Chapter 87: The Filial Daughter Bella
“Let’s go!” After comforting himself, Viscount Mara patted his horse and led his trusted cavalry north.
Those horse bandits had the most men stationed in the south, fearing he would flee in that direction. After all, seizing someone’s territory in the Northland was taboo and could easily lead to a united attack.
Although these horse bandits were meticulous, they didn’t know that Viscount Mara was cunning. Years ago, he had settled a nomadic tribe in the north. They rarely contacted each other, and occasional visits to the town were conducted as normal trade, so no one had ever discovered them. This was what Viscount Mara was most proud of.
As long as he could rendezvous with the tribe and use them as cover, combined with the strength of his cavalry, it would be enough to ensure his safe return to the Empire’s border. Then, by selling the tribe’s livestock and people, he could make another fortune.
Then, he would invest this money in the merchant guild for his two sons to manage properly. Even if he lost his title as Viscount of the Northland and Mara Town, the family wouldn’t completely decline because of it.
As for his daughter, he would find an older knight in the Imperial Border Army for her to marry. Although a knight’s status wasn’t high, he could at least provide some help for his two sons.
Marrying into a noble family was out of the question. Although his eldest daughter was not bad-looking, she had been roaming around with the nomadic tribe for a long time, and her personality had become wild. Moreover, she was not young anymore, and no noble would fancy her.
While Viscount Mara was busy calculating his plans, Bella, who had received her father’s letter, looked grim. However, she didn’t show it, acting like a daughter worried about her father’s safety. It was only when the messenger left the tent that her eyes revealed a strong murderous intent, her hand unconsciously gripping a dagger at her waist.
As Viscount Mara’s eldest daughter, Bella was not favored. Otherwise, any qualified father wouldn’t send his two sons back to the safety and prosperity of the Empire’s border while leaving his only daughter to survive in the wilderness of the Northland.
One must know that Bella was only twelve years old when this good father drove her out along with a few herdsmen and a flock of sheep. If she hadn’t used a hidden dagger to kill a herdsman who was eyeing her with ill intentions that day, she would have likely become a mother of a dozen children by now.
It was on that day, when her hands were stained with blood, that Bella realized there was no turning back. She was no longer a carefree girl but someone who needed to rely on her own efforts to survive.
Her previous life was shattered. Abandoned, she was destined to wander for life. Bella vowed to repay all of this to her good father, and now the opportunity had arrived.
Bella, who had been roaming around with the tribe, had seen those horse bandits. Calling them bandits was better described as being the lackeys of some nobles. Otherwise, how could a group of bandits have such equipment and supplies? Therefore, she knew very well what choice her father would make.
The experience in her youth shattered all of Bella’s illusions about her father. Therefore, she could understand her father’s true nature. After so many years, no one knew her father better than Bella. She could even guess what he would do next with almost perfect accuracy.
In his eyes, only his two sons were the continuation of his life and the future of the family. For this, he wouldn’t have the slightest pity for her. Extracting all her value was his way of doing things, so her fate was sealed.
But Bella was not reconciled. From the initial few herdsmen and a flock of sheep, she had painstakingly led everyone to avoid disasters, gathered refugees, and worked hard to herd. Now, the tribe had more than two hundred people, hundreds of sheep, and herds of cattle and horses. This was all her hard work, and how could she be willing to let her good father ruin it all!
However, Bella still couldn’t completely control the entire tribe. Firstly, her status as a woman was the biggest problem. At the same time, her good father had never truly trusted her. Not only did he take away the tribe’s able-bodied men to serve as his cavalry, but he also planted many of his own people within the tribe. So Bella needed power, the power to break these limitations.
Bella reached into her bosom and pulled out a very ugly necklace. The string was made of horsetail, tightly securing an egg-sized, twisted stone egg.
This was a gift from a passing noble lady, who said it could change her destiny.
Of course, Bella had to pay a sufficient price for it, because nothing comes for free. She agreed with this very much and readily accepted the gift, even if the price of using it was her soul and body.
Even though she had been wandering in the wilderness since childhood and hadn’t received a proper education, Bella still knew what an evil thing this was.
But the lady didn’t deceive her. She clearly told her that this thing was actually a demon egg, an evil item refined from demon flesh and blood. It could grant the power of a demon through sacrifice, but the price was that the more this power was used, the stronger the demon’s power would become, eventually devouring everything of the user as nourishment for its resurrection.
Any sane person would probably avoid such a thing, but for some, being able to exchange everything they had for a chance at revenge was simply a blessing. After all, the most tragic thing in the world was for you to die while your enemy was still alive, occasionally even dancing on your grave. Wouldn’t that be infuriating?
Bella was willing to pay this heavy price, just to repay her father for all the misfortunes he had brought upon her.
As for Bella’s decision to sacrifice everything to kill her own father, don’t talk to her about filial piety. She was abandoned by her father in the Northland wilderness at the age of twelve. Not to mention the hardships she had endured from the wind and snow of the Northland for over a decade, she had encountered wolf attacks, droughts, bandits, horse thieves, and even life-threatening illnesses more than once. Let alone a young girl, even a grown man would have difficulty surviving such things.
Over the past decade, Bella had countless times wanted to end her own life, but she was always reluctant.
In the process of raising the dagger again and again, and then putting it down again and again, Bella would always give herself a reason to give up on suicide. But in the end, the only obsession that supported her survival was revenge against the father who brought her all this misfortune.
Therefore, Bella would rather give up everything to be a filial daughter, personally bury her father in this Northland wilderness, and then come here to herd horses every spring when the flowers bloom.
After making up her mind, Bella tightly gripped the demon egg that could change her fate and walked out of the tent.
Bella, walking out of the tent, saw from the corner of her eye that the cavalryman who delivered the letter was whispering something to a few herdsmen. When they saw her come out, the cavalryman didn’t react much, but the herdsmen gave an awkward smile and hid in a nearby tent.
Bella knew this very well. These were the people Viscount Mara had planted in the tribe, her watchers.
Apparently, this father also knew his daughter well and had been wary of her for a long time. Not only did he take some of the tribe’s able-bodied men to serve as cavalry for Mara Town, but he also bribed some herdsmen to limit Bella’s authority in the tribe. However, he never imagined that his daughter would actually possess extraordinary power.
