Chapter 394: Rank (5k)
Watching the coldly approaching Ice Mountain Queen Alagina in the distance, the soul of Emhart immediately fell silent, quietly floating behind Renee, transparent and gradually distancing itself from the increasingly terrifying atmosphere, as if it were in a place of fierce battles among demons in hell.
However, after retreating about two or three meters, Emhart suddenly realized that both of them were here to find Fisher, and even if Fisher asked him for help, it didn’t mean he was on the same side as him; he had already shown benevolence to both parties, so wasn’t it unethical for him not to denounce Fisher’s actions during his time with him?
But it was of no use, so the current horror was mostly unrelated to the great Emhart. If necessary, he could even serve as a witness, revealing the list he kept in his belly to point out Fisher’s misconduct to Lady Renee.
Mother bless, the wicked Fisher would reflect deeply on his wrongs under bloody punishment.
Emhart, glowing with golden light, thought he could finally calm down here, but perhaps the scene before him was too terrifying; he still felt hesitant to look or imagine what would happen next.
Before him, the expressionless Alagina’s face grew colder as she saw the beautiful black-haired lady holding the messenger not far away. The slightly furrowed brow carried the chill from the Ice Prince of the Northern Region, affecting the surrounding environment, yet the black-haired lady appeared completely unfazed.
She looked up and down at the tall captain of the Sardinia Kingdom, glancing sarcastically at the paper airplane in her hand, and spoke,
“The Pirate’s Haven shouldn’t have a kindergarten for educating young children, right? I thought the cute little things that Fisher introduced me to just now had flown out. Long time no see, Captain Ice Mountain, or should I say, Miss Alagina? Let me introduce myself, I’m Renee.”
Renee’s opening remark was simple but implied three points.
Firstly, I came with Fisher, and he was the one who actively introduced me to Old Jack. The implication here is to let Alagina know that despite recently coming from Old Jack’s place, he didn’t inform her that Fisher and Renee had visited, which clearly hints at the complicated relationship between Fisher and Renee, and it was evident whom Fisher valued more.
Secondly, comparing the “My Queen” letter Fisher wrote to Alagina to a toy that children like Kalma to play with sarcastically mocks Alagina’s childishness, carrying around what Fisher casually gave as a treasured promise.
Thirdly, the change in how Renee referred to Alagina, starting with the title “Captain Ice Mountain” appropriate for Alagina’s identity as a “Noblewoman,” and seemingly “accidentally” shifting to a softer, feminine title used in other non-dominating cultures, shows that Renee clearly understood how to pierce the hearts of the women from the Sardinia Kingdom.
These aggressively charged words as an opening lacked any room for moderation and indicated Renee’s true purpose in following Fisher’s words.
As Emhart realized later, Renee was fully aware of everything about Fisher. However, what puzzled Emhart was that if Renee knew all the bad things Fisher did outside, why she didn’t confront him directly, instead voluntarily played along with his act?
This question left Emhart, who was spectating from the side, perplexed. Nevertheless, after hearing Renee’s words, the imposing Alagina seemed to have completely missed the signal, tilting her head slightly, and continued to coldly gaze at the messenger in Renee’s hand, asking,
“Why has the messenger come to you? Where is Fisher?”
Emhart rolled his eyes in silence, realizing that this lady from the Sardinia Kingdom completely misunderstood the subtleties of other cultures. She apparently didn’t grasp any hidden meanings in Renee’s aggressive statements, thinking the other party was just greeting her. However, the changing reference at the end made it seem less polite.
Renee felt no anger despite taking a swing and missing. She raised the messenger in her hand and simply said,
“The messenger can only come to me because of Fisher. As for Fisher, he’s preparing supplies for our departure shortly. We’ll be leaving the Pirate’s Haven together soon. Didn’t Old Jack mention this to you? Sorry, I thought you should know since we just visited Old Jack.”
Knowing Alagina’s straightforward personality, Renee decided to be even more direct with her attack. As long as Alagina wasn’t a fool, she could certainly hear the underlying implications, especially in the last sentence which was highly aggressive.
The coldness around Alagina instantly intensified; her palm clenched tightly, a sense of betrayal surging within her. Yet deep down, she recalled Fisher’s tenderness towards her, the promises he made, and that he wasn’t deceiving her.
Alagina didn’t believe that Fisher would abandon her like this, so the only possibility was that this woman before her was deceiving her. Even if she would leave with Fisher afterward, there must be another reason behind it, rather than merely coming to flaunt her strength; she wanted to take Fisher away from her!
The frost beneath her feet gradually spread, and her gaze turned particularly stern, fixated on Renee as she spoke each word fiercely,
“Fisher is my man; you should leave.”
But Renee didn’t feel threatened at all. She simply sat on the roadside chair, waved to Emhart, who immediately flew to her side, and then disdainfully stated,
“Yours? Oh my, are you already married? Did the vassal kingdom of the Sardinia Kingdom issue a marriage certificate? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you’re still being hunted by your homeland; they wouldn’t issue you anything except a wanted notice. Or do you think this line on the messenger proves he’s yours? Such childishness, Captain Alagina.”
Seeing the relic Fisher always carried obediently fly into her hands like a qualified hostess showing off her power, Alagina’s heart ached, and the frost beneath her feet spread out further. She continued speaking,
“I have shared intimacy with him; that is enough proof of our bond.”
Renee maintained her smile, but a dangerously frigid aura erupted in her purple eyes. At the same time, the Emhart in her hand immediately felt the increasing pressure, as if she intended to pierce through his sturdy book-like physique, causing excruciating pain.
Despite the pain distorting Emhart’s book cover, he remained quiet, not daring to attract the wrath of the two women, silently cursing the culprit Fisher.
Fisher! If you don’t come back soon, the great Emhart will be done for! You will regret losing me!!
“But isn’t Fisher not a Nobleman? Are you going to bind him with the concepts of you Noblewomen? And how do you know he hasn’t shared intimacy with someone else before you?”
As Renee spoke, the force in her hand intensified, especially when mentioning the word “someone else.”
Renee’s intense emotional fluctuations revealed none of her as a beautiful lady, nor did they leak even a hint from her perfectly aggressive smile or words. Only Emhart, gripped tightly in her one hand, felt the unbearable extreme pain.
It hurt so much!
The pain that threatened to make Emhart faint tugged at his thoughts.
“I…”
Alagina was once again stifled by Renee’s words; she immediately recalled their first meeting, where they concocted a lie claiming a lady in the room was his wife. If their relationship was truly that simple, would Fisher really make such a joke?
Trapped by the pure love ideology of the Noblewomen, Alagina could not wrap her head around this; she instantly thought that the person who had been with Fisher before her was this very Renee before her. In other words, this woman had come before her, and she, the one who later took Fisher’s body, was the later intruder?
“Intimacy” didn’t seem to harm Renee at all, nor could it make the daunting rival before her back away. The solid ice beneath them still showed no signs of melting, and their conflict escalated to a boiling point.
The merchants in the vicinity who had been taking a nap had long since vacated the area. They felt something was amiss when they saw the imposing Ice Mountain Queen approach and decisively abandoned their afternoon businesses to head home for a nap. Now, the street corner momentarily held only the two of them.
“Are you trying to bring up the past? But where were you when Fisher left Nali? When he was with his family and had nowhere to go, where were you? I was the one who brought him from Nali to Pat Sulshen Island, away from the pursuit of the Queen of Nali; it was I who took care of Old Jack, and Isabel went to Nali with you, yet you didn’t stay by his side to protect him. If that’s the case, even in fair competition, you have no right to mention the past to me.”
Emhart blinked, affirming Alagina’s counterattack this time. He had been through much with Fisher on this journey. He heard Fisher speak of this “Renee” many times and, according to Fisher, this Renee had not been constantly by his side but often went missing, only contacting him at her own will.
However, Ms. Renee remained unperturbed and even wore an increasingly mocking expression on her face. She pointed at Alagina, suddenly saying,
“What do you mean by taking care of him? Acting as if you’re delivering timely help in front of Fisher is one thing, but do you expect to pull that on me too, Captain Alagina? You were secretly pleased when Fisher left Nali in disgrace, weren’t you?”
Alagina’s pupils dilated slightly, the coldness under her intensifying as if Renee had struck at her pain point.
“You know very well, a female pirate fleeing overseas with her sisters—called the Four Great Pirates in flattering terms, but in blunt ones, simply a fugitive. Fisher was a renowned scholar, professor, and magician in Nali, with even a queen closely connected to him. He would have to be insane to choose to marry you, a fleeing Nobility criminal. What exactly makes you worthy of such?”
“Beauty, wealth, power—those are things you know he doesn’t care for. You know you may not attain him even if you emptied everything you have.”
Renee remained relentless, lightly brushing off Alagina’s earlier retorts, plunging her knife-like words deep into Alagina’s heart.
“Since getting to know Fisher in Nali, you’ve never ceased to feel inferior before him. Just as you felt relief when you learned he was disgraced and being hunted, even if you deny it, deep down, you felt fortunate, didn’t you?”
“Because now he is like you, a fugitive, unable to return to his homeland like you, and there’s no longer such an insurmountable gap between you. This is your chance to seize him; you think you can rightfully possess him, don’t you?”
“The promises you demand from him, along with your intimacy, are merely the thousand confirmations of your insecurities. Using the unbearable presence of Fisher to confront me with your supposed genuine feelings? You’re dreaming, Captain Alagina. Or do you think your carefully hidden thoughts won’t be discovered by anyone?”
“And what do you think would happen if I told Fisher all this?”
Emhart stared blankly at the relaxed Renee sitting on the chair next to him, not daring to breathe. Only now did he gradually realize just what kind of terrifying character this witch named Renee, whom Fisher yearned for day and night, truly was.
Let alone Alagina, whose ranks were far inferior to Renee’s, Emhart privately believed that the previously encountered noble ladies couldn’t collectively match up to the person before him. It could only be said that she was frighteningly powerful!
He dared not look further at the slaughter that Renee was preparing; instead, he shrank his angular body in her grip, playing dead.
“I… I never thought that way.”
The solid ice beneath Alagina shrank as slowly as her imposing demeanor. She didn’t understand why the beautiful lady’s purple eyes could see through her as if wanting to fully comprehend her.
“I am serious about Fisher; I swear to be responsible for his life. I never wanted to use underhanded means to be with him.”
Indeed, she had thought that way, for Fisher’s brilliance and status were too dazzling. She even felt that, had she not escaped from the vassal kingdom but instead become its ruler, she still wouldn’t be worthy of him, which caused her to feel inferior.
She was tongue-tied, and as a sardonic woman, didn’t understand much about romance; she would become nervous in front of him, struggling to find common topics. She knew nothing about the magic, subhuman studies, and ethics he loved and felt she could never help him, only become a burden.
Yes, even she had to admit that Renee was right; she indeed felt inferior before Fisher. In quiet moments, she would even feel some guilt at the thought of him being forced to leave his homeland as a good thing, for only then could she be with him.
But she absolutely did not want to force Fisher; she just wanted a chance. She just didn’t want to give up Fisher again because she had experienced his goodness, loved him deeply, and could not extricate herself.
If she had to give up Fisher now, she would never do so; she had already reached a point of no return and was determined to go all in, even if it meant fighting fiercely with the woman before her.
The frost under her feet continued to spread gradually, her cold gaze moving toward serious confrontation. Still, Renee merely rested her chin on her hand, yawning. Dealing with Alagina was exceedingly easy; she didn’t even need to be serious to strike her down.
“Ah, oh dear, how terrifying, are you going to attack me now that you can’t argue with me?”
“Sorry… I… cannot give up Fisher!”
Renee, however, completely ignored her and suddenly changed her expression to one of fear and confusion. She pitifully waved the Emhart in her hand behind her back aimed towards Alagina, dramatically shouting,
“Ah, ah, Pirate Lord, don’t scare me! I just came with my husband to visit relatives! Spare me, wah, Fisher, save me!”
The coldness left Alagina in an instant. She hurriedly turned around, anxious to chase after the man Renee mentioned, who she loved.
In her eager, longing, affectionate, accusative, and confused blue eyes, the figure of the handsome gentleman rushing from Old Jack’s store direction was so familiar it made her heart race.
“Fisher!”
Alagina instinctively called out to the gentleman in the distance, and Fisher immediately noticed the tense situation happening not far away.
In the still-charged atmosphere of confrontation on the wide street, Renee held Emhart, seemingly lifeless, as she sat on the stone step by the street, her expressions of confusion, fear, and panic evidently feigned. What truly captured Fisher’s attention were her intriguing purple eyes, which caused an immediate sense of foreboding.
And before her stood the Ice Mountain Queen Alagina, having turned her back, the tattoo of the Ice Prince slightly glimmering on her. Her expression seemed a bit flustered as she stood very close to Renee, appearing ready for battle. But for some reason, Fisher instinctively felt that Alagina wouldn’t stand a chance against Renee.
After all, even Elizabeth had been no match for Renee; he had witnessed how Renee made Elizabeth flee in disgrace.
“Alagina.”
Seeing Alagina’s face, which usually bore a resilient demeanor, displaying a hint of grievance, Fisher instinctively greeted her as an opening remark while his mind raced.
But once Renee heard those words, it seemed as if she just reacted; she shook Emhart in her hand in disbelief and said to Fisher,
“Fisher, you didn’t go shopping, so you were really looking for her earlier?”
Fisher, head throbbing, glanced at the surprised Renee, whose hand rested over her red lips, and sighed internally; despite being late, he had a general grasp of the situation now.
And this momentary remark from Renee implied that the elegantly beautiful lady of high stature was now narrowing the blades towards him.
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(The End of this Chapter)
