Quest: Book 4

by Yufeng Zhuang

Extra: The Dark Legend--The Big Conspiracy 4

  Kone Cada sat in the table, he felt that he's scorched, he felt that he got himself a big trouble. There is no doubt that miss Deere Merlin is a very beautiful girl, especially when she's angry, her that budging big eyes, the almost perfect lips lines, the slightly pointed chin, and her white and tender skin... All of these let him couldn't keep himself under control.

  "Any man can refuse to have a woman such like this? Don't even say that I'm an acquisitiveness so strong man." He said to himself, but Kone Cada were not willing to do with the rude way, he didn't want to.

  Looking at the in evening dress Deere Merlin walked into the dinning room slowly and elegantly, Kone Cada's heart couldn't help jumping quickly. He knew that this is a war, or both would get hurt, or both would be satisfied and happy, and there never would be the one-side win.

  He pointed at the chair next to him with his finger, to let Deere Merlin sit down by him.

  Miss Deere Merlin, no, now she is Mrs. Deere Merlin, she held her skirt edge slightly with her hands, and sat down slowly.

  "What's for dinner today?" Deere Merlin pretended to ask casually, she had already thought about it well, even though she is forced to marry him, but she still could use the tricks like which she used to deal with those playboys, make him to fall in love with her crazily, and then step him down under her feet mercilessly... In many times, the cold face can hurt people more than the blade does, and herself, she would definitely not let this guy to touch her even a finger.

  "Fish!" Kone Cada seemed like that he didn't see her bright beautiful face, he answered her coldly, "and big shrimp."

  "Big shrimp?" She thought about it for a while, and held the wine glass up to take a sip, "that one should be called prawn!"

  "I like it, I just call that one big shrimp!"

  Deere Merlin was almost chocked to death by the aperitif, this doesn't know repentance layman!

  "Suit yourself, but you don't expect that I will follow you to call like this!" She looked up at her husband and said, the sapphire earrings swayed a bit, the light shined straightly to Kone Cada's heart.

  "Eat!"

  Kone Cada began to concentrate his mind to deal with the "big shrimp" in his plate with the fork and knife, this made Deere Merlin somewhat discouraged, as if he didn't put her beauty in the eyes at all.

  "I must try to let him to put his attention on my body! Only do it in this way first, I can hit him hard!" Deere Merlin made up her mind secretly, she will be cruel to revenge this guy's offensive behavior to her.

  At this time, a warrior brought a brochure to walk in, he is very young too, it seems like that this big group of people all are very young.

  "Boss! These are the goods for our next shipment..."

  "Read!" Kone Cada even didn't raised his head.

  "Yes! First-class cloth fifty, first-class wines three hundred, first-class..."

  Deere Merlin heard of these, she couldn't help laughing out.

  "What's the funny to laugh about?" Her husband stared at her.

  "You are just going to smuggle these things?" She said arrogantly, "it's really waste the manpower..."

  "I know that you also can be counted as half a businessman," Kone Cada said, "but you don't understand what the matter smuggling is, you'd better not to express your those opinions!"

  "If I were you, I'll load the ship up with spices, do you know what spices are?" she said casually, "cinnamon, star anise, clove... But I think that you just don't know how big the profits these things will have."

  Kone Cada "pa" slammed his palm on the dinner table, and stood up.

  "You need to be clear about your present status! You are just one of my many wives!" He got close to her body, as if he is going to eat people, "and I, am your husband! You return to your room after you finish the meal, take a bath and wait for me in the bed!"

  After he finished his words, Kone Cada walked out of the dinning room angrily.

  "You don't even try to think about to touch me a finger!" Deere Merlin threw the napkin on the table, and also walked away.

  Once Kone Cada walked out of the dinning room, he grabbed a pen from Marf's hand immediately, and he wrote something on the paper.

  "Genius, she is really a genius! Cinnamon... Star anise... Clove..." He raised his head up and asked Marf, "what else did she say?"

  "Ah! I didn't pay attention..." Marf shook his head.

  "The next time when she have an argue with me," Kone Cada said, "you must remember all the words! These are all the money! This time the goods are all loaded with what her advice..."

  ............

  Deere Merlin walked into the room, changed her evening dress with the fastest speed, put on a looks very solid casual clothes, tied on three waistbelts successively, and put the black iron dagger behind her back. Thought for a while, then she took down the dagger and held it in the hand.

  She closed the door, put a chair by the door, so there will be some noise when he comes into the room!

  Deere Merlin finally got everything ready, she sat on a chair in the corner, her eyes stared at the door, she pulled out the black iron dagger, but she just didn't know point the dagger either at him or at herself when her husband comes in.

  "Well, I will just use the dagger to point at him! I will just scare him... I won't stab it out," she said, "I know there will be such a day, this guy will try to use the violence, I, I must not let him succeed!"

  Abu looked at her curiously, jumped up on her laps, and kept barking.

  "Good Abu, what should I do?" Deere Merlin put down the dagger, and held Abu up, "that guy will be here soon... What should I do? Why didn't I make myself a little bit uglier? God, my beauty made that guy lost his mind..."

  Kone Cada stood in the watchtower of the castle, from this angle, he could see everything in his wife's room, with Abu in there, he knows everything happened in there clearly.

  "Actually, she's not that bad..." Seeing Deere Merlin held Abu up, his instinct tells him, this girl's heart maybe is not that bad...

  In the morning, in Abu's barking, Deere Merlin woke up. She found herself slept a whole in the chair, her body became so stiff. Saw that she had already waken up, Abu turned his somersaults in the bed.

  "Good morning, Abu..." She stood up, opened the door, wondered why it's so quiet the whole night, her that disgusting husband hadn't walked into her room, this even made the ready to battle herself to have a bit pity.

  "This must be his trick! Let me relax my vigilance, I must not be slack down!" She told herself, then changed her clothes and walked down the stairs.

  "Good morning, madam!" Lily said to her.

  "Good morning," Deere Merlin said to Lily with the smile on her face, "where's that annoying guy?"

  "Ah, you mean young master, he has guests, he is in the garden!"

  Guest? This guy still would have friends? Deere Merlin decided to go to see what kind of people they are.

  Walked through the hall, she came to the filled with fresh air garden, she saw that Kone Cada was hooking arms and patting shoulders to talk with a guy, she could read from that guest's mouth, he's been saying "yes yes yes".

  "Alright, just this much, you just go ahead!" When she walked closer, she heard what her husband said so, this is not like a guest? This exactly like talking to the subordinate!

  "How are you, madam!" When the guest walked by her side, he stood straight up to say hello to her, the very standard military action.

  "How are you." Deere Merlin returned the salute, although she didn't know who he was, but she still didn't want to lose the manner in front of other people.

  Watched the guests disappeared in the gate, Deere Merlin turned her back around and looked at her husband, she asked curiously, "who is he? Why are there so many soldiers accompanying with him?"

  "Strange?" Her husband looked at her and said, "he is the new castellan of the Wanpu city, his name is Kolter, he used to be the aide of the viceroy of the Darkness city."

/>   "Since when Wanpu has a castellan?"

  "Yesterday."

  "The castellan comes to meet you the day after he took up his official post?"

  "You're not convinced? He and I are not just friends, and we still have some business to do together..."

  "I understand now! He do the castellan, you do the smuggling... No wonder you have such a great courage!" She felt that her husband still is not that stupid for the first time.

  "Not only the smuggling, I still have the brothels, and the stores," her husband said, "as long as it can make money, I will do it."

  "What do you need so much money for?" She asked confused, "the money made from smuggling is not enough?"

  "Not enough, because I always don't have enough money to spend..." Her husband said, "I have a lot of things to spend the money on."

  "That's right, you would even pay fifteen gold coins for three clothes."

  "Hey hey..." Her husband smiled and said, "you think that you earned that? Forget about it, I have a good mood this morning, I don't want to argue with you."

  Looking at her husband walked into the hall with a smile on his face, Deere Merlin felt suffocated, this is the first time he refused to argue with her, well, no argument will be no argument, she blinked her eyes, her whole people became innocent and was full of vitality in no time, and she started to walk to the hall.

  "I don't believe that you will be not touched!" she thought like this, in fact it's such like this indeed. Almost all the men can't get away from her this pair of eyes, they are even willing to break away from their beliefs, just to ask her to take a look at them once again.

  When she just entered the hall, Lily was holding a pot of wilted leaves plant and ran by her side in a rush.

  "Young master! You take a look, what's happening to this pot of flower?" Lily put the flower on the desk by Kone Cada's side, she said eagerly, "the flower is just like this when I got to the garden today."

  "This pot of flower is not good any more, just throw it away." Kone Cada took a look at the flower in front of him.

  "Young master! Please you save it!" Lily said eagerly, "this is Lily's favorite."

  Kone Cada stroked on Lily's head and had a smile on his face.

  "Well," He said, "let me give it a try!"

  Kone Cada lowered his head, his facial expression is focused, he put his right hand on the top of the pot of flower slowly... No chanting, the pale white light bands fell down from his palm, the light bands are getting more and more, they finally became a little light ball to cover the whole flower.

  Slowly, a leaf of the flower recovered from the wilted condition, the leaf straightened up, becoming green slowly. And then, it's another leaf... When all the leaves became lively, there was a small flower bud on the top of a flower stalk. Suddenly, a drop of water fell on the flower bud, a beautiful tri-color flower was blooming slowly, there was a light aroma began to send out in the whole house... That drop of water, it's the sweat which dropped down from Kone's forehead.

  "It's fine now!" Kone Cada smiled somewhat sweaty, he looked up at Lily and said, "you can take it away now!"

  "Crazy!" Deere Merlin turned around and walked out of there, she didn't want her husband to find out that she was watching by the side, "to cure the flower with the healing magic, got tired with the full head of sweats! Just don't use it if you don't know how to use it! Why try to pretend as a sorcerer..."

  But, the eyes with tears Deere Merlin knows, she would never forget, in a bright sunny morning, a half-empty sorcerer tried his best to cure a tri-color flower, just for a little girl having a smile. The bright sunlight projected onto him through the french window, it let the sweats on his forehead appeared so glittering and translucent. In that moment, his face was flickering with brilliance, the slight smile is so sincerely to make herself feel that he's not that disgusting, she even has enjoyed watching that disgusting smile on the corners of his mouth...

  Deere Merlin walked onto the small dock, she wanted to let her own mind clearer a bit. This feeling is so strange, she should hate him clearly, but why would she be attracted by him in that moment? She thought about this carefully, whether let herself continue to hate him.

  From far away, come the smuggling carriage, tens of the cars lined up against the dock, this man! He really has not the average level greed for money.

  Deere Merlin watched the young warrior named Jack commanding his subordinates to load the goods onto the ships, a special smell of the dry clove began to diffuse in the dock... Wait a minute, clove?

  "This cunning guy!" She found the excuse to let herself continue to hate him, "even plagiarize my idea!"

  "Who are you talking about?" Her husband had already walked to behind Deere Merlin, but she still didn't find out.

  "Talking about you!" She said angrily, "I just said the spices can be smuggled yesterday, you have already started it today, your action is really quick!"

  "Of course, since it can make money, why do I tread as on eggs?" Her husband answered her in solemnity unexpectedly, he didn't have any meaning for apology or thank.

  "Don't you feel that it's not right?" She asked angrily.

  "What's wrong with it?" Her husband said with a flat tone, "you are my wife, your idea is just my idea."

  "My idea is just your idea? You say it so relaxedly!" She said, "then what about your own idea?"

  "My own idea?" Her husband had a smile, "of course it is still mine."

  "You... Rascal! Robber!" Deere Merlin got really mad, "I want to have a duel with you!"

  "Are you sure?"

  Deere Merlin spoke no more to him, she just turned around and dragged out a narrow sword from a warrior's waist, and she laid out her posture to her husband. And her husband, Kone Cada, just had been smiling to watch her doing all of this.

  "Well, I'll just play with you," he said, "three times will be fine."

  Deere Merlin stabbed her sword out, the as quick as the lightning blade went toward her husband's arm, she had this for sure, she could puncture his clothes through to make a fool of him and not to hurt him.

  The smile on her husband's face had never changed, it seemed like that he had already seen through her heart, and his hand had already caught the blade of the sword.

  "One time." Her husband let go of his hand, she then saw his hands wearing a pair of gloves which he put on don't know since when.

  She breathed out a breath evenly, Deere Merlin told herself no need to be tense, a little consideration later, she used her most proud fighting skill... The Five Successive Punctures. The narrow sword drew the ice-white blade lights in the sky, crisscross twined to her husband.

  "Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!" Her husband's hands kept waving, all five attacks were all stopped by him!

  "Two times," her husband said, "you still have one more chance."

  Deere Merlin didn't speak anything, when she had the competition with people before, no one could catch her five successive punctures, even the other party could block her punctures, they would also not dare to not pretend to lose to her. Her husband's seriousness let her felt losing face very much, she had her eyes stared, she stabbed out one puncture again, no, it's one sword after one sword to stab out, Deere Merlin had already forgotten the agreement of three times.

  "It has been more than three times!" Her husband's tone got heavier, but she didn't care about it at all!

  But, her husband's hand once again caught her sword in the sword lights, and another hand grabbed her collar.

  "You are excessive," her husband said, "it's over to here!"

  "No!" The stubborn Deere Merlin said, "you this rascal, I'll beat you down!"

  "You still don't understand?!" The light is flashing in his eyes, "you can't never beat me down, you don't even think about it on anything, why wouldn't you ever try to respect me?"

  "That's because you never respected me!"

  "I never respected you?" He got mad, dragged her body up, "this is what you looking for!"

  Kone
Cada lifted her up high, just like lifting a bag of dry clove, walked to the dock, and then threw her into the sea without any mercy...

  "You need to calm down," he squatted down on the dock, looked at her from the high position, "think about it, in this castle, by my side, who is the most special? Who can follow her own inclinations to do anything? I don't respect you? If changed for some other noble lover boy, they would have you bundled up three times a day with molestation long time ago!"

  "I'm not listen, I'm not listen!" Deere Merlin cried out loudly, "I hate you!"

  "Really? If it's like this, without love... To have the hate is not bad neither." Her husband stood up, turned around and walked away.

  Deere Merlin returned to her room, she changed her clothes in Lily's help, and then she began sitting on the bed in a daze.

  "You don't need to get mad..." Lily comforted her and said, "you just take it as if you order young master to throw you into the sea."

  "No! He actually did it in front of so many people..." Deere Merlin set her mouth and said, "I must revenge him this!"

  "You two just don't do it like this," Lily held her hands and said, "actually young master said it right, why don't you try to get along well?"

  "Can we?" Deere Merlin had her eyes filled with tears and said, "we are just two people from two different worlds indeed!"

  "If you just want to live together with a same people like yourself and get married," Lily looked at her and said, "then what's the difference from not getting married?"

  "Do you still not understand? Lily," she mumbled, "I was bought back by him... Why did he buy me back? Every time I think about this, I would... I would..."

  Lily slowly held on Deere Merlin's shoulder.

  "I'm just a little girl, I'm just a maid... I'm even not bought back by young master," Lily said, "but I know, young master treats me very well, I live very happy... Why do madam you care about how you and young master get together? Do you really don't know that young master actually respect you very much? The last two days, young master slept with his friends together and not came to bother you. You are the only one in the castle can quarrel with young master and won't get punished..."

  "That's because he doesn't dare!" Deere Merlin said hatefully.

  "You're wrong, madam..." Lily said, "you haven't seen young master losing his temper, but I have seen."

  "Maybe..."

  "Madam, can I give you a suggestion?"

  "Of course, Lily," Deere Merlin held Lily's hands, "we are friends."

  "You can try to forget the things what happened with young master before, from today on, you can try to feel young master's heart... You will find that you actually like to stay with young master together... Young master maybe is not a perfect man, but young master is definitely a sincere man, his heart... Is very sincerely."

  "You really think so?" Deere Merlin asked with doubt.

  "Yes, I'm pretty sure."

  "Then, well, I can give it a try..."

  Day by day passed, Deere Merlin lives every day in the big and small arguments with her husband, sometimes she won, sometimes her husband won. If they don't fight, she would brought Abu to go to play at the seaside with Lily together, as long as it's not too excessive, her husband never stop anything what she wants to do, he will only just take a glance at her time to time from far away. Deere Merlin enjoyed the freedom which she had never had before, as if she returned to her childhood, she lived the days happy and contented. Before she knows it, Deere Merlin had been to the castle for seven days.

  This morning, Deere Merlin was sitting in front of the mirror to comb her bright red hair, and was thinking about what she supposed to argue with her husband today. In these many days, argument has become her habit, but both sides were very restraint in the arguments, never involved in each other's family, friends, and relatives.

  "Literally to find some wrongs in the breakfast," she thought so, "right, from this to start, make him get mad for a bit! And then tell him some smuggling directories, then he will be happy to dead."

  Just at this time, the door of her room was "bang" opened by somebody pushing hard.

  Deere Merlin turned around and looked over, the coming in people is her husband! It's almost the conditioned reflex, she grabbed the dagger which she never left away from her side, because her husband never came to her room at night, now she even was disinclined to lock the door.

  "Why do I get so careless!" She was very upset, "he won't come in at night doesn't mean that he won't come in in the morning..."

  "What do you want to do?" She stood up, "you even didn't knock the door, get out."

  Her husband ignored her protest, walked to come over to her.

  "Don't come over here," she said," "I... I have a weapon!"

  "Put down you weapon," her husband said to her, "I have something to say to you."

  "You listen up, I just speak once," her husband looked very seriously, "I have an emergency, I need to go out for a few days, I don't know how the thing will develop, but I will come back as soon as possible."

  Deere Merlin never saw her husband was so serious, she nodded her head involuntarily.

  "If I don't come back in a few days," her husband took out a big bunch of documents from the pocket and handed them to her, "you go to Wanpu to take over all of my business immediately, including the smuggling. Whatever you want to do, there will be some people to help you. Every half month, the Wanpu castellan will ask you for money, you give him no matter how much he ask for, do you remember?"

  "I give him no matter how much he ask for!" Don't know why, she has been standing to a wife's position unselfconsciously.

  "I'll leave a few escorts for you," her husband said, "Anything you don't know, you can ask Jack, I also leave him over here."

  After he finished this sentence, her husband strode out of the room.

  "And," her husband stopped at the doorway, "if you are going out, you must be careful for yourself... When I'm not in, you also don't be too willful."

  Watching him go down the stairs, Deere Merlin couldn't help having a panic in the heart. She knew, her husband must be in trouble... There have already had some noise waves coming from the dock there, she pulled Lily to go to the watchtower of the castle together, she looked over to the dock there.

  There was a big ship parked in the dock, her husband was speaking with several people, those who called her husband childe subordinates were running out of the castle one by one, they stood in rows neatly on the dock, wearing all kinds of different styles armors, without exception, all were carrying the weapons.

  At he moment when her husband was boarding the ship, Deere Merlin saw that he took a look at the castle this side. Then she understood, in her husband's heart, she is not what she thought that she has no status. Looking at the documents which were in her hands, the clothing store which she had put into countless efforts, also the title deed of her house in Wanpu are all inside... She felt that her heart had a sore, and she almost dropped the tears down.

  "You also have to be careful for yourself," she waved at the big ship which was beginning to rise the sails, "my, bumpkin..."

  (To be continued)