Chapter 82: The Female Viscount

Choosing the roof of the largest building to land on, Gervas immediately heard the sounds below.

"Boss, we've hit the jackpot now—a viscount! Hah! This must be worth two thousand gold coins at least, right? We'll split half, right?!"

"Two thousand gold coins? You're underestimating this viscount too much—the Violet Family is famously wealthy in the borderlands; even if they had to pay double, they could manage it!"

"Four thousand gold coins? When would we ever spend it all? We'd never need to raid again, hah!"

"What's four thousand gold coins? Use that money to buy potions for further cultivation, and train more extraordinary knights—soon we'll raid earls too!"

"Raid an earl? Boss, I can hardly wait!"

"Enough. Go tell the men to keep watch over the female viscount—no slip-ups until word arrives from the kingdom."

"Also, warn the men: keep your hands to yourselves. If anyone so much as pulls a single hair from that female viscount, don't expect me, Boss Scorpion, to show any brotherly mercy!"

"Yes, Boss!" Sack felt a chill and instinctively shrank his head.

But Boss Scorpion, perhaps sensing his words were too harsh, added, "Of course, once this job's done, the female viscount won't be left alive—then we'll let every brother have a taste of her!"

"Boss, you're mighty!"

……

After leaving the meeting hall, Sack headed toward a stone house on the side.

Outside this stone house, dozens of bandits formed layers of encirclement—three deep, four deep.

It wasn't even guarding anymore—it was a blockade.

Even if someone managed to sneak into the camp, breaking into the stone house silently would be as hard as climbing to heaven.

"Boss Sack!"

"Hmm. Boss said: stay alert. No slip-ups!"

"Also, if anyone dares lay a hand on the female viscount, even a single hair, you're an enemy of the entire bandit gang—no more brotherhood. Understood?"

"Yes, Boss Sack!"

"Also, Boss said: once this deal's done, everyone will feast and drink till they're drunk—even sleeping with whores for months straight won't be a problem!"

After giving the bandits a pep talk, Sack returned to his own hut. The silent night held no further movement.

Time passed second by second; the guards gradually grew lax. Then, a white figure descended soundlessly from the sky.

……

Katherine was terrified.

The past week's ordeal felt like a nightmare.

A week ago, she, newly appointed as her family's viscount, received a visitation letter from the Tulip Trading House.

The letter claimed the Tulip Trading House wished to establish long-term procurement of Violet Family's crystal ores.

For Katherine, newly installed in her position, this was something to take seriously.

So they agreed to meet at the Violet Family's own crystal mine.

At the appointed time, Katherine left the castle to keep the appointment.

But five or six li from the mine, over two hundred bandits burst from the trees on both sides of the road.

They slaughtered her knights and guards, and kidnapped her, the viscount.

Although the bandits didn't harm her after the abduction,

knowing they openly identified themselves as the Scorpion Bandits and intended to take her to the Chaos Wastelands, she sensed what was coming.

She had been trained as an heir—she still had enough wit to think.

If these people weren't afraid of her knowing their identity, it meant they planned to kill her.

These past days, she'd considered escaping, but the bandits were extremely cautious—always chaining her to the wall.

Outside the room, footsteps echoed everywhere—escape was impossible.

"I only hope when these bandits kill me, they'll make it quick!"

As a woman, Katherine feared something worse than death.

At that moment, a straw suddenly fell from the sky.

But Katherine paid it no mind.

Another straw fell—this time landing directly on her head.

Katherine finally couldn't help but look up.

The next instant, her beautiful eyes widened sharply.

The straw roof had been cut open into a small hole; above it, a young, handsome face peered down.

The young face gestured a shushing motion, then lowered a note tied to a rope.

"I am Baron Gervas, Lord of Stormhold. I know your plight. Give me a token—I'll go find you reinforcements!"

"Lord of Stormhold?" Katherine's eyes instantly filled with tears, but she fiercely suppressed her excitement.

Calming herself, Katherine pulled from beneath her linen blanket a crystal hairpin.

The hairpin had escaped notice because her hair had become tangled after her capture.

She had kept it hidden, planning to use it at the final moment.

Gervas took the hairpin, overjoyed.

He had expected her to tear off a scrap of clothing as proof—now, with this crystal hairpin, her identity was irrefutably confirmed.

He tucked the hairpin away, gave the female viscount another reassuring glance, then reassembled the straw.

As long as the bandits didn't deliberately climb onto the roof, they wouldn't notice anything for a long time!

……

"They kidnapped a viscount? The Scorpion Bandits have balls the size of mountains!"

On the return journey, upon hearing the Scorpion Bandits had dared to kidnap a kingdom viscount, the knights were utterly stunned.

"If they weren't so bold, we wouldn't have had such a good chance to annihilate them in advance!" Gervas sneered.

Upon hearing the words "annihilate the Scorpion Bandit Gang," the knights instantly became as pumped as if they'd been injected with rooster blood. "My lord, what shall we do next?"

"Look at how impatient you all are. But I am impatient too, so, Lei Meng, this matter will still require your hard work!"

One day later, the Violet Viscount's territory.

The castle gates stood wide open, with anxious knights and soldiers constantly coming and going.

The faces of the servants were also filled with worry and unease.

The newly appointed Violet Viscount had been attacked and kidnapped by unknown bandits.

The kidnappers left only a note demanding a large ransom of gold coins, then vanished without a trace; they couldn't even determine whether the Viscount was alive or dead.

If this had happened in another noble family, the servants might not have been so anxious, because the family had plenty of heirs.

But the Violet family had only one blood heir: Viscountess Catherine.

Therefore, if anything happened to Viscountess Catherine, the entire territory would fall apart and eventually be reclaimed by the kingdom.

And they, these servants and guards, would even be punished for failing to protect adequately.

"How is it? Is there any news?" Butler Ryder asked the returning knight.

"My lord Butler, there is still no news. We have searched all the mountains and forests around the territory, yet we still found no clues!"

The castle butler's brows furrowed deeply; in just a few days, this middle-aged butler seemed to have aged more than ten years.

"Who goes there? This is Violet Castle; serfs and commoners are forbidden to approach!"

At that moment, a sharp rebuke rang out at the castle gate.

A father and daughter dressed in linen robes were stopped by the guards.

"My lord guards, I am a distant relative of Butler Ryder of the castle. I have come to find Butler Ryder this time; could you please help notify him?"

"A distant relative?"

The butler was immediately drawn in. Looking at the father and daughter, he had no memory of them.

Nevertheless, he instinctively walked toward the gate.