Chapter 134 (1/2)

Chapter 134 Morning Light

First, Roland recorded Prius future treatment on a paper, and he then put down the quill and rubbed his aching neck.

Moments later Nightingale’s voice could be heard from behind, “Your Royal Highness, would you like me to help you relax?”

“There are still more than 30 other prisoners I have to deal with, maybe later.” Roland smiled and nodded in disagreement, he instead took the bell which was placed by the side of his table and rung it a few times. The earlier he finished these chores, the sooner he could start with the Border Town General Education task. After seeing Anna’s new ability, he was now full of expectation of what the future would hold.

The next person who was brought into the hall by his guards was a tall man and Roland’s first impression of him was that he seemed extraordinarily handsome. He wasn’t that far off compared to Carter, who had the face of a male god. Of course, in Roland’s eyes he immediately got negative points for his handsomeness. After glancing on his list, he asked, “Ferlin Eltek?” But there was something different between him and other people, behind his name there were also additional comments, so Roland read further, “Head of the Knights of the Lions, Morning Light, First Knight in the Western Territory… you have so many titles.”

“I do, Your Highness.” Ferlin acknowledged, at the same time going down on one knee.

“I thought people like you, the Head of the Lions would be in the first in line during the charge,” Roland raised his brow. “How were you able to survive?”

“I hid within the rows further behind,” admitted the knight, “so long as your control over your horse and its step size is good enough, you can let it looks like you are in full sprint, while in fact, you haven’t raised the speed by much.”

Roland had never expected that he would get such a straightforward answer, he thought that the other side would try to find some excuse to cover up their own fear of fighting, hiding the fact that they had escaped. It seems that this matter wasn’t as simple as he had at first thought.

Sure, enough, the knight quickly explained his behavior further: “On the morning of the third day of your pursuit, in other words, at the day of the Duke’s death, I have been standing by his side, trying to find an opportunity to kill him, but he still had a large number of guards by his side, which were tightly surrounding him. So, I did not find the right opportunity to start my assault, but fortunately, your troops were able to kill him in the end,” during the whole time he told his story he had held his head down. “Your His Highness, I express my gratitude for what you did, so regardless of where you will send me, I will give it my best.”

The last sentence could be nearly seen as a plea of allegiance, stunning Roland for a moment, when he had finally collected himself he said: “Stand up and explain it to me further, in the end, what has happened between you and the Duke?”

“As you command, Your Highness. My wife, Irene, was originally a civilian who worked at a well-known theater in the stronghold. We met each other on a lucky encounter and we immediately fell in Love. I had hoped to marry her, but my father and mother did not support the wedding. So, I had to leave the territory, and rent a room on a farm near the stronghold. That was also the place where we had held the wedding. However, shortly after our marriage, Irene finally got the opportunity for her first formal performance.” Speaking up to here, the Knight’s voice became smaller, “The Duke also watched the drama and immediately took a fancy to her, and it didn’t take long before he broke into our room and assaulted Irene while I was still out on a mission.

“It took me a long time before I finally got her to tell me what had really happened, and the moment I heard about it, I wanted to find the Duke and hold him responsible for his deeds, but Irene knelt down and begged me not to act recklessly. Deep down, I also knew that if I tried to do something, my chance of success weren’t very high. Even if I was able to kill him, I would never be able to escape the hands of his personal guards, and Irene… most likely would become the object of revenge for the Duke ‘s heir. With no other option left to me, I could only suppress my thoughts of revenge, until he decided to go on march against Border Town.

“Although I wasn’t able to take personal revenge, but now Irene will finally be able to feel fall asleep without having to worry that someone will break into her room during the night. For me it was also a heavy burden which is now finally lifted from my heart, so please allow me to thank you once again.”

“So that’s what happened.” Roland tapped with his quill on the table, a sign he had previously agreed on with Nightingale, telling her to check whether the other side had lied. Soon he could feel how Nightingale pinched his left scapula, which represented that the other side had told the truth… but this pinch was slightly too hard, letting Roland a little flinch. “Are you able to read and write?”

“Uh…” Now it was Ferlin’s time to get startled, showing that he clearly was unable to follow the Prince’s train of thoughts, “I can.”

“Then I’ll announce my verdict now,” Roland gave him the same choices that he had given to Prius, “… what is your choice?”

“Your Highness, do you not want me to fight for you? Whether it is a solitary riding duel or a group battle, I -”

“No, I do not,” interrupted Roland him, “there are no aristocrats within my army, and in the future, I won’t be recruiting any of them. They are a fully-armed civilian army, and you yourself, during the rest of your life you won’t ever get the opportunity to again take up a weapon.”