Black Online

"I am tired of this disrespect!"

BANG!

Aizen slammed his hands on his sturdy desk, his eyes blazing with anger, and his anger could be felt throughout the air.

’The strength of this man cannot be underestimated. His anger alone is changing the pressure on this room, and if this keeps going, he might actually kill one of the weaker ones.’

Nero thought to himself.

"Explain yourself, Juniper!"

Ronin shouted angrily.

"I-I really don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t sleep with anyone, I swear. That photograph is a fake, a sham!"

Juniper shouted with a trembling tone.

Fang Raon was sitting on the couch with Sebastian, just watching and listening, but for the purpose of acting, Raon pretended to be hurt by the betrayal.

"Fake, you say?"

Aizen laughed coldly, and then he sat down and interlocked his fingers as he let his anger calm down slightly.

He looked around the room.

’It is very possible that it was fake. Who took the photograph and put it on the tree? It was someone who wanted it to be known.

’The reason is unknown, but it could be to ruin the engagement, so it could be either Raon’s or Anna’s doing.’

Aizen thought quickly.

"Let’s say it was fake. Tell everything that happened last night to the last detail. We will listen and come to the final conclusion afterwards."

He said.

"O-Okay... After the party, I was pretty tired, so I headed to my room, but before falling asleep, I had a quick call with a few of my friends.

"I had to tell them about my engagement, so I chatted with them for a while, and then I went to sleep!"

Juniper explained.

"Do you have proof of that call?"

Aizen asked.

"Uhm..."

Juniper awkwardly shifted in the chair, and she then heard her father Ronin say, "Speak!"

"I couldn’t find my phone, and I don’t know where it is. I swear that I put it on the charger before I fell asleep, but it wasn’t there this morning!"

"..."

Aizen’s eyes turned cold, and he then looked across the room at Fang Raon, who was sitting there with a dark look.

"Raon, where were you last night?"

"I was with Lord Nero. We talked, had few drinks, and played a game of chess. I think for like three hours, and I went to sleep around one in the morning."

Fang Raon said.

Everyone turned to Nero to see whether he was speaking the truth, and Nero nodded his wise-looking head.

"I can confirm that."

Nero said.

Knock~ Knock~!!

"Master, we got him!"

A voice came from behind the door, and as Aizen said, "Enter!" the door opened, and two bodyguards dragged in a bruised servant.

He was the male servant in the photograph, and it looked like he had been given quite a beating.

"We found him trying to take a carriage out of the village. Without a doubt, he was trying to escape after his act of treachery was discovered."

One of the bodyguards said.

"YOU BASTARD!"

Aizen’s anger struck the male servant, and it was so strong, so powerful, that the male servant’s nose started bleeding.

"E-eeek!"

The male servant put his forehead on the ground, clearly fearing for his life, as his body trembled uncontrollably.

’I know Juniper and the male servant actually didn’t have any sexual relationship, and it was just a fake scenario that Anna created.

’I am not sure whether the lie will hold if both Juniper and the male servants say that nothing happened.’

Fang Raon thought to himself.

"You better answer fucking honestly to every question I am asking of you. If you don’t, I swear you won’t leave this room alive!"

Aizen roared.

"I-I-I will!"

The male servant shouted.

"Did you have sex with this young woman here last night?!"

Aizen pointed towards the pale-faced Juniper, who looked at the male servant, and remembered him from the photograph.

It was obvious that nothing happened, so she expected him to clear her name.

"Y-Yes!"

The male servant shouted.

At that instant, the temperature in the room turned chilly cold as Nero’s and Ronin’s cold gazes fell upon him and Juniper.

’What?’

Fang Raon was surprised by the answer.

"WHAT?!"

Juniper screamed in shock, and then, she felt like there was a fire raging right behind her as it turned immensely hot.

She turned and saw Aizen’s hellish gaze.

"A fake? A sham? It doesn’t sound like it!"

Aizen roared, and he looked at the male servant with the look of a thousand angry souls, and he demanded:

"Tell me everything that happened last night. NOW!"

"O-Okay... A-at the party, I-I was responsible for catering. I-I did visit the Nero Family’s table a couple of times to give them drinks, and I-I noticed that Lady Juniper was throwing looks in my direction.

"I did nothing of it, especially since she just got engaged to the young master.

"After the party was over, there were some drinks left, so we servants had our own little party in our quarters.

"I had a few too many drinks... I have to admit... and when I got out for some fresh air, Lady Juniper approached me, and I was pretty tipsy, so one thing led to another...

"She asked me to come to her room, so I did, and... the rest happened."

The male servant said.

"LIAR!"

Juniper screamed as she didn’t recall any of that happening, not at all, not a single thing of that story.

With a dark look, Ronin sunk his fingers into his arm, and if he were alone with Juniper, he would’ve already slapped her bloody.

He was well-aware of Juniper’s past of constant lying. Ever since she was young, she had been unable to be truthful.

When she broke a vase, it was always her younger brother’s fault. When she was caught cheating on a test, she always found a way to blame someone else.

Even if the lie was pathetically obvious.

’What is going on? Why is the male servant lying?’

Fang Raon was confused.

"...I am not done giving my judgment yet, but it is not looking good for you. Where is Anna? Where is my daughter?!"

Aizen screamed angrily.

"I’ll go get her."

Sebastian fixed his tie, and he left the study, and it took ten more minutes until he finally returned with Anna.

"What’s going on?"

Anna rubbed her sleepy eyes and yawned, looking confused.

"Where were you last night, Anna?"

Aizen asked coldly.

"Can you be more specific?"

Anna asked.

In the photograph, there was a mechanical clock on the desk. It helped to see when the photograph was taken.

Therefore.

It made it easier to find out who took the photograph.

"Ten minutes past ten."

Aizen said angrily.

"I must’ve been playing Black Online during that time. I had to make a new character, as you know, so I made that last night, and I played... till five in the morning, I believe."

Anna said.

"Any proof of that?"

Aizen asked.

Then, Anna pulled out her phone from her pocket, pulled out her game stats from last night, and showed the phone screen to Aizen.

"..."

Aizen looked at the phone.

It showed that Anna was playing since nine last night all the way to five in the morning without taking any breaks.

’When I made the deal with her, she must’ve booted up Virtual Reality Pod immediately to create these fake stats, then created the scenario, took the photograph, put it on the tree, and snuck back to her room to continue playing.’

Fang Raon thought.

She definitely wasn’t playing since nine, but as long as the Virtual Reality Pod was online, it would still show as if she was playing.

If her game card were installed into the machine.

"I honestly don’t understand what you’re getting at, Aizen. Don’t tell me you actually believe one of your children did all of this.

"We take the responsibility for what Juniper did, and we apologize."

Nero pressed the walking cane against the floor and bowed his head deeply.

"..."

Ronin was angry.

This was the second time that Juniper made his father bow to another Big Family. It was humiliating.

It made their family feel lesser.

He believed that in all of his life, Nero had probably bowed only to his own father before, but now, in just a span of a day, he had bowed twice.

"B-B-B-But... I didn’t do anything!"

Juniper cried out.

SMACK~ Ronin had enough, and he backhanded her across the face, and she collapsed against the bookshelf.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

She cried out in pain.

"I had to get the whole story first. Of course my children didn’t do anything. It was a reckless act of a sloppy woman."

Aizen said coldly.

It would be extremely disrespectful to call a female member of one of the other Big Families a "sloppy woman," but Aizen didn’t care.

He didn’t have any respect towards her.

She had been constantly disrespecting his son and his house.

"We need to discuss the details of this arrangement of ours. I don’t want her to become my future daughter-in-law.

"Everyone else except Nero and Ronin, get the hell out of this room!"

Aizen shouted.

Everyone quickly dispersed, and only Aizen, Nero, and Ronin were left in the room, and the atmosphere was far from nice.