"!!!"
Oreos’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the graceful and magnificent Lady of the Golden Iris.
"Mother... what are you talking about?"
"I’m saying you should relinquish your position as City Lord. Only under Duke Qinghui’s leadership can White Rock City prosper."
The beautiful noblewoman looked at her son, her expression impassive, and said flatly,
"This isn’t a joke. I have already spoken seriously with Duke Qinghui. If White Rock City is to have a future, if our small family is to survive the coming storm, we must attach ourselves to a powerhouse. And Duke Qinghui..."
The Lady of the Golden Iris paused, brushing a lock of golden hair from her shoulder with one hand. She then caressed Westheid’s chest, her lovely face flushed red.
"Duke Qinghui is the powerhouse who can protect us. I have already secured his forgiveness for your previous disrespectful offense. So, hand over White Rock City now. This is the best outco for us."
"This Pioneer Territory is the foundation my father passed down! Giving it to an outsider? This is... this is absurd!"
Oreos gritted his teeth and glared at Westheid. In his mind, his mother had always been a perfect image of wisdom and elegance. It would be more accurate to say the true founder of this city was the Lady of the Golden Iris, rather than his father.
’But why... why would his wise, calm, and independent mother completely side with an outsider, even saying sothing so utterly defying the heavens?’
’What kind of potion has Duke Qinghui fed my mother?!’
Westheid smiled and walked over to Oreos.
"Your mother is indeed a woman of great wisdom. It is rare to find soone who possesses both a beautiful vessel and a brilliant mind. You are truly fortunate, Lord Oreos. You would do well to listen to the Lady of the Golden Iris’s advice. It’s not too late to swear your allegiance to now."
Facing the tall, handso Duke Qinghui at such close range, Oreos had long lost the composure he’d had during their first eting. Instead, he was overco by an intense sense of inferiority he couldn’t suppress.
It wasn’t because of the pressure from an Extraordinary Tier powerhouse, nor was it the disparity in status or wealth.
It was that as a male, as a man... he was a complete failure in front of the other.
Oreos subconsciously hunched his shoulders, but was imdiately struck by extre humiliation. He suddenly realized that if he backed down now, he would lose the last shred of his dignity as a man.
’No... I can’t back down!’
Oreos clenched his jaw and balled his fists, shouting at the towering figure before him:
"Westheid... you son of a..."
He was cut off before the vulgar words could leave his mouth.
"Oreos!"
The Lady of the Golden Iris took a step forward and shouted sharply,
"Do not speak to Duke Qinghui like that!"
The courage he had just managed to summon instantly vanished when he t the Lady of the Golden Iris’s angry, beautiful eyes. She chided him with the disappointed tone of one scolding a hopeless son.
"What are you so angry about? Must you make things unpleasant for everyone? As a noble of the Imperial, you are far too immature."
"Oreos, I warned you about the mistake of enslaving Qinghui refugees to advance yourself. I didn’t press the matter then, but can you truly not see the situation clearly even now?"
"When will you ever grow up?!"
Never before had he been scolded so harshly by his mother. Oreos fell to the ground, dumbfounded.
Glancing at her disappointing son, the Lady of the Golden Iris turned back to Westheid with an apologetic expression and leaned gently against his shoulder.
"I’m sorry, Duke Qinghui, for letting you witness such an unseemly scene."
Westheid sighed, gently wrapping an arm around the beautiful noblewoman’s fragrant shoulders.
"Sigh. I told you, the boy is still too impulsive. He can’t be reasoned with. We’ll have to use more drastic asures. Leave it to ."
"Mm, I’ll entrust him to you. But please, Duke Qinghui, show so rcy. Oreos is still young and doesn’t understand the art of tact. If the boy angers you, allow to atone for it later. Please don’t lower yourself to his level."
the Lady of the Golden Iris said sorrowfully, placing a light kiss on Westheid’s cheek.
Oreos, who had been completely stunned, saw this and felt his teeth practically shatter. He struggled back to his feet and roared in a hoarse voice,
"Get... get your hands off my mother!"
Westheid paid him no mind. After seeing the Lady of the Golden Iris off, he glanced calmly at the young Lord and said slowly,
"To be honest, I’m not a magnanimous man. Or rather, my tolerance and rcy are reserved only for those I consider my own—my friends, my lovers, my subordinates, and my people. For them, my goodwill is nearly infinite... But for my enemies who provoke , my specialty is tornt and destruction, from the spirit to the flesh."
"I don’t just kill the body; I crush the soul."
Westheid stood with his hands behind his back, looking down on Oreos.
"Originally, that’s what I had planned for an overconfident clown like you who doesn’t know his place. But you do have an excellent mother. Unlike those vulgar and shallow decorative vases in the Imperial Capital, she is surprisingly intelligent. Despite knowing so little, she was able to deduce the situation through intuition and experience, and she made the absolute right choice."
Westheid stepped forward, extending the back of his hand.
"So I’ve changed my mind. I won’t wait for the future. I want White Rock City now. And your family can continue to exist as my subordinates. Kiss the back of my hand. It will bring you endless glory!"
Westheid felt he had shown more than enough goodwill, but unfortunately, Oreos did not appreciate it. He swatted away the olive branch Westheid had extended and threw a powerful punch straight at that impossibly handso face.
But how could a minor Tier One Lord possibly land a sneak attack on an [Exemplar] Tier Westheid?
Oreos’s punch seed swift and powerful, but Westheid caught it firmly.
The Lord of White Rock City tried to struggle free, but he was held in an iron grip, unable to move.
Duke Qinghui turned his head to the side.
"Yolanda, does this count as an unprovoked attack?"
"It’s too ambiguous, Brother. This doesn’t clearly establish who broke the law first."
The fairy-like, platinum-blonde girl found a new angle and activated the recording function on her bracelet, docunting the scene.
"It would be better if he did sothing more excessive, like using a weapon."
Hearing this, Westheid released his grip on Oreos, causing the young man to stagger back a few steps.
He then took a standard-issue longsword from Yolanda, shoved it into Oreos’s hands, and sighed.
"I really didn’t want to do this, but who told you to be so stubborn?"
His mind clouded by rage, Oreos briefly regained his senses, a terrible premonition dawning on him.
"What are you trying to do? That punch was impulsive! I swear I won’t attack you again! I won’t!"
Westheid gave a slight smile.
"You’d better not. Because I, for one, hope you can still hold back after hearing these recordings. Grip the sword tight. When you swing it later, make sure it’s powerful, but with a bit of a sinister touch."
Oreos seed to realize sothing, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
"You... you bastard, you can’t do this! You can’t!"
"NOOO! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear it!"
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