The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

With some time before her scheduled meeting with Otto, Lihua found a nearby restaurant and sat down, ordering some snacks to pass the time.

Thanks to Lihua's tireless efforts over the years, she had successfully promoted some of her recipes in medieval Europe. The restaurant menus had become much more diverse, and finally, there was something that was somewhat to her taste.

In fact, the owner of the restaurant that Lihua was at was someone she had personally helped out over the years. Lihua had personally taught him the recipes, and this poor man, who had been unable to help his sick wife, was now leading a decent life.

"But Europeans really love sweet things. I still can't get used to it after so many years. It's too sweet…"

Lihua took a bite of a sugary macaron and shook her head helplessly as she watched the other patrons enjoying their meals. Though she knew that she had to adapt to the local taste, Lihua, who had grown up in China, still didn't like things that were too sweet.

As long as business was good, then the owner should be satisfied with his peaceful life.

A peaceful life really is the best~

"Priest! Please, give me a few more days… Just a few more days…"

The commotion at the corner of the street attracted Lihua's attention. The familiar scene of a man bullying a woman made her shake her head helplessly.

In an era like this, even if the Charitable Association tried their best, only a small number of people could escape from suffering and live a peaceful life.

Unless you smash this old world to pieces.

Lihua stood up helplessly. Since she had witnessed this, she had to do something about it.

At the corner, a priest with several guards was harassing a young mother with a little girl.

Despite the mother kneeling down and begging with tears in her eyes, the priest remained unmoved. His face was still twisted in a disgusting smile. "A grace period? Your husband committed a sin, you need to buy indulgences to atone for his sins! Someone has to pay for his wrongs!"

"Or…"

The priest, with his well-groomed mustache, looked at the little girl in the mother's arms with a lewd gaze. "Let Sasha come to the church and work for us for a while. That way, your husband would have atoned for his sins."

As he said that, his hand grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her toward him despite her terrified look.

Seeing her daughter in danger, the mother desperately bit the priest's hand when she couldn't pull her daughter away. While the priest was recoiling from the pain, she quickly pulled her daughter back into her arms.

"You crazy woman--!!"

Being bitten by a lowly civilian made the priest fly into a rage. He raised his hand to slap the woman in the face, but his hand was stopped by a slender arm.

"Sir Viktor, what a display of authority."

Lihua smiled at the priest called Viktor. The grip around his wrist tightened. "Assaulting a woman in public doesn't seem like it's in line with Schicksal's reputation, does it?"

Even if Lihua was weak, she was still a Kaslana. She was far stronger than Viktor, who had ruined himself with lust and alcohol. With the power she was secretly exerting, Viktor, whose wrist was about to be crushed, twisted his face in pain.

The mother, protected by Lihua, saw her like she was a savior. "Lady Lihua!!"

"If I remember correctly, this area's indulgences were collected two weeks ago, and Schicksal has no plans to collect it a second time…"

Lihua circled around Viktor. As she put more pressure on his wrist, Viktor had to twist to follow her, looking a bit comical.

"Sir Viktor, who exactly asked you to collect this indulgence?"

"This, this…"

Cold sweat started to run down Viktor's face. Schicksal did require the indulgences to be collected once a month, but everyone knew that they charged more. Two tenths of what he collected went to him, and eight tenths went to the higher-ups. The Schicksal's monitoring committee always turned a blind eye.

But he couldn't say all that in front of so many witnesses, or his superiors would immediately disavow him and make an example out of him.

After all, the person in front of him was Lihua Kaslana. She might not seem powerful, but everyone at Schicksal knew not to provoke her. If she knew about your crimes, she wouldn't listen to any excuses and would send you straight to the court.

Also, she had two very powerful protectors. If she sent you to court, it was essentially game over.

"Or, perhaps, Sir Viktor is just collecting money for himself?"

Viktor didn't dare to hesitate when he felt Lihua's gaze on him. He dropped to his knees. "I, I'm sorry, I must have gotten the dates wrong! It has already been collected, it's already been collected…"

"If that's the case, Sir Viktor, I hope you'll pay more attention in the future."

Lihua didn't want to argue anymore with the groveling Viktor. She released him.

Usually, she would never let this go so easily, but she was preparing to start a rebellion. She shouldn't be so high profile now.

"Return all the excess money before the end of the day, or we'll see each other in court."

"Yes, yes! Thank you!"

Lihua shook her head as Viktor fled, then helped the mother and daughter up. "Are you okay?"

"We're okay. Thank you, Lady Lihua! You saved us again this time..."

The grateful mother hugged her daughter while wiping away her tears. "If it wasn't for you, Sasha would have..."

Looking at the terrified girl, Lihua reached out and rubbed her head. "Don't be afraid. Better days will come. Then, everyone will live a peaceful life."

"Th, these flowers are for you…"

Though she was still scared, Lihua's gentle eyes seemed to have given her some courage. She ran back into her flower shop and came out with a flower. She mustered her courage and handed it to Lihua. "I grew it myself… Thank you!"

"Then I won't be polite."

Lihua took the white hydrangea flower and watched the mother and daughter go home.

"It's beautiful, right?" Lihua suddenly said.

A calm voice from behind her said, smiling, "Yeah, and the flower's meaning suits you."

"Flower meaning?"

Lihua looked at the hydrangea in her hands. The only flower meaning she knew was that roses mean 'I love you'.

Oh well, this isn't important right now. Lihua turned around and looked at Otto helplessly. "Since you're here, why didn't you just drive him away? Why did you let me do it?"

"I just arrived," Otto answered smiling.

No way I'd interrupt Lihua's heroic entrance.

"Yeah, right."

Lihua couldn't do anything with the shameless Otto. She turned around and led the way. "Let's find a safe place to talk."