Ch.56Shining Knight (14)

-Knock knock knock.

Early morning. Shallon was preparing her clothes when she stopped at the sound of knocking.

She couldn’t imagine who would be looking for her this early.

Hurriedly making herself just presentable enough to receive a guest, she opened the door.

“…Lady Asena.”

As soon as she addressed Asena, the woman roughly pushed her way into the room.

Shallon stumbled backward to avoid contact with Asena’s body and fell on her backside.

Judy Ice, Asena’s guard, followed her in. Her face was as stern as Asena’s.

No, to say they were the same wouldn’t be accurate… Asena’s face was filled with quiet anger.

But that quietness was like being in the eye of a storm. Shallon knew the moment she saw Asena’s face that this was no simple matter.

Shallon wasn’t stupid, so the moment she saw Asena’s face, she understood why she had come.

She must have found out that Shallon had ordered surveillance on Ewin and Daisy.

At the same time, she was confused.

Of course, she had acted on her own without Asena’s orders, but this level of anger was unexpected. She had thought she might even be praised for taking initiative.

While Shallon got back on her feet, Asena instructed Judy.

“…Judy. Step outside for a moment.”

Judy hesitated at Asena’s command. To Shallon’s eyes, it seemed like Judy also wanted to stay. She too harbored anger toward Shallon. Things were happening at a pace difficult to comprehend.

But ultimately, Judy obeyed Asena’s command. She turned and left the room.

And closed the door with awkwardly strong force.

-Thud.

Asena’s snake-like eyes stared at Shallon.

Shallon spoke first.

“…Lady Asena, why at such an early hour…”

“Shallon. Did you, by chance, ignore my words and do something reckless?”

“…..”

“…Answer quickly. I don’t have much patience left.”

“…Yes. I did.”

-Slap!

Shallon’s cheek was roughly turned. When she came to her senses, she was looking to the side.

Shallon blinked, looking at the person who had committed this shocking act.

“…For now, we don’t have time. Follow me. The longer we delay… the harder it will be for my brother.”

“……”

‘…Brother? Caden?’

Shallon’s head was becoming increasingly confused. She looked up at Asena.

Asena spoke in a chilling voice.

“…However, you will certainly pay the price for acting recklessly.”

****

Shallon’s legs trembled from the moment she entered the room.

She saw Caden, covered in wounds, looking like he could die at any moment.

She couldn’t understand how things had come to this, but it was clear that she was involved.

Asena’s anger and Judy’s expression began to make sense.

“…Shallon Payne.”

With his wounded body, Caden called her name while maintaining steady eyes. Though his voice lacked strength, his eyes made up for it with intensity.

Shallon immediately fell to her knees.

No matter how much she didn’t understand, even if she had only ordered surveillance, with results like this, she had nothing to say even with a hundred mouths.

“I’m sorry, Lord Caden. I never intended for things to go this far.”

Caden looked at her, then asked the twins and Judy standing behind to leave them alone for a moment.

After they left, Caden spoke again.

“…I suppose there’s no need to ask if you were responsible.”

“Lord Caden… I only wanted to gather information, nothing more, truly. I had no intention of… of hurting you or anything like that…”

“No intention, you say…”

Caden grimaced and closed his mouth mid-sentence. He seemed to be enduring pain.

While he took a couple of deep breaths, Shallon continued making excuses.

“I… I honestly don’t understand how you ended up like this.”

“…Shallon. Tell me. When I see people watching the lord I serve… should I have waited until they attacked?”

“I had no intention of attacking—”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“……”

“They were even watching Ewin. I can understand Daisy since I was protecting her, but Ewin? Was I supposed to just ignore that?”

Shallon had to think quickly. At this rate, she would have to take all the blame and face whatever punishment was coming.

She raised her head and looked at Caden.

“L-Lord Caden. I only wanted to be loyal.”

“…..”

“L-Lady Asena was concerned about both of them, so I just wanted to find out more.”

“I know that.”

“…..Pardon?”

“Miles told me. You know Miles, right? The leader of that criminal gang.”

“…….”

“Thinking… I don’t consider that a problem. Thoughts can be tolerated.”

Shallon’s head was gradually dropping toward the floor.

“…It’s the actions that are the problem.”

She had honestly underestimated Caden.

She couldn’t help it. Before coming to the Academy, she had only been told to take good care of Asena and Kirsy. No one had told her to serve Caden well.

There were rumors about Caden. That he was detached from the family. That as an adopted child, he wasn’t a true Praester.

And she was able to confirm this after arriving at the Academy. Rumors about him were swirling everywhere.

Although Shallon knew various information about the Academy, she couldn’t get proper information about things she didn’t try to learn about.

Since she was already dismissing Caden, when the rumors spread, she naturally accepted them.

That perception began to crack when she started following Asena’s orders… but that wasn’t long ago.

“Shallon Payne. Did you really think you could watch my surroundings and get away unharmed?”

Now things were different. The Caden Praester she had dismissed no longer existed.

An explosive pressure was emanating from him. Despite his injured state, despite being in a condition where he could die at any moment, Shallon couldn’t even think of looking at him.

“Fearlessly… a Payne watching a Praester on their own accord? Did you think it was okay to lurk around me? …How much did you underestimate me?”

“………I was wrong… I’ve committed a grave sin…”

She was already regretting underestimating him. She hadn’t thought that surveillance would cause such a big problem.

Caden began to cough. It was a violent cough that wouldn’t easily stop. The sound was so loud that the twins waiting outside rushed in.

But Caden raised a hand to stop them, then wiped his lips.

“…I’m fine.”

He told the twins. They looked at Caden intently, then left the room again.

“…Fine. Let’s say that could happen. Let’s say your motivation was loyalty to Asena. Let’s move past that. Payne. Answer carefully from now on.”

“…….I… I understand.”

Shallon Payne raised her head, intending to show resolve. As she did, she couldn’t help but see Caden looking at her with cold, snake-like eyes.

“….Ugh…”

“Did you… know that gang even kidnaps children?”

“……..”

Shallon blinked.

‘How did he…’

The moment she hesitated to answer, thinking this, everything was over.

“Haha… Right. You set loose thugs who specialize in kidnapping near Daisy and Ewin, and you had no intention. That’s enough. Asena, come in.”

Caden seemed to have heard all the answers he needed. He gave Shallon no more chances.

At his call, Asena immediately entered.

“Brother, you called?”

With quick steps, she approached his bedside, knelt before him, and leaned in to listen.

Shallon couldn’t help but be shocked at this sight as well.

All this time, she had thought Asena was in the highest position, but now it was clear that wasn’t the case.

Caden, the commoner adoptee, was leading their dynamic.

“This woman. Send her back to her homeland. Don’t let her appear before me ever again.”

“I understand, brother.”

Shallon’s fate was decided by their conversation. From now on, she would bear the stigma of a noble who couldn’t even graduate from the Academy.

Judy had also entered at some point and grabbed Shallon’s arm to lift her up.

Caden spoke.

“Shallon. I’ll forget what happened to me. I share some responsibility for my injuries. I’ll also forget that you lurked around my people. I don’t know how Daisy will take it… but that’s for the Hexter family to decide. The only wrong of yours I’ll remember is that you involved children. So when you return home, tell the Payne family. If they ever turn a blind eye to crimes related to children again, I won’t forgive them.”

The moment Caden finished speaking, Judy pulled her out of the room. Shallon’s feet dragged on the floor. Her entire body was instinctively resisting being pulled away by Judy.

“Let’s go.”

After a brief conversation with Caden, Asena handed him some poppy extract. Caden drank it all at once, then closed his eyes again.

After witnessing him drink all the medicine, Asena approached Shallon, who was waiting outside.

She looked over her shoulder at Caden once more, then with a cold expression, said to Shallon:

“…My brother only told me to send you home… but that’s his wish, not mine as the head of the family.”

“…Lady Asena… I was only trying to show my loyalty…”

“Shallon… shut up. If you didn’t even have that reason, your head would already be rolling on the floor.”

Only then did Shallon realize that Asena had been quite lenient with her.

Asena took out a small postcard from her pocket. It wasn’t in an envelope, so the written words were visible. In the corner was the Praester wax seal.

Asena handed the postcard to Shallon.

“…What… is this…”

Shallon asked Asena in confusion.

“Deliver it to Viscount Payne.”

Taking the postcard, Shallon finally checked its contents.

I, Asena Praester, head of the Praester family and Duchess, demand the head of Shallon Payne.

Shallon’s legs gave out.

But because Judy was supporting her, she couldn’t even collapse.

“Even this is a light measure… you should know. Because of what you did. Because of what I told you to forget… the eldest son of the Praester family is fighting for his life. As this was done recklessly by the second daughter of the Payne family, no one would say anything if I declared war on your family.”

“Ah… aah…”

“I… am restraining my desire to exterminate your family with patience that tests my limits. The moment I declare war… my brother would have to go to war too.”

“L-Lady Asena…”

“Whether you wanted it or not, you touched my treasure on your own accord. Let’s see that high loyalty of yours. I’ll believe you won’t fail your mission. Oh, of course… if anything happens to my brother… that postcard will start to look cute.”

With that, Asena left Shallon. She headed back to the room where Caden was.

Shallon blankly looked down at the postcard again. The written words hadn’t changed.

She couldn’t decide which option to choose.

Whether to deliver it as Asena said.

Or to flee on her way home.

Either way, her life as a noble was over.