"This kick, is what I'm giving on behalf of your brothers and sisters, you old smelly man!"

After the public king fell back to the ground from mid-air, Wang Xiaole lifted her foot and stepped on the opponent's waist at the moment when his back hit the ground.

Crunch!

Who knows whose bones were crushed, anyway, they weren't Wang Xiaole's, so she didn't bother to look, but just said:

"This kick is the one I'm delivering in place of Dibiles' Empress. You don't even know how to be a human, let alone a dog!"

With those words said, Wang Xiaole lifted her right leg and kicked the person under her to the side, leaving the public king spinning and rubbing against the floor until his back hit the edge of the bed.

"Ouch, ouch, who are you? You come in kicking and attacking, don't you know I am the public king? The greatest person in this country?"

Despite being subdued, the public king's long-standing bad temper did not diminish after the beating.

Coincidentally, facing such a person, Wang Xiaole was also a hot-tempered young lady.

Without noticing it, the public king found that his scarce remaining hair had been pulled out by the other party, lifting him up in Wang Xiaole's hands.

"Don't pull my hair, don't pull my hair, the hair-growing tonic from our country is very expensive."

The hair-growing tonic from the Mu Lan Kingdom was not only expensive but also ineffective; even the products the public king used couldn't make his "foliage" on top of his head lush, just a few sparse strands.

Even when his movements were restricted, the public king didn't forget to call for help:

"Guards, guards! Where are the people, have they all died somewhere?"

"Those weaklings, I took care of them all by myself. It wasn't even that difficult to fight them."

"You mean they were defeated by you, a weak woman? How is that possible? From the palace entrance to the front of my bedroom, the number of guards amounted to four or five thousand!"

"Just four or five thousand people, not four or five million, is it really that difficult to fight them?"

Qiuyan held a roasted leg of lamb from the table and asked the public king as she ate.

Although Wang Xiaole wasn't asked, she still chimed in:

"Is it really that difficult to fight four or five thousand people? Just cast a few high-level magic spells, and at most, when necessary, personally make a few sword strikes."

What kind of people have I encountered?

The public king had never experienced grand scenes or important figures in his life.

At this moment, hearing two seemingly insignificant young girls calmly discussing the terrifying prospect of single-handedly defeating an entire army, he couldn't help but feel a sense of panic.

It was at this moment that he suddenly realized:

Although he held the position of ruler of a country, the gap in power between himself and these two individuals seemed as vast as a world apart.

In a moment of trembling, the public king managed to keep his composure and, still maintaining his facade, questioned the two:

"Who exactly are you?"

It was a rare opportunity for self-introduction, even though the one asking wasn't considered a person in various ways, Wang Xiaole didn't mind and was willing to explain:

"Dibiles' Empress recently got married, did you know that?"

"I do."

"The Empress's husband has black hair and looks like someone from the Eastern continent, do you know that as well?"

"I do."

"Well, do you know then: the Empress's husband, Dibiles' Imperial Consort, is none other than me standing before you!?"

"Aren't you a woman?"

"Of course! How could the Empress's husband, the Imperial Consort of a country, be a boy?"

Master, if I'm not mistaken, you used to be a boy...

Due to the long period of transition, Wang Xiaole gradually forgot about her previous gender, but Qiuyan hadn't forgotten.

Unfortunately, at this moment, her momentum couldn't overshadow the master's, and in the end, she couldn't bring herself to point out this reality.

At this moment, Qiuyan's thoughts and identity were not important, the main focus of the public king was on Wang Xiaole.

"You say you're the Imperial Consort, where is the evidence? If it's genuine, let me see your proof... Wow!"

Suddenly, the public king felt a sharp pain in his cloudy eyes. When he squinted, he let out a scream that didn't sound like a man.

"You old man, do you recognize this?"

The shiny object currently in Wang Xiaole's hand was the royal seal given to him by Isabella earlier, the only one of its kind on the entire continent, any resemblance was a fake.

The primary function of the royal seal, similar to the token given by Bai Shui, was to serve as proof of identity.

Once Wang Xiaole presented this item, the public king would have no room left to question the Imperial Consort status of the person before him.

There's a saying in the Eastern continent: "A prime minister's disciple is a seventh rank official!"

According to this logic, Wang Xiaole was the ultimate boss of the public king.

Even if the former were to slap the latter, the latter couldn't say anything, and besides forced smiles, couldn't do much else.

How should I put it?

The man of the Emperor - no, the woman of the Emperor, is not to be trifled with by a mere king of a small country!

In the case of the public king, despite feeling really unwell after being beaten up, he couldn't afford to flare up, only able to squeeze out a flattering smile, as if saying:

"It was entirely my fault for getting beaten up, the Imperial Consort has been wronged by my suffering."

For the greater good, the public king must maintain a submissive posture, even if it's not good for his health to keep it all in. So, he could only console himself in his heart:

"The person before me is a big shot from the suzerain state, such a status can definitely suppress me, but can't make me panic."

Although illogical, the public king still had the confidence of being a monarch of a country.

As long as he didn't misbehave too badly, the worst that could happen was to receive a severe beating, at least not lose his life.

This neatly summarized the relationship between the bigwigs of the suzerain state and the monarchs of the vassal states.

People from the big brother's side could bully the younger brothers, trample on them, but couldn't easily kill them.

To give an inappropriate analogy:

Even a dog needs a reason before its owner turns it into a hot pot, isn't that so?

In this regard, the public king's biggest confidence was in maintaining the common sense.

But today was different from the past, and if asked why, it's solely because the public king had a sudden change of heart and didn't act as a little brother, but instead went against the suzerain state - Inran.

Since Inran declared war on Dibiles, the public king had been considering betrayal; this thought had been lingering in his mind for a while, and what was even more detrimental was that it had shifted from a mere thought to a real action today.

Otherwise, soldiers from the Mu Lan Kingdom wouldn't be in conflict with people from the suzerain state.

If things went smoothly, the public king wouldn't be too worried.

Yet, even as he deluded himself internally, he was still sweating coldly on his forehead; the reason being the Imperial Consort appearing before him.

The public king remembered:

He had thoroughly arranged the strong soldiers from his army in groups of several hundred each, hiding them near the teleportation array.

The public king's intention was to have his subordinates bring the people sent by Dibiles to him;

At that point, whether those people lived or died didn't matter;

As long as they weren't in good shape, he could do whatever he wanted, and there wouldn't be much to criticize.

If the roles were reversed, and the public king ended up being the one targeted for punishment, that was something he absolutely couldn't accept.

The public king couldn't imagine:

Those he had sent out had already been collectively taken care of.

He didn't care about the fate of those people; he just hoped not to be implicated himself and wished that Wang Xiaole would consider the attack as unrelated to him.

But in the next moment, his hope was dashed.

Wang Xiaole didn't show any hesitation and directly told him:

"I wasn't captured by your men. Do you feel particularly regretful about that?"

The public king, upon being questioned this way, had a "thump" sound in his heart, his heart rate speeding up as if he wasn't an old man.

Yet, with things having come to this point, he continued to feign ignorance, expressing his loyalty:

"I was completely unaware of the intentions of those people, and I never thought of betrayal. It was all the soldiers' doing;

I believe it was those soldiers who acted on their own, who are the ones colluding with the Inran Empire.”

When the soldiers launched the assault, the public king wasn't there, resulting in no direct evidence to prove him as the instigator.

Even if Wang Xiaole pointed out that the soldiers mentioned "Lord Public King's orders" when she first appeared, that too didn't mean much;

A manipulative person like the public king could easily come up with excuses, claiming these were slanders by the traitors, as he was completely unaware.

"Swearing by the loyalty of all ancestors before me, I have absolutely no ulterior motives towards Dibiles; now on the brink of a great war, how can the Imperial Consort listen to the words of outsiders and doubt the loyalty of a servant like myself?"

"Why is this man's shamelessness so thick? Can he even be considered as ruling a country?"

These words came from Qiuyan, who had been eating alone since she discovered a pile of delicacies on the table.

If the public king had even a bit of dignity, she wouldn't have ignored the delicious food and would have spoken after a moment.

As for this illogical situation, Wang Xiaole was willing to provide her personal perspective:

"There's a saying: the thickness of one's shamelessness is directly proportional to their position; in other words, 'the thicker the skin, the higher the status'."

Qiuyan further questioned:

"Why does this happen?"

Then, seeing the master shaking his head:

"Well, I don't know. But for someone who wants everything except the face, I know exactly how to deal with that."

The public king thought that by firmly asserting his loyalty to the royal family, he could get through this matter; he was confident that the Imperial Consort wouldn't dare entertain any thoughts of punishment.

But he was wrong.

At the current moment, Wang Xiaole's status as the Imperial Consort hadn't been officially announced in this country.

Even those felled guards only knew they were under attack; the specific information about the target of the attack remained unknown.

Even the public king himself had only learned about Wang Xiaole's status as the Imperial Consort not long ago.

From this, it was clear:

At present, within the entire Mu Lan Kingdom, there was absolutely no second person who knew this.

With no extra individuals in the know, the matter was easy to handle...