Chapter 105: Twelfth Episode: Chapter 5 (2/2)

The Red Tiger's Battle Commander, Kamille Rayen stood his ground and looked with eagerness towards the little rascal who issued a challenge to the Red Tigers.

”You're all here! This is great!” Major General Murat hurried into the group, dragging General Gondol Abassia with him.

”I think... General Abassia and I can answer His Imperial Highness Prince's question yesterday!” Murat exclaimed excitedly while blinking his bloodshot eyes.

Shaw Shorenstein looked at his division commander and then at the military affairs advisor's dark circles and could not help but cry in amazement.

”Commander! You and General Abassia researched it throughout the night?”

General Abassia nodded, ”Yesterday, after the trial run of the cannon, Commander Murat and I ventured deep into the cannon field and made an accurate estimation of the killing radius of an 86mm caliber Fortress cannon, then integrating the bombardment interval and cool down time, Murat and I believe that we have found the countermeasure for seizing control a cannon's position! Actually, this isn't just the serial application of a few simple tactics, we can...

”Hold up! Hold up!” Murat stopped the Military Affairs advisor. ”These matters should be shared with His Imperial Highness Prince! Who has seen His Highness? Yesterday evening, both he and Paul disappeared together! Torry, isn't His Highness with you?”

Torry did not answer and only shook his head. However, the bright rascal already had his suspicions. Yesterday evening when he planned to bid his sister goodnight, he found that his sister was not in her room, which meant that...

”Seriously!” Murat snatched off his beret, ”Just what is our Highness up to?”

***************

The moonlight was becoming fainter and in the end, the crescent, waning moon eventually glided over the heavens. The obscure moonlight shifted from the hot spring area to the stone walls of the karst cave and glimmered between the rocks where the limestone and volcanic rocks condensed into one, casting down silver corrugated rays upon the duo. The torch was still burning and was placed simply on the other end of the stone wall, away from the moonlight. The flame was reflected red on the spring water and illuminated the female form. On this female body was a thin red line that traced out the enticing curves and perfect outlines.

”My beloved! What are you doing?” Vijdeline leaned against the side of the hot spring contentedly. At that moment, she did not even feel like lifting a finger. The Duchess searched for her lover from the corner of her eye.

”I am looking for the point of impact of the bullet!” Oscar was carefully searching the stone wall for a possible bullet hole, naked.

”Ola! Here it is!” His Highness took up a dagger that was shimmering with blue radiance and swiftly used the lethal weapon to dig out the lead pellet from the stone wall.

”Vij! Vij! Oh God of Light! Your Delin Mini Cannon has left a bullet hole of four centimeters deep in the solid volcanic rock! I have to admit that you're a genius! You have discovered a weapon which formidable power is beyond compare! I believe that at a distance of more than twenty meters, it can penetrate through an armor made of iron and if the distance was closer, penetrating an armor of steel will be a piece of cake.”

Being showered with praises from her lover, Vijdeline was not the least bit excited. Instead, she gawked at the dagger in the prince's hand, lost in thought.

”What is it?” Oscar's acute senses instantly detected the change in the Duchess' demeanor.

”Just when I handed the mini hand cannon over to you... You... You aimed at the space between my brows, but why did you turn the muzzle around just when you've pulled the trigger?”

Oscar's smile instantly vanished. His eyes bored into this woman who had just been intertwined tightly with him. Although the Lady had just seen through his thoughts, Oscar did not express any hint of regret.

His Imperial Highness suddenly sniggered, ”I believe that miracles do indeed exist in this world! Vij, you know? After taking a dip in the hot spring, every scar on my body was aching, but I feel vitality and vigor surge through my body. If what you say is true, then this hot spring has the miraculous effect of boosting the regeneration of one's body. So... I would also like to ask you a question.”

”You haven't answered my question.” Vijdeline met the prince's gaze.

”No! Hear me out first!”

Vij closed her eyes, ”I am listening.”

Oscar rubbed his nose, he knew what this question implied. ”Vij, since... This hot spring can allow the regrowth of your eardrum, then... Can I take it that this hot spring can allow any other membrane on your body to regrow?”

Without having to give it much thought, the perceptive Vijdeline already knew what the man was suspecting! The women of the Sukhoi Family had never suffered such a degree of disgrace. Vij picked up a rock fragment reflexively and without even looking, hurled it towards the young prince.

Without knowing why Oscar did not dodge and the rock that Vijdeline threw was immensely accurate. The small rock with sharp edges bounced off His Imperial Highness Prince's head.

Vij was crying! Not bawling or sobbing in particular but only crying in despair using her ordinary volume, relating the wrong she felt, the despair and indignation. Oscar sat motionless on the ground, allowing the blood to seep out of the wound on his head, letting the scarlet blood dribble down between his eyebrows and roll down his cheeks.

”I... Do not owe you anything!” After saying this, Oscar stretched out his hand to catch the patch of red flowing down his cheek.

”Hehe!” Vij laughed in place of her anger. ”Your Imperial Highness Prince O'Neil Andrew Morisette, I have indeed bled for you before, both from below and from my ear! Look! The amount you're bleeding now appears to be more than mine. Does this mean we're even? Should I say call you naïve or should I say that you're a cold, cruel, and moreover, deceitful and paranoid scoundrel?”

”I wait upon you with chastity and use my life to gain your favor! But you? You merely have an additional bump on your head! And just like this... you consider it done?”

Vijdeline really felt that all her effort were not worth it. She did not understand, she had given her everything, but why was this man before her unmoved and yet suspected her of the worst possible thoughts.

”Very well!” Vijdeline made a splash in fury. ”Just assume I was bitten by a dog! Now please answer my question! When you were aiming the mini hand cannon between my eyebrows, why did you give up in the end?”

Oscar moved towards the edge of the spring and took up a lock of golden hair, stroking it attentively.

”I couldn't do it! I couldn't pull it off! When I'm facing you, regardless of where my thoughts stemmed from, I just cannot do it no matter what!” Oscar gazed at the Duchess' eyes that were full of surprise and laughed lightly, ”Are you... Satisfied with this answer?”

”Then... Then why should you humiliate me that way? I... I am never a woman of no integrity, you should know.”

”But... I only care too much about you! I... I am unable to accept your lies or your disobedience, and more so unable to accept your insincerity and your being incompleteness. I want to possess you and have to procure your whole body and mind. I cannot allow you to have a single flaw, I...”

Vij suddenly cupped her hand over the prince's mouth. When Oscar had swallowed the words in his mouth, the intelligent Lady gave a rare blush, ”I... Understand!”

Oscar cupped the Duchess' delicate face and turned it towards himself, ”Vij! You should know! It is unfair for me to treat you this way! My future is full of uncertainties. Just as you say, it is frequent for the God chosen warriors to enter the battlefield of life and death. It is possible that I may not return, and possibly... may not be able to bestow upon you the status of Duchess Andrew throughout my life...”

”No!” Vijdeline cradled her lover's arm abruptly. ”Listen to me! According to my plan, I intend to use my knowledge of firearms to set a trap, my family's power to lay the bait and my chastity to secure a rope around you that you are unable to escape from! But after all, these are achieved, I realize that as you said, certain things cannot be carried out regardless of anything! In your arms, I am incapable of thinking, incapable of lying and incapable of caring about this miserable fortress!”

”The Sukhois are starting to rot and crumble from within! In order to squander money and to realize the desires that are impossible to fulfill, just how many secrets have my family sold out? Just how much intelligence did they betray? Those are the fruits of my ancestor's labor but in the end? It has now become the steps that lead to the grave!”

”As for these revolts, I do not wish to care and have no means of doing so! The Secret Service only needs to send a special task force to march into Grizzly Fortress, then tax evasion, the stint on materials that are substituted by sloppy goods, smuggling, and treason, all these filthy businesses will be thoroughly exposed! Each and every one of these will cause the family name of Sukhoi to forever be carved onto the Empire's pillar of shame! My love, do you understand now? My family is almost finished! I can only hold fast to the firearm technology within my hands then search out a strong person for myself and my most outstanding researchers to rely on! Do you understand my feelings?”

Oscar caressed the woman's hair; he could not find a single word to console her. Had the ancient Sukhoi Family fallen to the point of ruin and bereavement? If what Vij said were true, then she had already handed over the fate of this family into His Imperial Highness Prince's hands!

”I am tired! I truly am tired! I need to hide shameless betrayal behind my careful smile, I need to brandish a glinting lethal weapon behind my joy and the gold and gems I wear are actually stained with filthy bloodstains! I do not wish to live this way in this world! Why should I live like this? I want to find a man who is everything I can ever wish for. This man who will love me, pamper me and marry me! He will bring me to settle down in the South, which is forever in spring. I hate the ice, I detest the white, he must know! I... I will even bear and raise children for him! If it's a son, I will equip him with the knowledge to build firearms and artilleries! If it's a daughter... I will teach her art and geography! My daughter cannot be like her mother, never setting foot outside this drab castle in all her lifetime. My daughter will travel around the world when she grows up, and record down all the wonderful things in the world using her paint brush...”

Having said that, Vijdeline, farsighted, intelligent beyond compare and bold, had already broken down in tears!

Oscar cupped the woman's face in his hands. His woman was weeping and bawling!

”Vij! Look at me! Look at me! How will our children look like? I do not have a fine figure, nor do I have good looks! When the children grow up they will definitely look down upon this ugly father of theirs!”

Vijdeline struggled free of her lover's embrace fiercely. She wiped away her tears with blunt force.

”They dare? I will give each of them a cannon shell and make them stand with it on their heads the whole day!”

”Don't! They are after all our children!”

”That will not do! Children have to be disciplined sternly since young!”

”Okay okay, my Vij, I will follow your wish! You are my goddess!”

Being held tightly in her lover's embrace, Vijdeline closed her eyes contentedly. The God of Light adored love, it was this god that allowed love to become a bolt of lightning, it was this god that allowed love to become a beautiful dream! Those who were struck by this bolt of lightning would no longer deceive each other, fight with each other or doubt each other! When the blaze from the lightning had slowly dissipated, what remained was only a bright, beautiful scenery like that at the break of dawn.

”Thank you!”

”Why thank me?” Oscar was a little dubious.

”That shot... allowed me to let go of a lot of things and enabled me to understand what I really want.”

Oscar grinned, ”So... That is why you cared so much about why I shifted my target at the last second.”

Vijdeline suddenly broke into a musical laugh, ”Hehehe, let us not talk about this anymore! Tell me, last of the last, among us both, who is the one who won this gamble?”

Oscar lifted his head and pondered, ”Vij, I think... it should be our children!”

The naked lovers laughed and wrapped around each other.

”There is... Still, a little time left before dawn!” The Duchess' hands again started to explore.

Oscar gazed at the discolored sky, ”That's right, time is of the essence!”

There was a huge splash in the hot spring and Vijdeline's surprised yelp turned into a moan of sheer ecstasy!

Just who had won? Looking at the pair of youths who were having a thrill of their lives rolling about in the ripples, we know that there was no clear answer to this question!

***************

At the break of dawn, Grizzly Fortress' military bugler procession sounded their bugle horns. Under the warm morning ray, the stone castle that stood tall like a mountain opened its gigantic doors. A procession slowly rumbled out of the portcullis and crawled up the mountain road. Soon, the silhouette of the procession grew several kilometers long on the winding mountain road. The Northwestern wind roared and the soldiers pulled on their collars and tugged their cloaks tightly around themselves. The cold air currents had yet to leave this region and the soldiers had already set out on their journey. How treacherous was the road up ahead? These warriors who were traveling on the cliffs did not know.

The high point of Grizzly Fortress was the Sukhoi Family's Harp Palace. It was a cool morning and one of the bedroom's French windows facing the balcony in Harp Palace was opened.

Vijdeline gaze followed the long procession until the last soldier had vanished around the corner of the mountain pass.

”Am I disturbing you?” Baron Viesharl knocked on the window.

Vij turned her head around and flashed a smile at the devoted defender who had followed her for years.

The flea towered beside the French windows, staring blankly. After a protracted silence, VIesharl gave a gentle sigh.

”My Lady! I have not seen you give such a genuine smile in a long time, such...”

”That's enough!”

Veisharl was startled. When he lifted his head again, he was confronting the housemistress. The cold-hearted Vijdeline, with captivating eyes and a smile that could leave one panic-stricken! The flea shrank back and respectfully stood to one side.

”Is something wrong?”

Viesharl edged closer to the Mistress' side cautiously.

”Yesterday evening, your uncle held a ball and someone was spreading rumors about you and His Imperial Highness Prince.”

”What did they talk about?” Vijdeline inquired with interest.

”They only mentioned one thing – Sex!”

”Could it be that... There's a leak in one of our links?” The Duchess frowned, ”Otherwise, they will not have caught on so fast!”

Viesharl retreated a few steps, now was not yet the time for him to continue.

”Run through a checklist of those who crossed paths with me from yesterday evening to today. I believe that you will find the source of these rumors.”

Viesharl nodded lightly and just when he was about to step out of the room, the Mistress again called out to him.

”Do you have further instructions?”

”If you find that source, do know what you must do?”

After shooting a quick glance at the Mistress' eyes, Viesharl once again bowed.

”Shut him up and never allow him to have the opportunity to speak again.”

”No, no, no!” The Duchess shook her head violently, ”Let him continue spreading rumors! And ask him to give an even more detailed account of the matter!”

Viesharl lifted his head, perplexed, ”Why... Do you want to do that? This will greatly damage your reputation!”

”Reputation? Who cares about that?” Vijdeline turned her head away nonchalantly, ”The significance that the name O'Neil Andrew Morisette stands for, those who want me dead in the family knows only too well! Let them get a grasp of my intimate relationship with His Imperial Highness Prince, it will definitely add some benefit to my survival! The day I become Duchess Andrew, will be the best opportunity to conduct a purge of the internal family! Hehe! The winner will forever be me!”