The Black Sword thrust straight towards Le Song's weapon, but just moments before they were about to make contact, it veered off at an angle to launch a side attack.

The blink of an eye transition did not escape Le Song's notice;

he immediately responded by thrusting his weapon towards his opponent's chest.

He was not lured by the two large "soft" masses, but rather considered:

In this type of duel, attacking the opponent's weakness has always been the key to seizing the initiative.

With this in mind, Le Song decided to take a desperate gamble.

The two fighters aimed at each other, any slight mistake would lead to mutual destruction.

It was this spirit of daring to take a risk that finally granted the underpowered Le Song the qualification to threaten a strong opponent.

Although---that qualification only lasted a few seconds!

Wang Xiaole saw through the target's intentions, but still had no intention of sheathing his sword, instead, he positioned his legs ready to move.

At the moment the sharp blade thrust towards the chest, Wang Xiaole remained calm, merely shifting his left foot to the side of his right foot, completing a sidestep in the instant their feet made contact.

Due to the positional change, the sharp blade only grazed past the fabric, not causing any actual harm to the body;

while the familiar Black Sword was twirled by Wang Xiaole's wrist and tossed to the side.

It was this move that brought the Black Sword from his right hand to his left hand.

This way, the Black Sword which just shifted its aim, was able to once again lock onto the target's vital point.

Pressing the blade against Le Song's heart, the swordsman declared his defeat.

"I have done my best..."

These were his inner thoughts.

Crack!

The fabric that had been cut open earlier finally couldn't hold up, tearing open a sizable rip, along with part of the inner clothing, turning into fragments on the ground.

At the moment of exposure, Wang Xiaole didn't have time to cover that area but could only reach out to grab Le Song's shoulder.

"Allow me to borrow this."

With these words, Wang Xiaole forcibly removed Le Song's outer coat and tied it around the exposed area on his chest, perfectly concealing the partially exposed large breasts.

In the dozen or so seconds from exposure to concealment, Le Song had enough time to relieve the fatigue in his eyes.

He hesitated, he felt impulsive, but in the end, he didn't lose his rationality.

As an Inran gentleman, he couldn't peek at girls without permission, even if the other party was an enemy.

In a standard sense, he was undoubtedly a qualified gentleman.

But juxtaposed with the popular notion of a gentleman, Le Song was definitely a failure, making himself a bad example of a "gentleman".

At that moment, inside the capital, at the pinnacle of the palace, the Duke was planning his betrayal.

It's over, the Duke felt that everything was over.

The ambush troops in the residential area turned into guerrilla forces, and the main army stationed on the city walls was now in disarray;

in this extreme disadvantageous situation, the Duke believed that the outcome of this battle had been decided.

This cunning and despicable man couldn't stop regretting and despising himself just ten minutes ago.

(Whispering): "I shouldn't have believed that with the help of those two stinking girls, I could defeat the regular army of the Empire numbering over a hundred thousand with a handful of soldiers!"

Even though his life was under threat, the Duke still regretted boarding this ship of thieves.

Looking down from the palace, one could see the powerful Inran soldiers;

even though sixty to seventy thousand of them had been eliminated earlier, they were still able to organize an all-encompassing siege, effectively sealing off the palace.

If it were in any other country, even in the kingdoms that dared not yield to the "Three Empires", suffering such a huge loss of troops would essentially mean the destruction of the country.

This is what a great power looks like, not only in terms of territorial influence but also representing its strength.

The seemingly ever-present enemy soldiers shattered the Duke's last glimmer of hope.

He no longer dreamt during the day; all he could think of was how to submit to Inran, shift the blame for starting the war when it began;

most importantly, he couldn't allow himself to be buried with those two girls.

Shameless?

The Duke didn't feel that way at all.

The act of the weak submitting to the strong had long been a recognized survival wisdom throughout history.

Furthermore, this habit wasn't started by his generation.

Although it was inappropriate to think this way, deep down, the Duke undoubtedly believed:

If the first Duke hadn't chosen to submit, the duchy would have long become a direct territory of Dibiles, and even the first Duke himself would have been sent to the gallows.

Now, what he was doing was almost identical to what his ancestors did, albeit submitting to a different object of submission, but still bowing to the strong.

I'm not wrong --- the Duke had found countless excuses for his shamelessness!

As Qiuyan stayed at a distance, she sensed that something was amiss with this turncoat Duke.

Perhaps it was because she had just woken up from a nap, Qiuyan's mental state was still good, not yawning, and her actions were faster than before.

She walked a few steps behind the Duke, quietly giving him a reminder from behind that went unnoticed by others:

"I might struggle with dealing with tens of thousands of people, but slipping out of this encirclement and making you perish on the way out, that's an assurance I can provide!"

The threat of death was the only reason why the Duke didn't surrender at the moment.

But even when directly threatened, he didn't want to passively wait for death, either.

Just then, the Imperial soldiers used amplification magic to issue an ultimatum.

"Listen up above, give up resistance and surrender; this is your only way out;

especially for the king of this country, if you still can't see the situation clearly, once we break through the city, we'll immediately dig up the royal tombs!"

Listen, they were clearly targeting me.

Digging up tombs was something the Imperial soldiers hadn't done before;

after all, it was too extreme, and unless they were determined to kill and be killed, no one would do such an extreme thing.

Regardless of how the tombs were treated, the Duke could read a deeper message from the Imperial soldiers' speech.

The soldiers were trying to convey:

If we can be so ruthless towards the royal dead, how much more so towards a living person like you?

With this in mind, the Duke had every reason to believe:

If he didn't do something soon, he was in for a big trouble.

"Miss Maid, how about we surrender?"

Starting the sentence with a respectful title was intended to increase the chance of success.

However, the bluntness of the statement made it clear what the Duke's intentions were, even to someone like Qiuyan who wasn't good at understanding words.

"No, you must live or die with the duchy!"

"And what about you, Miss Maid? Do you want to die too?"

"The master hasn't given the order; I cannot leave without permission."

"Why bother? The beauty of life can only be fully savored when one is alive;

I understand, but Miss Maid, you are so young..."

The Duke tried to downplay his situation as much as possible, and from Qiuyan's perspective, he tried to persuade her to relinquish her responsibility.

However, Qiuyan, with an expressionless face, countered:

"So how about this: you die, I live. What do you say?"

Dealing with hypocrites, the best strategy is to point out their weaknesses directly, so the Duke immediately admitted defeat:

"No, no, can't do that. I'm the leader of this country if I die, wouldn't that be irresponsible? Even if I have to endure humiliation, I must bear it and keep going."

From that speech, Qiuyan understood what the Duke's so-called "resolve" was all about.

So, she walked to the edge of the palace wall and shouted downwards in line with the Duke's statement:

"The Duke said, 'Rather be a broken piece of jade than a whole tile.' But what I have to say is..."

Qiuyan raised a hand, placing a finger under her eyelid, then stuck out her tongue, expressing her personal will:

"My master is almost back, I advise you to surrender quickly, to avoid losing face later on. Tut-tut-tut (tongue noise), bleh!"

After the mockery, Qiuyan unashamedly spat from above, disregarding basic decency.

"Well, well, quite a character. Let's go, everyone, target that so-called king who's planning to be stubborn!"

The Imperial soldiers didn't know Qiuyan's identity, assuming that this maid-like person was speaking disrespectfully under the Duke's orders, which angered these straight-tempered men.

Despite having exhausted much of their strength in previous battles, they had the ability to seize the palace, but they were unwilling to suffer unnecessary losses.

Now, triggered by the general hatred for the Duke, they momentarily forgot their fatigue, focusing on how to deal with the stubborn king.

"What did you just say?!"

Hearing the angry shouts of the soldiers below, the Duke let out a shriek, his pale face devoid of any color.

Thus, Qiuyan achieved her goal, leaving the Duke with no way out.

Now, even if the Duke surrendered, waving a white flag among the Imperial soldiers, he would only end up being hacked to death by the enraged enemies.

"Oh, didn't expect that the king who's only brave in his own territory would show such courage in the face of a national crisis."

"If we retreat now, we'll have a worse reputation than him."

Qiuyan's shouts had other effects, including boosting the morale of the nearby defending soldiers.

From the soldiers' words, it was easy to tell their dissatisfaction with the turncoat leader, and they took advantage of the collective external threat to openly vent their frustrations.

Hearing those disrespectful words, the Duke seethed with anger but was helpless to do anything.

The soldiers responsible for defense were these people; if he held them accountable, it wouldn't be appropriate for the "noble" highness to personally engage in battle, right?

At this crucial moment of facing a national crisis, the boundary between upper and lower became extremely blurred.

"Everyone, muster your courage and fight to the end, show the so-called 'elite' of the Empire what courage our 'small country's ragtag soldiers' possess!"

As warriors advanced, Qiuyan suddenly looked into the distance.

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

Both armies were poised for battle, awaiting the final command for long-range attacks.

However, that final command was never given.

The rumbling sound from the rear disrupted the movement of the Inran troops, causing many among them, driven by instinctual vigilance, to turn around and look back.

The opponent's strange reaction caused the soldiers of the Mulelan Duchy to also halt their counterattack.

Now, the soldiers of both armies were looking at the same place.