Chapter 27: The Incident at the Social Party (5)

Benson, a knight of the Barco family, was momentarily unable to accept the reality of the shocking slap.

‘…Did I just get slapped?’

His cheek was numb.

As a member of the Barco family, he had always held his head high in the surrounding area. The act of being slapped was more difficult to accept than the pain itself.

He had seen the face of his attacker.

While he understood why Roman Demetri had hit him, the reputation of the Demetris as fools only fueled Benson's anger.

“What the hell is this… gah!”

Crack!

His head snapped to the side again.

Stunned, Benson clutched his cheek and tried to stop Roman, but Roman's hand struck his cheek once more.

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Once, twice, three times.

Benson had no time to retaliate.

Roman continued to strike, even as Benson's head didn't return to its original position, and Benson's once proud body began to shrink.

His head spun.

The pain was more intense than his meager pride, and Benson, his legs wobbling, desperately pleaded.

“P-please…!”

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

Despite a life of familiarity with pain, Roman's strikes had a paralyzing force.

Only then did he realize his mistake.

But Roman gave him no chance to apologize or make excuses.

Even as the nobles began to gather due to the commotion outside, Roman, with a cold expression, continued to strike Benson's face relentlessly.

Blood splattered.

Teeth flew out.

Wobbling legs gave way, and Benson, with disheveled hair, clung to Roman's legs.

The situation was getting serious.

Kevin and Chris finally intervened.

“Lord!”

“This is punishment enough! He is a knight of the Barco family. For the sake of our relationship with them, it would be best to end this here!”

Their words were sound advice.

They had spoken out of loyalty, but Roman, with a bloodied face, glanced at them and said coldly.

“I decide what is sufficient punishment. Chris, Kevin, what punishment do you think is fitting for a knight who insults the heir of the Demetris? Even if this results in his death, it will be the price for his words. There is no excess.”

There was no benevolent lord.

Benson had crossed the line, and this revealed a bit of the cruelty of the Heavenly Demon.

His seasoned social skills and concern for his subordinates.

These were necessary to maintain power, but ultimately, there were things that needed to be upheld for a solid throne.

One punishment, a hundred warnings.

A clear standard of punishment.

Roman was showing everyone how to deal with those who crossed the line.

And once again.

Just as he was about to grab Benson's face and strike again.

“What the hell is going on here!”

Antony Barco.

He appeared.

The scene before him.

Unbelievable.

Roman Demetri was daringly punishing a Barco knight in front of everyone at the Barco social party.

This was overstepping.

With a face that seemed ready to explode, Antony Barco shouted.

“Roman! No matter how much you are the heir of the Demetris, I cannot tolerate you mistreating a Barco knight. Stop this immediately and apologize for your rudeness!”

The conversation in the private room.

He had forgotten.

They had bowed to each other for mutual benefit, but being openly ignored in the main hall was not something he could overlook.

The alternating gazes between him and Roman. The faces of the nobles, who were holding their breath, showed a hint of interest, and so Antony Barco put more force into his voice.

He thought.

Roman had crossed the line.

Now, he had the right to be angry.

However.

“Why should I apologize?”

Roman was unfazed.

Still holding Benson's head, he looked at Antony Barco and said coldly.

“When I was leaving the party, I heard a Barco knight insulting me. He was belittling the Demetris and even dared to touch the face of a Demetri in front of me. Antony Barco, do you really think I was wrong?”

“…Even if that’s true, this is still over the line!”

“The line. The line.”

Hah.

The other party also knew.

That this was Benson's fault.

Yet, the reason he couldn't back down was not to protect Benson, but because of the surrounding gazes.

Just once, step back.

Antony Barco's eyes, pleading to save his own face, were met with no response from Roman.

“I told you in the private room. Our relationship, and that of our families, could be strained by personal grudges. From now on, it would be best to be clear in how you treat me. Will we maintain the current relationship, or will we attack each other like your heated face suggests? My patience is not as great as you think. So, decide your attitude now.”

The surrounding people were stunned.

What they thought was a simple disturbance had unexpectedly escalated into a matter involving their families.

This was Roman's intention.

The Roman of the past was a fool.

Despite being backed by the powerful Demetris in the northeast, he was a fool who didn't receive proper treatment outside.

This was not the fault of others.

It was Roman Demetri's fault for not leveraging his strengths, and Roman, starting a new life, intended to correct this immediately.

‘My name is Roman Demetri.’

The heir of the Demetris.

He showed everyone that he was a man who could make such rude remarks to the Barcos.

Benson.

He was merely a pretext.

From the moment he entered the Barco social party, Roman had been looking for an opportunity to prove his worth, just as he had won the favor of the surrounding nobles through conversation.

This should not be intentional.

From the opponent's mistake, Roman, like a hyena stalking its prey, pounced on Benson's mistake.

He bared his teeth.

Roman's fierce momentum left Antony Barco unable to hide his shock.

‘Damn it.’

Roman's hostility.

The surrounding gazes.

He wanted to stand up to him.

But doing so would be a mistake he couldn't undo.

He knew Roman had changed after their conversation in the private room, and the statement about personal grudges affecting family relations was not a lie.

If such a thing happened? It would be a one-sided loss for the Barcos.

Thinking that a little patience and endurance would allow him to gain the fertile lands of Lawrence and Flora Lawrence, he didn't want to ruin his grand plan by offending the Demetris' pride.

Very slightly.

Antony Barco fell into self-justification.

Ignoring the surrounding gazes, he thought he had no choice but to make a decision.

He said.

“…After thinking about it, you are right. If a Demetri knight had insulted me and touched a Barco in front of me, I would have done the same. This is clearly our fault.”

He took a step back.

While bending his pride, he added a meaningless excuse, saying he would have done the same in the same situation.

That was the end of it.

Roman smiled and pulled Benson's head forward.

“What do you think?”

There was no need to say more.

As Benson's terrified gaze met his, Roman pressed his head to the ground and said.

“Bite down hard.”

At those words.

Benson squeezed his eyes shut.

In the end, Benson was carried away on a stretcher.

His face was a bloody mess, and the spot where he had been was soaked with blood and teeth fragments.

The party was over.

Roman, wiping the blood from his hands with a handkerchief, left the party hall with Chris and Kevin.

On the way back to the estate.

Kevin, who had been silently following Roman, spoke with a face of a traitor.

“…I am sorry. I caused you trouble, my lord.”

He was devastated.

If he had been a knight like Chris.

The Barco knights wouldn't have started trouble, and Roman wouldn't have been involved in a pointless incident.

Chris also added.

“I am also sorry. I saw Kevin being hit and did nothing, even though the Demetris were being insulted. If you decide to punish me, I will accept it and ensure this doesn't happen again.”

Chris was strong.

Yet, he had held back for Roman.

If he had known Roman would be so angry with the Barcos, he would have drawn his sword and fought from the start.

Thud.

He stopped walking.

Roman looked at his subordinates and said calmly.

“You made the best choice you could. It wasn't easy to hold back, so I thank you for your patience.”

This incident.

It wasn't their fault.

On the surface, the Barcos were powerful, and Roman Demetri didn't have the strength to treat them casually.

If Roman had gotten into a conflict with the Barcos without being prepared, it could have led to a bad situation in front of everyone.

Chris and Kevin knew this.

They recognized Roman's strength but, due to their unstable position, they had endured even when their pride was hurt.

However.

This wasn't a perfect response.

“Hasty actions bring trouble. Your choices avoided the worst, but they weren't the answers I wanted. In the future, study the basis for how to act when someone spits in your face. Then, incidents like today won't happen. At least in the northeast of the Cairo Kingdom, there should be no one who can spit on the Demetris and get away with it.”

When living at the bottom.

Baek Jung-hyuk was weak.

So he used tools and became the king of Cell 12 by smashing the leader's head with a rock.

That was different now.

When you have no power, you can do anything, but when you carry a force, the choices you make can cost lives.

Therefore.

He needed to know how to judge the timing.

He would smile when the time wasn't right, and when he judged the time was right, he would cut the opponent's throat without hesitation, even if it seemed reckless.

He had crossed countless lines in the process.

Chris and Kevin's judgment was the best they could do, but if they had known how to judge the timing, they wouldn't have just endured today.

The Barco family.

Or the Blood Gang.

If they accurately gauged the Demetris' strength, they were opponents who could be crossed without issue.

And.

“Even if you must endure, remember the face of your opponent clearly. Simply enduring and meekly bowing are different. I will crush that opponent someday, so don't lose the fire in your eyes. I cannot tolerate anyone standing above me. To live a life where everyone is beneath me, you must adapt to this way.”

At that moment.

Chris and Kevin thought.

Roman Demetri.

He was a man who must rule.

To be the kind of person who fits him, they couldn't just strive within the bounds of common sense.

Roman walked ahead.

Chris and Kevin followed.

Looking at Roman's sturdy back, the two men's steps felt more solid with trust than before.

The Heavenly Demon Sect.

A force that once dominated an era in the martial world was gradually taking shape in the Cairo Kingdom.