I Am the Ruler of All

At that moment, Paige rose from her seat and declared, "My butler wears Gustav all the time. One look is all it takes for me to tell if these belts are fakes."

Having said that, she opened one of the boxes and took out the belt coiled inside, then examined it carefully. A minute later, she put the belt back into the box and swept her gaze over the others at the table, then enunciated, "I'm sure it's the real thing."

Nancy grimaced as she bit out through gritted teeth, "You're best friends with Serena, so who's to say you aren't covering for her lies?"

"Are you questioning me right now?" Paige countered icily, her expression turning grim. She was the second young lady of the Tanner Family and a major in the Seavale Military District; a deathly hush fell upon the room the moment she zoned in murderously on Nancy, and no one dared breathe.

"I... I'm not," Nancy said shakily, so terrified that she nearly wet her pants.

Everyone else turned rigid in their seats as though bracing for an oncoming storm.

"Okay, that's enough. Throwing tantrums is quite unbecoming for a young lady," Kingsley cajoled.

At once, the tension in the room seemed to shatter and fall away, and Paige replied obligingly, "Fine." The last thing she wanted was to go against her grandfather and the man who held the Order of the Northern Draken.

Upon seeing this, the others at the table blanched. They wondered frantically who Kingsley was and why Paige, a young lady of nobility, was so obedient toward him. Swallowing convulsively, they started to think about the way they had treated him with contempt and hurled snide remarks at him for the entire evening. No ordinary fella would be invited to stay with the Tanners' for a night. He must be someone important! If he took any offense to how we treated him tonight, then we're all as good as dead!

Presently, Kingsley turned his dark brown eyes on Nancy and ordered coolly, "You, come over here and get down on your knees. I want to hear you personally apologize to Serena for what you said to her tonight."

"I..." Nancy was trembling like a chihuahua at this point. Out of desperation, she turned to Emory for help as she urged, "Emory, say something! You have to help me."

Emory's mouth was dry as he countered sullenly, "How am I supposed to help you when I'm in need of divine saving myself?"

He was sorely regretting his behavior earlier, and he shuddered at the consequences that would befall him if his cover as a spy was blown.

"Divine saving is right. The three of you aren't getting out of this," Kingsley said with a devious smirk tugging on his lips. "Come on, get down on your knees in front of Serena before my patience runs out."

Nancy turned to look at the others in mute despair, but those who had been flattering her enthusiastically just moments ago dared not even meet her gaze now. Someone even whispered meekly, "Just get down on your knees, Nancy, or we'll all be done for."

"I..." She swallowed nervously. "I'll do it." She had everything to lose if she didn't compromise, and without another word, she walked up to Kingsley and Serena, then got down on her knees in front of them.

The next second, Noah joined her and knelt down next to her as well.

"Kingsley, I'm sorry for the way I acted just now. I shouldn't have picked on you or Serena," Nancy sobbed, her breath hitching in her throat. "C-Can you ever forgive me?"

Noah bowed his head and muttered trepidatiously, "I'm sorry. We both truly are sorry for what we did."

Gazing down at them imperiously, Serena pointed out apathetically, "No need to apologize; forgiving the both of you was not what I had in mind anyway."

Upon hearing this, Kingsley gestured toward her and said to the two humbled figures at his feet. "I'm afraid Serena finds your apology displeasing. Now, how should we go about rectifying this?" He slowly rose to grab one of the belts off the table, then uncoiled the leather in his hand, feeling its weight nestled in his palms. He appraised the length and sturdiness of it, then smiled as he drawled, "You know, Miss Tanner, I happen to be a huge fan of the Serpent Whip you use, so I'm thinking of paying homage to it today. Let's see if I can maneuver a whip as well as you do."

"W-What are you going to do?" Noah asked frightfully when he heard this, though he could already imagine how miserable he would be by the end of the night.

Kingsley ignored him and pointed at the other twenty-nine belts on the table, then said to the other guests who were holding their breaths, "Each one of you gets a belt as a gift from me, so come here and take it."

None of them could bring themselves to disobey him. Moving stiffly toward that end of the table, each of the guests took a belt and uncoiled it in their hands.

"Ten whips from each one of you," Kingsley ordered icily. "When you're done with these two ignorant fools here, then you may leave. If you refuse to strike them, then you'll have to get on your knees and receive the same treatment."

There was a pregnant silence in the room as everyone dwelled on the shocking suggestion. About half a minute later, the sound of a cracking whip filled the air. A burly man in a suit had made the first move and mercilessly whipped Noah's back.

Noah winced in pain as cold beads of sweat rolled down his temples.

Now that someone had gotten the ball rolling, the rest of the dinner guests joined in as well.

Soon, the private dining room was rife with the sound of cracking whips. None of them spared Noah or Nancy any mercy. They stood red-eyed behind the two figures kneeling on the ground, taking turns with the corporal punishment. In truth, they couldn't care less about their long-time friendship or their shared memories from their martial arts days; they just wanted to get out of here alive.

It didn't take long for the back of Nancy's dress to be whipped to shreds, revealing a whole lot of bloody, bare skin.

While the whipping went on, Kingsley got up from his seat and walked up to where Emory was, then asked, "You're Emory, aren't you?"

Emory's eyes flashed warily as he demanded, "What do you want?"

"Something you have," Kingsley answered in clipped tones. "Hand the carrier over right now."

Astonishment seized Emory and a chill ran down his spine. He sputtered, "What carrier? I don't know what you're talking about!" Then, he hurtled toward the door to make a run for it.

Alas, he couldn't outrun Kingsley, who deftly grabbed him by the back of his collar and chuckled darkly. "My, my, where are you rushing off to, Emory? Or should I say, Silas Windham?"

The syllables of his real name made Emory's blood run cold.

Not wanting to waste his breath on the guy, Kingsley grabbed a belt and tied Emory up, then threw him on the floor. Having done so, he sauntered over to Serena and asked, "Feeling better, Serena?"

She got to her feet and announced, "I've seen enough. Shall we leave, Kingsley?"

"Alright." He glanced at the crowd and bit out, "Ten whips from each of you, and nothing less. Got it?" With that, he turned his attention to Paige and asked, "You coming with us, Miss Tanner?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to stay and make sure these people here carry out their work." A sadistic giggle escaped her as she said this. "I'll be heading for the Solaris Military District after this, so you guys go ahead without me."