"Let me tell you why I can sit here."
Holding the dripping, bloodied ashtray, Yang Pan thought, No wonder Little White Tiger grabs a weapon at the drop of a hat. This feels damn good.
Sometimes, when you refused to be reasonable, other people became reasonable instead.
"Because I come from the Dragon Kingdom's Yang Family, because I'm its eldest legitimate son, because my father is Yang Huaimin."
"Because in the Dragon Kingdom, my family can cover the sky with one hand."
"Because one order from my father could turn your entire Korean Peninsula into a graveyard."
"I... Yang Pan, was born into wealth and privilege, born above others, while you Koreans are inferior dogs."
"In the Dragon Kingdom, the Yang Family is a powerful household. Outside the Dragon Kingdom, the Yang Family is more badass than a small country."
"I betrayed the Dragon Kingdom because I refuse to submit to the Guan Family, because I want to put the Yang Family on the throne."
That last sentence was meant for everyone to hear.
It gave everyone present a reason they absolutely could not reject.
Because in the West, bloodlines... really mattered.
In this supposedly democratic country, even legislative seats were hereditary family affairs, and great families monopolized each region's political resources generation after generation.
In the Dragon Kingdom, no one cared about your bloodline, because kings, nobles, generals, and ministers were not born to their stations.
Among the people of the Dragon Kingdom who had survived, whose ancestors had never included someone badass?
But in the West... even fucking pet dogs had to have pedigrees.
Ridiculous.
Yang Pan's seemingly casual words aligned perfectly with their values.
Because given his position, there really was no reason for him to betray the Dragon Kingdom, unless... he wanted to take the throne