Benson, the knight of the Varco family, was momentarily stunned by the sharp pain.
"Did I just get slapped?" His cheek burned.
As a member of the Varco family, who had always held his head high in the surrounding area, he couldn't accept the act of being slapped more than the pain itself.
He had seen the face of his opponent.
He understood why Roman Dmitry had hit him, but the reputation of Roman being called a fool couldn't suppress Benson's anger.
"This bastard... Ugh!" Slap! His head turned again.
Benson, flustered, tried to grab his cheek and block Roman, but Roman's hand struck his cheek once more. Slap! Slap! Slap! Once, twice, three times.
Benson didn't even have the chance to retaliate.
Roman didn't stop slapping Benson's face even when it didn't return to its original position, and Benson, who had initially stood tall, began to shrink.
His head spun.
Pain overtook his fragile pride, and with his legs wobbling, Benson desperately waved his arms and pleaded, "Please...!" It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Even though he had lived a life accustomed to pain, Roman's touch had the power to render him helpless.
Only then did he realize.
He had made a mistake.
But Roman didn't give him a chance to apologize or make excuses.
Even as the nobles began to gather at the party due to the commotion outside, Roman coldly struck Benson's face countless times.
Blood splattered.
Teeth fell out.
His wobbling legs gave way, and Benson, with his disheveled hair, clung to Roman's leg.
The situation was getting serious.
Kevin and Chris intervened belatedly.
"My lord!" "This is enough punishment! He is a knight of the Varco family. Considering our relationship with them, it would be best to stop here!" Their words were wise.
They offered loyal advice, but Roman, with blood on his face, glanced at them and said, "The standard for sufficient punishment is determined by me. Chris, Kevin. What punishment do you think is appropriate for a knight who slanders me, the eldest son of the Dmitry family? Even if this guy dies from the violence, it is merely the price for his words. There is no excess."
Roman.
There was no benevolent lord.
Benson had crossed the line set by Roman, and that revealed a glimpse of the cruelty of the Heavenly Demon.
Skilled social skills and care for his subordinates.
These were necessary elements to maintain power, but ultimately, there were things that had to be upheld for a solid throne.
One punishment to warn a hundred.
It was a clear standard of punishment.
Roman was showing everyone how to deal with those who crossed the line.
And once again.
As Roman grabbed Benson's face and prepared to slap him, "What on earth is this!" Antonio Varco appeared.
The scene before his eyes was unbelievable.
Roman Dmitry was daring to punish a knight of the Varco family in front of everyone at the Varco family's social party.
It was an overreach.
With a face about to explode, Antonio Varco shouted, "Roman! No matter how much you are the eldest son of the Dmitry family, you cannot recklessly touch a knight of the Varco family. Stop this immediately and apologize for your rude behavior!"
The conversation in the secret room.
He had forgotten.
They had bowed their heads for mutual interests, but being openly ignored in his own home was not something he could tolerate.
The gazes alternating between him and Roman.
The nobles, holding their breath, showed signs of interest, so Antonio Varco put strength into his voice.
He thought.
Roman had crossed the line.
Now, he had the right to be angry.
But.
"Why should I apologize?" Roman remained unshaken.
Still holding Benson's head, he looked at Antonio Varco and spoke in a cold tone.
"When I left the party hall, I heard a knight of the Varco family slandering me. He spoke of propriety while belittling the Dmitry family. And in front of me, he dared to lay hands on a member of the Dmitry family. Antonio Varco. Do you truly think I am in the wrong?"
"... Even so, this is crossing the line!" "The line. The line." Chuckle. The other party knew.
That this incident was Benson's fault.
Yet, the reason he couldn't back down wasn't to protect Benson but because of the surrounding gazes.
Just once, he wanted to retreat.
Even with Antonio Varco's pleading eyes asking to save face, Roman didn't follow his intention at all.
"I told you in the secret room. Personal grudges could ruin our relationship, and even the relationship between our families. From now on, it would be good to clearly define how you treat me. Whether we maintain the current relationship or, like your flushed face, we lunge at each other every time we meet. My patience is not as great as you think. So, decide your attitude now."
The surrounding people were flustered.
What they initially thought was a simple trouble had unexpectedly escalated to a matter involving their families.
It was what Roman intended.
In his previous life, Roman was a fool.
Even with the backing of the Dmitry family, a powerful force in the northeast, he was treated as a fool outside.
It wasn't others' fault.
It was Roman Dmitry's fault for not utilizing his strengths, and Roman, starting a new life, was now correcting that fact.
'My name is Roman Dmitry.' The eldest son of the Dmitry family.
He showed everyone that he was a man who could make such rude remarks even against Varco.
Benson.
He was merely a pretext.
From the moment he stepped into the Varco family's 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.
It shouldn't be intentional.
In a situation arising from the opponent's mistake, Roman, like a hyena hunting prey, bit down on Benson's mistake.
He bared his teeth.
With Roman's fierce momentum, Antonio Varco couldn't hide his flustered expression.
'Damn it.' Roman's hostility.
The surrounding gazes.
He wanted to stand against him.
But doing so would be an irreversible mistake.
He knew from the conversation in the secret room that Roman had changed, and the remark that personal grudges could ruin the relationship between their families was not a lie.
If such a thing happened? It would be a unilateral loss for Varco.
In a situation where he could gain the fertile lands of Lawrence and Flora Lawrence with a little patience, he thought there was no need to scratch Dmitry's pride and ruin the grand plan.
Very slowly.
Antonio Varco fell into self-rationalization.
Ignoring the surrounding gazes, he thought he had no choice but to choose one option.
He said, "... Upon reflection, you are right. If a knight of the Dmitry family had slandered me in front of me and touched a member of the Varco family, I would have done the same. This is clearly our fault."
He took a step back.
Bending his pride, he added a meaningless excuse, saying he would have done the same in the same situation.
That was the end.
Roman smiled and pulled Benson's head forward.
"You think so too, right?" There was no need for further words.
As Benson's gaze, filled with fear, turned to him, Roman pressed his head to the ground and said, "Bite down hard."
At those words.
Benson tightly closed his eyes.
In the end, Benson was carried away on a stretcher.
His face was a bloody mess, and in the place where he had been, there were fragments of teeth and a pool of blood.
The party was over.
Roman wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief and left the party hall with Chris and Kevin.
On the way back to the territory.
Kevin, who had been silently following Roman, spoke with the face of a traitor. "... I'm sorry. Because of me, my lord suffered hardship."
It was devastating.
If he had been a knight like Chris.
The knights of Varco wouldn't have picked a fight, and Roman wouldn't have been caught up in such a pointless matter.
Chris also added, "I'm sorry too. Even after seeing Kevin being hit and the Dmitry family being insulted, I didn't respond at all. If you punish me for this incident, I will accept it and ensure such a thing doesn't happen again."
Chris had strength.
Yet, he endured for Roman.
If he had known Roman would be angry enough to antagonize Varco, he would have drawn his sword and fought from the start. Thud. Roman stopped walking.
He looked back at his subordinates and spoke in a calm tone.
"You made the best choice you could. It couldn't have been easy to endure, but thank you for enduring and waiting."
This incident.
It wasn't their fault.
On the surface, the Varco family was powerful, and Roman Dmitry didn't have the strength to recklessly confront them.
If Roman had been unprepared and clashed with the Varco family, they might have faced an unfavorable situation in front of everyone.
Chris and Kevin knew that.
They acknowledged Roman's weakness, but because his position as a force was unstable, they endured even when their pride was hurt.
But.
That doesn't mean it was a perfect response.
"Rashness brings disaster. Your choice avoided the worst, but it wasn't the answer I wanted. From now on, study the basis for how to act when someone spits in your face. Then, something like today won't happen. At least in the northeastern part of the Cairo Kingdom, there is no one who dares to spit on the Dmitry family and get away with it."
When living at the bottom.
Baek Joong-hyuk had no power.
So, he used tools and became the king of the 12 caves by smashing the leader's head with a stone.
That time and now are different.
When you have no power, you can do anything, but when you bear power, the lives of your comrades are at stake.
Therefore.
You must know how to distinguish the right time.
When it wasn't the time, he showed a smile, and when he judged it was the time, he didn't hesitate to cut the opponent's throat, even if it seemed reckless.
In the process, he crossed countless lines of death.
Chris and Kevin's judgment was the best for them, but if they had known 'how to distinguish the right time,' they wouldn't have just endured today.
The Varco family.
Or Blood Fang.
If they accurately understood the power of the Dmitry family, they would be opponents who wouldn't cause problems even if they crossed the line.
And.
"Even if it's an opponent you must endure, remember their face clearly in your eyes. Simply enduring and helplessly bowing your head are different. Someday, I will definitely crush that opponent, so don't lose the venom in your eyes. I am not someone who can tolerate someone standing above me. To live a life where everyone is beneath me, you must adapt to that way."
At this moment.
Chris and Kevin thought.
Roman Dmitry.
He is a man who must live a life of domination.
To become someone worthy of him, you must not strive within the boundaries of common sense that others think.
Roman walked ahead.
Chris and Kevin followed behind.
Looking at Roman's sturdy back, the footsteps of the two men felt more solid with trust than before.
The Heavenly Demon Sect.
The force that once dominated an era in the martial world was gradually taking shape here in the Cairo Kingdom.