The commoners—most of them didn’t know Roman Dmitry’s face. They were familiar with the rumors, but being able to recognize Roman Dmitry in Redford was a different thing. However….
“Roman Dmitry!”
“It’s that guy! Count London is now working with the Dmitry family to steal the fortune of Redford! Traitors! Aren’t you even a bit ashamed of what is happening?”
Some of the crowd suddenly raised their voices which made things embarrassing for Jacqueline. He recognized Roman Dmitry because he was at the party and had no intention of provoking him.
Roman Dmitry was a rumored aura user. And knowing how strong the man was, he didn’t want to touch Roman Dmitry. That was the plan, but their sudden actions ruined it all. To the remarks that provoked Roman Dmitry, Jacqueline couldn’t back down and stood there.
At the series of events, Roman Dmitry looked at the people who raised their voices.
‘They are a mix of rogues.’
It was a rebellion of the commoners. They were expressing their suppressed anger. However, based on Jaqueline’s reaction to the way he recognized him and the provocation, it wasn’t difficult to know that the rebels who instigated this were in the group.
It was as he had expected. The Kronos Empire had prepared weapons to attack Count London. In Cairo, they used traitors who wanted to devour the nation and used assassins called shadows against him, and now they were using the angry public sentiment to destroy the London family.
It was fun. The Kronos Empire spread chaos all over the continent in various ways. Without actively using the power of the empire, they created a situation where the enemies would collapse because of their own people. That was the way of the empire.
Roman Dmitry said,
“A traitor who sells out his country. Is there any clear basis for those words?”
“There is no need for any evidence! Roman Dmitry! If you truly know justice, get out of Redford and don’t get involved! Don’t take away Redford’s riches! It has been earned by the blood and sweat of the people. The malicious London family is monopolizing it and living happily by themselves. If that isn’t traitorous, then what is the meaning of that?”
He had succumbed to evil. As things turned out, Jacqueline showed no signs of backing down.
Wheik.
It was like a blazing fire, and it wasn’t strange for a fight to ensue.
Their words and their expressions—Roman Dmitry looked at the people. Dealing with people who couldn’t see the reality in front of them wasn’t so difficult, but whether it was worth intervening in was Redford’s problem.
Actually, the way to calm the angry public sentiment that appeared in London was simple. The truth—that alone was enough. If London revealed what he did, he wouldn’t be called a traitor, but….
Creak.
The gate opened, and the London family knights came out and spoke in a voice no one could hear.
“… Mr. Roman Dmitry. Count London doesn’t want you to get into trouble. Please come inside. We will sort out the anger of our people on our own.”
At that point, Roman Dmitry had no reason to confront the commoners.
He headed inside. With a slightly bitter expression, Count London said,
“I am sorry for getting you involved in this. Actually, this isn’t the first time it has happened. There have been several occasions when people who have been starving attacked my place. Of course, they weren’t as extreme as the group that appeared at the mansion today, but the patience of the people seems to be wearing thin.”
On this day, he hoped for a peaceful solution. The knights of London went out and offered a compromise with leftover food from the party and financial compensation, and the anger of the people who achieved their goal faded.
Except for the panic, the situation didn’t become too extreme. They didn’t know what would happen if Roman Dmitry, who was rumored to be a battle manic, decided to come out, and it would become a real problem, so they withdrew.
London’s way was foolish. If it had been Roman Dmitry, no matter what their reason was, he wouldn’t have made the people go back alive if they had attacked him. However, this was Redford, not Dmitry.
Roman Dmitry asked,
“Why not tell them the truth? The Londons aren’t responsible for the poverty of the nation. No matter how much you hold on, being targeted as a traitor isn’t nice. Excuse me for saying this, but the King has to bear the responsibility for this.”
From Roman’s words, he thought it was a common question to ask. Everyone who knew the truth asked him the same thing, but Count London couldn’t do that.
“… I know very well what it means for London. But I don’t think it’s for Redford. We are now living in an age of hatred. When a problem arises, people want to make others take on the responsibility. If it is revealed that the King was the one who started the troubles, what do you think will happen to Redford?”
From then on, things would change. The people’s anger would be directed toward the royal family, and the nation would be in chaos once again.
“If people who can only be freed by blaming others aim for His Majesty, we don’t know what will happen to the nation. People will flare up, and perhaps the nation will collapse from within even before Kronos fights us. So the truth cannot be revealed. If the people’s anger isn’t directed at the royal family but at someone like me, then their anger will be limited and hinder the escalation, and they will just attack my mansion. After all, I am also just an existence under the royal family, so their anger will not spread throughout the kingdom.”
He was also a normal person, and he didn’t like criticism. Seeing people swear at him, he also wanted to tell the truth one day, but the benefits of doing so seemed meaningless. People would praise him as a hero, but then their anger would turn to the royal family. If that were the case, what would the reputation of being a hero mean?
If the nation collapses and a rebellion breaks out, all of the hard work he has done so far would have no choice but to become meaningless. Hence, he withheld the truth.
He smiled and looked at Roman Dmitry.
“Redford’s troubles aren’t the problems of His Majesty alone. Even if they were to make him take responsibility and bring him down, Redford would be engulfed in further turmoil due to the forces that encouraged the King to neglect this situation. It is much better if I take the blame for the people. At least for me, I have the strength to accept criticism and be safe at the same time. So until Redford has a foundation to survive, the people shouldn’t know the truth.”
During the past few years, the weight that Count London has been carrying has been heavy. And looking at his figure, Roman Dmitry recalled a person’s face.
Yu Hyun, a Demonic Sect member. He was a unique person. In a world that spoke of the rule of the strong, humans were basically believed to be born with good sides, and unlike his position as an heir to a noble family, he didn’t have any greed for power.
Maybe it was because he lived a different life from Baek Joong-hyuk, but the two of them felt an inexplicable attraction towards each other and they often spent time together.
Baek Joong-hyuk asked him,
“I heard that you went to the slums and helped the people. Why do you have to act as such? You may have simply acted with good intentions, but after that, the people will wait for it every day. And if you don’t show up again, they will get angry, saying that your one good intention was only out of sympathy.”
There were things that people misunderstood. Poverty and wealth. There was a belief that conflicting values represented character.
However, the world that Baek Joong-hyuk lived in wasn’t like that. Some people have described the poor as living by helping each other and the rich as villains who exploit such poverty. But was that really the truth?
Just because they were rich, they weren’t unconditionally evil, and poor people didn’t just have humanity because they were poor.
At the bottom of life, people’s greed shone, and Baek Joong-hyuk had seen how the people who were the weakest killed one another for the sake of one rice ball. Whether they were poor or rich, humans were humans. Even if they were in the same environment, their personalities would form differently, and Baek Joong-hyuk didn’t hastily judge another’s environment.
What he had seen and felt. He thoroughly judged his opponents based on his experience with them, and only those who accepted that truth were worthy of Baek Joong-hyuk’s trust.
Yu Hyun said,
“…Well. As you said, people might resent me, but I just do what my heart tells me to. If there is someone else like you in the world, then shouldn’t it be balanced out if there was someone like me?”
He smiled.
Despite that look, Baek Joong-hyuk couldn’t smile because his and Yu Hyun’s paths were different. Even though he was the son of the Heavenly Demon, he started as the bottom feeder in life, and Yu Hyun was born into a prestigious family and saw good things. . A kind heart could have been born from such a background. At least if he had experienced the life Baek Joong-hyuk did, he wouldn’t be saying such things.
But still, he didn’t hate Yu Hyun. The time he had spent with him was like a ray of light as he wandered in darkness.
And one year later, Yu Hyun’s naked body was discovered abandoned in the slum.
Yu Hyun and Count London. They were similar types of people. Living a single life, they believed in and followed values that were more important than their own comfort.
After parting ways, Roman Dmitry looked out at the black sky.
“Stupid people.”
On the day Yu Hyun died, Baek Joong-hyuk overturned the entire slum. Meanwhile, he found the people who had been in contact with Yu Hyun, and only after driving countless people to their deaths did he find out who killed Yu Hyun.
It was a boy in his early teens. When he looked at him with both ears cut off and bleeding, he asked him why. Then the boy spoke with a terrified face,
“… Everyone was afraid that he would never visit us again.”
A one-month visit. The starving people didn’t remember the grace that was shown to them.
The boy looked at Yu Hyun’s expensive clothes when he was about to leave after he helped them. As he turned around like that, someone hit Yu Hyun on the back of his head. Despite the blood splashing and his groans, the boy wanted the clothes he desired.
The boy and Jacqueline were no different. If one looked at the world a little wisely, one would know what Count London did for the people.
Not knowing the truth was not an excuse. Jacqueline had been invited to the party, so he could work for a short time and bring some food home after the party. And if he wasn’t angry at the nobles for spending money, he would have felt gratitude.
And he was used just like that. The reason he visited the mansion at night was probably because there had been a conversation about not tolerating his actions.
Yu Hyun and Count London. They were an existence that normal people would not dare to look up to, yet they were forced to sacrifice for the sake of the people.
It was stupid, and he didn’t like that. However…
‘It isn’t my business.’
In his previous life and even now, Roman Dmitry had no intention of pushing his values onto others. If Count London offered to sacrifice himself, he wouldn’t even bother talking about it.
His visit to Redford—his role there was to solve the problem with the Golden Bank.
He turned his steps. As he looked up at the sky, his mind felt complicated.
The night was late.
Time passed, and the day that the Golden Bank had set was dawning.
