NEC Chapter 62: The Young Countess's Affair Invitation

Chen Mo vigorously rubbed his eyes, confirming that the delicate little girl before him was indeed Lady Frost, the young countess of the Cloudmist Domain.

Then he cleared his ears and asked in disbelief, "You... what did you just say?"

"I think you're very interesting!" Lady Frost tilted her head, her big eyes looking overly pure, "So hardworking, and you know so many things! When I get married in the future, come find me, and we can have an affair. It should be very enjoyable!"

Chen Mo froze in place as if struck by lightning. He instinctively looked around, fortunately, the several leaders of the Cloudmist Domain were not nearby at the moment. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple moving, his voice hoarse, "That... Countess... Your Highness, do you know what 'having an affair' means?"

"Of course I know!" The young countess answered matter-of-factly, even with a hint of pride, "It means playing with people you like!"

"My second sister and third sister often have affairs! They told me it's really fun!"

"Oh right!" Frost suddenly seemed to remember a good idea, leaning closer and whispering, "You're so interesting, my sixth sister will definitely like you! She doesn't seem to have an affair partner yet, we can all play together then!"

This was truly too stimulating, Chen Mo felt he couldn't handle it.

Watching the young countess say such wicked things in such an innocent tone, he felt it necessary to properly educate the little girl about the correct values of a harmonious society.

"Well, it's like this, I think having affairs is wrong!"

"Marriage should be with someone you love, being faithful to each other..."

Lady Frost's crystal-clear big eyes widened even more, full of confusion, "How can that work? If you marry someone you love, what if you don't love them later? Won't you have to divorce?"

"...Right!" Chen Mo felt the young countess's thinking was sound.

"Then what about the family? There are so many, so many things mixed together, how can they be separated?"

After the two lowered their voices and had a difficult exchange, Chen Mo finally pieced together a set of operating logic belonging to this noble world of the Starry Continent from the education Lady Frost had received.

This was a world completely foreign to him, with rules vastly different from his understanding. Although some of these rules made his scalp tingle, here they seemed to have their own soil and value for existence.

According to Frost's explanation, there were many types of marriages between nobles, the most important being the union of interests between bloodlines.

Yes, union of interests. Every marriage of direct noble heirs was for the family to become stronger and more prosperous, this was an inescapable mission for family offspring.

This kind of marriage was not suitable to be mixed with emotional components.

The reason was simple, love was an ethereal thing. One second you could love passionately, the next moment you might hate bitterly.

If two people in love married and the many interests of two great families became intertwined, then these two marriage representatives had an emotional breakdown, even coming to blows and becoming enemies, what would happen to the already entangled interest chains of the two great families?

In the long historical dust of the Starry Continent, bloody cases where love turned to hate, leading to two great families taking up arms against each other and ultimately mutual destruction, were everywhere. Thus, nobles tacitly drew cold, ruthless rules.

If you want to talk about interests, don't talk about emotions.

Only without love can there be no hate!

Precisely because of this tradition, in the deep courtyards of noble houses, men taking concubines and women finding "romantic companions" had long become fashionable, even becoming some kind of tacit norm.

Since the two had no feelings for each other, wasn't it good for each to play their own games? It wouldn't affect family grand plans and could satisfy personal spiritual and physical needs.

In the young countess's eyes, being able to list Chen Mo as her first choice for an affair partner showed she really liked Chen Mo quite a bit.

Moreover, she was even planning to introduce Chen Mo to her own sisters...

"Really, my sixth sister is so beautiful! I think she should also take a liking to you," the young countess said earnestly, her eyes sparkling, "Next time I'll take you to meet her, then you'll know!"

Chen Mo failed to correct the young countess and was instead somewhat moved by what she said. In the end, he could only squeeze out a smile uglier than crying and fled in panic.

Watching Chen Mo's hurriedly departing figure, the young countess looked confused and asked Lady Official Linda, who was slowly walking out of the tent, "Does he... not like me?"

Lady Official Linda lovingly patted the young countess and replied thoughtfully, "No, who wouldn't like our young countess? But he seems to have received very unusual education. I somewhat suspect he might be the first heir of some family..."

Well, in the nobles' system, the first heir could have some autonomy and could be slightly willful. After all, overly submissive children would lead families into mediocrity, while those full of rebellion would lead families into the abyss.

In the following journey, Chen Mo switched back to diligent cultivation mode. Regarding Lady Frost's such stimulating proposal, he couldn't think of a good response strategy for the moment. Agreeing felt wrong no matter what, but refusing seemed a bit reluctant...

Forget it, let's cultivate first.

Thus, Frost's team in front and Zircon's squad behind, they traveled eastward through wind and dust, wading through muddy wetland swamps, crossing craggy canyons, fording rapid and icy northern tributaries, about to reach the legendary ground passage at the eastern end of the Gloomy Forest, the Crimson Corridor.

The vast Gloomy Forest was the final stronghold of the elf clan. As a great clan that at its peak occupied thousands of miles and commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, now they could only dwell in the jungle. This was a disparity the "proud pointy-ears" could hardly bear. To this day, the entire Gloomy Forest remained forbidden territory to other races.

In the Five Tribes Republic treaty, the elves resolutely added an exclusive clause for the Gloomy Forest. Any foreign race entering the Gloomy Forest could be freely disposed of by the elves.

Of course, if communication between the north and south sides were completely cut off, the human nations would probably spare no cost to destroy this elven territory. So after repeated negotiations, the elves reluctantly left three passages.

The western and central routes were the gnome airship routes. The gnomes obtained exclusive operating rights for these routes by supplying some special materials to the elves.

The ground passage at the easternmost end was carved out by a human seventh-tier Void-Breaking Sword Saint over four hundred years ago.

At that time, this Sword Saint suffered from severe acrophobia and couldn't take floating airships, so he chose to come to the southern continent by sea route. Then he was shocked to hear news of his territory being besieged and could only rush back day and night.

His request to the elf clan for passage was denied, so this Void-Breaking Sword Saint chose to force his way through.

The elf clan understood the weight of such a mad second-tier professional and didn't want to lose tribal warriors, but they also couldn't just let humans break the rules. So they drove large numbers of jungle magical beasts and war trees along the route.

The Void-Breaking Sword Saint chose a narrow area backed by mountains on the eastern side of the Gloomy Forest, and just like that, one man with one sword, he hacked his way through. Corpses littered the ground, blood flowed like rivers, and the remains of ancient trees piled up like mountains.

By the end of the killing, even the fiercest predators in the jungle dared not intercept him anymore, just watching helplessly as he departed in a cloud of dust.

This was the origin of the "Crimson Corridor."

From then on, the elf clan left an unwritten rule, on this corridor where the Sword Saint had walked, as long as you could break through the jungle magical beasts blocking the way, the elf clan would not interfere and would tacitly allow passage.

Of course, regarding this Sword Saint, there was also a widely circulated, absurdly dark humorous ending.

This peerlessly brave Void-Breaking Sword Saint, who regarded the elven army as nothing, after going through countless hardships and finally returning to his precarious territory, fought bloodily for several more days, bathing in blood and fighting desperately, finally repelling the strong enemies.

Exhausted and covered in wounds, he drank the "healing elixir" personally offered by his worried wife...

Then he died from poison.

After that, the wife and the young steward she had been flirting with lived "happily" together...

Well, unofficial history and legends, embellished with added details, probably shouldn't be taken as truth. But regardless, he ultimately used his sword to leave a passage for later humans.

Just the night before the Cloudmist Domain convoy was about to enter the Crimson Corridor, a scout on a flying horse arrived with a cloud of dust rolling before the camp. His first words struck everyone's heads like a thunderbolt.

"War! Fighting has broken out!"

[NEXT CHAPTER]