“You, shut it!” Lily’s voice was a shrill shriek. “You dare speak...you—this is all your fault! Had you not shown up, none of this would have had to happen!” Her face flushed crimson in rage, spittle flew from her lips as she lashed out. Reason had all but deserted her. Even if he is a royal knight, he’s alone! He couldn’t possibly overcome them all! she thought. With quivering lips, she mustered a half-smirk. Her guards, all handpicked from Shadaf’s private border guard, ensured the odds were overwhelmingly in her favor—or so she believed.
“You still have a chance to back down,” Lloyd offered, his voice steady. “I won’t hold it against you.”
“Hah!” Lily scoffed dismissively. “Or what? You’re going to defeat all of them with only one of you?” A triumphant grin played on her lips. “Get him.”
At their mistress’s command, the guards released a sonorous war cry, lunging towards Lloyd.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Oblivious to her fatal oversight, Lily reveled in her impending victory, when suddenly, Lloyd drew his sword—then disappeared.
“What—?” stammered a guard.
“Where did he go?!” said another.
In the next instant, three men lay incapacitated on the floor.
“Huh?!”
“Anyone have eyes on him?!”
Seeing their comrades sprawled out, the remaining guards hastily drew their swords—but it was too late.
The echo of screams and thumps of bodies hitting the floor reverberated throughout the suite as Lloyd reappeared. With a flourish, he began to sheathe his sword. As it nestled into its scabbard with a click, the last remaining combatant toppled behind him.
“...What?” Lily’s mouth fell agape.
“Agh! It hurts... It hurts!”
“I can’t—I can’t feel my legs! Medic... Medic!”
The guards clutched their legs, writhing in pain.
Lily was at a loss, her mind unable—no, unwilling—to process what her eyes had just witnessed. Chloe was the only one who understood what had just happened: Lloyd had drawn his sword and, in a display of superhuman speed, hamstrung each combatant.
Lloyd’s gaze locked onto the two guards still holding Chloe. “Unhand her.”
They released Chloe immediately, hands flying up in surrender.
“Lloyd!” Liberated, Chloe flew past Lily and flung herself into Lloyd’s torso.
Suddenly, another rush of footsteps swelled, and several men in uniform burst into the room. “Hold it right there!” Leading the pack was the First Order Deputy Commander, Freddy, closely trailed by...
“Master Luke!” Lily’s eyes ignited with a glimmer of hope.
“L-Lady Lily?!” Luke responded, taken aback.
“Yes, it’s me, Lily!” She hastened towards Luke. “Help, Master Luke! That knight over there...”
Lily’s words fell on deaf ears as she continued her obsequious plea, jabbing a finger at Lloyd in accusation. Instead, Luke took a moment to assess the scene. There was Chloe, disheveled but safe in Lloyd’s embrace. Several men moaned in agony on the floor, and Lily, right beside him, was a frantic mess. Reconciling the sight before him with the message that’d been delivered to him—Lloyd and Chloe are in trouble, they need your help!—he pieced together the truth.
“Lily, did you hurt these people?” he asked, an icy chill lacing his tone.
“What? I... No—!”
A sharp backhand swiftly flew across her cheek, cutting her denial short. The echo of its resounding slap reverberated through the room. “Fool!” Luke roared, eyes blazing with fury.
“Owww! Luke, what are you doing?!” Lily cried, clutching her burning cheek, tears pooling in her eyes.
“What am I doing?! What are you doing?!” Luke yelled back. “Do you even know who that man is? That’s Lloyd, the strongest knight in all the Order—my mentor! What twisted logic compelled you to harm him?! I always knew you weren’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but this is beyond any foolishness I could have ever imagined! Oh, Lily, I am disappointed in you!”
Since his humbling defeat on the day of his induction, Luke had become a mere vassal under Lloyd. Yet, as he underwent Lloyd’s rigorous training and harsh guidance, his servitude had transformed into a fervent devotion. His growth under Lloyd’s stern tutelage had turned him into Lloyd’s most committed protégé—or perhaps more accurately, his most ardent disciple.
“Th-That can’t be...” With her last glimmer of hope extinguished right before her eyes, Lily sank to the ground.
Freddy interrupted with two resonant claps of his hand. “All right, all right,” he began. “Let’s get a few things straight, shall we?”
His gaze settled on Lloyd. “Let’s start with you, Lloyd. You claim Lily here kidnapped and then assaulted Chloe, correct?”
“Correct, Deputy Commander.”
“Well, that settles it,” Freddy concluded. “Arrest her. Battery’s battery—we can hardly brush it off as a family matter.”
“Wh-What?!” Lily sputtered. “Battery? On what evidence?!”
Freddy’s patience was now razor thin, and his expression hardened. “Listen, dear. Lloyd here is my subordinate. I’ve known him for years—he wouldn’t dream of harming Chloe, not in a hundred million years,” Freddy paused, glancing around the room. “Which leaves us with the question—who else in this room would want to see Chloe suffer, to have her beaten this severely”—his icy glare bored into Lily—“but you?”
Cornered, Lily clenched her teeth as she simmered in the mess of her own making.
“Make sure we also apprehend those two over there and everyone on the floor,” Freddy barked. “All right, let’s get moving, people!”
At Freddy’s command, the knights moved to restrain Lily and her cohorts.
“Unhand me, you brute! How dare you touch me! I am the daughter of a margrave!”
“Lest you forget, my dear lady, I hold peerage myself; that won’t work on me,” Luke said.
Lily clicked her tongue. “This is outrageous—an abuse of power! No one in Shadaf would have batted an eye at what I did! You’re the ones in the wrong!”
“Like I care about what goes on in that backwater. Here in the capital, we have our own rules.”
“No! Unhand me—I demand you unhand me! Unhand meeeeeeeee!”
Resisting in vain to the very end, Lily was hauled away by the knights, her shrill cries echoing down the hallways.