The End of Your Arrogance - Chapter 26.1

The sun had set hours ago and the castle was bathed in a soft blue light. Ilya and the knights had returned from their journey, their warhorses panting and exhausted. The knights, their faces worn from the long ride, quickly retired to their quarters for a much-needed bath.

Ilya, however, had urgent matters to attend to. He sat in his office chair, scanning through the endless sea of documents that piled up on his desk. With a practiced flourish, he signed each one, his face set in a stoic expression.

Nazz, his loyal advisor, watched him with a raised eyebrow. “Why the rush, my lord?” he asked.

Before Ilya could answer, there was a knock at the door. It was smart and cautious, a sign of the respect that the knight outside had for their lord.

Just then, a knock came at the door, smart and cautious. “My lord, the vice captain is here to see you,” a voice called out. Ilya nodded, and the door opened to reveal a clean-shaven knight. Ilya and Nazz both stood up from their seats, bowing their heads in greeting.

“My lord, captain. Have you been working hard?” the knight asked, his empty right sleeve flapping with each movement. It was Aelon, the vice captain of the Black Forest Knight squad, and their swordplay master from their younger days. He had intended to retire after losing his arm in the Tatar war, but stayed on as vice captain at their insistence.

“I’m sure our master has been working even harder,” Ilya said with a smile, a hint of pride in his voice.

“Please call me vice captain, not master,” Aelon said firmly, his stern expression belying the camaraderie they had once shared. Ilya looked at him with a cheerful grin.

“Why are you looking at me like that, my lord?” Aelon asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Are you planning on raising a fairy?” Ilya said, causing Nazz to stifle a laugh behind his hand.

“There’s nothing missing from our supplies,” Nazz said, trying to compose himself. “Even if we had the royal funds, we couldn’t have been as meticulous as the vice captain.”

“And the meals here are even more delicious than what we ate at the castle,” Nazz added, his face lighting up with excitement. “It’s not an exaggeration.”

The vice captain laughed heartily. “I wouldn’t know where to start with that,” he said. “I did get a fairy attached to me.”

Ilya and Nazz both knew who the grateful fairy was. Nazz’s face lit up instantly. “Looks like Captain Stars has returned!” he exclaimed, her excitement palpable. Ilya had sent Stars as a messenger to the western Lord Loren, and Nazz had been left to handle everything by himself, a task that had been so hard that he thought he would die. But with Stars back by their side, he felt like dancing with joy.

“I heard Captain Stars sent a letter,” Nazz asked Ilya. “Did you not receive it?”

“I did not receive it,” Ilya replied. “It’s not uncommon for letters to go astray on their journey. Nevertheless, it’s a relief that he’s back.”

“Where is Captain Stars now?” Nazz asked eagerly. “Did he come with you?”

The vice captain smiled warmly. “Just take a look,” he said with a chuckle. “He’s probably asleep, having slept like a log for a few days. I doubt he’ll wake up even if you were to beat him today.”

But the vice captain’s expression grew serious as he turned to Ilya. “Your Highness,” he said, “would you like to go and see the guesthouse? I hear that Lady Aseus of the House of Glenn came looking for it this morning. It’s…”

The unspoken captain hesitated, clearly unsure of how to continue. Ilya’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what the vice captain might be trying to say.

“I don’t know what happened exactly, but… Aseus caused a fuss and it’s…”

Without having to hear the details, Ilya could roughly imagine what had happened. When he was young, he had seen the woman, Lady Aseus of the House of Glenn, come to find her mother and beg for a favor. She knew from experience that people could be capable of causing great harm with words alone. Fortunately, her mother had not been someone who was easily moved by love or by the position of High Consort, so she had not suffered much damage. But his wife was different from his mother.

“Your majesty, we will take our leave now,” the vice captain said, leading a pale-faced Nazz out of the office.

Ilya took a deep breath, standing up. As he stood still, the guards exchanged nervous glances. A moment later, he opened his mouth. “We’re going to the annex,” he said, his steps towards the outbuilding growing faster and faster.