86: Chapter 86 Deep Love in the Rain

Strategist Chengyu subconsciously wanted to raise his hand and wave his feather fan to compose himself, but his hand found only empty air.

He was currently soaking in a bath barrel, dripping wet all over, and could only awkwardly splash the water, kicking up a small spray.

"General Victor, I appreciate your affection. But I must make it clear: I... only like women."

The strategist was determined to make things completely clear today to avoid any messy entanglements in the future.

"Look, I already have over a dozen wives and concubines at home. I really don't have the fortune to accept such affection from you, General."

"It matters not... I do not care about those things,"

Victor replied in a muffled, booming voice, a blush that completely clashed with his rugged demeanor actually appearing on his dark, rough face.

"But I care! Victor, are you even listening to me? I said I like women!"

Strategist Chengyu was on the verge of a breakdown, his voice rising an octave. "What exactly do you like about me? I'll change! I'll change it right now, alright?"

"I am simply enamored by your elegant, calm demeanor as you strategize and plan, Strategist."

Victor answered with utmost seriousness.

"Elegant? I can fucking be extremely vulgar too!" Strategist Chengyu was driven to swear on the spot. "Get the hell out! Get out of here right now!"

"It's fine," Victor's voice actually carried a strange hint of tenderness. "Your rude and straightforward side... I find it very genuine, and I like it too."

He paused, his thick fingers helplessly tugging at the edge of his armor, his voice softening.

"And... Strategist, you don't know this, but although I was born with this body, deep down... I've always felt like I should have been a girl."

"I really want to kill you right now!" Strategist Chengyu's anger had breached its limit, settling instead into a bizarre calm. "The only reason I'm not doing it isn't because I fear military law, but mostly because I probably can't beat you in a fight."

"Then..." Victor looked up, his eyes burning as he stared at Strategist Chengyu, his tone carrying a desperate resolve. "What if I became a real woman? Strategist, would you like me then?"

"What are you going to do?! Victor! Don't do anything stupid! You are the second son of Duke Drake!"

Strategist Chengyu suddenly stood up from the bath barrel, completely ignoring that he was dripping wet, his voice filled with genuine panic.

He knew all too well that the Slaanesh Nuns in the army, who served under the Lord of Pleasure, offered a certain secretive gender-swapping service.

It was said that the process wasn't very painful, but the gender transformation was irreversible. The Empire strictly forbade avatars from using this service and repeatedly warned and advised outsiders against it.

"You're telling me this too late, Strategist." A complex smile appeared on Victor's face, a mix of relief, anticipation, and an almost imperceptible trace of fear.

"Before coming to see you... I had already gone to find the Slaanesh Nun traveling with the army. In Warp, those gender-swap emeralds that can reshape body and soul... are not considered rare items."

Before his voice could fade, Victor's mountain-like, muscular body suddenly shuddered. A sinister, sweet-scented pinkish-purple glow began to emanate from his entire body, flowing as if it were alive... This was the manifestation of Slaanesh's power.

He let out a muffled groan and fell to one knee. The bones and muscles throughout his body made a dense, teeth-gritting crackling sound, as if an invisible giant hand were dismantling and reshaping his entire being.

Strategist Chengyu's eyes widened. He watched helplessly as that burly body, which had once been capable of slaying a Chaos Captain, began to shrink and deform like a melting wax statue.

Broad shoulders became rounded and slender, thick bones became delicate and well-proportioned, and his dark skin seemed to brighten, gradually taking on a healthy, sun-kissed wheat tone.

The resolute, square facial features softened, the chin grew pointed, the nose became delicate and straight, and even the Adam's apple quietly vanished.

Most shocking of all was the short hair, which grew rapidly like a living thing, cascading down in the blink of an eye to become waist-length hair with a healthy, glossy sheen.

In just over ten seconds, the mighty General Victor had completely vanished.

By the bath barrel, a young girl knelt gracefully.

She looked to be about eighteen years old, petite and delicate, yet perfectly proportioned. Her wheat-colored skin radiated youthful vitality, and her features were as beautiful as a meticulously crafted porcelain doll.

A pair of large amber eyes looked up timidly, filled with the purity and anxiety of a newborn fawn as she gazed at Strategist Chengyu.

The heavy armor from before now hung loosely on her petite frame, making her look all the more pitiable, with an untimely and fragile beauty.

"S-Strategist..." the girl spoke, her voice sweet and soft, a world away from the previous rough and deep tone, carrying a hint of uncertain trembling. "Now... my name is Victoria... Like this... would you be willing to... like me?"

"What a sin!!!"

Strategist Chengyu froze completely in the bath barrel, his mind a total blank, his worldview suffering a nuclear-level shock.

Meanwhile, the assassin Valeria, who had been lurking in the shadows of the tent's rafters, also subconsciously held her breath.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I even here to do?

She had been ordered to assassinate the target, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect to witness such a bizarre and shocking scene.

What is love, that it makes one charge forward without looking back!

...

Duke Drake had not yet gone to sleep when he received the news.

As an Imperial Duke and the Minister of Military Affairs, his official duties were extremely busy.

"Your younger brother Victor is indeed at the age to look for a partner."

At first, Drake wasn't listening carefully to his eldest son, Drake Jr., not yet realizing the gravity of the situation.

"Father, she found a man." Drake Jr. didn't explain it too clearly all at once, fearing his elderly father wouldn't be able to accept the facts of bearing children right away.

"Sigh... I know about his sexual orientation mismatch. I am not that old-fashioned. We can just find him a woman to carry on the family line later."

Drake was still writing his memorial, still not paying close attention.

"My brother Victor... my sister Victoria... she has turned into a girl. She used the Lord of Pleasure's gender-swap emerald, so carrying on the family line shouldn't be an issue, provided the other party agrees to marry into our family."

Drake Jr. had no choice but to spill everything at once.

"What?!"

Duke Drake put down his quill, facing his eldest son with an unbelievable smiling expression.

"Congratulations, Father! Your second son has become your eldest daughter." Drake Jr. wasn't very bright to begin with; seeing his father smile, he thought he was quite happy.

So Father is this open-minded, able to accept even this.

Eh... why is this smile so stiff?

Oh no, Father is having a stroke!

"Doctor! Doctor!!"

The Duke of Drake's mansion fell into utter chaos.