Chapter 35: Things Out of Reach and Beyond Grasp

"Is that so? Then let us wait and see!" Oni was suddenly curious as to how the other woman would react once her husband was bound and brought before her.

She then turned to the minor lords in the room and commanded, "Take everything! Call them out one by one, bind their left feet together, and burn every house to the ground before we withdraw!"

"What are you doing?" the woman asked, seemingly terrified.

"You will soon see exactly how the husband you speak of kneels on the ground to beg for my mercy!"

After delivering this harsh threat, Oni examined the young girl beside her. "What is your name, miss?"

"My name is Anna, my lady!" The girl did not dare look up, clearly frightened.

"And her?"

"Marlin!"

"Lady Marlin, I would like to invite you to be guests in our territory. Do you have any objections?" Oni asked with a smirk, reaching out to pinch and pull at Anna’s cheek, watching as the girl winced while keeping her head bowed.

She was so satisfying to pinch!

Oni glanced at the blank-faced Harold, wondering if she could bind this family through marriage and turn them into an asset for her own house.

The girl named Anna was of marriageable age, but considering Harold might not be receptive, she felt a flicker of worry. How could a normal man refuse the prospect of having more wives? Even if Harold’s intelligence was impaired, shouldn't he have some kind of reaction?

Clearly, she had underestimated her own charm.

If only Harold’s family had more men, she could use political marriages to conquer them quickly and dampen any resistance from the vanquished.

How to expand her family members had become a headache for Oni; without a larger clan, she could not consolidate her rule.

Once Robert’s posthumous child was born, if it were a boy, she would make sure to surround Alexander with plenty of nieces-in-law with wide hips once he grew up, and then they would have a litter of adorable princes and princesses. When she grew old, they would all gather around her, calling her grandmother. By then, she should possess a vast array of lands to distribute as fiefs.

Oni’s eyes gleamed, even if she wouldn't be their biological grandmother.

Only in this way would a family flourish and prosper. The Habsburgs of later generations had risen to become royal houses and masters of Europe precisely through such political marriages.

Marlin turned her head away, ignoring her.

"It seems you have no objections. Let’s go! And be gentle with them!" Oni instructed her subordinates.

Upon arriving at the castle gate, her orders had already been carried out. Door after door of the tenant farmers' homes were knocked open. They were tied in groups of ten by their left feet and led to the open ground to squat down.

"Ludwig, take your men and relay my words! Whatever I say, you repeat!"

"As you command, my lady!" Ludwig bowed quickly.

"Introduce yourselves! We are the conquerors of this town, and I am Harold. Do not resist, for we do not accept those who resist; they will die!"

Oni paced back and forth, her voice carrying only to the crowd tasked with amplifying her message.

"Our territory lacks population, so I need you to join us. We will provide housing, food, and security! As for your fathers, husbands, and brothers currently away on Viking raids, I will reunite you with your families as soon as possible, so do not attempt any futile resistance. If your families return only to find your heads severed and mounted on wooden poles, I suspect they will be very heartbroken! To avoid accidents and to ensure your reunion, I require you to persuade them to surrender when they return. If anyone refuses, I will no longer guarantee the safety of those family members of yours currently away on raids!"

Having finished, Oni stopped walking: "Return home!"

As the lines of captives were led slowly out of the town under the strict supervision of the Viking warriors, the thick smoke and flames behind them gradually swallowed the horizon.

"No, our homes... everything we have is gone!" one captive fell to his knees, crying out toward the direction of the town.

His actions caused the group he was with to stall, and the others stared at him in terror.

"Stand up, keep moving!" A Viking warrior prodded him viciously with a spear, forcing him to rise.

Oni tightened the reins of her donkey, gazing into the distance at the burning castle, her face showing a deep sense of regret.

She truly loved that wooden house; she had imagined living on the second floor, overlooking the beautiful scenery of the entire town, sitting by the window leisurely knitting or playing the lyre, feeling the salty sea breeze brush against her cheeks. What a wonderful life that would have been.

However, she could not replicate such a house in Skalvik, for she would never cease her path of conquest. This was her regret, and her destiny.

She asked the supply train for a cup of ale, savoring the mellow richness of the alcohol while feeling the surge of hot blood it brought. The beast within her, known as cruelty, seemed to have been unleashed, casting aside everything that hindered the release of her fury.

Oni had fallen in love with the feeling of war, and with the feeling of victory. She finally understood the craving for victory that all generals throughout history had felt, and why they were so obsessed with war.

The taste of her first victory had provided a powerful stimulus to her otherwise stagnant heart. Slightly tipsy, Oni’s eyes blazed with a manic light. She now felt an urge to lead her troops to slaughter these captives, then launch a long-distance raid toward the remaining settlement on Gotland Island.

She felt as if she had gone mad, becoming delirious. Yet, her reason told her she must suppress this impulse.

As she drank, Oni slid off her donkey’s back and walked drunkenly toward the supply wagon pulled by draft horses. She lay down on the wagon, and as the wind blew, she immediately drifted into a deep sleep.

The group of lords watching her behavior had a series of questions pop into their heads. They stared at Oni, who had wrapped herself in a cloak and was snoring loudly, looking at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do.

Harold no longer hid his true self. Under the stunned expressions of the lords, he climbed onto the bumping supply wagon. He gently pulled the drunkard into his arms, awkwardly smoothing Oni’s messy long hair with his hand, carefully examining her peaceful face as she slept, his own face filled with obsession and sweetness.

"Jarl, are you alright?" The minor lords were suspicious and uneasy. Ludwig rode his horse forward, carefully observing the face that was usually normal.

They had always dismissed him as mentally disabled, yet it turned out he was faking it?

"Anyone who dares to let this slip, I swear in the name of the Jarl, will go down to meet Hel!" Harold looked up, glaring viciously at the lords, delivering his most venomous threat.

The lords’ faces turned pale; the lingering prestige of the volatile Jarl Robert was still enough to make them fear offending Harold.

Although Oni had always presented herself as the acting Jarl, they had more or less looked down on her because of her gender.

As it turned out, behind a tigress stood a real tiger, which reminded them of the days they were ruled by Robert.

The lords bowed their heads one after another, saluting Harold: "As you wish, Jarl!"

"Leave. I need to be alone with my wife." Harold waved his hand, signaling them to depart.

"Very well!"

The group left, and even the woman driving the draft horses steered clear.

Harold pressed tightly against the muttering, sleeping Oni, as if he wanted to melt her into his own body.

"Oni, I cannot stop thinking of you. This love has seeped into my marrow, driving me mad and sickening me. Since the moment I met you, my world has been filled with everything about you—from your smile to your words, every detail is deeply branded in my heart. I am willing to do anything for you, even if it means I must abandon my reason and fall into an uncontrollable, maddened state.

I once tried to control this emotion, but I finally realized it had long since surpassed the bounds of reason. I would go through fire and water for you, even sacrificing myself, just to be with you. This love has made me fragile and sensitive, afraid of losing you, even paranoid. Yet, it is this insane love that has made me more determined in my obsession with you.

Perhaps if you knew, you would think my love is pathological, even perverse, but I cannot change it. Because in my heart, you are the only light, illuminating all my darkness. I am willing to accept this mad love, even if it makes me less rational, because I believe that as long as I can be with you, it is all worth it.

But besides begging for pity, how can I ever win your love?"

"Can you tell me, what should I do..." As he spoke, Harold’s expression grew dazed and unfocused. He stared greedily at Oni’s lips, pursed his own, and lowered his head slightly to kiss her.

Almost there, just a little more!

Suddenly, Oni snapped her eyes open, her gaze locked directly onto Harold’s face.