The First Patriarch: Streaming My Cosmic Harem

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The High-Stakes Cheek Pinch

"I was entirely distracted by how terrifyingly beautiful you look when you’re serious."

Boom.

The line was a complete, unadulterated gamble, delivered with the raw, unmasked baseline of a mortal male.

Rosalind froze.

The casual, amused smirk on her face instantly locked up, shattering into a million pieces.

Her golden eyes widened in sheer, utter disbelief as the blunt, shameless flattery hit her ears.

In the matriarchal society of Tartarus, men were expected to be submissive, quiet, and deeply fearful of a high noble’s wrath, they rarely spoke to high-ranking female warriors with such bold, romantic audacity, let alone while covered in their own blood on a training floor.

A sudden, intense flush of crimson heat rushed up Rosalind’s neck, completely staining her pale cheeks and creeping all the way to the tips of her furry, twitching cat ears.

"Y-You—" she stammered, her regal, untouchable GrandMaster composure completely fracturing into a million pieces.

She violently stepped back, her fingers twitching erratically as her tail lashed out behind her in pure agitation.

"What kind of shameless nonsense are you spouting during a serious combat lesson?!"

Ding!

-x-

[System Mission Update!]

Target Status: Rosalind’s emotional state has entered ’Extreme Embarrassment / Flustered.’

Current Progress: 60% / 100% Pacified.

-x-

Azriel watched her mental defenses crumble in real-time, an internal smirk plastering across his mind palace.

’Wow, why the hell is this so easy? She acts like a total teenage schoolgirl when it comes to romance.’

’How cute.’

Up in his peripheral vision, the stream chat was absolutely losing its collective sanity at his suicidal bravado, but Azriel was already completely checked out of his content-creator brain.

Looking at her wildly blushing, panicked face, a sudden wave of genuine playboy playfulness took over.

The moment Azriel’s bare hands made contact with the Duchess’s face, squishing her regal cheeks into a soft, adorable pout, the higher realms experienced a collective theological stroke.

[Goddess_of_the_West] (Golden): HE TOUCHED HER! HE ACTUALLY LAID HANDS ON A GRANDMASTER’S FACE WITH NO AETHER DEFENSES! HE IS DEAD! HE IS DEAD! HE IS—wait, why isn’t she killing him?!

[Crimson_Fury] (White): WHAT IS LADY ROSALIND DOING?! BLOW UP HIS HEAD! SNAP HIS WRISTS! DO SOMETHING!! MY EYES ARE BURNING!!

[Lusty_Sera] (Golden): Kyaaa~! The bare-handed face squish! Look at her cat tail lashing! She’s completely paralyzed! Azriel, you magnificent, shameless little beast!

[ThoughtAngel_404] (Red): Unprecedented.

[Moon_Priestess_99] (Cyan): He is so romantic....wish it was me

[Crimson_Fury] (White): Simp

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[ThoughtAngel_404 has sent a gift: ’Chariot of Dawn’ (Value: 500 KP)!]

[Moon_Priestess_99 has sent a gift: ’Lunar Mirror’ (Value: 200 KP)!]

Azriel barely registered the sudden, massive windfall of Karma Points flooding his account, nor did he look at the hilarious mental chat breakdown.

All his focus was locked entirely on the woman standing right in front of him.

Rosalind’s golden eyes were completely wide, staring at him in a state of absolute, profound shock.

Her lips were forced together by his hands, making her look less like a terrifying predator of the Beast Continent and more like an incredibly flustered, oversized kitten.

Her mind had completely blanked out.

For the first time in her entire life, a male had entered her personal space without her permission, stripped off his protective gear, and treated her like something... precious.

Something to be teased, rather than feared.

The heat radiating from her face was so intense Azriel could feel it directly through his palms.

Her long, white-and-black striped tail was lashing back and forth behind her violently, cutting sharp swish-swish sounds through the quiet basement.

"Mmmph..." Rosalind managed to squeak out through her squished cheeks, her hands instinctively coming up to grip his wrists.

For a terrifying split second, Azriel thought she was going to activate her Aether and shatter his arm bones into dust.

Instead, her grip stayed entirely soft, her fingers lightly wrapping around his skin as if she couldn’t decide whether to push him away or pull him closer.

"A-Az... riel..." she finally broke his grip, stepping back with a sharp, panicked gasp.

She covered the lower half of her face with her hand, her golden eyes darting everywhere around the training ground except toward him.

Her chest was heaving, and her furry cat ears were practically flattened against her white hair in pure, unadulterated embarrassment.

"You... you are entirely too bold!" she practically squeaked, her voice completely lacking its usual GrandMaster authority.

"I am your Master! I am a Duchess of the eampire! You cannot just... grab my face and call me..." She swallowed the word ’cute’ before it could escape her lips, her face turning an even deeper shade of crimson.

Ding!

-x-

[System Mission Update!]

Target Status: Rosalind’s emotional state has completely shattered into ’Unconditional Affection / Flustered Overload.’

Current Progress: 100% / 100%

[Congratulations! Stream Mission Successfully Completed!]

Final Rewards: +40 EXP, +150 Karma Points.

System Unlock: [Karma Store] is now fully active and accessible! Please browse at your earliest convenience to spend your hard-earned divine currency.

Azriel stood his ground, a victoriously lazy, confident smile spreading across his lips.

He slowly picked up his gauntlets from the floor, shaking the dust off them with a casual flick.

"I only speak the truth, Rose," he said smoothly, casting a quick glance toward the invisible camera drone.

The viewer count had officially touched 30,000 concurrents, and the system balance was glowing with a ridiculous amount of newly acquired Karma Points.

He had successfully tamed the apex predator, satisfied the primordial goddess’s thirst for entertainment, and secured his financial bag, all in a single afternoon’s work.

Rosalind let out a long, shaky breath, slowly dropping her hand from her face as she tried to regain her noble composure.

She cleared her throat loudly, desperately trying to gather the scattered remnants of her noble composure, though the burning crimson hue on her cheeks gave her away entirely.

But before she could even utter a word to reassert her authority, Azriel closed the distance once more.

With a smooth, fluid step, he slipped right past her guard and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against his chest in a sudden, breathtaking embrace.

Rosalind gasped, her entire body freezing instantly as he leaned in close, his breath brushing directly against her sensitive, twitching cat ear.

"Umm, Rose..." Azriel murmured, his voice dropping into a low, husky, and deeply seductive drawl that sent an immediate shiver straight down her spine.

"Why don’t we push the training to tomorrow? I think I need a properly refined body before I can truly master a weapon like that... Why don’t you help me with that refinement tonight?"

Internally, his eyes were locked dead on the skyrocketing viewer count and the flashing donation alerts.

’I need to earn more money,’ he thought with a dark, predatory grin.

’And if a little late-night "refinement" gets the higher realms to completely empty their pockets, I’ll play the part all night long.’