Ye Wei'an's words were like a knife, cutting straight through the facts she had spent so long desperately trying to disguise.
The past she had deliberately tried to forget came flooding back into her mind.
She remembered that day fifteen years ago. It had been a rainy day in Suzar.
She still remembered wearing an expensive lace gown, standing in her father's study like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Her father, the Duke of Malcast, who wielded power over the region, had casually passed judgment on her fate while flipping through a trade ledger:
"Selina, you will marry Baron Harandir Xiaxing."
"Baron Xiaxing may be a little old, but Firefall Valley, held by the Xiaxing House, lies at a vital point along the trade route between Cormyr and the Dalelands. Amarisk needs the right to pass through that area. Selina, you are a daughter of the family. This is your duty."
How had she resisted back then?
She had cried that some mere baron was beneath the family, that he was nearly forty—twenty-two years older than her—and even had a one-year-old bastard son.
But her stone-hearted father had only sneered.
"He may be just a baron, but he is a baron whose lands occupy a vital position!"
"A bastard with no legitimate claim is no threat to the Xiaxing House's inheritance. As long as you bear a legitimate son, you will be the future mistress of the Xiaxing House."
When she tried to plead with him again, Malcast frowned.
"If you don't want to marry, then go to a temple and spend the rest of your life serving the goddess before those cold stone statues."
On her wedding day, the desolation of the borderlands filled her with a despair she had never felt before.
Looking at the man who was two decades older than her and reeked of liquor, then at the bastard child in the cradle, she had told herself, in that moment, that power and money were the only things she could rely on in this world.
That was why she had so ruthlessly plundered the territory's assets and so eagerly helped her birth family smuggle goods through Finn of the Gray Crow. She had only wanted to prove that she still had value, that Suzar had not cast her aside.
But Ye Wei'an's words had just shattered her illusions completely.
Duke Malcast Amarisk had twelve daughters. She was merely the most unremarkable of them. Her mother had been nothing more than a maid, and if she had been male, she might never even have had the chance to join the family.
Family affection was nothing but a lie.
She was just a tool the Amarisk Family used to control Firefall Territory.
And the Amarisk Family had no use for a tool that had botched its job.
When a tool broke, they could simply throw it away.
"In Amarisk, I'm just a daughter no one cares about..." Selina murmured, repeating the words with a self-mocking laugh. The tears at the corners of her eyes fell—she could not tell whether they were for the girl she had been or for who she was now.
Ye Wei'an watched her in silence.
"You're right, Ye Wei'an. After all these years, I can't believe you see things more clearly than I do." She drew a deep breath and forcefully wiped away her tears. "Those old fossils sit high and mighty at Suzar Manor, pontificating at banquets and parties. They don't have to lift a finger, yet they take their share of the profits I've worked so hard to earn, and still presume to dictate how I live."
"Then sign, Madam. This is your fate."
Ye Wei'an pushed the parchment forward. "Once you sign this contract, I'll take these secrets to my grave, and everything in Firefall Valley will return to the way it was. You'll remain the lady of the Xiaxing lands, and Lucas will remain the future lord. You won't lose out on this deal."
Selina raised her head again.
Her face was still deathly pale, but her eyes now held a gambler's grim resolve.
"You're right. What's in your hands is what's truly yours."
She snatched up the quill and signed quickly. "If you want to go to those godforsaken places where people get eaten alive and become a Pioneer Lord, then go. I'll give you money and supplies, and I'll use the Amarisk Family's connections to get the kingdom's paperwork sorted out for you. As long as you stay far away from Firefall Valley, from Lucas and me... I'll give you whatever you want."
As she spoke, her hand paused over the page. "But I can't come up with twenty thousand gold coins in cash."
When Ye Wei'an still looked doubtful, she explained with a bitter smile, "Like you said, I'm just a tool of the Amarisk Family. Most of what I've earned from smuggling over the years has to go to the family. The rest goes toward the territory's expenses, maintaining my own dignity, and Lucas's extravagance. I'm not as wealthy as you think."
Ye Wei'an could tell she was telling the truth.
"Then how much can you give me?"
"One thousand in cash at most," Selina said through gritted teeth. "I can make up the other thousand with the armor, weapons, and farming tools you need."
"Deal." Ye Wei'an did not haggle over the difference.
Whether it was money or supplies, all that mattered was that they could be used to develop the territory.
"There's also the matter of personnel," Selina added, proposing another condition. "You can recruit people from the territory, but you can't strip it of all its key staff. There must be a limit on how many you recruit, especially among the artisans!"
"Of course. I only need enough people to meet the territory's basic needs." Ye Wei'an agreed. "I'm part of the Xiaxing Family too. If the Xiaxing Family falls into decline, it reflects badly on me as well."
Once they had settled the terms, Selina insisted that Ye Wei'an accompany her to a small room beside the dining hall.
It was a shrine dedicated to Sharess, the goddess of nobility.
The room was cramped but sumptuously decorated:
Deep red velvet curtains hung along the walls. Incense burned on shelves to either side, and in the center stood a statue of Sharess. It depicted an elderly Noble woman holding a silver chalice and a golden scepter, with a diamond-carved crown on her brow.
Beneath the statue was the goddess's Holy Symbol—a silver chalice decorated on the side with a golden sun.
Ye Wei'an placed the contract before the statue.
Selina stepped forward and laid her hand on the Holy Symbol, her voice solemn. "In the name of Sharess, goddess of nobility, I, Selina of the Amarisk Family, swear here and now that this contract shall be as binding as blood. If I break this oath, may my name be struck from the Herald's rolls."
For nobles who valued family and honor, being struck from the rolls of the nobility was more terrifying than death.
Then Ye Wei'an repeated the oath and pressed the symbol of the Holy Symbol onto the contract.
"The contract is sealed." Ye Wei'an withdrew his hand. "Madam, now you can rest easy."
Selina let out a long breath, as if a crushing burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
"Now, you can hand over Finn and Grumman from the dungeon, along with those damned accounts, can't you?"
"Hand them over?" Ye Wei'an looked as though he had just heard an absurd joke. "No, Madam. You've misunderstood."
"What do you mean?" Selina's expression froze. "We just swore before the goddess! Are you going back on your word?"
"I know the oath by heart." Ye Wei'an brushed at nonexistent dust on his sleeve, unhurriedly. "The contract says I won't reveal your secrets, threaten Lucas's right to inherit, or split up the family lands. But, Madam, read it again from beginning to end. Where does it say I have to return the witnesses and evidence to you?"
"Ye Wei'an! You tricked me!" Selina shrieked.
She felt as though she had thrown a thousand gold coins and half her fortune to the dogs.
"How could I trick you? I was only keeping a safeguard for myself." Ye Wei'an smiled faintly. "After all, the contract requires you to compensate me, but it doesn't stop you from coming after me once you've paid up, does it? But as long as I have those things, we'll never have to come to blows."
With her scheme exposed to her face, Selina's complexion shifted from green to white, then purple, before she finally erupted into an enraged scream:
"Get out! Ye Wei'an, take your contract and get out! I curse you! May you die on those godforsaken frontier wastelands with those damned gold coins!"
"Thank you for your blessing. I'll remember your generosity."
Ye Wei'an bowed elegantly and turned to leave beneath Selina's furious stare.
When Ye Wei'an walked out of the dining hall, the little maid was pacing back and forth like a restless little beast.
Farther away, at the top of the stairs, Lina stood there pretending to be composed, but the glances she kept sneaking over betrayed her anxiety.
As soon as Ye Wei'an appeared, Ailian hurried over and asked with concern, "Young master! Why were you in there for so long?"
As she spoke, she glanced into the prayer room. "That awful woman was shouting so loudly in there... What happened? Was she trying to hurt you? If she was, I'll rush in and smash her shrine!"
Looking at Ailian, so fiercely loyal and ready to kill and rob for him at any moment, Ye Wei'an felt warmth rise in his heart.
The ruthless calculations and scheming at the negotiating table instantly faded into the distance.
He smiled and ruffled the little maid's hair. "Don't worry. She wouldn't dare do anything to me. I'm a powerful Wizard!"
As he spoke, he even struck a strongman's pose.
"Then what happened?" Ailian grew even more curious.
"Nothing much. We just made a deal."
"Like the one in Firefall Town?" Ailian immediately thought of that night and grew excited.
"Like the one in Firefall Town, only this time we made a lot more." Ye Wei'an looked toward Lina, who was waiting anxiously nearby, and reminded her, "You can tell Sister Lina she's free. Starting tomorrow, she won't be the head maid of Firefall Territory anymore. She'll be my head maid instead. I have plenty of work for her, and lots of gold coins for her to count."
"Yes, young master! I knew you were the best!" Ailian ran excitedly over to Lina.
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