"I don’t know what methods Henry used, but my intuition tells me he was behind it."

"His plot to legally annex the Ashton Territory through marriage failed, so he decided to kill me. Then, the Ashton Territory and the surrounding lands would become ownerless. According to Kingdom law, Henry would only need to pay a sum to the Royal Family to gain ownership of his vassal’s masterless domain, achieving his goal all the same."

As Dalia spoke, her body couldn’t help but tremble, as if from lingering fear.

"If you hadn’t come back, I might not have survived this ordeal."

Fang Zhen heard her clearly.

He looked at Dalia with sympathy, gently stroking her back to soothe the distressed woman.

Dalia had it too hard. Possessing luxury resources and de facto control of a territory, she was like a child walking through a market with a golden bowl, coveted by countless people with ulterior motives.

Driven by profit and power, people like Henry were truly unscrupulous, stopping at nothing to get what they wanted.

Meanwhile, killing intent brewed in Fang Zhen’s heart, nearly boiling over.

’Killing a man like Henry would be no injustice.’

’In the real world, he’d be a total scumbag.’

’And he dared to go after my woman.’

’Henry is dancing in a minefield. He isn’t just courting death; he’s begging for it.’

"What role does Grand Duke Tarrenno play in all this?" Fang Zhen asked.

"For some reason, Duke Tarrenno has always been interested in the Cristin Clan’s hidden treasure," Matthew explained from the side. "He’s especially fixated on a legendary Extraordinary Item that belonged to a Cristin ancestor, one who supposedly helped King Joseph establish the Zambein Kingdom. Moreover, Tarrenno is a warmonger, unskilled at managing finances or accumulating wealth. He has a massive fiscal deficit and is desperate to find the Cristin Clan’s treasure to cover his losses."

Matthew was, in fact, a member of the Cristin Family, so he was quite knowledgeable about this.

Dalia nodded. "When I was little, Grand Duke Tarrenno forced my father to meet with him two or three times. Each meeting ended unpleasantly. Although my father never said anything, I suspect the Grand Duke was trying to coerce him into revealing the secret of the Cristin Family’s treasure."

"But my father didn’t know the secret either, though Tarrenno refused to believe him."

"It wasn’t until my father died of illness that Tarrenno’s attention finally waned. He probably concluded that the Cristin Clan truly had no treasure."

"But now, because of the immense commercial success I’ve achieved with your help, it seems Grand Duke Tarrenno has rekindled that absurd idea, thinking that I’m the one who found the treasure."

"The reason I say Tarrenno wants me dead is because Henry could only act so brazenly with his approval. Perhaps Count Henry and Grand Duke Tarrenno have already reached a tacit understanding or an agreement to carve up the spoils."

Understanding dawned on Fang Zhen.

He felt a deep sense of disappointment toward the Zambein Kingdom.

His education had taught him that backward means of production lead to backward social relations. At the time, it had just felt like a hollow phrase, without any real weight.

But seeing how dark and dangerous life was within the Zambein Kingdom, even among the noble circles, he felt he was finally starting to understand the meaning behind those words. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

’It seems this dark world needs someone to bring something new.’

Fang Zhen said, "Dalia, you’ve been wronged. But now that I’m back, I won’t let you suffer such injustice again."

"Whether it’s Henry or Tarrenno, I’ll make them understand that there’s a price to pay for messing with my people."

Killing intent surged within him.

’Tarrenno... I haven’t met him, but from the description, he’s powerful and tyrannical. That sounds a bit like the behavior of a demon. Could he be the Demon Duke mentioned in my mission?’

’If that’s the case, then I’ll just have to kill my way through!’

"My lord, the situation is more complicated than that. It’s not a simple matter of force," Matthew said, his expression hesitant and conflicted.

"Explain," Fang Zhen said, looking at Matthew.

Matthew said, "It’s like this. Count Henry only brought five hundred soldiers this time, but those are just his private troops and directly commanded Knights. If we were to openly declare war on him, not only would we be violating Kingdom law, but we would also give other nobles a pretext to attack us."

"The military strength of Count Henry’s own territory exceeds 2,500, and may even be over 3,000. However, most of his forces are garrisoned to defend against incursions from rival nobles, while another portion is maintaining order in his domain, so they weren’t brought here."

"And his surrounding vassals, not counting Ashton, Montagu, and Von Klei, consist of four other families whose combined forces approach two thousand. All told, the forces he can call upon exceed five thousand."

"If we openly confront Count Henry, he could theoretically mobilize at least four thousand soldiers to attack the Ashton Territory. And Ashton is just a Viscount’s Domain. We haven’t consolidated our strength yet, and we’ve just been through a war. We couldn’t possibly withstand such an attack!"

"This is why I must ask you to exercise restraint and not actually challenge Count Henry."

"And that’s just the strength within Count Henry’s Territory. If you were to challenge or kill him, Duke Tarrenno would have a reason to move his army against us."

"Duke Tarrenno has five Counts as his vassals, each with strength comparable to Count Henry’s. Add to that the Duke’s three directly commanded legions, and the number of soldiers he could deploy might exceed tens of thousands. We absolutely cannot afford to offend him!"