Chapter 146 Such a wealthy and eligible bachelor, which one...
In the midst of the boisterous ball, five or six beautiful noblewomen had inadvertently stumbled and fallen in front of Manberia. Some had fainted, some had tripped, some had fallen accidentally, and some, trying to avoid a maid carrying a wine jug, had almost fallen into Manberia's arms. Manberia's attendant, quick-witted and agile, intercepted them, deftly grabbed their wrists, steadied them, and led them aside.
She looked at Manberia with a resentful gaze, but Manberia just smiled and raised his glass to her.
I watched all of this indifferently, without uttering a word.
A famous handsome man from the mainland, the actual controller of the Northern Territory—who wouldn't want such a high-quality, wealthy husband?
It is said that to become his mistress, one had to fight fiercely and ruthlessly for her.
"How can I make you smile?" Mamboya whispered in my ear, raising his glass.
"Just stay away from me," I said casually.
"Oh, so you're turning your back on me after I drove away the Western Frontier army for you?" he said, feeling extremely aggrieved, his eyes seemingly brimming with tears. "You can't treat me like this, you can't just use me and then deny everything."
I ignored him.
“We haven’t been intimate for days,” he said, his innocent, beautiful eyes trembling as if he were about to cry. “I’ve been missing you so much I’m going crazy.”
I still ignored him. He pressed his advantage, taking another step closer to me, almost touching me, and said, "I'm the one who saves you every time, can't you even smile at me? I saved you at Black Castle, and I'm saving you again now, why are you so cold to me?"
The thought of his past illness makes it impossible for me not to be cold towards him.
"You mind my past..." He smiled. "Of course you can't help but mind, you're such a pure and innocent beauty. When the news spread that you were still a virgin when you followed the Elf King, I was almost laughed to death. Some women surrounded me asking if it was true, and in a moment of foolishness, to prove I could do it, I didn't verify their reliability before sleeping with them, which led to this situation. In a way, it's also related to you, isn't it?"
"Don't say these things to me." I shook off his hand that had just been on my shoulder.
“I have to say this,” his expression suddenly turned serious, “I have to make this clear to you, otherwise you will continue to ignore me.”
I suddenly yelled, "Stop talking!"
He paused for a moment, then his expression turned angry. He stood up and left.
The ball fell silent instantly; everyone stared at us, the music stopped, and the air grew stiff and cold.
Early in the morning, I had just woken up and was about to order someone to pass on the latest intelligence from the front lines when my door was suddenly pushed open. I was wearing a white cotton bathrobe, hadn't washed up, my hair was disheveled, and I stood barefoot on the floor, coldly staring at them.
The newcomer was Manberia, with long silver-blue hair and a magnificent robe, followed by a group of doctors and female physicians.
He didn't say much, but unbuttoned his silver shirt, took off his outer robe, inner garment, and trousers, and stood naked in front of everyone. I felt a little embarrassed for him, but he remained calm and composed, showing no sign of awkwardness.
Several doctors surrounded him, using magnifying glasses, forceps, or other instruments to carefully examine his exquisitely slender body.
The female doctors kept their heads down, their faces flushed with embarrassment, and occasionally handed over new tools.
I tried to avoid looking at him and was about to turn around when I heard his arrogant and unruly voice, "Don't turn around, or you won't be able to see me and will think I didn't really check."
I had no choice but to stand still, not because I was afraid of him, but because I couldn't bear the strange looks that the doctor and the female doctor were giving me at the same time.
After the examination, he donned only a magnificent outer robe, his inner garments completely bare, and extended his strong, long arms. An elderly doctor tremblingly took out a syringe and pierced his snow-white skin.
The skin of Northerners is particularly fair, and coupled with his life of luxury and court life, his skin was even fairer than that of the average Northerner. His arms were not etched with ferocious beasts like Bernard's, but rather a cold, pale white. Therefore, when half a tube of bright red blood was drawn out, it appeared particularly striking and glaring.
As the old doctor put away the syringe and injected fresh blood into a thick yellow test strip, I couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
The doctors didn't answer. Manberia laughed mockingly, "If I have any venereal disease, this test strip will tell you immediately. It was invented decades ago by a famous doctor who used it exclusively for the wealthy and powerful, making a fortune back then. But this strip is indeed effective; it's almost always right. If you're not sick, you're not sick; if you're sick, you're sick."
This is a kind of test paper that is extremely sensitive to viruses. Manberia said with a smile, "This paper is quite expensive. It grows in a valley at the border between the North and the South. The North and the South often fought over the raw materials for this paper. Later, they agreed to split it in half. Both the North and the South have made a lot of money from this material."
The blood had been completely injected into the test strip, but there was no reaction; the test strip remained its original color.
Manberia had already pulled me to sit on the sofa. I moved a little away from him, but he just smiled and didn't seem to care at all.
After a while, the color of the test strip remained unchanged.
He waved his hand, and a woman in a sexy nightgown was brought in. Her young and beautiful face looked very familiar; she was the one who had almost fallen on him at the ball last night.
The beautiful woman's eyelids were slightly swollen, clearly indicating that she had been woken up early in the morning and was still a little sleepy.
"You had a good time last night, didn't you?" Manberia chuckled, turning to me. "She spent half the night with one of my high-ranking generals." He ignored the beautiful woman's embarrassed expression.
Several female doctors held down the beautiful woman's body, one of them saying, "Don't move." Immediately, a syringe was quickly inserted into the woman's arm. Before she could even scream, half a tube of blood was drawn. The woman was released, and the blood was injected into a test strip.
Almost immediately, the test strip changed color, from light yellow to dark yellow, and then to earthy yellow.
Manberia clicked his tongue and said, "Your condition is quite serious. My general is in trouble. He needs to take some medicine quickly, and maybe it's still possible to stop the bleeding."
The beautiful woman's face changed, and she knelt down on the floor with a thud, crying out, "Your Highness, please save my life!"
"Why are you looking for me? You should go find the one who sent it to you." Manberia waved his hand again, and several maids at the door immediately came in and dragged the beauty away. The beauty wailed loudly, probably because she was frightened.
As the crying faded into the distance, I suddenly stretched out my arm. "Try me too."
Manberia smiled ambiguously and moved closer, "No need, even if you really get infected, I'll still be with you."
"I'll give it a try anyway." I've had affairs with high-risk men before, so I'm not entirely comfortable with it.
With my insistence, my blood was injected into the test strip, and thankfully, there was no reaction even after half an hour.
Manberia and I were now seated at the dining table, where two test strips were laid out—one for me and one for him—both showing no change.
By this time, I had already drunk half a glass of milk, eaten half a slice of bread, and a small bowl of fruit and vegetable salad.
"Now you can rest assured," T. Manberia poured me another half glass of milk, "You can be with me without worry now, right?"
I didn't say anything, and adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, I finished the other half of the glass, stood up, and said, "I have to go now, please do as you please."
He looked at me with such a pitiful and heart-wrenching gaze, as if he had suffered a great injustice, but I ignored him and left on my own.
Upon entering the study, I was surprised to find two letters on the table, one from the Elf King and the other from Bernot.
I opened the Elf King's letter. The contents were quite simple: he had brought Anleya back to the Secret Realm, and had also taken Imera, who had been taking care of Anleya, and a wet nurse with him, so I could rest assured.
"I hope you will seriously consider returning to my side. As an important person in my life, I will find a way to help you reclaim the royal city. I am absolutely capable of doing so."
The letter ended there. I sat at the table for a long time, lost in thought.
It took a long time to open Bernard's letter. Bernard's letter was even simpler, only saying that he was unable to be by your side due to some reason, and asked you to hang in there and that he would arrive as soon as possible.
Just this one sentence.
I smiled faintly and threw both letters into the fireplace.
That night, the royal city and the western border clashed again. This time, reinforcements from the western border arrived, numbering three thousand. These extra three thousand troops were enough to drive the northern border and the royal city's armies back several miles.
"Have you ever considered reconciling with King Midian through negotiations based on mutual interests?" Manberia asked me, putting down his binoculars.
"What benefits could he possibly gain from me?" I took his binoculars and continued looking at the battlefield. "Does he want me to nominally acknowledge his sovereignty over the originally independent capital city?"
“If you agreed to this, you wouldn’t be fighting him to the death right now.” Manberia smiled meaningfully. “What I mean is, how about signing a trade-free agreement for a few years in exchange for a few years of peace? Use those years to strategize how to take over the entire Western Territory?”
I took off my binoculars and stared at him in shock.
"You have no better way to avoid King Midan's pursuit than to take over the western border."
It's a long sentence, but it conveys a very simple meaning: it's either you or me who dies.
"Of course, it would be very difficult for you to do it on your own. I'm not saying this to belittle you, but because you haven't been on this continent long enough and haven't accumulated much experience. It would be much more difficult for you to take over a piece of land. Even with Queen Diya Ruo's capital city and its affiliated capital cities as your backing, it would be difficult for you to take over the Western Territory. But with me, it's different for you."
The light in his amber eyes was captivating. "You absolutely have the ability to take down King Midan."
I was stunned by the light in his eyes, and for a moment I felt a surge of excitement.
“But,” he changed his tone again, “you also need to think this through. Even if you take over the West, you’ll only be doing the work for someone else. Given your bloodline, you’re unlikely to sit on the throne; you can only be the one behind it. The crown of the West will eventually be on your stepdaughter’s head. At most, you can only influence her, but you can’t replace her.”
I ran my fingers along the rough surface of the binoculars, but there was no response.
After a long silence, I looked up and asked, "You must have to pay a price for helping me, right?"
"Yes, I want to ask you to marry me."
"..."
"Do you have any questions?" He flashed his sweetest smile, though I didn't know if it concealed the most potent poison. He asked, "To be a mistress or a wife?"
"Since you're talking about getting married, it naturally means becoming a wife."
I was a little incredulous and asked again, "Are you sure?"
"confirm."
"Why?" I asked.
I have no illustrious family, no noble blood, no mountain of wealth. Just the title of "superpowered woman" and a few royal cities that don't belong to me are enough to make a Northland ruler willingly marry me.
"Because I think you deserve it!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Please continue to support me, everyone! There are other novels coming soon, mwah~~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
