The Divine Supreme

Chapter 8

Remus’ body began to react illogically. He leapt away from her, clasping the quilt tightly around his torso. “Stay back!”

Curse that old man, Tyson!

Jean burst into laughter at his silliness. “Haha, you’re adorable! Lucky for you, I don’t bite. But hey, why don’t you join me for an event this evening? You can’t refuse. Think of it as repayment for beating up my guards.”

Remus agreed. He didn’t have any plans in Neptuna tonight. “So can you leave now?”

“Nope,” Jean teased. “I still want to sleep with you. Come over here and let me feel you…”

Remus swiftly escaped from her grasp and left the room.

He later went to Neptunus Equestrian Race Tracks. (Might as well. He didn’t want to risk losing his virginity back at Imperial Villa, and he had nowhere else to go.)

“Did you hear that Ms. Lotus is hosting a press conference tonight?”

“I heard she had come to Neptuna weeks ago to secretly observe the market and potential partners here. She’ll be announcing who she chose as her partner tonight!”

“I envy whoever gets to be that lucky person!”

Several people discussed this among themselves. Among them, Ben Stuart stood proud and tall. He said, “If my calculations are correct, your family will be the ones Ms. Lotus partners with, Miranda.”

“Mm.” Miranda stared straight ahead, neither smiling nor saying much. She wasn’t nicknamed the Ice Queen for nothing.

A devious thought ran through Ben’s mind. He’d see just how much longer she could act cold when he finally got her in his bed!

“Oh, by the way, that Cosby guy left yesterday, right?” he asked, a polite smile still on his face.

Ben himself had been ushered out of the Bowen family’s house when Remus was kicked out, much to his disappointment.

Still, Miranda responded flatly, “Mhm.”

Ben gritted his teeth before adding, “I don’t know what background that hooligan has, Miranda, but I know he doesn’t deserve you. He probably just wanted to blackmail your parents for some money.”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to talk behind other people’s backs?”

Everyone turned around to see who was talking.

Ben’s face fell the moment he saw it was Remus. He’d thought Miranda had invited him to the race tracks to thank him, so seeing Remus here too was a real punch in the gut.

“Who are you?”

“How dare you talk to Mr. Stuart like that?”

“Are you looking for an ass-beating, jerk?”

Ben’s friends delivered a flurry of jabs.

Remus rolled his eyes, focusing on Ben alone. “Cat got your tongue? So either your mother never did teach you, or you didn’t have a mother in the first place.”

Everyone’s faces paled the moment he said this because Remus had pushed on one of Ben’s worst buttons. He didn’t have a mother growing up.

“I’ll kill you!” Ben roared, lunging at Remus with a horsewhip in hand. No one had dared talk about his mother with such disrespect in years.

Miranda cried, “Don’t!”

She needed to uncover Remus’ true identity, so she couldn’t risk him leaving because of Ben’s silly tantrum.

“Get him!”

“Make him beg for mercy!” Ben’s friends cried one after another.

Wham!

Ben was sent flying not more than three seconds later. He landed heavily on the floor under everyone’s stunned gazes. None of them had even seen Remus make his move.

Remus silently tucked his foot back. He had refrained from making a move against Ben Stuart yesterday only for Miranda’s sake. He couldn’t really be blamed if Ben got what was coming to him.

He turned to Miranda. “So, how do we say a proper goodbye?”

Miranda was still in shock about what just happened. She didn’t expect Remus to be this skilled in martial arts. “You really are a brute. Only low-class people use violence as an answer to things.”

Remus scoffed. “Who are you to divide people into classes? Plus, he started it.”

Miranda was speechless. This man was as dense as a rock.

“Miranda’s right⁠—violence is low-class!” Ben choked out, hand clutching his chest where Remus had kicked him. He knew he couldn’t defeat Remus in combat, so he had to regain his pride some other way. “Why don’t we race, Cosby? We’re already on the race tracks!

“If I win, you have to let me ride you like a horse for ten minutes!”

Remus scowled. “Shut up, stupid. Or I’ll kick you again.”

He had had his fill with the one kick, but he couldn’t promise he’d hold back if Ben didn’t stop yapping.

“You!” Ben gasped, then growled, “Get my prize horse out from the stables, now! I dare you to race me, Cosby. Pick any horse you want from the stables!”

“He’s never ridden a horse, I bet. Look at the tattered clothes he’s wearing.”

“Equestrianism is a rich man’s hobby, something he’s never known, I’m sure.”

The girls among his group of friends snickered.

Miranda added, “I think you should race him, to prove that you’re more than just violent…and also that you’re not a coward.”

She wanted to see him embarrass himself too, given he had clapped back at her just now.

“I don’t care what you think, just what I think. And I think there’s no need to race.” Remus shrugged. She really was a silly girl, he thought. He turned to leave, disappointed that she had wasted his time by asking him to come here.

“Stay right there!” Ben yelled. He couldn’t just let Remus leave like this. He tossed over a platinum card from his pocket, calling out, “There’s two million dollars in here. You can have it all to yourself if you race me!”

He had learned to bait others with money, humiliate them, then secretly get his money back later. It was always a win-win situation for him.

Remus held up the card. He wasn’t short of money, but he wouldn’t turn down free cash.

“Alright, I’ll race you. But what do I get if you lose?” he asked with a smile.

“If I lose?” Ben sneered, climbing onto his now-ready horse. “If I lose, I’ll let you ride on my back for ten minutes, just like a horse. Deal?”

He didn’t plan to fulfill that promise. He couldn’t lose, after all. Equestrianism was his thing, and he had long mastered its techniques. Plus, he had trained his prize horse for three long years!

“Deal.” Remus nodded.

Miranda stepped in. “I’ll be the judge of this race.” She wanted to see just how Remus would make a fool of himself.

She also knew that Ben’s prize horse was at its prime, and ready to be a stud⁠—ready to sire a lineage of strong, sturdy foals. That meant its strength and capability right now were within the highest rankings i\on the race tracks, and that Remus wouldn’t be able to compare no matter which horse he chose!

“Anyone who fails to honor their deal will be shunned from the community and exiled from Neptuna!”

“I like this deal!”

“I support Miranda as the judge of this race!”

“That’s a heavy price to pay for not fulfilling the deal!”

Ben grinned. He knew Miranda liked him. “Pick any horse you like and I’ll get it for you.”

“Nah.” Remus huffed. “I’d rather we just honor our losing promises.”

With that, he snapped his fingers.