Zachary let out a cold snort. “You better make sure there isn’t a next time. Everyone seated here has earned their place—except you. You’re just a cheap nobody who doesn’t belong at this table.”

He added, “Get on your knees and pour drinks for Mr. Lloyd and Ms. Stevens.”

Ruth stared at him in disbelief. Was he seriously asking her to kneel now, all for Andrew? Was he really worth this level of humiliation?

Ultimately, she gritted her teeth and dropped to her knees like a servant – silently pouring drinks as ordered.

Aspen watched, wanting to say something but stopped herself. She could not help but shoot Andrew a look, annoyed he had not said a word to stop it. Letting someone kneel like that was seriously inhumane.

However, Andrew just sipped his drink quietly, as if he had not seen anything. He had no intention of stepping in – not after how Ruth had acted earlier. If anything, this was just karma being served cold.

Zachary downed half his glass and looked across the table. “All these years… we thought you were–”

Andrew smirked. “Dead, right?”

Zachary paused, then laughed awkwardly. “At first, yeah. That’s what everyone believed. But later… no one dared say it anymore. Anyone else could’ve died – but you? No one ever truly believed you would.”

Andrew waved his hand. “That’s all in the past. Come on – drink.”

Zachary immediately raised his glass respectfully. Back in the day, he would not have even dreamed of drinking at the same table as this man – not because of fear, but because he simply was not qualified.

Andrew set his glass down and asked, “And you? How’d you end up here? Opening a restaurant and living on scraps? With the record you had, and the people above who favored you, shouldn’t you be a colonel by now?”

Zachary shook his head. “After you left, everything fell apart. If this were back then, yeah – my goal was the battlefield, to earn my stars. I wanted to be a general and lead real campaigns.

“But now? You’re gone, the fire’s gone, and the rest of us just scattered. This restaurant is just a way to pass the time. I ended up joining the southern martial arts world, made it to ninth on the Underworld Index… been drifting ever since.”

Andrew sneered. “Ninth place? And you’re proud of that? Please. That’s worthless. Don’t you dare say you know me unless you crack the top three.”

Zachary’s face flushed with shame. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I haven’t been slacking, I swear. I’ve been trying. But not everyone’s like you – crushing names on the Titan List like it’s child’s play.”

Their conversation was not hushed or hidden, and every word rang loud and clear in the bar’s stillness.

Ruth and Aspen heard every single word.

Ruth could barely process what she was hearing.

Her man – Zachary Fischer – ranked ninth on the Underworld Index, a figure that made most men in the capital shiver. Yet, Andrew scoffed at that ranking.

Who the hell was this man?

On the other hand, Aspen felt like her world was flipping upside down. She was being crushed under wave after wave of revelation.

Andrew was not some nobody from Jayrodale. He knew Zachary, and he did not even blink at someone ranked ninth in the Underworld Index.

Moreover, they were casually talking about ranks like colonel and general – military-level honors. This could only mean one thing – Andrew must have come from the military. However, what shook her even more was Zachary’s last sentence, which said Andrew had already been tearing through names on the Titan List.

The Titan List was Holtrien’s most exclusive martial authority ranking, known to represent the strongest of the strong. Her mind could not even fathom it.