by Jason Hale
"Let go of me!"
"Don't be irrational. Your father is said to be at the peak of the Transcendent Knight Rank. What help can you be in matters even he cannot solve?"
His words were logical, but logic was not what she wished for at the moment.
"Maybe if I surrender myself, there will be room for negotiation. If I don't, maybe they won't hesitate to kill him before coming for me!"
"I know this sounds stupid to you, but he's my father, I'm not going to hide while knowing full well that my family is in danger!"
But Konnor still didn't let go of her.
"Calmly think for an instant. A man who dares openly go against a saint such as the Holy Consort either possesses enormous hidden strength or terrifying backing. Most likely even a mix of both.
That being the case, how could he fall so easily to a Semi-Saint's schemes? If they were certain of being able to overwhelm his house, why would they need to keep you alive? You are not the only hostage that can be used to pressure him. Your family mansion probably has more than one."
His words caused Ilaina to snap out of her erratic behavior. He was right; if she was the apple of her father's eyes, then her mother was his heart. For her, there probably was not much he could not give up.
"Let's first observe the battle fluctuations from a safe distance and assess the situation. If something goes wrong, I can let you throw away your life."
He lied. Should house Kracht show signs of defeat, he would knock her out and leave.
…...
Meanwhile, within a courtyard of the lavish mansion belonging to house Kracht, count Wolfgang was being surrounded by a quintet of ninth step Transcendent Knights and a dozen of fifth step Transcendent Knights led by two people he was all too familiar with: His "son" Alex, and his "brother in law" Viscount Hannes Leitner.
Although house Leitner was of Uradel descent, they had declined and had not managed to produce a count in the last three generations.
Nobility may be hereditary, but the titles were not. Without a cultivation of at least the sixth step Transcendent Knight, one could not become a count.
"Father, you brought this all to yourself! You are cruel and merciless, not only favoring that bastard daughter of yours over me but also making me suffer a fate worse than death! That being the case, don't blame me for not taking the blood we share into account!"
"Today, I will avenge my mother, avenge myself, and pay you back for all those years of misdeeds!"
Alex snarled with a face distorted by hatred. As a child, he had always wished for his father's affection, but though gifted in the use of pen and sword, the only thing he received was a cold, unfeeling stare.
That he could have tolerated, but what he could never swallow, was the sight of his mother choosing to enter priesthood to avoid the humiliation of sharing her husband with a human maid!
And with his father's recent show of cruelty, all love he ever felt was replaced by uncontrollable rancor. His blood craved revenge!
But seeing his outburst, and the gathering meant to corner him, Wolfgang was amused.
"With just this sorry lot? Once a disappointment, always a disappointment. Even in rebellion, you fail to excel."
He scorned.
Viscount Hannes by Alex's side took his attitude as a last show of dignity.
"Wolfgang, although you're one of the mightiest Uradel counts and close to the Semi-Holy Rank, you're still, after all, a ninth step Transcendent Knight. Today we have five like you trained in battle arrays. What can you do?
You might as well be sensible and abdicate your lands, wealth and estates to Alex."
The plan was that once Alex received the assets of house Kracht, he would marry into house Leitner and change his surname to theirs. That way, they could swallow all the Kracht's power and sharply rise.
But as the cold wind blew his long green hairs, Wolfgang burst into derisive laughter.
"My father repaid the lifesaving debt he owed yours by marrying me to your wretched sister. I have fulfilled all my filial duties to him and have nothing more to give you.
But since you dare collude with the worm of the Holy Flame Church to assault my house, all of you can die!"
Three pairs of golden light wings sprang from his back while a battle-ax appeared within his hands.
*Slash*
He swirled the battle-ax in a dazzling arc of light that sent the heads of the fifteen Transcendent Knights flying toward the starry sky in an eruption of blood!
Then he stepped into the air, hovering above the crouching forms of Alex and Hannes who looked at the illusory ring above his head and the six golden wings with horror.
"Incomplete Ring…three pairs of golden wings…T…third step Semi-Saint? How…why? I don't understand."
Alex blurted out with sweat and disbelief twisting his face.
"Why hide such powerful cultivation? What is there to gain? You would now be a margrave, ranking among the highest nobles of the empire with peerless prestige and glory!"
Hannes roared more out of bitterness than anything, realizing that he had been duped.
"I am an Uradel. The nobility of my blood is proven by the deeds and history of my house.
It needs no ornaments such as trivial titles to demonstrate its loftiness.
Only inferior ants such as yourself find delight in such vainglory. Wolfgang's highest honor will always be…the surname Kracht!"
His battle-ax descended upon Hannes, splitting him in half from the top of his head all the way down his groins.
Hannes' blood, gushed forth, drenching the still confused Alex red. He still couldn't understand why the flawless plan had so suddenly turned into such a debacle.
But seeing the clear disdain within his father's green slit eyes, Alex's terror was replaced by a new bout of fury.
"Why look down on me?! Why despise me so?! What's the difference between her and me?! I am your son!"
But to that heartfelt roar of indignation, Wolfgang only replied by crushing him under the pressure of his Semi-Holy force, then further humiliated him with a contemptuous laugh.
"My son? Look at yourself, sprawling insect. How could you ever be qualified to be the son of Wolfgang Kracht?"
"I have never touched your mother. How could you be…my son?"
And in less than five seconds, Alex's world collapsed.
Chapter 33 - I Am Your Son-In-Law
A lie, it had to be a lie. Alex didn't believe the words to be anything more than cruel lies.
"Don't lie to me! You have already disowned me, what's the need of inventing such lies!"
"What need is there for a giant to deceive an ant?"
"My father ordered me to marry the daughter of the previous Viscount Leitner to tell the world that house Leitner could still count on the support of house Kracht.
That was all so that he could repay the man for saving his life at the cost of his own. Their camaraderie was heartwarming but brought my noble name untold disgrace.
Because your mother…is nothing more than an arriviste whore! I knew it from the start, every man of high nobility knew how easy it was to spread her legs in exchange of benefit.
All my peers knew how she fawned on the mighty and disdained the feeble. But I had to wed such a creature…because such was my father's wish."
There was evident resentment within Count Wolfgang's voice as he reminisced the past.
"We are all free to live our lives as we choose. Therefore, while promiscuity is not something, I'm particularly fond of, I do not outright despise it. However, those who see others as nothing more than tools to advance their social standing and sex as a mean of entrapment, profoundly disgust me. Thus, while I did marry her, I have never touched her."
"As we walked into the bridal chamber, I recall that she was overjoyed. But when she realized she could be nothing more than my wife in name, she started looking for new, better options. And fifty years ago, she found your father, a Semi-Holy Priest of the Holy Flame Church."<
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Alex staggered and fell onto his rear with his trembling legs spread and disbelief consuming his eyes.
"It's not…possible. A lie…it has to be a lie!"
"Please…stop!"
He clenched his hands around his head, his nails digging past his hairs, and almost drawing blood from his skull.
"Believe if you want to. Do not believe if you don't want to. But know that no matter how evil, a tiger will not eat its own cub. Were you my son, were you my only male bloodline, I would rather kill you than cripple your manhood."
"Your life is a lie. A devilish ploy orchestrated by your repulsive genitors to take over my house. A mixture between an opportunity for promotion and the mean to satisfy their greed. But I pitied you, the whelp that asked for nothing. So, I gave you an education, hoping you could be upright. I taught you martial arts, hoping you could defend yourself. But most importantly, I gave you…my name!"
"Yet, you dare consort with evil to bring harm to the hand that raised you? Ungrateful worm! Even if you were my son, I would still butcher you!"
Wolfgang's battle-ax cleaved the air, aiming for the stupefied Alex's neck. But as the blade approached his flesh, droplets of tears streaked down his cheeks. Tears that caused Wolfgang's ax to stop and his face to contort into a frown.
"What? After decades of existence, you cannot even die with a minimum of dignity?"
But those weren't tears of fear. They were tears of sorrow and regret. For Alex who had always craved his father's love and a united family, Wolfgang's revelations were too much to bear. Thus, unbeknown to him, warm tears drenched his face.
"F-father…I'm…sorry…"
Wolfgang may never see him as his son, but for him, he would always be his father. That no blood connected them couldn't change that fact. And although he had never received his love, at least there was a time when he could count on his care. A time he clung on.
"Unbecoming."
But Wolfgang's ax didn't go further. Instead, his mind, for an instant, drifted to memories he wished to suppress, and his frown grew deeper.
"Dad, dad, look at the words I wrote! Did I do well?"
"Dad, dad, I have mastered the sword stance you taught me! Are you happy?"
"Dad, dad, why do you never smile when you look at me? Did I do something wrong?"
"Dad, dad…"
*BAM*
With a kick, Wolfgang sent Alex flying across the air to crash beyond the walls of his mansion.
"Let this be my last show of leniency. In your lifetime, never appear before me again; otherwise, I do not mind executing you!"
Following those words, Wolfgang's battle-ax vanished, and in a twister of golden light, he flew into the distance, trailing the path Ilaina's carriage should have taken while spreading his holy sense to watch out for her presence.
As for Alex, he dragged his trembling, bloodied form and vanished into the distance.
"The truth…I must find out…all the truth…"
But it wouldn't be the last time they met. And in time Wolfgang would come to acknowledge that what he now saw as an inexcusable act of weakness, would prove the best choice of his entire life.
…...
Meanwhile, Konnor and Ilaina had barely departed for the Kracht mansion when a beam of golden light flew across the sky and stopped above their heads. The light vanished, revealing a tall, handsome man that seemed to be in his late twenties. He was dressed in a long black robe, with windblown green hairs, sharp slit emerald eyes and a stern, restrained stance that showed an outwardly rigid demeanor.
Naturally, he was Ilaina's father, Wolfgang Kracht. And when his eyes met Ilaina's, the sternness of his face was replaced by boundless love.
"D-dad?"
She muttered, stopping dead in her tracks and staring at the floating form with incredulity.
Wolfgang descended onto the ground, landing in front of Ilaina with his six golden wings vanishing into light particles.
"Little girl, Dad must ask for your forgiveness. Dad is useless and could not take better care of you."
Wolfgang's apologetic tone and eyes caused Ilaina's already misty gaze to be overtaken with tears. Tears of joy that freely trickled down.
"Dad!"
She threw herself into his arms and let her warm tears moisten his clothes.
"I'm here. This time, Dad will never let you go."
Wolfgang pledged while stroking the back of his beloved daughter's hairs. Ten years ago, he was indeed at the ninth step of the Transcendent Knight Rank. But the pain and helplessness caused by the loss of his only child caused him to drown himself in torturous cultivation.
Torturous cultivation that allowed him to go all the way from the ninth step of the Transcendent Knight Rank to the third step Semi-Saint in just a decade. He was now two hundred years old, and if his breakthrough speed didn't dwindle, he was very likely to become a saint before the age of three-hundred. Something few in the history of the Holy Flame Empire could accomplish.
As for Konnor who observed this scene from the sidelines, his heart was full of grievances.
"Is fate playing a joke on me? How could the first father in law be a third step Semi-Saint?"
"I say you might have hidden strength, and you appear with a hundred times the expected might?"
"In the future, how can I bully your daughter?"
"Fuck!"
However, shock was one thing. Demeanor was another. Konnor stood straight with his arms crossed beneath his back, giving an air of extraordinariness and nobility that…
"Who might that eunuch be?"
…was entirely ruined by his head eunuch clothes.
Konnor staggered, and hearing her father's inquiry, Ilaina couldn't prevent a chuckle from escaping her lips.
"He's…"
"Hum, hum…allow me to introduce myself."
Konnor cut, seizing the initiative.
"I'm your son-in-law. Nice to meet you…father-in-law."
He greeted with a polite bow.
*BANG*
"AAAAAARGH!"
But as soon as those words left his mouth, Wolfgang sent Konnor flying with a palm strike.
"The galls!"
Then roared in indignation.
Ilaina yelped and rushed toward Konnor's side to check his pulse.
"Father! How could you be so brutal?! He's your fut…no…my savior!"
She exclaimed with her cheeks slightly reddening as she finished her words. And seeing the care with which she pressed Konnor's head against her chest, Wolfgang frowned.
"Huh?"
To count Wolfgang's experienced eyes, this scene oddly seemed like an episode of the conquered daughter taking the party of her love in a familial clash.
And as for Konnor who simulated unconsciousness while feeling the softness of Ilaina's chest, he inwardly jubilated.
"Hehe, father-in-law, we've just met that you helped me take another mighty step in my relationship with your daughter?
Why didn't I meet you before?
Thank you!"
Chapter 34 - If You Can Receive My Fist
"I give you five seconds to cut the act. Otherwise, I will split you in half!"
Wolfgang's roar caused Konnor to open his eyes in a heartbeat and sweep the perimeter with astonishment.
"What? What? What happened?!"
"Oh, my head! I'm being assailed by monstrous headaches. Help!"
Konnor howled while clenching his head and pressing it harder against Ilaina's chest.
"For real? Let me check."
The evident concern within her eyes caused him to further push the act with strong nods and false demonstrations of pain.
Count Wolfgang flew into rage! When did the daughter he carefully raised become so easily deceived?
That boy had to be butchered.
"Boy, I warned you. You can die!"
He summoned his energy battle-ax and was about to drive it into a fatal arc when Konnor promptly rose from the ground and stood straight like
an arrow.
"Hum, hum!"
"No need to be so dramatic. After all, as in-laws, we should first learn more about each other and establish the foundations of a healthy familial relationship."