Werewolf Hunting Rules.

Chapter 570 The Curse of a Lady

Clayton returned home and, as usual, first went to the garden to exercise, then went to his study to deal with a new report from the pharmacy. The report stated that after posting posters featuring him as the advertising image for beauty products, the number of customers visiting the store had increased. Knowing this, he couldn't help but feel a little smug. On a whim, he put down the report and began copying poems.

A short while later, Julius returned. He entered the study and appeared calmer than when he left.

“Clayton, I’ve found you a lucrative bounty hunter job. It requires good tracking skills and a bit of violence, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

“Okay, let’s talk about this after dinner.” Clayton was engrossed in tracing the cursive script.

"That's too late, we have to leave now."

The pen stopped on the paper.

"Now?"

“Now, this is the invitation from the employer, she is Sir Kleber’s wife. We need to attend her dinner party first before we can find out the details of the job.” Julius slapped an invitation on the desk, covering the poetry collection.

Clayton picked up the invitation and read the address and time on it:
The inviters were nobles, as can be seen from the coat of arms on the invitation.

"I hope you can give me a heads-up next time you make arrangements for me."

"How you treat me is how I'll treat you." The wizard's expression remained unchanged, but he clearly hadn't found true peace yet.

Clayton had nothing to say about this. He understood the naiveté and stubbornness typical of young people and insisted that he had done the right thing by arranging the duel for him.

“I also challenged the Severus father and son to a duel before, which resolved our differences. I’m not saying this to boast about my bravery, but to tell you that I believe that in that situation, a duel was the only effective way.”

"If you can't convince your opponent, and you know he'll hold a grudge and, under certain conditions, he'll disregard the law, then it's better to resolve the dispute in a fair and square manner."

He had explained his reasons to Donna before, but Donna's attitude was much better than Julius'.

The wizard simply shrugged: "Perhaps, the carriage is ready."

Clayton asked him, "If you're so convinced you'll lose the duel, why are you looking for work at this time?"

“I need to give myself more opportunities to understand combat and death,” Julius said. “Maybe I’ll become as heartless as you someday.”

"So this job is actually for your mental health."

Clayton sighed, got up, and put on his coat.

As the two set off, whether out of curiosity or boredom, Julius again asked Clayton about his job as a referee, to which Clayton could only tell him that things were terrible.

The better the horse, the more it can sense the danger of werewolves, which is why the racehorses dislike him as their referee.

Julius seemed much happier upon hearing the news.

"Really? Are you that happy?"

Clayton looked at the wizard in surprise. The wizard spread his hands across from Clayton and said, “It’s the same principle as your theory of dueling. We have differences of opinion, but I obviously can’t duel with you. So, in order to prevent me from secretly tripping you up at work, you’d better tell me a few of your unfortunate little stories to cheer me up.”

The werewolf shook his head: "Julius, you know what? I don't really think you need to worry about being killed by Ian Lazarus in a duel, because if you die, you'll definitely turn into some kind of demonic spirit to prolong your life."

“That’s very kind of you,” Julius replied.

The carriage stopped in front of the Kleber family mansion, where several carriages were already parked, and more carriages with lanterns were arriving one after another. Coachmen came over to untie the horses and take them to the stables at the back.

There was hardly anything to talk about at these aristocratic dinners. Clayton and Julius were not the sheltered ladies who had lived in seclusion for a long time, and they found everything fascinating. They simply watched quietly as the host gave his speech, and how his relatives and guests greeted and fawned over him, praising the knight's children for their manners, and talking about local news or badmouthing someone.

Thankfully, there was a band performance later on, otherwise it would have been really boring.

Some of the other guests found Clayton Bellow familiar and came over to inquire about his identity. When they learned that Clayton was currently unemployed, their attitude towards him immediately turned much colder. Clayton had no choice but to mention that he was a landowner in South Bliga and lived off the rent, which made them respect him again, and even their attitude towards his servant Julius improved considerably.

A person who doesn't work is lazy, but a person who lives off land rent without working is either an aristocrat or a gentry.

Since the invitation was not signed by the local host, Sir Clyber, he inquired about Clayton's identity and, upon learning that they were people his wife had invited without his consent, lost interest in them.

“I thought he would make a huge scene over this,” Julius told Clayton, disappointed.

After all, Clayton was a rare handsome man, and Mrs. Kleber, who had invited them, was also quite young and beautiful. In this era, the tactic of "inviting guests to stay overnight after dinner" was already commonplace for extramarital affairs.

“They already have two children, so they don’t care about many things as much.” Clayton casually handled the food on his plate; returning to this setting felt like coming home. Mrs. Kleber’s invitation to the dinner wasn’t because she valued them highly; rather, the reason for her request was probably not easy to say aloud. Inviting a stranger to her home without a reason would arouse unhealthy speculation from those around her. Inviting them first and discussing things during or after the dinner was a more discreet approach.

Compared to hiring a hitman or a doctor, having a lover come to your door is nothing unusual.

After a while, when the atmosphere was at its most lively, a maid quietly came and told Clayton Bello and Julius to go to a secluded corner to talk with the local mistress.

“I want the head of handsome Charlie!” Mrs. Kleber, dressed in a floor-length gown, said through gritted teeth.

Handsome Charlie was the nickname of the drunkard Charlie from many years ago. Mrs. Kleber seemed to have a long-standing grudge against him, and without asking, she began to tell the two guests stories from the past.

About ten years ago, before she was Mrs. Kleber, Mrs. Kleber was bold and active. She often practiced swordsmanship and shooting, and tried to acquire secret techniques in order to become a chivalrous knight, or at least a lady-in-waiting to the princess. Mrs. Kleber looked a little embarrassed when she mentioned this past dream, but Clayton found it very endearing.

To prove her skills, the young noblewoman served as a "sheriff" on her father's territory for a while with her attendants. She was quite successful, as neither thieves nor drunkards were a match for her. When she encountered inexperienced bandits, she and her attendants were also able to handle them.

With this series of victories, even though Mrs. Kleber still hadn't obtained the secrets, she already had the confidence to move up to higher levels of court life.

Until the arrival of handsome Charlie and his men.

This professional band of out-of-towners defeated Mrs. Kleber and her servants on their very first appearance, captured her, and wrote to her father demanding a ransom.

During their imprisonment, the prisoners had some unpleasant encounters with their captors.

A robber attempted to grope Mrs. Kleber, but was stopped by handsome Charlie.

"Even so, you scoundrel, don't expect my gratitude!" the young noblewoman rebuked the handsome Charlie.

At this moment, the handsome Charlie, who was not yet drunk, simply revealed a faint and charming smile: "Darling, I am not stopping him out of your gratitude. You are very beautiful, but not so beautiful that we would give up money to sleep with you. If you are not a virgin, the amount of ransom your father is willing to pay will be greatly reduced. He was originally willing to pay, but now he will pay at most a third."

“Nonsense! My father would never do such a thing!” Mrs. Kleber roared in anger.

Handsome Charlie paid no heed to her anger; he simply squatted down beside her, peeled an apple for himself, and ate it, showing no reverence whatsoever for the noble blood who had founded the country.
“Listen, I wish your father loved you that much, so we could sleep with you and get the full payment. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Everyone has value. If he thinks he's priceless, he's deceiving himself. Your greatest value is in marriage alliances to solidify your family's position, not in the muskets and swords you possess. If you turned your dowry into money, you could hire a group of very good warriors who could easily rout us. So, do you understand?”

He first denied Mrs. Kleber's father's selfless love for his children, and then denied her personal abilities.

Mrs. Kleber, having reached her limit, disregarded the fact that she was still in the hands of these kidnappers and immediately swore an oath.

"Alright, when I get home, I will definitely hire a group of powerful warriors to wipe you all out!"

However, handsome Charlie rejected her again.

"No, that won't do. Not only will your father not give you any money, but he will also take back the excessive freedom he gave you in the past. Until you get married, I don't think you'll be able to leave the house on your own again."

"Then I will use my dowry to hire warriors after I get married."

Hearing her words, handsome Charlie laughed heartily: "Would you? You wouldn't. Let me tell you what changes will happen to you after you go from Miss to Madam."

"You will quickly make a large group of kind and sweet-talking girlfriends because of your husband. They are all women of your status and position, and their circle is the local trendsetter. You will have nothing to say to anyone else except them, and by following them, your interests will immediately change from swordsmanship and shooting to how to spend money and how to spend it beautifully."

“Every day you gather together to compete about whose jewelry and clothes are the most beautiful, whose husband is more generous with money, who is more willing to spend money on their lover, whose gambling skills are better, whose investment acumen is better, and whose dog and pony are gentle, cute, and have show pedigree. It’s all these boring and extravagant things.”

"Believe me, when faced with these temptations, you would spend all your money and still not feel it's enough, let alone think about saving a considerable sum of money to buy the lives of us worthless criminals who are far away."

"When you occasionally think back to your past dreams, you can only laugh at your own naivety for wasting your time on such trivial things."

Mrs. Kleber was soon released after the ransom was paid, but the words of handsome Charlie kept replaying in her mind.

Afterwards, her father still doted on her and did not actually confine her to the house, which contradicted Charlie's earlier judgment. However, after entering into marriage, everything Charlie said came true. Infinite materialism turned Mrs. Clyber into another ridiculous and vulgar woman.

Subsequently, whenever something unpleasant happened, briefly bringing her to her senses with the sting of reality, she would dream again that night about her conversation with handsome Charlie.

"He's a sorcerer who cursed my life with this damned prophecy. If I don't get rid of him, my life is over!" Mrs. Kleber said bitterly. "Two years ago, when I found out that he had come to Sasha City and become my neighbor, my heart ached so much. He even went from being a kidnapper to a lowly grave robber, but every time I wanted to find someone to deal with him, there would happen to be an urgent need for money. It must be his curse protecting him."

"However, I raised a large sum of money for horse racing this year, and I happened to know that someone was trying to manipulate the rankings, so I can save that money to buy his life. It must be God's mercy that has given me this excellent opportunity for revenge."

At this point, Mrs. Kleber looked intently at Clayton and Julius.

"So tell me, do you have the ability and courage to be my warriors?"

Clayton and Julius exchanged a glance, then licked their lips: "Madam, we certainly possess the ability and courage, but could you elaborate on the matter of manipulating horse races?"