by Jason Hale
"As an elder, you should be the one taking the lead in such matters. Yet, since your arrival, you've only been causing trouble. You should reflect on yourself."
He admonished with the stance of a disappointed senior lecturing a junior on his many failures.
"Trickster!"
"Impudence!"
Ilaina and Wolfgang roared like a choir, but Konnor remained complacent and unfazed.
"Humph!"
Ilaina snorted, stood up and walked back toward her father's side. With the two now eying Konnor with a mixture of rage and vigilance.
But seeing that he had lost his dignity as an elder, Wolfgang straightened himself, turned his attention back to Ilaina and asked.
"Where did you find that mobster? You said he's your savior?"
Wolfgang's inquiry caused Ilaina to snap out of her exasperated state.
"He saved my life at multiple occasions. Once within the palace, and another one today. He also saved Daphne's and helped me reawaken her from her coma. And he's the one that managed to convince the Holy Empress to allow me to return home."
She explained with warmth flashing within her eyes.
Wolfgang didn't need to hear more. And although he couldn't comprehend how a young eunuch ( that probably wasn't a eunuch) managed to convince the Holy Empress to cancel the Holy Emperor's decree and return his daughter to him, he still was grateful.
Thus, his view of Konnor underwent a 180-degree change.
But the words that followed caused him to almost spurt blood and all goodwill to turn into fury.
"She is omitting a lot. Like our many embraces under the moonlight, or all the smooches within her bed, and even the cuddles on the way here. Speaking plainly, although she tries to put up a strong front, she's my wife in everything but name. We might as well sign the papers and move on to consummation."
"Father-in-law, do you agree?"
Ilaina's cheeks burned with a flaming red while her eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected Konnor to be bold enough to retell those events in front of her father!
And seeing her reaction that showed shame but no rejection, Wolfgang drove his battle-ax in a ferocious cleave, turning air pressure into blades that shot toward Konnor.
"Aaaargh!"
He turned into purple light particles and narrowly dodged every single one of them.
"You even dare dodge? Today if I do not beat you half an inch into death, I am not surnamed Kracht!"
Wolfgang snarled and shot toward Konnor, replacing his ax with his bare fists that threateningly approached Konnor's face.
"Catch me if you can!"
Konnor once again turned into purple light particles, intangible particles immune to physical harm.
In that form, he bypassed Wolfgang's fists and instantly reappeared by Ilaina's side!
"So fast? Is that truly just a Grand Knight? Also, why have I never seen that kind of light attribute?"
Attributes were not all of the same level. Some inherently ranked above the others while there were also opposite attributes that mutually canceled each other out.
Light had always been a mighty attribute, possessing great regeneration properties and endowing its user with enormous speed. However, Wolfgang had never seen anyone able to turn into intangible light particles or being able to deploy such speed in the Grand Knight Rank.
"Is he possible that he's a secret disciple of the Holy Empress?"
He wondered. But at that time, his thoughts were interrupted by another display of insolence.
"Hum, hum! Killing me will not change reality. Your daughter's heart has already been snatched by me. And in any case, you need a man to carry on the male bloodline right. I promise you top-notch genes and dragon-like descendants!"
"Satisfied or reimbursed!"
He complacently declared while wrapping his arm around Ilaina whose mood fluctuated between bashfulness, shame, and rising fury!
But when she opened her mouth, her words caused both Konnor and Wolfgang to stare blankly.
"He slept with Daphne and all her attendants as well as many other palace maids."
"Dad, please beat him senseless!"
Konnor, Konnor, you have the nerves of proclaiming me yours when you have been fooling around with so many women?
Even shaming me so wantonly?
See how I rectify your misdeeds!
"End. My life ends…"
Konnor turned heels and was about to make a run for it when Wolfgang's tall figure reappeared in front of him.
"Even though Daphne is more hostage than consort, she's still…an imperial consort.
Before the emperor could touch her you…slept with her?"
Wolfgang asked in a slow, grave, and increasingly terrifying tone.
"Hum…it appears I did."
Konnor didn't evade, preparing for the worse. But to his and Ilaina's astonishment, Wolfgang burst into laughter!
"Hahahahaha! Good son! Good, good son!"
"Serves that dog emperor right! In the future, you must bed more consorts! The more, the better!"
"Damn son of a bitch!"
His thunderous laugh pierced the sky and hammered Ilaina and Konnor's ears. But although the change was brutal and sudden, Konnor took the bull by the horns.
"That was always the plan."
And with those five words, Wolfgang's appraisal of him rose to another level!
"Good! Very Good! I can see that you are a man of high virtue and talent. My daughter's eyes are truly outstanding. You will definitely have a bright future."
"So I give you an opportunity. If you can repel ten of my moves at the same level, I don't mind betrothing my daughter to you. In any case, it's clear that she's already lost."
Konnor's eyes lit up, his lips formed a radiant smile, and he immediately complied.
"Agreed! Agreed! I hope you won't renege on your promise."
"I am an Uradel. My word is my bound."
As for Ilaina who had suddenly turned into the price of a sparring match, she failed to adjust to the situation. But then she recalled something, and worry appeared within her eyes.
"Konnor, my dad is a pureblooded Nature Serpent King. His speed, flexibility, strength, and resilience are all top notch. If you are not careful, you can easily be grievously wounded!"
She believed that Konnor's terrible strength mostly came from his demonic weapon and that without it, he couldn't receive a blow from her father at the same level.
And the thought that he could end up unwittingly injuring himself because of her caused discomfort to spread within her chest.
"Hey weren't you the one asking him to pummel me a moment ago? Now the opportunity has arrived. Why hesitate? Could it be…that you can't bear to see me harmed?"
"Unredeemable! I am just warning you in good faith. Since you don't appreciate my goodwill, you're on your own!"
Even at the gate of hell, she would never admit to it.
"In all honesty, it's your dad you should be worried about. The world is vast, but within the same level, across the entire Holy Continent, I fear no one."
The self-assured declaration that contained no hint of arrogance caused Ilaina to doubt her previous assessment.
Their mental exchange ended, the contenders put a suitable distance between one another, and Wolfgang lowered his cultivation to the fifth step Grand Knight.
"If you're not feeling confident, you still have time to concede."
"Father-in-law, worry not. I won't go too hard on you."
"Conceited!"
Wolfgang channeled his stainless spiritual energy within his right fist, controlling his power to perfection, and shot toward Konnor at breakneck speed.
Konnor stood still, revolving his own spiritual energy within his fist while preparing for the collision.
While he had no doubt his body was much more powerful than Wolfgang's his control of spiritual energy was after all lacking when compared to the experienced warlord.
This was also an opportunity to test how out
standing that body of his truly was.
Wolfgang aimed at Konnor's chest and threw a full-force punch which Konnor met by hurling a blow containing the entire might of his bloodline, physique, and spiritual energy!
*BANG*
Their fists met in an ear-splitting boom.
Konnor staggered, taking three steps backward with a blood trail falling from the left corner of his lips while Wolfgang flew across the night sky like a meteor and crashed into the distance!
Chapter 35 - Did You Prepare the Dower?
"Dad!"
Ilaina yelled as Wolfgang's body crashed into concrete. Alarmed, she rushed toward him, but by the time she reached his side, he was already standing up.
Unlike Konnor, however, besides dust and a trembling fist, there was no visible damage on his body.
"Your name?"
"Konnor."
"Good. Very Good. You are by far more outstanding than I believed. With such battle power and cultivation talent, you are bound to become a mighty saint in the future. Entrusting my daughter to you, I have no worries."
But although he let nothing transpire on his jubilant face, Wolfgang was horrified. In the ways of the Holy Flame Empire, he was of the previous generation. In that time, his bloodline and physique ranked among the best within the entire country, and only a rare few such as the crown prince could surpass him.
Never did he expect that in a contest of ten blows, he would be sent flying with a single one! And while he didn't sustain as much physical damage as Konnor, that was because his true cultivation was leagues above his. Was he truly at the same level, his current state would have been…unimaginable.
As for Ilaina, only now did she realize how much she'd underestimated Konnor's true might.
Odd, she could swear he didn't possess such a tyrannical physique when they were first attacked!
"Is demonism that powerful?"
She wondered while her father straightened himself.
Konnor, on the other hand, didn't feel like there was anything wrong with this. He was piling up bonuses upon bonuses with his bloodline, physique, and cultivation method. A different result would have been odd.
"Let's return to the mansion, a feast awaits!"
Wolfgang gave none of them time to complain, warped them in golden light and flew back toward the Kracht mansion.
With a Semi-Saint leading the way, the trip would only take a few seconds. They bypassed the gates and landed at the doorsteps of the main hall.
Unceremoniously, Wolfgang opened it, bringing the two inside the hall lit by artificial white light orbs that hanged below the high ceiling and on ivory pedestals.
As soon as they stepped past the door, Ilaina and Konnor were greeted by a procession of aligned butlers and maids forming two perfect lines on the right and left while in the distance, a small group of individuals whose body features reminisced of the usual Kracht's stood with radiant smiles.
Leading them was a beautiful woman with auburn hairs held in a high chignon, and a pair of eyes that would seem identical to Ilaina's was it not for hers being the normal circular pupil of the human race.
She was Ilaina's mother, Zamira.
"Ilaina, welcome back!"
"Young lady, welcome back!"
Led by her mother, the relatives and servants warmly welcomed her, and their voices caused her eyes to once again be overrun by warm tears.
"Mom!"
And without restraint, she ran into her mother's grasp. The painful decade of isolation had finally come to an end.
She was home!
"It's alright. Now everything is going to be alright."
As for Konnor who witnessed the scene, he, of course, had nothing to say.
A moment afterward, Zamira's eyes rose from Ilaina and locked onto him, at first taking him for Ilaina's escort, then reckoning that knowing her husband, the escort would not have been able to go beyond the main gate on this particular occasion.
"Who might that young man be?"
Although he was dressed in eunuch clothes, she didn't wish to strike at his dignity by reminding him of that.
But Wolfgang's immediate reply caused her and the entire hall to fall silent.
"Your future son-in-law!"
...
The procession was quickly reduced to a scant few close relatives that alongside the main protagonists entered the dining hall.
At the firm insistence of her father, Ilaina was given the honor seat. A position that allowed her to keep all the gathered individuals within her eyesight.
What no one had expected was that Wolfgang also arranged a seat for Konnor to stay by her side.
The servants were quick to serve the wine, and Wolfgang to raise his cup for a toast.
"To the return of my beloved daughter and the arrival of her betrothed!"
But the relatives who still were digesting the news could not reply struggled to give a prompt reply.
"Dad, please stop!"
Ilaina interjected, not knowing where to put her face.
"Stop what? I didn't hear you reject the gambling match. In fact, you seemed to be more concerned about his safety than mine?"
"Ahh, the sorrow of raising a daughter!"
Wolfgang's words only caused more confusion within the gathered relatives, with Zamira not being able to keep her mouth shut any longer.
"Could you explain the situation?"
She asked with apparent confusion.
"That is simple. Your good daughter came back with Konnor who presented himself as our son-in-law, which she didn't deny. I have tested the goods, and it is fine material. The next generation of house Kracht should be outstanding!"
Even at the pillory, he wouldn't admit that he had been sent flying with one fist at the same cultivation level.
*Puh*
But his words caused Konnor to spit the wine he was leisurely sipping and the gathered individuals to show strange expressions.
You have tested the goods?
What do you mean by that?
But no one dared call him out. Instead, they let their odd stares do the talking.
And quickly, Wolfgang realized the error.
"Hum, hum! I mean to say that I've tested his cultivation. Truly outstanding. He should not be older than seventeen but has already reached the fifth step Grand Knight Rank. His foundation is also rock solid and can certainly compete with the ninth prince."
The ninth prince was the youngest of the imperial princes and the most talented after the crown prince. He was eighteen years old, and his cultivation had already reached the ninth step Grand Knight Rank and was rumored to be very close to the Arch Knight Rank.
But although they all knew Wolfgang wasn't a man to speak lies, they had a hard time believing that out of nowhere appeared a man capable of rivaling with the second most outstanding imperial prince.
Zamira, however, cared very little about any of that. Her eyes moved between Ilaina who fidgeted within her chair and took furtive glances at a Konnor who nonchalantly held the empty wine glass within his hand.
"Why do I have a feeling that my daughter is being sent into a lion's den? Or is it a wolf's? Also, why is it that Wolfgang so readily agrees? This is fishy…"
But as she looked at Konnor, his eyes suddenly rose to meet hers, and he greeted her with a radiant smile that seemed to be saying.
"Hello, mother-in-law!"
Zamira came from the barbarian continent. Her temper was wild and unrestrained. If something annoyed her, she would punch it. And Konnor's face gave her punching urges.
Tolerance! She had to be tolerant.
"Very well, arranging the daughter's marriage is the father's duty. I have nothing to say. However, I have two questions."
"First, how is a eunuch fitting to wed…anyone."
"Second, did he prepare the dower?"
Those two questions brought everyone back to seriousness. Regardless of Konard's status within the inner court, he came out with the clothes of a eunuch. That
being the case, how could he turn into house Kracht's son-in-law.
But to this, Konnor was prepared.
"My real status is kept secret by the Holy Empress and will be revealed in a year. By that time, there will be no issue in marrying Ilaina."
