The misunderstanding was quickly cleared, but Baron Romero, who had heard the explanation, spoke in an angry voice.
[If you have apologized, I will not consider this a problem but do keep this in mind: House Dmitry will do anything to protect their kids. If you threaten Roman or Lauren again, then you should start getting prepared. Even if the house walks into the path of destruction, we will make sure to plunge Castro into the abyss with us.]
Tuk!
The communication was cut off. He still felt complicated. When Count Castro’s face on the screen vanished, Baron Romero laughed out loud.
“Hahaha, my son is really grown up.”
Roman Dmitry. Just half a year back, he was a selfish child who only worked for himself, and now he went to the Castro family to solve his younger brother’s troubles.
As a father, this made his heart swell. Dmitry’s first and third sons’ relationship seemed like water and oil, yet without realizing they had a strong bond.
Furthermore, right outside the office were men waiting for his orders. Seeing all of them on the street, regardless of age and gender, Roman’s status seemed to have changed again.
‘People didn’t say that he was a skilled leader for no reason. In such a short amount of time, Roman has completely taken over the hearts of the people of Dmitry. From the head of the family to the smiths and the miners, now the roots of Dmitry have accepted Roman as their leader.’
He understood the people in Dmitry. Everyone was looking up to him. As the father, he couldn’t help but feel delighted at the response they had for Roman. He was once a sore sight to the commoners. Seeing this transformation in Roman excited Baron Romero.
Kwang!
He kicked the door open. Baron Romero shouted to the people waiting outside.
“Get ready to party right now! For the sake of my son and the future of Dmitry, I will reward those who made a great decision. Smithies, mines, and inns are all closed! We eat and drink as much as we want! Get drunk like today is the last day!”
The eventful day that lit everyone’s hearts on fire finally came to an end.
The event spread like a rumor. Everyone talked about the dispute between Dmitry and Castro.
“I saw it!”
“Really?”
“Right. William Castro, who always held his head high, couldn’t say anything to Roman Dmitry, even though his father was beside him. Rather, he hesitated, and Count Castro got angry, and he made him apologize! It seems like the thing about Cairo’s hero is true. It is a well-known fact that Count Castro is one of the high nobles of the Central Government, but he just stood there and let his son apologize. It is clear that the power system in Cairo is starting to change.”
Hearing William kneel down and apologize, the students were shocked. William Castro, the man who boasted irresistible power, was devastated.
Meanwhile, the merchants from Dmitry spread new words.
“It had only been a few hours, but the merchants of Dmitry had spread these words: They will cut off all dealings with the Castro family and suggest a way to corner them too, and those who helped in this would be given a huge reward by the Dmitry family. Do you know what it means? With the recent issue of Castro and Roman Dmitry, the Dmitry family is ready to go on a war against them!”
“Wow. A family on the outskirts wants to face Castro?”
“Right, and what is even more startling is that as soon as the incident happened, all the nobles took Dmitry’s side. Castro and Dmitry are in a position where power in the capital and family on the outskirts clash. This means that, shockingly, the high nobles thought that Dmitry had a chance of winning. I’ve known for a long time that Dmitry doesn’t have less potential, but things have changed since Cairo’s hero was born.”
This issue announced one thing. In the meantime, the Dmitry family was greatly underestimated due to their origin, but now their evaluation has been reversed with the power Roman Dmitry has and their wealth.
They were now a powerful force on the periphery that even the Central Government couldn’t touch. Dmitry was no longer a family that could be ignored. More rumors circulated, further elevating its reputation.
The rumors about Roman Dmitry completely trampling on Castro’s name.
Even in this situation, the Castro family didn’t speak out because the truth was worse than the rumors. Rather, it was better for Castro to just say that Dmitry was stronger than expected.
It wasn’t just that. People thought that Marquis Benedict might be angry alongside Castro, but the rumor said he wasn’t angry.
It was clearly Castro’s fault for touching Cairo’s hero.
Even the influential Marquis Benedict sided with Roman Dmitry, and Dmitry quickly emerged as the new power protected by the Central Government.
Just one event.
Dismissing this as a simple event would be wrong, as Dmitry’s status had changed due to it.
The circulating rumors reached Roman’s ears too. In particular, the rumors that his family was preparing to go to war made him feel complicated.
‘Dmitry is a family that opposes war, and such a family had decided that for me.’
This life wasn’t his choice. After his death, he awoke as Roman Dmitry and chose to continue living as he had been.
Even though he had become accustomed to his new life and had established new relationships, Roman found the Dmitry family to be somewhat startling at this event.
Baron Romero.
His father hated war. Since his father believed in peace through words, he had a tendency to handle things as peacefully as possible. For that reason, Dmitry didn’t have much power under them.
‘Baron Romero’s choice isn’t his own. Dmitry must have put the war into action because everyone decided to go to war, and all the key figures must have agreed to it. A small town like Dmitry settled on the edge of the kingdom, and for my sake, they decided that war was worth the risk.’
In his past life, everyone moved as he calculated. Although given the various names of “weak” or “strong,” it wasn’t uncommon to fall into an abyss from a simple mistake. He had seen too many deaths from it.
Naturally, that made his personality take a drastic turn. He had clearly put up a wall around himself. In fact, the people of Dmitry could be called Roman’s people, but that didn’t mean they were within the wall.
The invisible wall.
People weren’t special to Roman. He would make the decision to sacrifice them at any point.
‘Is this life different from the previous one?’
A new life and new relationships.
Just as people forgot their prejudices and looked at him, Roman tried to look at them without prejudice.
The result was their decision to go to war for him, even though they weren’t asked to do it and no one ordered them to do it. People showed pure favor to repay Roman.
“Young Master, it seems like you are being too hard on yourself. It is good to be true to life, but do not push yourself.”
It was Hans. He spoke while looking at Roman, who was lost in his thoughts. Of course, there were people like Hans in his previous life too.
The fact that Hans took the time to do so made him feel appreciated. He hadn’t met many people who were ‘loyal to one person’ despite his success in his previous life.
The emotions that made people human still existed. Roman looked at Hans with warm eyes and smiled.
The news of Dmitry.
Seeing Hans here, Roman was gradually accepting the life given to him.
-Chris-
The Castro Incident
Chris who had been immersed in training for a long time, heard the news of the incident from a soldier who rushed to him.
“Mr. Chris! The Lord is in danger now!”
“… the Lord is in danger?”
Clench!
The sword stopped.
The soldier felt Chris exuding murderous energy, so he hurriedly explained.
“I got a call from the Dmitry family. It seems like the Lord was caught by Castro in the process of helping Young Master Lauren, and it is said that he might be in danger. What do we do?”
Chris smiled, saying that their Lord was in danger. It didn’t even sound real.
“You still don’t seem to know who our Lord is. If the Lord does anything, it is always done with extreme calculation. Castro is a noble of the Central Government and a worrisome opponent for Dmitry, but I can assure you that it is the Castro family who is at risk and not our Lord.”
“… then you are saying we should just wait?”
“No.”
He held his sword and trusted the Lord. But regardless of what he believed, it was his role to prepare for any contingency.
“Call the troops right now. The moment the Lord gives an order, we must be perfectly prepared to carry it out.”
“I understand.”
-Kevin-
Kevin knew about the incident before Chris. After telling a colleague to pass this on to Chris, he ran towards the Castro family’s mansion.
‘How dare they touch my Lord!’
His stomach was churning in agitation. He didn’t think Roman would be in danger. It was Roman who overpowered the powerful Hector Kingdom, so he couldn’t be defeated by the small Castro family with no power.
Still, he was enraged. He was like heaven to him, and the rumors circulating only riled up his anger against the Castro family.
Just 10 minutes. That was the time it took for him to reach the Castro family’s mansion.
“Who are you?”
Asked the guard.
Although he was suspicious, Kevin didn’t say anything and sat right down in front of the gate.
‘I will wait for the Lord.’
No one knew what was happening inside. Any hasty choice would make things go wrong. So Kevin waited.
Kevin wouldn’t hesitate to cut down the guard and run inside if there was even a little scream.
“You are… uh.”
The guard, who was about to ask something, was startled. Kevin’s eyes had killing intent raging in them.
Thinking that he wasn’t a normal person, the guard slipped back and firmly secured the lock on the gate.
A long time passed. Only after seeing Roman come out, Kevin walked quietly to an unobstructed place.
-Hector Kingdom-
The war with Cairo was a battle with the fate of the Hector Kingdom on the line. They risked their lives and died. They believed that Edwin Hector would win for sure.
But…
“The Star of Hector fell to the devil of Cairo.”
The day the survivors returned, people fell into despair. Even the tiniest bit of hope they had was gone, which was a problem.
However, they couldn’t accept the fact that Edwin Hector, whom they trusted, was in danger of dying.
And they were curious about it. The survivors lost their minds as they could only see themselves being attacked by Cairo, and no one would speak about what happened. Those involved in the war stayed silent.
Since Edwin Hector hadn’t woken up yet, they prayed for him in the same way they did before he went to war, hoping he would regain consciousness.
And time passed.
One day.
“… how long has it been?”
Edwin Hector finally opened his eyes.
