THE SOVEREIGN GOD'S MORTAL VENGEANCE!

7.

"Still daring to talk back? Capture this ungrateful brat and bring him to the living room!" Vyan ordered the remaining personal guards.

The guard stepped forward, grabbing Lucas's wrist to force him to comply.

Actually, Lucas could have beaten up that personal guard with his eyes closed. But he did not want to reveal who he was. That made him silently accept the slightly rough treatment.

"Let go," Lucas faked as the black-suited guards behind Richard moved forward to grab both of his shoulders.

Lucas's eyes stared coldly at the guards who hadn't even managed to touch his clothes. The invisible pressure radiating from that gaze caused the two trained guards to freeze for a moment, swallowing hard as their throats suddenly went dry.

"I have my own legs to walk with. You don't need to trouble yourselves dragging a piece of trash who will soon become a corpse if you keep daring to touch me," Lucas continued calmly, yet every word he spoke was laden with absolute threat.

He walked past Vyan just like that, stepping ahead of the Head of the Wine Family upright and calmly, as if the magnificent corridors of the Wine Estate were his own palace courtyard.

Seeing this... Vyan widened his eyes slightly, shocked by the natural arrogance he had never seen before from his youngest son. Gritting his teeth to hold back his anger, Richard followed behind along with the bodyguards.

'Why does this brat feel like he has changed so much compared to before?'

Several minutes later, they arrived at the family meeting room. The classically styled room was dominated by thick mahogany interior, with dim lighting from a crystal chandelier that gave a heavy and oppressive feel.

SLAM!

In the center of the room, Vyan walked toward his desk, then turned around and slammed the thick double wooden doors until it echoed to every corner of the room. The middle-aged man stared fiercely at his second son, his gaze looking as if he wanted to swallow Lucas alive.

"You have truly lost your mind, Lucas," Vyan snarled, his voice shaking with restrained fury.

With a rough motion, Vyan pulled open his desk drawer and took out a jet-black rattan cane—the family disciplinary tool usually used to inflict heavy physical punishment on disobedient family members.

"Father brought me here, is it because Father wants to punish me like before?" Lucas asked calmly.

"You're not accepting it? Clearly, you did wrong today!"

"Did wrong? Why didn't Father investigate first before acting... The current Lucas will not accept it if he has to take punishment!"

Even though it was the first time, hearing Lucas speak with such audacity, Vyan tried to lower his emotional ego.

"If so, please name one reason why I shouldn't break every bone in your body today, Lucas!" Vyan snapped, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the black rattan cane.

"Because you not only disrupted the peace of this estate, but you also dared to injure Edward, the primary heir of the Wine Family! What makes trash like you feel entitled to attack him to such a severe degree?!"

Vyan's voice echoed through the silent meeting room, but Lucas was completely unfazed. There was not the slightest ripple of anxiety or defensive gesture. The youth just stood tall, crossing his arms over his chest with a relaxed expression that felt deeply dismissive.

The corners of Lucas's lips lifted slightly, forming a crooked smile full of cold despair.

"Attacking?" Lucas muttered softly, yet his voice sounded so clear inside the room.

He tilted his head slightly, staring straight into Richard's pupils without a shred of fear.

"How strange. Why are you suddenly so concerned about justice and reasons, Father?"

Vyan raised an eyebrow, his anger surging even higher upon hearing that extraordinarily insolent tone.

"What do you mean, you unfilial brat?!"

"For over a decade I have lived in this squalid dwelling..." Lucas stepped forward one pace, ignoring the rattan in Richard's hand.

"...Edward and his dogs tortured me almost every day. They beat me, cursed my late mother, and even left me starving in that dilapidated room until I was almost dead."

Lucas glanced at the black rattan in his father's hand with a mocking look.

"When I was the one bleeding, when I was the one whose bones were broken by Edward's doing... where were you, Vyan? Did you ever come carrying that rattan and ask why Edward tortured me to such a severe degree?"

That calm yet piercing question slammed into the air of the room like a hard slap. Vyan's face instantly turned flushed red, caught between shock that the son who was usually silent now dared to call him directly by name, and fury because his perspective had been cornered so thoroughly.

"You..." Vyan instantly pointed at Lucas's face with his rattan, his breathing heavy.

"How dare you mention my name without manners! You are merely a useless, cursed child! It is only natural that your brother disciplines you!"

"Disciplines?" Lucas chuckled softly, a cold chuckle that made the hairs on the backs of the bodyguards standing behind Vyan stand on end once again.

"If torturing and breaking one's spirit is called discipline, then what I just did to Edward... was merely returning a small lesson. And honestly, I am still quite generous for not taking his life on the spot."

WHACK!

However, Vyan swung his rattan toward the wooden desk in front of him. The sound echoed, causing the Wine family servants who were working to start gathering toward the source of the sound. A murmur of comments could be heard.

"Oh-oh my goodness, how pitiful... Is-Is Young Master Lucas going to be punished again?!"

"Hey, keep your voice down! No matter what, he's just a bastard child accidentally born from a maid!"

"Bu-But look at Lucas's expression... His calm gaze, his aura doesn't feel like the loser young master of the Wine family anymore!"

Although whispered comments could be faintly heard, Vyan quickly spoke up.

"All of that is because you are a loser! And a coward! As the prospective heir of the Wine family, you must be brave! Not always hiding when trouble comes!"

A faint smile was carved at the corner of Lucas's lips after hearing that brief explanation.

"Brave? Wasn't my action this time already considered a brave act? Seeing the way you judge me every time without mercy... Do you still deserve to be my father?"