Outside the castle stood a city wall, towering at ten meters high, with numerous defensive arrow towers set up all around, leaving absolutely no blind spots for attack.

It was entirely a fortress of war, virtually impossible to breach from the outside. Such defenses were absolutely necessary near the dark forest, where monsters appeared one after another.

Although something major had happened in the town, the news had yet to reach the castle, which remained calm and peaceful.

The old mayor, Sir Melbourne, lounged contentedly in a reclining chair in his study, holding a richly illustrated copy of "The Scandalous History of the Court." With his swollen, yellowed eyelids half-closed, he flipped through the pages with great interest, occasionally letting out a low chuckle.

From time to time, a servant would enter or leave his study, quietly reporting on the progress of the new decorations being installed in the castle.

Whenever this happened, the old knight would put down his book and listen attentively to the servant’s report, occasionally offering a few words of instruction.

He was so meticulous because today his son, Brandon, would be hurrying back from Lumba City, and he had to make sure the castle was completely refurbished before his son returned.

After all, that was his only son, and his pride.

Now, this son had made something of himself—he had been granted an elemental fire seed by Baron Hamer and had established enough merit to become an official knight under the baron, thus stepping into the ranks of the nobility.

Unlike himself, whose title of knight had been bought with money, which was why he was always mocked as a country bumpkin.

The old knight was already over sixty years old, considered quite elderly on the continent. At his age, he should have been enjoying his twilight years.

However, he was a lecherous man. A month ago, his old wife passed away, and barely half a month later, he married a young and beautiful wife from Lumba City.

This young wife was named Eliza, beautiful and intelligent, who had just celebrated her seventeenth birthday earlier that year.

She came from a prestigious family in Lumba City and had received a fine education, her manners noble and elegant. Unfortunately, her family’s glory had faded, her brother was a gambler, and after her father’s death, it took less than a year for her brother to squander what little was left of the family fortune.

The old knight used some tricks, set a trap for the gambler, and easily won the beauty for himself—without spending a single coin!

At this moment, Eliza was also in the study, kneeling behind the old knight, head bowed, expressionless, massaging his back.

This was originally a servant’s job, and for a lady of noble birth to do it, she seemed rather clumsy.

Her upbringing had been in etiquette, horsemanship, dancing, and other refined pursuits of high society—she had never been taught to serve others.

But the old knight just liked making her do these things; he enjoyed seeing those who prided themselves on noble blood bow their heads to serve the man whom the gentlemen called a country bumpkin.

Naturally, Eliza deeply resented such humiliation, but the old knight quickly made her face reality.

If she showed even the slightest resistance to his orders, the old man would immediately beat and kick her without restraint.

After a few such incidents, she resigned herself to her fate, no longer resisting, becoming very docile—at least in the old knight’s eyes.

Around noon, the old knight closed his book and solemnly instructed the person behind him.

“Eliza, when my knight son returns, remember to serve him well. You must make sure he is satisfied!”

To outsiders, his marriage to this young wife seemed to be out of lust. But he felt wronged—he was already so old; marrying a young wife just to tire himself out would be like cursing himself to an early grave.

In fact, it was his son who fancied this woman. But since her family had fallen, she could never be taken as a proper wife—only as a mistress.

He did this to save face for the church. After all, those well-fed servants of God had decreed monogamy.

Such things were common throughout the Storm Kingdom, and there were even more outrageous cases. Take the lord of this land, Baron Hamer, for example—he had four mistresses behind the scenes.

These mistresses came from various backgrounds and lived in his grand castle for various reasons. The most ridiculous of them all was the baron’s wet nurse.

Heaven knows, the baron was already middle-aged, yet he still kept a wet nurse in her twenties—wasn’t that just a cover-up?

As for the church, they could only turn a blind eye and pretend not to see.

Eliza trembled all over as she listened, biting her silver teeth, her heart full of despair.

Was her life really going to end like this? To eke out an existence as a knight’s mistress? And when she grew old and lost her beauty, to be thrown out of the castle and starve by the roadside?

No, she could not accept such a fate!

Just then, the butler Geoffrey burst into the study, shouting anxiously, “Master, something terrible has happened!”

Sir Melbourne immediately hurled his book at the butler. “Are you trying to scare me to death, you uncultured dog? Speak properly!”

The butler panted heavily for a while before finally catching his breath and saying, “Look out the window, sir—there’s a huge crowd gathering in the town.”

The old knight was startled and hurriedly stood up to go to the window.

But he stood up too quickly, and a wave of dizziness hit him. He quickly grabbed the table for support, and only after a while did he recover.