The Return of the Cannon Fodder Trillion Heiress - Chapter 1031

Capítulo 1031: Chapter 1031 Hera To The Rescue 5

But at this moment, Zen couldn’t care less about what the pot-bellied man thought. He simply said what was on his mind. After all, where did this old man even get the confidence to assume Zen would use Hera to appease someone like him?

Did he think that highly of himself? Hera’s toenail was already more than this man deserved in his entire lifetime, yet he was here daydreaming in broad daylight.

So, calling him mentally unstable wasn’t even harsh in Zen’s eyes; it was simply stating the truth. He stood there with his hands planted on his hips, looking every bit like a sharp-tongued shrew locked in a verbal fight with an utterly unreasonable person, and he didn’t regret a single word he said.

“You—! You!!!” The pot-bellied man jabbed a trembling finger at Zen, his face turning beet-red while his other hand clutched the back of his head. It was obvious his blood pressure had skyrocketed from rage.

Zen, however, only let out a sharp, arrogant scoff. He lifted his chin high, looking down at the man with blatant mockery, as if his expression alone was saying, ‘Even if you drop dead in front of me, what exactly can you do to me?’

If earlier, Zen was fearless simply because of his grandfather’s influence and because he knew he had done nothing wrong, now his courage had doubled. Hera was standing right behind him, his cousin, his backing, his shield. With her here, he knew that no matter what storm broke out, she would support him without hesitation.

Even Athena, after hearing how formidable Zen was in verbal sparring, found herself seeing him in a new light, and she couldn’t help being amused. She was already a verbal Gatling gun on her own, but with Zen beside her? Anyone unlucky enough to catch their ire would suffer a double defeat and probably drop dead from sheer anger. The thought alone made her laugh uncontrollably.

“Wait, what? Who’s your cousin?!” Athena’s head snapped to the side, suddenly catching something she’d almost missed. She replayed Zen’s words in her mind and only then realized what he had just called Hera, and Hera herself only just registered it in her mind too.

In the heat of the moment, she had nearly brushed it aside, but if Athena hadn’t called it out, it might have gone unnoticed.

Zhane and Rafael, who had been silent until now, also turned to Zen, their curiosity piqued.

Zen, standing in the center, suddenly felt like all eyes were burning into him. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he realized, mid-verbal sparring, mid-triumph over the pot-bellied man, that he had let slip a crucial detail: he had called Hera his cousin.

Something that was supposed to remain secret for now, known only to him and his grandfather, since Hera was still hiding her true identity.

“I… uh…” Zen stammered, his eyes darting nervously toward Hera, guilt written all over his face. But with so many eyes and ears around, how could he possibly explain their connection without exposing her secret? One wrong word, and her identity would be out in the open.

Seeing how flustered Zen was, still trying desperately to protect his little secret, the sharp ones around them, especially those already aware of Hera’s true identity, like Zhane, Rafael, and Athena, caught on immediately.

They wisely decided to drop the questioning for now, choosing instead to deal with the pot-bellied man first, attend Logan’s debut concert to show their support, and return to Zen’s slip of the tongue later.

Hera, after staring at Zen’s sweat-drenched face long enough, finally averted her gaze and fixed her attention on the pot-bellied man.

“Sir, as you can see, I am not lacking a man in my life, and I would sincerely appreciate it if you could relearn how to respect others before expecting respect yourself. I do apologize for my cousin if he spoke so bluntly just now and offended you; he is still young and lacks control over his mouth. I hope you can be magnanimous enough to let a young man off the hook.”

Though her words sounded polite and conciliatory, each sentence was laced with sharp barbs. It subtly placed the blame squarely on the pot-bellied man for his narrow-mindedness and audacity, making him appear rude and disrespectful to everyone around, hardly unfair, given that he had openly tried to offer Athena and Hera to be his women in full view of the crowd.

Although Hera’s words appeared to offer reconciliation and a way for the pot-bellied man to save face, in truth, she was sending a very clear message to everyone else.

She was exposing him as narrow-minded for quarreling with a young man less than half his age, openly pointing out that he lacked the ability to respect others, and making it clear that it was entirely his fault if no one respected him in return.

Her reasoning was sound, as elders should set an example for the younger generation, yet he was the one setting a poor one, something detrimental to the community. Anyone listening would inevitably side with Hera and quietly criticize the pot-bellied man.

And asking him to be magnanimous was, in effect, another sting. After all, Zen had just ruthlessly shredded him verbally; if the man didn’t lash out at Zen, he would appear powerless, his anger unresolved, and his pride wounded.

Yet Hera was now asking him to pardon the very person who had metaphorically stabbed him deep enough to land him in a hospital, essentially to serve tea to the one who wronged him. It was a verbal masterstroke: polite on the surface, but utterly humiliating underneath.

The pot-bellied man felt his blood pressure spike even higher, so furious that words failed him. All he could do was glare at Zen and Hera, seething in frustration. But then, as his eyes fell on Hera’s serene and beautiful face, a strange mix of emotions churned within him, part awe, part irritation.

His momentary distraction was shattered when he suddenly felt an intense, almost murderous gaze bore into him.

He lifted his eyes and froze. Rafael stood there, looking every bit the ruthless Don of a mafia family. A shiver ran from the soles of his feet up to his scalp, the weight of a predator’s scrutiny pressing down on him.

It was as if he were already caught in the jaws of a tiger. Rafael wasn’t just anyone; he was the current CEO of Star Ocean Entertainment and the young master of the Briley family.

And that wasn’t all. Beside Rafael stood Zhane, the young director of Providence Everett Medical Center and the heir to the prestigious Everett family, hailed as a genius doctor.

They say you can make many enemies, but never a doctor, because a doctor holds life itself in their hands. Suddenly, the pot-bellied man realized the full weight of the forces aligned against him, and an icy dread crawled through his body.

Although he was powerful and wealthy, in front of these two men, he couldn’t help but swallow nervously. Handling one of them might have been possible, but two? He knew there was no way he could walk away unscathed.

And it wasn’t just that, they were close with some of the most influential figures he knew: the young Minister Dave Carson, financial prodigy and Midas Hand Luke Greyson, international action star Xavier Montague, and the recently appointed CEO of the Montague family’s empire.

These men had a reputation for banding together like a cluster of unstoppable power, backing each other against anyone who dared oppose them. He realized, with a sick twist in his stomach, that he had just made a catastrophic mistake; that he was messing with the wrong crowd.

“Y-Young Master Briley… Y-Young Master Everett… I-it’s an honor to meet you in person…” the pot-bellied man stammered, his voice faltering. Until now, his attention had been completely absorbed by Hera’s beauty; he had assumed everyone accompanying her was mere bodyguards or assistants.

But who would have expected that the two most powerful young masters in the city were actually serving her, practically like her aides? Even he hadn’t imagined this. As he glanced back at Hera, his covetous gaze softened, replaced by a mix of awe and disbelief, seeing her in an entirely new light.

But even with his fear, his age and position would not allow him to back down. Pride demanded he assert his elder authority, to intimidate and put them in their place. After a tense moment, he regained his composure, flexing his chubby neck and straightening his posture as if doing so could somehow make him as imposing as Rafael and Zhane.

Yet Zhane and Rafael didn’t seem to regard him as a threat at all. Zhane simply leaned down, took the blanket the bodyguard handed him, and gently draped it over Hera’s lap.

“It’ll get colder soon. Let’s not let you catch a cold; it might affect your recovery,” he said softly. His long lashes trembled slightly as Hera’s gaze lingered on his face, so close to her own.

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