House Wexmoor fell in the north, and the court fled south, but then a peerless conqueror rose up out of the steppes and climbed onto the world stage almost overnight. The remnant southern court allied with the Vorthund Horde to wipe out the Ashgard raiders together, and the moment that was done, the Vorthund Horde simply turned around and finished off the exhausted southern court as well.And so a super-empire that swept across Gohaven and Beurope was born—the Vorthund Horde.Ray watched the Vorthund Horde's cavalry tear through the frozen north like a scythe, then punch into Beurope with unstoppable momentum, driving all the way to the Rhine. If not for several generals dying off in succession and touching off a war of succession, the whole of Beurope might well have fallen.The brutal Vorthund Horde didn't rule over Gohaven for very long, though. Their grip on the people of Gohaven was too vicious, the killing too heavy, until people simply couldn't survive under it anymore, and r

Hm. Now that was a nice angle."Ma'am," Ray said, his voice soft and thoughtful, "it isn't that I'm trying to make things hard for you, but this has already been reported to the school's disciplinary office. It'll be extremely difficult for me to walk it back.""Please, Mr. Caldridge, I'm begging you!" Noelle held her ninety-degree bow, perfectly still.Well now, this was getting good.Noelle's face, honestly, was only about an 82 out of 100. Certainly pretty enough to be called a great beauty, but still a notch below true perfection.Besides, she was a respectable married woman.Did he feel any guilt about it? Not a chance. If there was exactly one thing in this life Ray never felt an ounce of sympathy for, it was Jayzepan.He put on a thoughtful frown, as if this were agonizing for him. Noelle never straightened out of her bow, and the weight on her chest was clearly starting to tell, sweat beading on her forehead.Only then did Ray give a slow nod. "I'll see what I can do."

Ray smiled. "No need to be shy about it."Then he leaned in close to Noelle's ear. "No need to explain yourself to strangers, either."Noelle nodded along in a daze, not even registering how flimsy Ray's logic actually was. They weren't husband and wife, nor were they even a couple; just a teacher and a student's parent. Why would they need to sit pressed together like this? It really did call for some kind of explanation.But her head was too fogged over to think straight anymore. Whatever Ray said simply became the truth as far as she was concerned.The driver glanced at them both in the rearview mirror and gave an approving laugh. "You two really do make a lovely couple. One so handsome, the other so pretty. I'm almost jealous.""Yeah, I still can't believe my luck, landing such a beautiful wife," Ray said with a smile, sliding one arm around Noelle's shoulders as he spoke.'He's holding me! He's actually holding me!'Noelle nearly burst on the spot. Some part of her sensed t

"They've got to be at least an F cup, maybe even a G."The lead punk turned to Noelle. "Mrs. Halloway, your son owes us 25 thousand dollars. You're paying it back for him."25 thousand dollars?!Noelle's stomach dropped. She only made a thousand six a month, and after living costs, whatever she managed to save could be counted on one hand. 25 thousand dollars might as well have been an astronomical sum.She stared at her son in disbelief. "How could you possibly owe them that much money?"Ronan's face twisted with anger. "I only borrowed 60 dollars from them. Their interest rates are insane; it snowballed to 25 thousand dollars in a few months."Ah. A loan shark, then."That's illegal. I'm calling the police," Noelle said. She was an adult, after all, and her first instinct was to report it.The lead punk sneered. "Since the lady's not playing along, guess we'll have to get rough. How about we shoot a few nice photo sets of you, Mrs. Halloway? Bet you won't feel like calling th