Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Watch Me Beat You into a Pig Head

Before Heath finished speaking, footsteps sounded at the door.

A lovely figure appeared at the door...

Lingyun Leng frowned slightly, coldly glancing towards the door.

Claire looked toward the door. A snow-white gown and the pattern on the fringe of her dress showed her high position in the Temple of Light. The figure in the doorway walked over slowly. She had beautiful, curly hazel-hair, a pair of pretty, black eyes under two arched brows, her thin lips below a perfect nose curving into a faint smile. She walked over gently and elegantly while smiling. As expected, she was an elegant, beautiful lady.

She was the current Holy Divine Princess of the Temple of Light - Xueqing Liu, also someone who had an ancient last name, and she was skilled in Light magic.

"Greetings, your highness. Welcome to the city of Niya. I am the castellan of Niya, Claire Hill." Claire approached politely and greeted.

"Greetings, your excellency. I come on orders from the pope to assist you, but it seems like there's no need for that now." The Divine Princess Xueqing Liu answered politely, smiling.

"No, no, it's thanks to his highness the Holy Divine Prince and thanks to the assistance from the Temple of Light that we were able to get the plague under control so quickly." Claire replied politely and also smiled.

Walter rolled his eyes and added sourly, "Claire, do you want to vomit?"

When Claire praised the Divine Prince, a flash of shyness and pride appeared in depths of Xueqing Liu's eyes. Although it was only an instant, Claire caught it and immediately understood what was going on. This Divine Princess was pretending to come to assist, but was really chasing after her love.

"Lingyun, are you okay? I heard that you gave many people a baptism at once and used up all your magic." Xueqing Liu saw Lingyun Leng, who was standing behind Claire, and asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Lingyun Leng replied indifferently, "The plague is now over. Divine Princess, you should return early."

One called Lingyun warmly, the other addressed the Divine Princess coldly.

A typical hot face on a cold butt. Oh, no, it should be a hot face on an icy butt.

"Look who I brought with me." Xueqing Liu didn't mind Lingyun Leng's cold attitude, and instead still smiled and talked gently.

Lingyun Leng lifted his eyes toward the doors, but saw the tiny figure that was always on his mind.

"Brother -" A sweet and crisp voice floated over.

"Xuanxuan?!" The expression on Lingyun Leng's face immediately softened, and he hurried over to the door.

"Xuanxuan's health had improved a lot recently. I heard that the plague was under control and Xuanxuan also wanted to see you, so I asked permission to bring her over to find you." Xueqing Liu smiled and also walked towards them.

"Thank you." Lingyun Leng gathered the tiny Xuanxuan into his arms and turned around to thank Xueqing Liu. This time, his tone was sincere.

Xueqing Liu smiled a soft and satisfied smile.

Claire gave Heath a meaningful glance, and Heath left. Claire also turned towards the backyard, and Yixuan Feng immediately got up to follow behind Claire closely. Jean also left silently, leaving them to themselves.

"Claire, what are we having for lunch? The boiled egg for breakfast was really good. The cook said you taught him how to make it, is there anything even better?" Yixuan Feng followed behind Claire and asked noisily.

This made Claire remember that this fellow seemed to love eating. During his first competition with Lashia, he had gotten a stomachache from eating and had to go to the restroom, forfeiting and losing the competition.

"Yes." Claire answered, her voice muffled.

"What is it? What is it?" Yixuan Feng became excited and started pestering Claire.

"First help me deal with some documents in the study concerning the Trade Association." Claire threw out one sentence and then walked ahead to the study. She would definitely not waste a gift from heaven. This guy, Yixuan Feng, his family happened to be opposite from most aristocratic families. His mother was a senior minister in the royal court of Lagark, favored by the emperor and respected by all other officials. His mother had a fiery temper and a boastful personality, while Yixuan Feng's father was gentle and cultured, the chairman of Lagark's biggest trade association. Simply put, he was a crazy cash printer. And Yixuan Feng inherited both of their merits: intrepid, with a clever brain. He would not lose even one copper coin while trading if he could help it. These were all information that Claire had found out later.

In the study, Claire sat in front of the desk, flipping through the mountain-high pile of documents. Claire's right hand already wore a delicate, silvery-white lace glove, prepared for her by Yixuan Feng. When she got up in the morning, Yixuan Feng was squatting in front of her door, holding a bag as high as half a person. It was filled with gloves of all shapes, colors, and sizes, for Claire to cover up her black Mark. How he got so many gloves in one night was beyond comprehension.

"Claire, these sales tax can be reduced, these cannot. This one can be reduced by twenty percent. By doing this, not only can you encourage their enthusiasm, you can also collect a fair sum of money. And most importantly, they will still shed tears of gratitude." Yixuan Feng pointed out to Claire on the documents in his hand.

Claire looked closely. Sure enough, the taxes reduced were very tiny, but very obvious.

"Yes, you'll get something good to eat for lunch." Claire picked up the quill and quickly scribbled a recipe on a piece of paper. "Take this to the kitchen and tell them to make this for lunch."

"Okay, hehe." Yixuan Feng took the recipe and happily went out the door. He thought gleefully in his heart that in the future when Claire became his wife, he would have good stuff to eat everyday.

"Claire, it's so boring." Walter complained, bored to death. He didn't dare to go out for strolls anymore. After all, right now, not only was that wretched Holy Divine Prince in this mansion, but the Holy Divine Princess also came. If they noticed his aura, he was done for.

Claire flipped through the mountain-high pile of documents quickly, stamping the ones approved and throwing the ones not approved aside. After a long time, when Claire felt her eyes getting dry, did she get up and decide to take a walk.

The back garden of the mansion for the castellan was filled with golden sunflowers. Nobody knew which previous castellan had such an unique interest, but this garden was not planted with rich and colorful flowers and instead, full of sunflowers. Currently, they were all blooming, shiny and golden.

Claire looked up, but suddenly saw that there was a tiny figure amidst the high sunflowers. Silver hair?

At that moment, the tiny figure seemed to have sensed something, turning around and meeting Claire's gaze. Violet irises, a face that was a little pale, and delicate lips. The clear eyes let Claire understood that this was a very pure child, not tainted in any way, so she has been protected very carefully. It's Lingyun Leng's younger sister! Because the two's facial features were somewhat similar.

But the little girl froze while looking at Claire and just stood there staring at Claire.

Claire didn't speak, turning around to leave. She was not good at conversing with such innocent people.

"Wait, big sister." But that crisp and sweet voice from behind made her stop.

Claire stopped her steps, turning around slowly and saw the young girl running over hurriedly, almost tripping.

"Slow down!" Claire knew that this child in front of her was sickly and running so fast would not be good for her health. Claire bent down a little, catching the little girl who was running over.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

"Big sister, my name is Xuanxuan Leng ~" The girl with silver hair and violet irises looked at Claire with big eyes and introduced herself earnestly, "I am five years old this year. I'm very happy to meet Big sister."

Claire felt a little awkward. Why did this child seem so mature?

"Oh, hello, Xuanxuan. I'm Claire." Claire was little uncomfortable; she really didn't know how to talk to a person who was as clear as crystal.

"Big sister, I like you, you are a good person." Xuanxuan Leng said unexpectedly, a brilliant smile blossoming on her pretty face.

Claire felt even more awkward, squatting before Xuanxuan Leng, not knowing what to say.

Walter roared with laughter. A good person? The little devil was a good person? Such a ridiculous joke. Heavens, there was actually someone who said the little devil was a good person, too funny!

"Xuanxuan?" Right then, a worried voice rang out. It was Lingyun Leng's voice.

"Brother, I'm over here." Xuanxuan Leng turned around and called out behind her.

Claire heard footsteps of two people which meant the gentle and elegant Divine Princess was also there, so all the more reason she should leave. She didn't want to be caught between a hot face and cold butt.

Claire stood up to leave, but a pulling from the edge of her clothes stopped her. Claire looked down and saw Xuanxuan Leng's small hand clinging tightly to the edge of her clothes.

"Xuanxuan, I won't bother you anymore, be obedient. I'm leaving." Claire was a bit conflicted.

"Big sister, don't go. Play with Xuanxuan for a while?" Xuanxuan Leng flashed her big, clear eyes and looked pleadingly at Claire. People couldn't refuse that pathetic yet cute expression.

Of course, normal people couldn't refuse, but Claire knew that tangling up with people from the Temple of Light had no benefits whatsoever. Claire patted Xuanxuan Leng's head gently. "Be a good girl, Xuanxuan. Her highness the Divine Princess will be with you... "

Before she finished her sentence, Lingyun Leng and Xueqing Liu already appeared before them.

"No, your Ma didn't tell me to chase you back." Wenmo Shui answered truthfully.

"Then what are you here to do?" Yixuan Feng asked, puzzled. "My Ma's not one to give up so easily."

"Your Ma said to let you stay here until the war breaks out, and then you'll have to use your abilities to make it back safely. It'll serve you right if you die here, and she'll just pretend she never had a stupid and incapable son like you. And if you can, bring back a wife." Wenmo Shui shrugged his shoulders, repeating exactly what that female T-rex had said.

But Yixuan Feng exclaimed happily, "Yes! Ma's the best."

Hearing all this, Claire twitched her mouth. What kind of a mother was this? This was called a mother? No wonder Yixuan Feng grew up to be such a freak.

"Um, beautiful lady." At this moment, Wenmo Shui opened his mouth to talk to Claire shamelessly.

Claire gave a sideways glance at Wenmo Shui, replying quietly, "What?"

"I'm have absolutely no money right now, so, you see, can I work for you?" Wenmo Shui's smile was a little flattering. Of course, this was not the only reason Wenmo Shui wanted to stay beside Claire; there were some other reasons he could not tell right now.

"Fine, one gold coin per month, plus food and lodging." Claire said coldly, "All you need to do is to listen to my commands." Claire didn't know why this powerful Wenmo Shui wanted to stay, but since he was already at her door, it would be wasteful not to take advantage of it. Coincidentally, Claire could use him in these two days.

"What?" Wenmo Shui shrieked again. "So cheap?"

"What the heck are you complaining about, I'm working for free." Yixuan Feng spat on the ground, disdainful at Wenmo Shui's greed, annoyed.

"That's because you're lustful, you're being stupid as h*ll, you brought this upon yourself, but I... " Wenmo Shui started chattering.

"I'm going to rip your mouth off of you, you never could spit out ivory." Yixuan Feng started cursing angrily.

"And you could spit out ivory? Spit some out for me to see." Wenmo Shui retorted.

Claire paid no attention to the two youths fighting behind her and instead, thought while she walked.

The nobility of Niya had sent out a joint invitation, wishing that Claire would attend their specially-prepared banquet.

Them welcoming and giving a reception for a visitor was fake. Really, they were going to probe and to display their strength.

Every new castellan would meet such a problem. The local nobility want to earn the greatest profit for themselves, and there are inevitably some castellans who had suddenly gotten some kind of new idea and want to implement some new laws that would hurt their profits, so they had to prevent this from early on. This plague damaged Niya seriously, and although the capital sent relief supplies, it could only solve a portion of the problem. The nobles controlled a lot of trade unions and shops, so they were afraid that Claire might hinder them in selling daily supplies at high prices.

At night, Cliff came to look for Claire in the study.

Cliff set up a magic barrier, blocking any magic sense. After making sure that no one could hear their conversation, he sat down with a serious expression.

"Master? Did something happen?" Claire saw Cliff's serious face and knew that things weren't that simple.

But Cliff said, "Claire, there is a way to undo the mark on your hand."

Claire froze. There was a way to undo the Mark of the god of Darkness?! Who could do this?

"The god of Sprites." Cliff said with a bit of difficulty, "This mark, it can only unlocked by the god of Darkness or the god of Sprites."

Claire paused. Another god?

"Sprites like to live in solitude and dislike humans. But sprites are all kind and pure and their god is too. If we could get their god to descend and undo your mark for you... " Cliff frowned, the rest of his sentence unfinished. Evidently, he also thought that this was a bit unlikely. Not to mention, they couldn't even enter the Forest of Sprites. Even if they did, sprites would never let humans close to their temple and would definitely not summon the Sprite god.

"Master." Claire chuckled softly. "I know your kind intentions, but some things cannot be wished for. In the meantime, I will work hard and make myself stronger. Even if the day does come that I'm not able to resist anymore and leave you, please don't be sad. You must live on safely."

"Claire- " Cliff's voice was choked by a few sobs, "Don't talk like this. When I was young, I rescued a sprite. After you finish this business in Niya, we'll go the the Forest of Sprites and test our luck to try and find him."

"Yes, Master." Claire nodded, smiling. Although there was very little hope, Cliff's kind intentions had moved Claire greatly.

"Sleep early and don't tire yourself too much." Cliff urged.

"Yes, Master, I will end this business as soon as possible. After dealing with those nobles two days later I will hand all matters over to Heath and then we can leave." Claire smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to bed. Old bones can't withstand such excitements." Cliff yawned.

"Master, you should probably first wipe off that lip print on your cheek." When Cliff walked out the room, Claire's chuckling voice came from behind. Cliff immediately wiped his face with hand extremely awkwardly. This was left by that pretty little seamstress from before who adored him.

The plague was under control so the Divine Prince and Princess bid their farewells. Xuanxuan Leng clinged to Claire's clothes, unwilling to part.

"Xuanxuan, be good, your brother and the Divine Princess are waiting for you." Claire picked up tiny Xuanxuan resignedly, about to put her on the carriage.

"Big sister, you must come visit me. If you don't, I will make Brother bring me to see you." Xuanxuan Leng hugged Claire's neck tightly, reluctant to let go.

"Okay, okay, fine." Claire answered perfunctorily.

"Don't treat me lightly. You must come visit me." Xuanxuan Leng said solemnly, holding tight onto Claire's neck. Suddenly, she lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear. "Big sister, in the future, please take good care of my brother." Nobody noticed, that a spark of light glowed in the depths of Xuanxuan Leng's violet irises.

What? Claire was surprised and then confused. What was that sentence supposed to mean?

"Okay, Xuanxuan, it's time to go." Lingyun Leng said dotingly but resignedly, walking over and picking up Xuanxuan Leng.

"Goodbye, big sister." Xuanxuan Leng snuggled into Lingyun Leng's arms, her head poking out smiling.

Lingyun Leng carried Xuanxuan Leng to the carriage, then turned around and looked apologetically at Claire. "I'm very sorry, bringing you trouble these days. I don't know what's with this child. She never talks to strangers but is so kind to you." This was the longest Lingyun Leng had ever spoken since he and Claire met.

Claire faltered slightly. She kept thinking that something was off, but she couldn't think of what it actually was.

The Divine Princess also came to say goodbye.

Then, the carriage rolled away slowly from the castle, disappearing from everyone's sight. Jean silently made his way to stand behind Claire like before. The only problem that annoyed him was that his place seemed to be a little crowded. There were two other fellows who were following Claire closely from behind.

The carriage left. Lingyun Leng held Xuanxuan Leng. Xuanxuan Leng snuggled in Lingyun Leng's arms and fell asleep.

Xueqing Liu looked at the gentle and loving expression on Lingyun Leng's face, extremely conflicted. She wished so much, wished that he could have that expression on for her. But except for his sister, he never expressed such emotions in front of other people. Although he smiled at everyone, Xueqing Lu knew that that wasn't a real smile. How she envied this child Xuanxuan Leng who was able to receive his love.

Xuanxuan Leng's eyes were closed. A faint smile appearing on her lips, as if she was having a good dream.

Lingyun Leng looked down at the smile on Xuanxuan Leng's lips and also smiling faintly, which made Xueqing Liu almost go into a daze.

Nobody knew what Xuanxuan Leng dreamed about, and nobody knew that the rumor was half truth half fake, the rumor that the violet irises of the Divine Prince could see into the future. The rare violet irises could indeed see into the future, but not Lingyun Leng's irises, instead Xuanxuan Leng's!

Xuanxuan Leng could see into the future!

The price for seeing into the future was Xuanxuan Leng's sickly health. From the first time Xuanxuan Leng saw Claire, she knew that the fate of Claire and the fate of her most beloved brother were intertwined tightly together!!!

The next day, along with Heath, Jean, Yixuan Feng, and Wenmo Shui, Claire set off for the banquet the nobles prepared for her.

The banquet was set up in one of the nobles' house in Niya.

When Claire's carriage arrived, the servant announced the arrival of the castellan in a loud and clear voice to notify the nobles inside that the star of today's show had finally arrived.

Claire wore a nice-fitting, pale green gown and made a dazzling appearance in the doorway. More eye-catching were the three handsome men behind her, each with their own style and charm, immediately attracting a lot of envious looks from young aristocratic girls and ladies. Some even guessed maliciously that these were boytoys Claire bought with money. Although Claire had become immensely popular, she still didn't change her man-crazy attitude.

Claire felt the ill gazes from the crowd in the hall and chuckled coldly in her heart. These parasites, they must have had prepared for this, ready to squeeze her like a soft persimmon.

What a pity. It was very unfortunate that even though she wasn't a bad person, she could never be described as a good person either.

So if these people prepared a "big gift", then she wouldn't be modest and would take the initiative to gain the upper hand.

A brilliant and dazzling smile blossomed on Claire's gorgeous face once more.