Episode 34: Caged Cat
Keqing is taken within a carriage along with her fake future 'husband' to his estate deep within the mountains to the north of the city. Huang is beside her to hold onto her Jade Cutter sword to be in awe of its design and craftsmanship.
"I must say Keqing, this sword is a rare weapon. One that Rex Lapis used himself so long ago, how did you find this precious piece of history?" he asked.
"I found it in some ruins," Keqing lied about it as she got it from the weapon's shop.
"I see, well with you being my wife. You don't need a weapon or a vision, I will give you all the security you need my dear," Huang said as Keqing looks at her Electro vision and Jade Cutter in this vile man's dirty hands. She feels defenseless and helpless without her tools, she is just a normal young lady at the mercy of the man who murdered her loving father.
"Are we going to your pen house?" Keqing asked being cold with him to turn her face to the outside.
"Yes, of course. I have it defended quite heavily due to the increased pressure of the Red Legion and other enemies of the state," Huang said as they move up to see his huge mansion built up like a fortress with watchtowers and guards everywhere.
She noticed some weird machines guarding the perimeter as well. "What in the world, these must be his models he is working on," Keqing thought as they arrive at the gate to be greeted by a guard.
"Good to see you, sir. I see you have your wife in there," the guard said as Keqing looks in disgusted by the guard calling her 'wife' to this smug bag.
"Indeed, we will be making sure she is very comfortable here," Huang said with a smile as Keqing cringes at this.
"Okay, welcome back and Keqing. Enjoy yourself," the guard said as Keqing can see these soldiers' uniforms are quite different from the normal army units.
"These men and women are your private army?" Keqing asked.
"Of course, the best money can buy. I need the best to order under my direct supervision," Huang said.
"How sickly," Keqing spites him as they get out of the carriage to be let inside his massive compound. The gate is sealed behind her as they see a vast space of riches and wealth littering every corner of this area.
"How do you like my wonderful penthouse?" Huang asked.
"A great show of your greed," Keqing said as she felt his hand on her butt to make her jump.
"It's a show of my great success in the weapon industry. With all the new designs I unearthed from the old nation of Ether, we will be making Liyue a powerful military nation," Huang said.
"Just take me to my room," Keqing said as she goes through the well-lit hallways for Huang pokes her in the butt making her jump. "Quit it," she complained as Huang has a lewd look on his face.
"You are going to be my wife and I will do what I want with you. You better get used to it," Huang said as they arrive at the room to see it fully stocked with it fitting for a Liyue princess.
"Huh, you think you can buy my love," Keqing said looking at this man with disgust.
"You can buy anything with the right amount. Get comfortable, don't bother trying to collapse. My guards will stop you, my dear," Huang said as he leaves her to her own devices for she is upset with herself.
"Damn it, I am in the hornet's nest now. The others are so far away now, at least they are safe," she thought as she sits on her bed to begin taking her dress off. She is in her underwear to check out the dresser to see a nice purple short dress that seems to fit her.
"Oh, I can wear this," she said as she slips it onto her figure to see it hugs her body pretty well. "Oh Aether," Keqing thought as she is wearing a pair of cotton pink bra and matching panties showing off her wondrous curves in the mirror. "I wanted to be with you like our lovely time together before this nightmare happened," she said.
She has lewd memories of their time having sex for the first time. "It was wonderful and now I am with this perverted man. Always eyeing me for years until he can pounce on me when he could," Keqing said as she places her head between her breasts to feel her heart beating from those sweet memories she shared with Aether over the last several months.
"The best times I had in a long time when I was with him. Now here I am in this rich hellhole," she said to put on the new dress.
"This has a short skirt on it, I bet he wants me to wear this so he can easily check out my panties. I need to tolerate it until I can think of something," Keqing said as she puts on some shoes and fixes up her long purple hair.
Soon, she gets out of the room to head into the hallway to see a familiar face here. "Huang, your motives are quite harsh. Using the immigrants from Inazuma like slaves is monstrous," a woman said standing in her military uniform talking with her new leader.
"But it makes sense, we need a ton of manpower to operate the factories to the west and north. Building up my new machine army and I have a ton of examples to play around with. Beside those island savages would be useful for something in this upcoming great nation," Huang said as Keqing comes up to see the military officer Yang,
"Officer Yang, it's good to see you here," Keqing said as a tanned-faced woman looks on with a smile mixed with relief at the sight of Keqing.
"Likewise, thank goodness you are okay. It is a mess out there with the machines and the death of Ningguang sending the whole nation into a total panic. My men and women are holding onto order barely," Yang said.
"Does the room reach your liking?" Huang asked his young wife for Keqing looks on with disgust.
"It's okay I guess," Keqing said no wanting to make him feel any sort of joy.
"Good, I was talking with Yang here about the situation with your missing friends and former boyfriend," Huang said.
"What about the Crux fleet?" Yang asked.
"What about them, Ningguang let their actions slide but I demand order in this nation. They will be shot on sight," Huang said.
"Speaking of which; there is a Crux agent here who is Beidou's vanguard to watch over the situation here in Liyue. A former samurai using an Anemo vision named Kazuha," Yang said as Huang laughs at this.
"Even those bloodthirsty rats are crawling here as well," Huang said as Keqing and Yang finds his bigoty with Inazuma people quite disturbing. Even other elites like Ningguang have a similar type of bigotry they can't shake off.
"Kazuha huh?" Keqing pondered on this.
"Well, keep watch out for me and kill on sight when you see this Ronin," Huang said as Yang bows her head.
"Yes sir, I want to talk with Keqing for a moment?" Yang asked as Huang nods his head.
"Okay, I will go elsewhere. Keep each other busy," Huang said as he moves away with Yang giving Keqing a big hug.
"Lady Keqing, are you okay?" Yang asked sounding worried.
"I am fine, I am holding on. I am happy you are okay; I haven't seen you seen my house party," she said.
"Yes, I was quite busy. It's awful out there, Huang is taking away your family assets," Yang said as Keqing's eyes widen by this.
"What, are you kidding me?" Keqing asked.
"No, your company has been merged into Huang's. It doesn't exist anymore," Yang said as Keqing's heart is aching that her father's work is gone in a flash.
"Gee, I don't believe it. What else does the Qixing want to take from me and ruin it into the ground," Keqing said as she feels like crying at all this madness happening to her beloved nation.
"I am very sorry but I will not tolerate Huang's madness. We are a land of law and order, not this nonsense. I need you to collect some intel within this manor on Huang's operations," Yang said as Keqing's eyes light up with hope.
"Yang, you are going to fight back?" Keqing asked as Yang nods her head.
"Yep and you are going to help me expose their military operations and destroy them. You need to gather information around the manor and use your intimate connection with Huang to gain access," Yang said as Keqing feels dirty just thinking about that pervert putting his hands on her body.
"I don't want to have sex with him," Keqing said looking red in the face from anger and embarrassment.
"Hey, I didn't say that. You need to distract him and use your looks to make him talk about his plans. Once you gather all the materials we need, I will send in Kazuha to recover you and take you to me. Then we will go find your friends," Yang said.
"Okay sure, how do I contact you?" she asked.
"Send me a letter with a red dot inside. It will be the signal to tell me you completed your task and I will send Kazuha to grab you out of there," Yang said.
"Okay, thanks," Keqing said as Yang hugs her again.
"Stay strong Lady Keqing, we will get out of this nightmare. One way or another," Yang said to pat her on the back as she goes off outside.
"Okay gather intel, huh. I can think of something," Keqing said as she goes around the compound to see a powerful-looking machine outside the window. "Another one of this machine prototype," she wondered.
"What is the gearing up for? I need to stick to the mission and found out even if I have to butter him up a bit to tell me what his plan is going to be," she thought as she moves through the huge manor to be by a door.
"What is this?" she wondered as there is an ironclad door which looks very important. She feels a hand on her shoulder to stop her as she gets pulled into a hug.
"Oh Mistress, I am happy you are safe now," a familiar voice said as Keqing looks to see her head maid Mei tightly embracing her.
"Oh Mei, thank goodness you are okay," Keqing said.
"Thank the Geo Archon, all this chaos in the city was too much for me to handle," Mei said.
"How are the other maids in the manor?" Keqing asked.
"Oh well they are okay and the house weirdly disappeared," Mei said as Keqing looks on with confusion.
"What do you mean?" Keqing asked.
"Well, I know your summer home isn't destroyed. It's like someone lifts it off the ground and makes it disappear like magic or something," Mei said.
"I see, we will figure that out later. Why are you here in this dirtbag's compound?" Keqing asked.
'Well, he took me away to join his maids here. Using me as leverage for you to keep you in line," Mei said feeling guilty about this.
"Damn that bastard, look just keep a low profile and we will get out of here," Keqing said.
"How, he has stolen your Vision and your sword. How are you going to do that?" she asked.
"Yang has gotten me to do a mission for her. Gaining intel on Huang's operations within Liyue and sending them to Yang, Once we gained enough, she will send in one of Beidou's men to get us out of here," Keqing said.
"Oh, you mean Kazuha?" Mei asked.
"Oh yes, you know him?" Keqing asked.
"Yes, he does commissions for me sometimes. It's nice to see a Samurai as nice as him in these parts. Not like the other samurai back home, so bloodthirsty and cocky. He is a gentle soul but he hides some great source of pain within his eyes," Mei said to look down onto her hands.
"I see, seems like a cool guy. We need more of those in these times," Keqing said as she senses Huang behind them.
"My dear, you like my surprise. I brought the savage here to keep you company," Huang said as his tone of voice pissed Keqing quite badly.
"No, you are using her here to keep me in line," Keqing said with a spiteful tone as Huang laughs at this.
"Well, call it insurance. Besides her kind need to know their place. She comes from a land of dirty savages and is led by the biggest savage of all Baal. It's disappointing Keqing, you have gotten your vision from the likes of Baal but fate can be cruel at times. Get comfortable, I am making the wedding arrangements. We will be together permanently soon," Huang said with a smirk on his pudgy face.
He walks away as Mei has a shiver up her spine. She felt the hatred from his lips. "This guy is a greedy bigot; you can't marry him. It's all over the newspapers with this crazy marriage showcase, I am scared for you Mistress," Mei said sounding deeply upset by this.
"I have my plan and we will get through this. I would never marry that creep. I would rather die than suffer being his trophy wife," Keqing said with venom in her voice.
"Good, so passionate. That is the Keqing I know. There is a good reason my Archon gifted you an Electro Vision," Mei said as Keqing nods her head.
"I see, well keep your head down. I need to rest up and check out the place to find anything useful" Keqing said.
"Indeed, I will help if I find anything out with the other maids," Mei said.
"Thank you, let's get going before we look suspicious here," Keqing said as they both disburse with her going to her room. "Well, I am in a real tight bind but I know we will get through this nightmare. Aether and the others, I hope they are doing well out there. I will do things on my end. Please be safe out there my love," Keqing said to look out the window to tenderly place her hand over her heart with the night overtaking the sky and the battle for the heart of Liyue is about to begin.