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Huvel led the expedition team to his castle. The silhouette of the castle came into his view after a while. It looked majestic under the crimson light of the setting sun.

Huvel smiled. The expedition ended faster than his initial plan. Still, he missed the castle while travelling.

"I'm home," he whispered.

When he got closer to the castle, he saw a small crowd waiting for him outside the castle.

Someone ran out from the crowed and shouted, "Welcome home, Dadie!"

"Yes, thank you, Pechie" Huvel patted Pechie's head and replied with a smile. "I'm back."

"Master, congratulations for your accomplishment!" Chance said cheerfully as he bowed his head. The servants behind him bowed their heads at the same time.

"Thank you, Chance," said Huvel. "You've done well looking after the castle in my absence."

"I did not do anything to deserve your praise, master," Chance replied with a smile.

Huvel looked past the servants. He saw some soldiers on each side on the way to the gate of the castle.

"Hmm… why don't I see Karl here? It is strange. Did he encounter any problem?"

"Regarding Sir Karl, he left to attend to an urgent matter before you arrived back at the wall. Anyway, you should rest for today, master. I will ask Sir Karl to report about it tomorrow."

"Alright."

Huvel thought Karl would be the first one to greet him when he came back. He felt a little uneasy when he did not see him at home. "Well, it can't be help if is an important matter," he thought and headed straight for his bed chamber. The members of his party were guided by the servants to the prepared rooms to rest. Chance and two other servants followed after him.

"The chef is preparing a feast for the whole expedition team," Chance informed him. "Please give a speech before the feast starts."

"Let those people enjoy the feast, Mr. Butler," Huvel said jokingly. "They would prefer a few barrels of beer over me showing up. As for me, I've seen their faces too often that I'm sick and tired of them now. I would rather see some eye candies."

"Understood," Chance replied. He smiled wryly and did not remark anything about the second half of Huvel's speech.

"Speaking of which," Huvel said as he knitted his brows and turned his head to one of the servants behind him, "Meodinand, where is your brother? I didn't see him among the servants that welcomed me out there. Seeing that you are still here, I don't think he ran away from this castle. Tell him to come to my room."

Meodinand jolted when he met Huvel's eyes. He casted his eyes down the next second.

"Master…, Meonando is…"

He did not continue and looked at Chance. Chance stared daggers at him and faked a cough.

"Master," Chance spoke up for Meodinand, "I apologize for not informing you earlier. I did not want to disturb you with some bad news as soon as you came back. Meonando was involved in a tricky situation. But Sir Karl went out to deal with it personally so he should get back soon. Do not worry about it and rest first, Master."

Huvel stopped immediately and glared at Chance.

"Do you think I can still rest peacefully after hearing such bullshit?!" he roared. "How big was that 'tricky' situation for Karl to go personally? Tell me the details right now!"

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In a dimly lit big room, there lay a young man on the floor, covered all over by blood. The young man was twitching as he felt pain from the wounds all over his body. His nose and the cuts on his body were still bleeding but he could not tend to them and only lie motionlessly as he had no strength to even stand up.

A middle-aged man sitting on a chair licked his lips as he watched the young man's agony. He did not show any intention to help the young man and continued sipping wine from the glass in his hand. The man was none other than Winfrey, the chief of Four Brown Horses Merchant Group. He, in fact, likes to relieve his carnal desires by inflicting pain on people. That very wounds on the young man done by him.

Winfrey did not have a preference when it comes to men or women. As long as their skins looked good, he does not mind anything else. But since prostitutes do not like getting wounds on their bodies, he could only do it to the slaves he bought. However, the young man he just abused was not a slave. The man knew it and enjoyed that.

"The grandson of that proud and sly Meoldwyn, huh? Aren't you a precious delicacy!? Hahaha!!" Winfrey let out a hearty laugh.

"Normally, your grandfather treats you like a treasure. What has gotten to him to give you to that rotten lord? Boy, if you tell me the deal they make, I will treat you better than that lord bastard. What do you say?"

No answer came from the young man.

"You don't know about it? Well, then, I'll hear about it from Sir Karl if I give him a big present, won't I? Since that naïve lord is going to die in the jungle, Sir Karl won't refuse any extra help he can get, will he? Hehehe!"

Being a calculating merchant, Winfrey was not one who would dare to commit a big offense like making a move on the lord's secret lover under any normal circumstances, that is even if he believed the lord is just a puppet of someone else. However, everything changed when he heard the lord went into Emmele Jungle with a small team.

He was sure that the naïve lord would die in the jungle and everything that lord owned would become ownerless. Thus, he abducted one of the hufelid twins, the ones he coveted the most among the lord's properties, before anyone else did.

"Now that I have his grandson as a hostage, as long as I get the content of the secret deal between him and that lord, that old cat, Meoldwyn, will always have to bow down to me from now on!" was what he thought.