Grave-digging Grandson

Taking the envelope from Li Shuying's hands, Han Junqiao opened it and read the letter held within, her brows furrowing soon after.

"That Han Mowei really doesn't know his place. Even in the Imperial Han Family, the branches rarely ever intermarry. Especially in a situation like mine, where I am the last surviving member of a branch, doing such a thing is heavily frowned upon. Yet, he wants me to attend a private dinner with him and his grandson, Han Mocheng."

Even a blind person could see the intent vaguely hidden behind the flowery words which the invitation consisted of. While Han Mowei claimed that he merely wanted to foster a friendship between the descendants of their two branches, nobody would believe him if he claimed that he wouldn't look favourably upon a true union of their branches. She had no one to protect her any longer, no family left to stand up for herself–in other words, she was ripe for the picking.

'But he wouldn't go so far as to forcefully integrate me into his branch. Only if I truly hit it off with his descendant do his plans stand a chance of bearing fruit. There are definitely spies from other branches around, therefore my arrival here is no secret–he cannot act against me to an unreasonable extent. After all, the other branches would know and potentially ally against him. That was also one of the reasons as to why he was so welcoming when I visited him.'

If she was truly all alone, then she would have to wait until breaking through to the Elevation Realm to be on the same level as Han Mowei in terms of Standard Attributes, allowing her to protect herself. Fortunately, she had her Master-turned-lover, her sister and 'Vigi' to rely on in case anything untoward happened. Admittedly, out of all of them, Vigdis was currently the strongest–if one solely looked at their Attributes minus Endurance.

"I'll go with you in the role of a servant. I'll likely be brought to a room nearby, which will allow me to monitor you. In case of an emergency, I can then teleport you away to safety. Don't worry too much about my plans for this city. After all, even the most thorough plans can sometimes not keep up with the changes."

With a gentle smile on his lips, Theodore reassured her. Still, he didn't actually believe that anything would occur today. More than likely, Han Mowei would attempt to keep everything above board initially, giving the relationship which he aimed to foster time to develop. But in little more than a week, the Hans of this city plus their lackeys would meet their maker. So who cares what long-term schemes they were cooking up?

"... thank you, truly!"

Not one to be as excessively clingy and expressive in public when it came to matters of affection as Xie Mei, Han Junqiao shot him a loving, tender gaze, a gentle smile on her lips. If there was one thing which she was completely certain of, it was that she would be safe as long as he was around. Not least because he wouldn't allow anyone to hurt those who had 'become his'.

In regards to how she should refer to him, she was still a bit confused, switching between 'Theo' and 'Master' at random. Likely, the latter would soon turn into a term that she would exclusively use in public, whereas in private, she would behave far more affectionately.

"You're welcome!"

Reciprocating her smile with one of his own, he soon turned to the group at large.

"Everyone, you heard what is going on. Our plans for the day will have to be adjusted. During the day, Vigdis and I will be working on the city-spanning Arrays, whereas you two will be focusing on cultivating. Ying'er, please keep us well-fed, as usual. Then, once evening draws near, Qiao'er and I will freshen up and get ready to leave."

Having obtained instructions for their following course of action, everyone began to work on their tasks for the day. Han Junqiao, Xie Mei and Li Shuying remained at home, so there was no need to worry about them at this time.

Vigdis used her runic tattoos to form another Illusion Array, transforming into the appearance of Xie Mei when she was disguised as a servant. To do so, the girl in question had to change once to showcase how she looked in this form, then Vigdis could perfectly mask herself as her. Her acting skills were about as good as those of the girl, so she wouldn't struggle too much to keep up the facade.

Accompanying Theodore, who was camouflaging himself as Han Junqiao's retainer again as well, the two of them went out to seemingly buy various necessities and groceries, plus a couple of gorgeous dresses for their lady.

Because the two of them had been sighted doing similar things a few times already, nobody paid undue attention to them. In this manner, they soon arrived at a few 'random' spots next to the Outer City's walls, where Theodore secretly drove various metal stakes inscribed with runic patterns into the ground. Naturally, he made sure to hide them properly, so that nobody could accidentally stumble across them.

Nearly a third of a day of work later, the two returned to their mansion with a veritable mountain of bags and containers of various sizes, as well as having accomplished setting up one sixth of the combined Arrays!

Before coming to Jingshan City, Theodore had been missing many materials with which he could set up his Arrays, but this prefectural capital had a lot more for him to choose from. His group wasn't lacking money, so he didn't need to hold back from purchasing as many of them as he could.

After helping Han Junqiao to pick out a dress from amongst the ones that they had accumulated until now, he soon followed her outside, leading her all the way towards the most central palace of Jingshan City. There, Han Mowei was waiting for them–or rather, her–in a relatively cosy side hall with a young man of about twenty years of age.

The youngster was quite good-looking, sticking out from amongst his Imperial Han Family peers akin to a swan amidst ducks. Just like Han Junqiao, he also had dragon horns, but his were a lighter, less resplendent shade of gold. He could barely measure up to the average standards of a Named Family member, but the debauched air which he gave off was enough to shatter his image.

Like a starving dog, the moment that Han Junqiao entered the room, his eyes were all over her, practically ripping apart her clothes with his burning gaze. He was salivating at the mouth, drooling uncontrollably, not even bothering to wipe it off. In his hand, he held a wine bottle which he had opened moments ago, taking a deep swig from it without a care. Judging from the veritable mountain of empty bottles covering his side of the table, he had already been drinking for a considerable while.

Unsurprisingly, Theodore was ushered outside and into an adjacent hall, where he would have to remain on standby in case his master asked for him. Once he had left, Han Mowei kindly welcomed his niece, a somewhat helpless smile on his face as he personally led her to her chair.

"Thank you for joining us tonight! I'm sure you're still trying to cope with your situation, so I thought introducing you to a peer might serve to distract you a little."

Eyeing his grandson, he couldn't help but furrow his brows, before heaving an apologetic sigh.

"Excuse the sorry sight. Mocheng here has always been kept in secrecy, only rarely allowed to indulge his urges. I should have expected him to be unable to hold himself back the moment he got his hands on the first bottle..."

Inwardly, he couldn't help but curse his idiot of a descendant for having completely shattered the image of him which he had wanted to portray to his niece. With both of them practically having been 'raised in captivity' since they showed their outstanding aptitude, they had a lot in common. Had Mocheng seemed like a gentleman as well, then the chances of them getting along would have risen considerably! Heck, he might have even got to hold his great-grandchild in his arms within a few years! But no, the moron had to get wasted as soon as he left his room!

'It's not as if I can really blame him. Suppressing the influence of our bloodline can only succeed for so long. Although he wasn't exposed to any stimuli at all, our imagination alone can affect us too strongly. I should have expected him to lash out like that. I just hope he won't do anything even dumber than this...'

Showing an understanding expression, Han Junqiao took a seat and shot a small, restrained smile in Han Mowei's direction, mostly ignoring Han Mocheng who was still ogling her as if she was a common prostitute displaying herself publicly in a brothel.

"It's alright, Uncle Mowei, I understand. I won't hold it against him."

Relieved at her response, Han Mowei returned to his own chair. Before he could take a seat as well, though, he soon heard something which made him almost double over in disbelief.

"Yo, sexy bitch! Why do you keep ignoring me and looking at my gramps instead? Do you prefer wrinkly dick or something?"

Despite both his grandfather and Han Junqiao staring at him as if they were looking at a ghost–the latter of the two clearly disgusted with him as well–Han Mocheng continued unabated, not even awaiting a response.

"I can promise you I'll rock your world way harder than he ever could! So, what do you say? Want to go and do it right now?"

Reaching out with his hand across the table in an effort to grab her, his nearly rabid gaze filled with fanatical desire, he attempted to 'court' her as best as he could. Little was he aware that his chances would have been markedly higher if he had never opened his mouth to begin with–they would have still been zero, but at least they wouldn't have been in the negatives and constantly dropping even further.

"What do you think you're doing?! Stop this behaviour at once! This is my niece, Han Junqiao! She's every bit your equal!"

Snatching his arm before he could proceed any further, Han Mowei clenched it tightly, causing Han Mocheng to wail in pain. With this, he hoped to snap his idiot grandson out of his drunken stupor, so that his usual, more collected self might resurface before he could sink even lower. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Ouch! What the fuck is your problem, old fart!? Didn't you say that she would eventually marry me? Then that means she's my woman, and I can do with her whatever I want! So don't stick your rotten nose into my busi–"

Having just divulged a carefully kept secret whispered to him in private, Han Mocheng wasn't aware that for the first time in his life, his grandfather was harbouring true killing intent towards him. If he wasn't the most outstandingly talented amongst his peers, then his head would have been blown to smithereens at this moment!

Nonetheless, a somewhat aged hand had still forced his mouth shut, while Han Mowei shot an even more apologetic smile towards his niece, who was eyeing him with caution and distrust. Deep inside, he swore that he would properly educate his worthless bastard of a progeny!

"For the record, I did not claim anything of the sort. I think Mocheng is far too gone today to behave at all. I should have stopped him from drinking to begin with, but I wanted to indulge him a little, considering he rarely gets the chance to do so... That was my mistake. I'm terribly sorry you had to witness all of this! Please excuse us for tonight. I swear I will make it up to you in the future!"

Not waiting a second longer, he carried his grandson out of the room in a hurry. Soon, every person in the palace heard despairing screams akin to a drove of pigs being slaughtered mercilessly resounding in the hallways.

Just like that, the actions a depraved young man bought Theodore and the others more than enough time. Nobody dared to contact Han Junqiao in the week to come, considering the thoroughly embarrassing and degrading experience which they had forced her to endure during these trying times.