For an instant, Konrad stood still, debating whether his ears were playing tricks on him or not.
With just their status as mothers of princes, those two women belonged to the upper level of the inner court and the imperial family. In this vast palace, those able to slap their faces and get away with it could all be counted on one hand.
Now, Yvonne was asking him to slap them, and to not stop until she told him to? What was her purpose? Could it be that she was giving him an ultimatum? An opportunity to either jump on her boat or forever stand opposite to her?
Yvonne's words had just ended that Anke burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, you really think highly of those servants of yours, don't you? I really want to see, if a trivial head eunuch has the gals to slap mothers of the emperor's children!"
There was no ripple on Yvonne's face, her indifferent eyes remaining locked on Anke.
Even the kneeling consorts didn't believe Konrad would carry out the order. At best, he would feign illness and pass out. After all, should such a matter reach the emperor's ears, losing his life would be the least of his problems.
However, his next words startled them all.
"As you command, your grace!"
Konrad exclaimed in a bow, then stepped toward the kneeling consorts while pulling up his sleeves.
"W-what are you doing?"
They asked in fright while struggling to free themselves from Yvonne's control. However, it was to no avail.
"Carrying out orders."
Konrad righteously declared while rubbing his palms on one another, causing droplets of sweat to appear on the consorts' forehead and trickle down their alarmed faces.
"You…I'm the seventh prince's mother!"
*SLAP*
"I'm…the fourth prince's mother!"
*PAH*
A festival of face-slapping began. With his right hand, Konrad slammed the seventh prince mother's face while with his left, he did the same to the fourth prince's. When their heads dropped on one side, Yvonne used her powers to straighten them up so that Konrad could keep slapping them undisturbed.
"Boy…you!"
*SLAP!*
"I…will…never forgi…"
*PAH!*
"I will slaughter your…."
*SLAP!*
"I swear I…"
*PAH!*
"S-stop I…"
*PAH!*
"Mercy!"
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
Battered to a barely recognizable state, their faces swelled, looking worse than pigs'. Inwardly, Konrad grieved! These were beauties! It would have been so much better to slowly tame them for future use.
However, he couldn't let his personal feelings interfere with duty!
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
Yvonne's eyes had long since moved from Anke to fall on Konrad and observed the resolute face-slapping festival he delivered with rapt attention. Nodding in approval as the abused consorts received the beating of a lifetime.
Like Konrad had inferred, this was her giving him a once in a lifetime opportunity to forsake all others to stand by her side. Had he showed any reluctance, she would have killed him on the spot. But since he so willingly jumped on her ship, from now on, he was one of her people.
"Boy, are you brain damaged?! Stop this at once! Otherwise, past this day, only death awaits you!"
"Your words make no sense. Death awaits everyone, the deadlines just differ."
*PAH* *PAH* *PAH* *PAH*
As if spurred on by Anke's words, Konrad struck harder. However, he now added another ingredient. Faint pink flames appeared at the middle of his palms as they struck the two consort's cheeks.
"Please st…wait more!"
"PAH!"
"MORE!"
"PAH" "PAH" "PAH"
Konrad was never one to not fulfill a woman's desires. Since they were now so eager for it, he could only deliver as much as his hands could bear.
In a flash, the situation had undergone a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn. To say nothing of Anke, even Yvonne was taken aback by what she saw.
"FASTER!" "FASTER!"
Konrad went as hard and fast as he could, but as his flames infected the consorts' body, his slapping was never enough to satisfy them.
"A…dual cultivation technique?"
Yvonne inwardly inferred upon seeing the odd change of reaction. However, she rebuked the idea. Not one bit of spiritual energy leaked from Konrad's body. If he were using a cultivation technique, she would feel it.
Anke held the same thought. Therefore, they both arrived on another conclusion.
"Could it be that they're one of those that find pleasure in pain?"
The more the consorts begged for slapping, the more reasonable the thought felt.
Konrad sweated from all the slapping he'd delivered while Anke who witnessed this scene had never felt so disgraced in her life.
How could she not know that these two were those kinds of degenerate?!
A last dual slap knocked the two out of consciousness, and this time, Yvonne let them drop onto the ground.
Konrad was about to pull them up to resume the task when Yvonne's voice echoed.
"You can stop. Good job."
"It is my pleasure to serve your grace."
Konrad replied with another bow then blew cold breath on his burning hands.
Yvonne then shifted her attention back onto Anke who fumed in wrath and disgrace.
"Yvonne, I will never forgive you!"
Lightning burst from her form while a long blue sword appeared within her hand. Nine pairs of white wings sprang from her back, and a pearl white Saint Ring formed above her head.
"Just because you broke through the Rising Saint Rank, you think you can run amok in my domain? Good, Konrad, open your eyes and see. This is how you tame the unruly."
Yvonne declared with her arms folded beneath her chest, then beckoned for Anke to make her move.
"Conceited slut! The abysmal gap between Saints and Semi-Saints is not what you can understand!"
Unfortunately for Anke, she was born a hundred years too late and had never witnessed Yvonne's splendor.
By the time she became Olrich's consort, even rumors of her past glory were hard to find.
Anke turned into a grey lightning bolt, and shot toward Yvonne with her sword brandished, thrusting it straight at her chest.
"Suppression."
As the word left Yvonne's lips, a terrible force erupted from her body, causing ripples within the air and vibrations to spread throughout the perimeter. Both the air and earth trembled as the formless force conquered the area, turning it into Yvonne's domain.
Anke's body stopped within the air, her sword unable to carry onward while her limbs were locked by Yvonne's suppression force.
Instantly, Anke was terror-stricken.
"What…the hell…"
"Break."
Yvonne paid no attention to Anke's shock. When the next word left her lips, the vibrations spread within Anke's body, rupturing her bones.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Her mournful howl spread throughout the inner court.
Konrad was startled. With their proximity, he could feel Yvonne wasn't using a tiny bit of her cultivation base. This force belonged to her physique!
"What kind of horrible physique is this?"
"The Supreme Overlord Physique. In its Awakened Stage, it not only grants its owner tyrannical strength and resilience but also allows them to turn everything within a three-hundred meters radius into a domain where they control the lives and deaths of whoever stands within.
In its Mastered Stage, even an entire city could fall within its range."
Anke's sword shattered, vanishing in holy force while her internal organs spiraled out of control and blood erupted from her lips.
"To think that there would come a day when an ant of your caliber would dare show me such disrespect.
Just because Olrich pupped you three times, you think the world is your oyster?
Tss, tss, tss. Remember to send the gates' bill."
Yvonne stretched out her right hand, flicking Anke's forehead.
*Bam*
Anke flew high, propelled like a meteor, and shooting all the way back toward her palace where she cratered unconscious and severely injured.
