Herald of Steel

The bad blood between Lapitus and Petrino was an open secret to most of the high-level officers.

They did not exactly know all the details, for instance, Petrino forcefully taking Ladt Felicia was kept strictly under wraps by both sides, but Petrino did make his dislike for Lapitus no secret.

 He very publicly hated Lapitus for snatching the post that should have belonged to him.

He hated him for the trust his father had in him, jealous that he was not given even a hundredth of it.

And he hated Lapitus because he could see his father always looked at Lapitus, like the son he always wished he had.

It was also one of the big reasons why Lord Ponticus had even married his daughter to Lapitus in the first place.

And all this subsequently worked to make Petrino go green with envy, feeling that if Lapitus had not existed, all the glory, honor and adoration would belong to him.

So to that effect, Petrino tried to find all kinds of subtle ways to butt heads with Lapitus and attempted to make his life as miserable as possible without earning the ire of his father.

An endeavor that was clear to anyone with even decent insight.

Hence, now that the two men had come to the end culmination point of their journey, Lapitus's request to have a bit of alone time with this hateful man came as a surprise to nobody.

They would easily imagine what Lapitus likely planned to do with him.

"Sure. We will be just outside. Call any time if you need anything." Thus the men were more than happy to let their leader have his privacy, even subtly alluding to the fact that they would be happy to assist in any grizly acts.

So leaving this offer on the table, the men soon left, even politely closing the door behind them as they vacated, both to shield themselves from Lapitus's acts, as well as to shield Lapitus from their planned acts.

Because they also were very expectant about the reward Lapitus promised them.

Those two beauties that were with Petrino appeared to be quite the catch and the men could not wait to get in a bit of tussle with them.

Hence, the trio quickly caught up to the two terrified ladies and soon put them to serving the three, the men showing no reluctance at doing such acts so openly in front of others.

While back in the room, only two men remained- the fully armored Lapitus and the bare Petrino.

"Yo… Lapitus you dog! Do you know what are you doing! Stop this immediately! Colluding with the enemy… how can you call yourself a Tibian!"

No matter how slow Petrino might have been, he was still not that slow.

The sudden barging in, the unanswered calls for his help, and the tense atmosphere all painted a very clear picture of what Lapitus was doing.

And realizing the predicament he was in, at first, Petrino tried to play himself as his lord, ordering Lapitus to cease.

But Petrino might as well as farted instead of talking and it would have moved Lapitus just as much.

In response to Petrino's blattering babbles, Lapitus simply slowly approached the bed, sword in hand, and pointed directly towards the still nude man.

He did not bother to say anything regarding this.

There was nothing to say.

As for Petrino, seeing his words have no effect, his desperation then starts to increase.

"Wait! Remember your oath! You are sworn to defend Thesalie. You are sworn to defend me!"

He loudly exclaimed, waving his arms desperately around as he pleaded.

"...." 

But Lapitus still said nothing.

If this had been before today, perhaps those words would have knocked a bit on his conscience.

But after seeing how Petrino and the nobles under him treat the memory of the dead, including the former city lord, Lapitus had no qualms about betraying his oath.

Those that were worthy of his oath were no longer here and those still alive were the leftover dregs who did not deserve his blade. 

So seeing Lapitus move toward him without missing a single beat even after this, Petrino understood he was not going to leave his room alive.

After which in a hysterical bout of tirade, he let out roaring, 

"You bastard… I always knew you were a traitor. Traitor to all of us. To our family. My fahter… *smack*!" 

Petrino did not get to finish that entire curse as at the instant mention of his father, he was immediately hit squarely on the jaw by Lapitus's strong jab.

"I don't mind you badmouthing me, you stupid idiot. But never bring up master, you waste of meat and skin!"

These were Lapitus's first words to Petrino and the way he said them was perhaps filled with all the disdain and disgust in the world.

To an onlooker, it might have even seemed like Lapitus felt dirty simply talking to him.

While Petrino, being hit on the face, possibly for the first time in his life, suddenly went mute, simply rubbing his swollen cheekbone and looking at Lapitus with a terrified face.

It was only with this strike that he began to truly appreciate the situation he was in.

"What… what do you want? I…" 

Then picking up the courage, he stammered such.

Now he was starting to ask the right questions.

"What do I want! After what you did to me for all these years, you ask me what I want?" 

But this simple question suddenly got a huge reaction for Lapitus.

Apparently, this was a trigger point for him who slightly lost control of his emotions at this point.

All those years of bottled up frustration came rushing right out.

And seeing this menacing, twisted face, with enraged eyes, Petrino cleverly went quiet so as to not provoke the guy.

"Felicia! Why did you do such a thing to Felicia? She is your own sister! Why did you hurt her like that?" 

And then, finally, after literally more than a decade, Lapitus was at last able to confront the man who hurt his wife with this question.

A question he had dreamed of almost every day of his life since that day asking, but never thought would have had the chance to.

Hence, when the chance suddenly presented itself, Lapitus was unable to keep a steady voice and shouted these words out in almost a maddening tone.

"Hurt Felicia? When did I hurt her?" 

But in much contrast to Lapitus's loud shout and his tone pointing to an obvious incident, Petrino seemed completely oblivious to what the man before him was alluding to.

Something that incensed Lapitus to the point his blood boiled, 

*Smack!* and he could not resist giving another punch to that oblivious face with all his might, making the man tumble over the sheets and causing him to groan in pain.

Petrino did not understand what was so wrong about what he said.

While Lapitus actually did not think Petrino was lying.

The stupid man was pretty easy to read and looking at his face, it seemed that he had simply forgotten about the incident.

After all, to Lapitus that day might have been one of the most important days in his life.

But to Petrino, it was only Tuesday.

Forcefully taking women was probably as significant as having an afternoon snack to the man.

Why would he remember something so insignificant in his eyes that happened literally eleven years ago?

And as Lapitus came to understand this, it worked to make him even madder.

He was glad he had asked the men to leave and give him some time alone with Petrino.

Because this way he could beat the crap of this guy over things that Lapitus would rather not share with others.

"R@pe her! Eleven years ago! Why did you r@pe her at that party? How could you forget *smack*!" 

He then screeched at the top of his voice, his spit peppering out of his mouth as he then landed another punch, this time right on the guts. 

" Aghhh… Rape her? Eleven years ago? I r@ped Felicia?" 

And it was only with this reminder that those memories came flooding back to Petrino, as a look of enlightenment surfaced on his bruised face.

"Hahaha…." But instead of showing emotions like regret, fear, or even lust, Petrino simply let out an almost maddening cackle.

"Ra… r@pe her? Haha, I r@ped Felicia? Hahahahaha…." The man simply laughed out loud, like he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Hahhaaha," And he continued to laugh like his head was about to roll off.

While Lapitus, along with being very angry, was also confused.

'What is so funny about that?' He wondered.

The fact that Petrino violated Felicia was open knowledge between the truly higher ups.

So Petrino's outburst seemed very weird.

It was not like he was accusing him of this out of the blue.

"Ah yes! I remember now! I was too drunk so I forgot. That was the charade she wanted me to play. Right, right….hehe." 

It took a while for Petrino to regain his composure, and once he did, he began by saying this, his head nodding like a chicken.

But the ominous way he said those words inexplicably made Lapitus's heart skip a beat.

'She? Who is she?' He wondered.

And though he did not why, one very particularly familiar face surface suddenly surfaced in his mind at soon as he heard Petrino speak.

A face that should have no business being there- his wife's!