The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 8

The air in Lord Lawrence’s study was thick with worry. Voices were low but urgent as the meeting went on.

“What is the status of the Barco family?”

A voice responded, “It seems they have made a decision. Our inquiries show the Barco family has taken out a large loan from the Golden Bank. The Barco family doesn’t earn much money. So, why would they borrow a lot of money from the Golden Bank? It could only mean one thing: they are getting ready for war. We need to quickly find skilled mercenaries before the Barco family hires them all. War is only a matter of time now.”

“Hoo.”

At the words of Doppler, a vassal and strategist of the family, Lord Lawrence frowned deeply, lines appearing around his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, a sign he was very worried.

“So, it’s war after all.”

The conflict began one year ago.

The families, including Lawrence, were located northeast of the Cairo Kingdom. The land was covered in tall, rocky mountains, so there was not much land suitable for farming.

Lawrence, however, possessed more rich, dark soil that was perfect for growing crops compared to other territories. It was even said that most of the crops produced in the northeast came from Lawrence.

Then one day, the Barco family presented a document.

It stated that Lawrence’s ancestor had borrowed money, and the fertile land was promised as collateral.

The conflict exploded.

Lord Lawrence said he couldn’t agree to a document if he wasn’t sure it was real. He didn’t trust the paper from the Barco family. The Barco family insisted they had the right to the land and put pressure on Lawrence.

In fact, even then, he did not think the situation would escalate as it had.

The authenticity of the Barco family’s document was not clearly verified, but the problem was that a relative of the Barco family held a position in the central government.

The Barco family’s rights were recognized.

Faced with a ruling to either repay the enormous debt or surrender the land, the Lawrence family refused and protested loudly.

They argued about who was right and who was wrong. But words were not enough. There seemed to be only one way left to settle things: war.

The Barco family prepared for war.

Lawrence had tried to talk things over several times, but now he had even heard rumors that they had borrowed money from the Golden Bank.

Doppler spoke, “War is now unavoidable. Instead of accepting the Barco family’s demands and having our family destroyed, we should prepare for war and fight to the death. Fortunately, we have the marriage with the Dimitri family. Although Dimitri is a commoner family, they are well-known tycoons in the northeast, right? Whatever the Barco family used as collateral to borrow money from the Golden Bank, the money they possess cannot be more than the Dimitri family’s.”

“Indeed. Knowing that, I sent my only daughter to that simpleton of a Dimitri.”

“Lord, it was a decision for Lawrence. As a lord, you made the right decision, so don’t blame yourself.”

“I understand.”

His expression showed he was still troubled.

Thinking of his daughter Flora’s future, his heart still ached.

‘The moment we give land to Barco, our family is finished. Other families will try to tear us apart from all sides. This is the right decision for my daughter as well. If the family’s status falls, the future of a beauty admired by all will be bleak. At least, if we send her into marriage while the family is strong, our daughter will be treated well even in Dimitri.’

He swallowed his pain.

This was reality.

To solve the problem, he had to make decisions even if they were painful.

The meeting ended.

Once the marriage with Dimitri was finalized, they would hire mercenaries and prepare for war.

No matter how strong Barco’s military power was in the northeast, Dimitri’s support could not be ignored.

But then…

Bang!

“Lord! Something terrible has happened!” A soldier rushed into the study.

The news he delivered to Lord Lawrence was truly shocking.

“Is that really true?”

“Yes.”

“Ahem.”

He couldn’t believe it.

Roman Dimitri.

It was said that a foolish son is never born from an able father, but according to rumors, Roman was an arrogant bastard.

But for him to have wiped out the Blood Fang…

It didn’t make sense.

First of all, he couldn’t believe that Roman possessed such power. Wasn’t the Blood Fang a decentralized organization whose base was unknown? If their true form was so easily revealed, the Blood Fang would not have survived until now.

He asked for more details, from beginning to end, what the soldier had seen.

“When Roman Dimitri visited the territory, there was nothing special. Since he was going to marry Miss Flora, we let him enter the territory without any suspicion. But about an hour later, I was returning to the barracks for a guard shift when I saw Roman grabbing a man’s hair in Lawrence Square and dragging him away. And that man was Ben Miles, the leader of the Blood Fang. I don’t know what happened between Roman and the Blood Fang, but Roman announced the Blood Fang’s crimes in front of the Lawrence territory residents and killed him on the spot.”

It was beyond common sense.

It was shocking.

The extermination of the Blood Fang was certainly something to be pleased about, but this issue was not simple.

Even though Roman was Flora’s fiancé, he had acted rashly while handling matters in Lawrence’s territory.

Sure enough, Doppler said from the side, “Lord, he killed someone in your land without asking! We can’t just ignore this!” His voice was firm.

Lord Lawrence’s expression changed.

What was the priority?

That was not important now.

His son-in-law.

He wanted to see the face of Roman Dimitri, who had dealt with the Blood Fang, in person.

“Summon Roman Dimitri here immediately. I will see him and hear the details of this matter.”

It wasn’t long before Roman was brought in.

Since Lawrence’s guards had secured Roman’s custody, he appeared in the study as soon as he was summoned.

Roman was not alone.

Lord Lawrence was surprised to see that the Knight Commander Jonathan accompanied him.

‘Indeed.’ This incident was not something that could be resolved by individual strength. Judging from the fact that the commander of the Dimitri Knights had accompanied him, it seemed that they had dealt with the Blood Fang with their help.

“Roman Dimitri, I greet Lord Lawrence.”

“Skip the formalities. Explain the whole story. Why did you come all the way to Lawrence to do such a thing?” Lord Lawrence asked sharply.

Roman’s expression was calm.

Even with the gazes of those around him, his voice did not waver.

“The incident began a few days ago. The Blood Fang was hurting innocent Dimitri territory residents, and I killed them. Then the Blood Fang targeted my life. While I was traveling, I was attacked by the Blood Fang, and I decided I couldn’t let them continue. That is the whole story of the incident that occurred in Lawrence. Hearing that they had a base in Lawrence, I attacked the place and captured their leader, Ben Miles.”

“What I want to ask is about the rules in Lawrence. You have no right to kill anyone here.”

“I know.”

Rights.

It was justification, and Roman had no intention of crossing the line, until he learned one thing while finding out the information about the Blood Fang.

“But I doubted whether Lawrence would properly punish the Blood Fang. Ben Miles is not an unknown figure. Although he wasn’t known to be the leader of the Blood Fang, he was quite famous in Lawrence for all sorts of crimes. But how has Lawrence dealt with it so far? They stood by and watched. Despite Ben Miles being caught in several incidents, he has been released on bail several times. That’s why I made a decision. Because I couldn’t trust Lawrence’s methods, I had to handle this myself.”

“How dare this guy!” Doppler shouted, his face turning red with anger.

“Young Master!” Jonathan was flustered and tried to stop Roman.

The opponent was Lord Lawrence, a viscount family higher than the Dimitri family.

But even with such a figure in front of him, Roman did not admit his guilt but instead blamed Lawrence.

Roman said, “To be honest, I’m a little disappointed. I thought you would congratulate me for dealing with the Blood Fang, but I never imagined you would question me about rules. I have solved the Blood Fang, which was a problem not only in Lawrence but also in the entire northeast. To solve the problem that Lawrence was ignoring, I got my hands dirty myself. I ask you, Lord, did I really do wrong?”

Lord Lawrence’s expression hardened.

He looked at Doppler.

“Is that true?”

“What do you mean…?” Doppler stammered.

“That Ben Miles was already a known figure. I asked if that was really true.”

Doppler was flustered.

Ben Miles.

He knew too.

He didn’t know he was the leader of the Blood Fang, but he had heard the name because he was so infamous.

Doppler’s hesitant reaction gave the answer.

Lord Lawrence’s gaze turned to Roman, who was looking up at him.

“I will not make this a problem. Although you have no right to kill anyone in Lawrence’s territory, if we had done our job properly, this problem would not have happened. I will give you a reward for this later.”

“Thank you.”

“You may leave now.”

“Yes.”

Roman bowed his head.

Jonathan, who had felt like he was walking on thin ice, hurriedly followed Roman out of the study.

The moment they left and the door closed…

Tap.

Lord Lawrence smiled. “Hahaha, he hit us right where it hurts. That guy is Roman Dimitri?”

The son of a tiger is indeed a tiger.

Looking at Roman’s confident attitude, Lord Lawrence thought about him as his future son-in-law.

“That’s right. A man should have such confidence. A successor who gets his hands dirty for the sake of innocent territory residents… Who calls that guy a simpleton? A very handsome man.”

He laughed.

Roman’s words were clever, and he should have been punished. But he couldn’t do that.

Thinking that a man like Roman was his son-in-law, he felt affection for him, and laughter burst from his lips.

The eyes that looked straight at him, the confident attitude, it was wonderful.

The image that had been miserable when he heard the words ‘Dimitri’s simpleton’ was completely different when he saw him in person.

“Lord, still, we cannot simply ignore this matter,” Doppler said.

“Is there anything in the world that cannot be done? He is the guy who will soon be Flora’s husband. A man needs such decisiveness and execution to do great things. And he didn’t kill innocent citizens. He dealt with the Blood Fang who had been tormenting us, so shouldn’t we congratulate him as he said?”

“But…”

“Let’s just move on with this matter. I feel very good. I never knew Roman would be a man suitable for Flora.”

He was excited.

The political marriage with Dimitri always made Lord Lawrence’s heart ache, but it was different now.

Flora…

He wanted to see his daughter. He wanted to tell her how wonderful Roman was.

“Bring Flora here right now.”

He didn’t know until then that the marriage of the two families was already ruined.