Chapter 551 – Marriage
Nobody expected Ruyen to return to the Purcell Duchy. Right now, she has been changed, she was very much like another person. Zhao Hai sent her to the Duchy because of her familiarity with the place, not because of the Purcell Family’s reputation.
Now, the Purcell Duchy was not named Purcell Duchy anymore. It was renamed to the Northern Border. There is only an ordinary Noble here, not a Grand Duke.
However, this Noble was Boris’ trusted aide. This made Boris relieved in in placing him in the territory. Boris was now one of the people who hated the Radiant Church the most. Because of the Radiant Church’s machinations, he fell into his current situation. Although he had earned the Aksu Empire’s throne, he was actually in very deep debt. His current mood was not very good.
It was not only because of this, because of his error, the Aksu Empire had suffered a huge loss. This made his reputation among the Empire’s nobles come crashing down. At present, there were a lot of Nobles who didn’t obey him.
The only reason why he was still on the throne was because the Aksu Imperial Family still held a huge influence inside the Empire. And even if the members of the Imperial Family were unhappy with Boris, they knew that if he were to be dethroned, nobody was qualified to please the public. Failure to control the populace would lead to the Nobles gaining more control. So for the sake of the Aksu Imperial Family, the members had no other choice than to support Boris.
Boris also knew about his current situation, therefore he exerted extra effort in arranging his trusted men to hold important positions. So when time comes where the others would want to deal with him, it wouldn’t be very easy.
The Aksu Empire’s current situation was actually fragile. If a powerful force gently nudged the Empire, then the Aksu Empire would have to change its name.
But no matter what, the Aksu Empire’s dilemma was caused by the Beastmen. Anyone who wanted to touch them right now would be despised, therefore nobody took the risk.
When talking about the matter of who would take over the Aksu Empire, unless they were the Rosen Empire, no large influence would be able to face such a mess.
Naturally, Zhao Hai wasn’t thinking about any of these. And even if Zhao Hai appears in the Aksu Empire, Boris would not dare to have some disrespect towards him. All the hatred between the two of them were all Boris’ fault. And now, Zhao Hai’s status was no longer much lower than him, who was an emperor. At this point, Boris can only choose to do good for Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about this, he just wanted to hand the Purcell Duchy’s affairs over to Ruyen. He also did this under the consent of Green and Merine.
Green and Merine agreed to it after talking it over with Evan. After Green agreed, Zhao Hai knew that his relationship with Ruyen had already been decided. Ruyen might marry him in the near future.
But compared to Laura and the others, Ruyen’s current status surely has a gap for Zhao Hai. If she wanted to marry Zhao Hai, she would need to make some achievements. This management of the shops in Purcell Duchy, now called Northern Border, was Green’s way of testing her.
If Ruyen does well, then she would probably be married to Zhao Hai. If she doesn’t, then it would be difficult to be Zhao Hai’s wife.
Zhao Hai thought that Ruyen’s arrogance would have her disagree with this condition. But Zhao Hai didn’t expect her to accept it without any hesitation. Zhao Hai knew that Ruyen might have some feelings for him, but not as deep as what Laura and the others had. The reason why she agreed was most likely because of the future of the Purcell Duchy.
The Purcell Family must rely on the Buda Clan to survive as well as to progress. For the Purcell Family, Ruyen agreed to be married to Zhao Hai.
After Zhao Hai heard about this result, he sighed. He didn’t object to it. He knew that such an agreement would come. But he wasn’t expecting it to happen with Ruyen.
In fact, even if Ruyen didn’t make any achievements, Zhao Hai would still be married to her later on. This marriage had a lot of advantages, one could even call it a political marriage. If Ruyen gets married to Zhao Hai, then the Purcell Family would be sheltered by the Buda Clan. On the other hand, if Zhao Hai gets married to Ruyen, the Purcell Family would be willing to follow the Buda Clan.
Although Zhao Hai’s wives aren’t any lower than one another, but one must say that the most helpful to Zhao Hai right now was Laura. Although Laura’s status can’t compare to either Megan and Lizzy, but one shouldn’t forget that the Markey Family was now almost merged with the Buda Clan. This gave the Buda Clan a lot of talented people to use. Although Megan and Lizzy’s statuses were high, they couldn’t achieve something like Laura. Their families were just too formidable, and all of them were centered on their own family’s benefit. It wouldn’t be possible for them to help the Buda Clan while sacrificing their own benefits. Therefore, even if they publicly supported Zhao Hai, it wasn’t something hugely significant.
However, Laura’s support was very solid. With the Buda Clan’s present strength, they didn’t need public support, they need support like Laura’s. This was something that Lizzy and Megan can’t compete with.
Zhao Hai was aware of this, so he was also inclined to marry Ruyen so that he could get the full support of the Purcell Family. Even if the Purcell Family was now in a low point, they still had a lot of personal connections that the Buda Clan can make use of.
Establishing a Clan was much more difficult than what others imagine. Money, personal connections, strength, territory were all indispensable. Although the Buda Clan was doing very well, aside from strength, they were weak in all other aspects. Therefore, Zhao Hai wanted to fulfill those deficiencies in order to grow the Buda Clan further.
One has to recognize that Zhao Hai was a person who has a good sense of crisis, it was because of this that he was very careful in his every action. But he didn’t oppose to this marriage. He also believed that Laura and the others wouldn’t object to it. These women had given their hearts to Zhao Hai and the Buda Clan. They wouldn’t oppose to anything that can benefit the Buda Clan.
The more he thought about this, the more Zhao Hai felt that he owed the ladies a lot. Zhao Hai hoped that they get pregnant as soon as possible. But it was a pity that even if he has tried so hard these past few month, Laura and the others still weren’t pregnant.
And when the Space checked, he doesn’t have any issues, the same was true for Laura and the others as well. It seems like they were only having bad luck.
Upon looking at the situation at the Northern Border, Zhao Hai felt relief. Then he prepared to set off for the Prairie. The first place that he would visit would be the Cows. Although it was proper for him to go to Beast God City first, he opted to visit the Herculean Bulls. After all, this was his tribe, and he was their Prince.
Zhao Hai didn’t ride Alien after he went out of the Space. Instead, he released a Blood Hawk and then sat in it as it went out from the Space. This time, the people who accompanied him were only Shun and Shue since both of them didn’t have much to do. Laura and the others were left behind since they had some other matters to attend to. If they also came out with Zhao Hai, things would be much more inconvenient.
Seeing three Blood Hawks coming from the skies didn’t make the Cows panic. The Herculean Bulls already knew that the Blood Hawks were Zhao Hai’s mounts.
After Zhao Hai landed, he was immediately welcomed by the Herculean Bulls. Zhao Hai was also glad to see them as he returned the gesture. He talked with them for quite some time and gave them his Milk Wine.
Zhao Hai’s Milk Wine output was now very high. And to guarantee its price, Zhao Hai didn’t sell a huge bulk of them to the continent. Therefore, he saved a lot of these Milk Wine inside the Space. And since the Beastmen loved liquor, it was a good idea to gift them some.
These Beastmen liked Zhao Hai very much, he seemed more like a Beastman unlike the other humans they had met before. And everytime they greet him, he has some small gifts that he’d give them, this made the Beastmen very glad.
At this time, Mendez’s voice was heard, “You bastards, get out of the way.” When the people heard Mendez, they grunted a bit before they all ran away.
Mendez used this opportunity to approach Zhao Hai. Then he looked at Zhao Hai while shaking his head and smiling bitterly, “Little Hai, you can’t make those guys get used to receiving your gifts every time you meet.”
Zhao Hai laughed and said, “It’s fine, those are little gifts, not really worth much money. It’s good that it makes them happy. Right, let’s go in.” Then he walked to the main tent along with Mendez.
Wales, Yale, and Kony were already inside the tent. When Zhao Hai came in, Wales couldn’t help but laugh, “Little Hai, why did you only come this time? Our attack with the Humans was already finished for quite some time.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I only found time recently. You made the Aksu Empire very miserable. I sold some grain over there and made quite a small wealth.”
Wales quickly replied, “What did you sell to the Aksu Empire? Bread Fruits?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “No, I sold them Bamboo Rice. What happened? You didn’t get a lot of food this time?”
Without even waiting for Wales to speak, Kony laughed and said, “You can’t be anymore wrong this time, Little Hai. We got a lot of good things this time. And it is because of you.”
Zhao Hai became confused as the looked at Wales and the others. Wales couldn’t help but smile and said, “Because of the information that you provided, we managed to defeat the Aksu Empire and the Radiant Church. And since you’re a Foreign Prince of our Herculean Bull Tribe, the Beast King decided to give your credit to our tribe. Therefore, we managed to get a lot of things this time.”
When Zhao Hai heard Wales, he smiled and said, “Well, that means the tribe wouldn’t need to buy food for a long time. Right, I brought over some daily necessities. I don’t know if you still need it.”