I share your pain. I bought the iHost planning to use the Google Assistant with the eWelink.
I was a HA user and use the Google Assistant without a subscription were
difficult and cumbersome.
Now with iHost I need to use the Google Assistant with nodeRed and a third party, loosing the “local LAN control” feature.
If you want, the devices can be controlled without a VPN. Its what we have from now:
How to control iHost devices with Google Assistant through Node-RED