to be a total loss.
"Forget it. It’s not like I ever expected anything from those short-sighted fools anyway."
Early one morning, Westheid stood naked before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his bedroom, lightly sipping a cold morning drink. At his feet knelt a voluptuous, mature Half-Elf beauty.
Rozana gazed at the man with an infatuated look. Her condition was relatively stable; she didn’t rush forward to rape Duke Qinghui.
Or rather, she had indeed tried to, but the result was that she was thoroughly ravaged in return, conquered from body to soul.
Wiping the residue from the corner of her lips with a slender, pale finger, the Half-Elf Maid reported:
"Duke Qinghui, the purchased and stockpiled supplies have all been loaded onto the Floating Battleships. They are expected to arrive in the Imperial Capital by the end of the month."
"Floating Battleships... If cost is no object, what’s the maximum number we can buy?"
Rozana replied, "Floating Battleships are strategic weapons in high demand. Even using the authority of both you and Yuanxi Palace as two Branches of Prosperity, the most you could purchase is two Blazing Fla-class warships. There are thirteen civilian transport ships available to rent or buy, but their neutered performance can’t even be compared to a warship’s."
"Tsk, tsk. So we’re being bottlenecked," Westheid said with a shake of his head and a laugh.
Floating Battleships were a specialty of the Celestial Vault Kingdom. Only the Celestial Vault Kingdom possessed the manufacturing technology; even the Imperial, which had maxed out its imitation industry, couldn’t reverse-engineer the secrets of the Floating Battleships.
Although the Imperial had repeatedly called for the Celestial Vault Kingdom to open up its source technology and not let selfish desires affect the developnt of the Mortal Realm, the arrogant Celestial Vault People completely ignored these calls.
’Their production capacity for foreign trade was what it was, the price was what it was, take it or leave it!’
As a result, Floating Battleships were an extrely scarce resource within the Imperial as well, essentially monopolized by the Imperial Central Army. Other Lords who wanted to obtain a Floating Battleship had to see if they were qualified.
Even the Branches of Prosperity, who had the duty of guarding the frontiers, could only possess a few Floating Battleships. It was already quite an achievent for the Yuanshi Territory to procure two.
’I can’t say much about it. I’ll just have to wait until I go to the Celestial Vault Kingdom in the future and bring the price of Floating Battleships way down for my people!’
He sighed and said:
"Help get dressed. I’m preparing to go out."
Rozana imdiately stood up to serve him. Ever since she was sent over by Luyetan, she had taken over so of Yolanda’s duties, becoming the professional maid for "personal care."
"Are you planning to find so lady for your amusent again today? You lecherous Duke Qinghui?"
Westheid glanced at the Half-Elf Maid, then extended a finger and tapped it on the green-haired beauty’s delicate collarbone.
"Rozana, you’re sounding a little disrespectful again. It seems your education is still incomplete. In that case, perhaps I can spend a little more ti today teaching you what respect ans."
The mont the man’s finger touched her fair skin, Rozana froze completely, as if a mory she couldn’t bear to recall had been awakened. Her delicate body trembling, she knelt and kissed Westheid’s toes.
"No, no... I wouldn’t dare. Please, forgive ."
Westheid looked down at the trembling, kneeling Rozana and felt a wave of satisfaction.
’I’ve really built up my confidence by dominating weaker opponents lately. It goes without saying for the ordinary, delicate noblewon, but now even Rozana, who could have been considered my equal before, is no match for at all.’
’With just a few simple tricks, I’ve thoroughly imprinted the mark of Westheid upon the cold and beautiful Miss Half-Elf Maid, making her tremble at my slightest glance or touch.’
In Rozana’s own words, she never wanted to experience that "despairing pleasure" again.
’Yes, yes. This is how it should be.’
’Ruin! Conquer! Dominate!’
Westheid finally had the feeling that "he had truly gotten stronger."
’So what? It turns out it wasn’t my problem after all. Reiya was just special. Well, that’s fine then.’
「Half an hour later.」
Feeling refreshed, Westheid walked out of the bedroom and called for Yolanda to join him in the carriage heading to the Holy Tree Palace.
The platinum-blonde girl sat primly beside the Patriarch, paying no mind to the faint, strange sll on Westheid, and asked:
"Brother, do you have an appointnt with soone at the Holy Tree Palace?"
"Yeah, sothing like that."
"Is it with His Royal Highness Regent King?"
Westheid raised an eyebrow. "Why are you always so concerned with that damn Regent King? I have an appointnt with Rafati."
Yolanda was taken aback. "Rafati... that Yonglan Knight? Why are you looking for him?"
Westheid laughed. "Isn’t it obvious? To obtain the complete Knight Path, of course."
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