Demian slowly moved away from Lara and looked away. For a moment, Lara was under the illusion that his blue eyes had seemed to deepen.
There was a man nearby.
He scanned Lara’s body up and down with a red face, looking quite tipsy. He repeatedly put one hand into his pants, shaking and pulling it out. No one knew if he was a noble or not. It did not matter how high his position or how great he was.
Demian just moved.
He walked with his long legs and stepped over the table where the man was sitting.
“What the hell?”
Then, he grabbed the man by his collar with one hand and lifted him up. His heavy body was elevated helplessly. The man, who could not breathe properly, squealed and screamed, but none of it was audible. Demian grabbed him close by the collar and spoke mercilessly.
“How dare you.”
His voice cracked fiercely. It was a horrifying low note, lingering in the banquet hall of the night.
“Filthy.”
The crowd became noisy and gathered there. Some people called the guards after being startled.
Demian.
Lara’s lips moved slightly. She did not stop Demian. She let him do as he moved–as he pleased. It did not look like anyone could stop him, anyway.
Wham
Demian only punched the man, but he lost his consciousness. His teeth came out and blood came out of his mouth. It wasn’t enough with just that, Demian tore the man’s clothes with force and dumped them on the ground. Then, he put the man on the table as if to display him.
The noisy banquet hall became as quiet as a mouse.
Someone could be heard gulping.
“W-who…”
“You there.”
Demian wiped his bloody fingers on the tablecloth and pointed at some men with that hand. It was a group of young lads from the upper class. They were a bunch of hyenas who frequented the Night Ball every night and only went after drunken women.
Again, as usual, they sat next to a woman—who was drunk and could not control her body— and kept giving her a drink. When they were about to carry her and go to a secluded place after she had lost her consciousness, Demian called them.
“Come here.”
Then, he moved and approached him first. He strode with his long legs and his opponents were right in front of his face with just a few steps.
“What’s with this bastard? Who brought him here? Where are the guards?”
“Move. What’s a slave scum doing here?”
Demian did not answer back. He just stood there, turned his head, and made eye contact with Lara. It was as if he was forewarning her of what he would do from now on.
Then, he threw his fist at them abruptly.
Wham. Wham. Wham.
It could not even be called a fight. It was just a unilateral assault. What was worse, Demian only wandered around, punched and kicked a few times, without breaking into a sweat, but the men were all bleeding on the floor. Their faces were torn and their limbs were broken.
At this point, people were screaming all over the banquet hall. As if a wolf had been released into a rabbit cage, they scurried out of the banquet hall to escape Demian.
Demian looked around for more prey.
Then, a few men who were high on drugs came at him with knives. They screamed like beasts and wielded their knives saying that they would kill him. Demian easily incapacitated them. He hit the knife with his hand and took it away. Then, he lifted them up and threw them away, too.
“Aargghhh!”
Crash
The table collapsed with a loud noise. Almost everyone left the place in a flash except for a few who were dead drunk.
“Milady, what’s going on?”
Konny, who was waiting for the two people in the carriage, came running and stood next to Lara.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m okay.”
She really was fine, nothing had happened to her. Even Demian’s face was fine, he was just looking at the disgraceful backs of the people who fled the scene.
But he was a slave.
Someone who could be sent to the execution ground without any trial for doing this kind of thing to the nobles.
“Why did you do that?”
Lara asked. Demian turned to her and smirked.
“Lara.”
“Why did you do this? What were you thinking… No, we don’t have time to be doing this. Hurry, escape from here. Get out of Hautean and return to the Empire. I will provide you with travel expenses if you’re short of money.”
“No.”
“Do you want to be executed?”
“It’s okay.”
What’s okay about this?
In a hurry, Lara approached him closely.
The soldiers who heard the news belatedly flocked to the place. They were the soldiers hired by the owner of the manor.
“Demian, I will stop them here. So run away.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Demian!”
Lara pulled Demian’s hand.
Then, he clasped Lara’s fingers, brought them close to his mouth, and kissed her fingertips.
“Lara, I’m your mighty warrior. I’m here to fight on your behalf. If you don’t like whatever it is in this banquet hall, I will wipe them all out. So, buy something delicious and come to jail.”
After that, he waved and clenched his fist, letting out a cracking sound.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
By the time the watchmen rushed in, the situation had already been sorted out. Demian stood motionless, and those who rushed to kill him were all lying down. From a distance away, the bystanders hid and took a peek.
The report was very simple.
‘A mad slave showed up at the banquet hall and tried to kill the nobles.’
The watchmen were dispatched, wondering if that would really be the case, but they decided the report was not wrong after checking the scene.
Demian did not rebel. He was dragged out like a beast in a thick chain. His upper body was revealed when his shirt was torn during the fight. The bystanders’ eyes moved along with his body. It was the moment when Lara’s words to strip him off were unintentionally realized.
“You have to come with us.”
The watchmen also approached Lara.
They bowed politely, saying that she was Demian’s Master Lady and a key witness, so it was unavoidable.
Lara was led to the investigation room. Her heart pounded, she could not believe that she was in the investigation room. She was an exemplary student who had never even been called to the lecturer’s office to be disciplined or nagged at when she was a student.
“Good afternoon, milady.”
The busiest watchman in the capital, the investigator who was in charge of the nobles, seated Lara on the sofa in his office.
He was a man with a terrible impression. His tone was harsh and his look was threatening. If he were to be put with a criminal, no one would know who was the criminal and who was the investigator.
“Are you Young Lady Bailey?”
He asked.
Lara tried to look brave. She found it ridiculous that she was nervous even though she did not commit any crime. She took a long deep breath without the investigator knowing. She drooped her shoulders and lifted her chin.
Then, naturally, her mother and Demian came to her mind.
Mimicking her mother’s confidence and Demian’s composure, Lara opened her mouth calmly.
“I’m Laviore Ria Bailey.”
“What’s your relationship with the slave that we captured?”
“He’s my mighty warrior.”
The investigator frowned and sighed, he shook his head towards her.
“We did not classify the arena slave as a warrior. They were just…something like prostitutes.”
It was clear that he thought of Lara as a pathetic, immature noblewoman. His attitude was polite, but the look in his eyes could not fool her. Lara’s dress, which was nothing short of a dancer, played a major role in giving him such prejudice.
“Thank you very much for telling me about that.”
Lara made a sarcastic remark.
He pulled out some documents and wrote them down at high speed. Then, he handed over the documents and a pen to Lara.
“Sign here, please.”
Again, the content was very simple.
It was written, ‘Laviore Ria Bailey will give up her ownership of the slave Demian and agree for Demian to be given a just punishment for the crime he committed.’
“What’s a just punishment?”
“Death penalty.”
“Nope.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want to sign this document. He’s my person, and I have no intention to let him die.”
“It seems that you don’t really know about this, but…”
“I know well enough that you can’t force me to sign this document. I also know that even if the criminal is a slave, you can’t make a prompt decision as long as the slave still has an owner.”
“Pardon? About that…”
“Let me meet him.”
Lara tore the documents handed over by the investigator in half and put them back on the desk. At the thought of things being a bother, he frowned right away.
“He is dangerous.”
“No, he isn’t.”
“Nothing good will come out if people were to find out you were in such a banquet hall.”
“What does it have to do with you?”
“Whew… Then, please come back again tomorrow afternoon. I can’t allow that now because it’s already too late. I have sent someone to your house to inform them about the incident so they will come to pick you up soon.”
It was a useless kindness. Rather than kindness, it was more like he wanted to get rid of Lara from that place quickly. The investigator wanted the House of Bailey to quickly take Lara. So he sent someone to Marquess of Bailey even before she came into the investigation room.
‘The Marquess did a bad job in raising his child. If this troublesome girl is his only child, then he has to choose her husband well.’
As he thought so, Lara who was sitting on the sofa, got up and moved.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going out on my own feet, I don’t need anyone to pick me up or see me off.”
“Please wait here, your father will send someone from your house. Wouldn’t the Marquess be furious if he found out that his precious daughter had gone out on the street alone at night?”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t even live in that house anymore.”
“Pardon?”
Lara did not want to talk anymore. What’s the point of talking about her family history with the investigator? She just wanted to get out of that place quickly before her father really sent someone. If something went wrong, she could be dragged like a beast and be confined at home.
“I will come back again tomorrow.”
“Please wait! You need to go back to your father’s…”
Lara, who was about to leave quietly, turned her head and looked at the investigator.
Her gaze was sharp.
“I decide where I will go. Don’t you think this is too much of an intervention?”
Only then did the investigator keep his mouth shut.
