"Knight Kale, please retract that thought." Liya said, her young face stern. "Baron Levi is, without a doubt, the person I trust most."
To Liya, not even her own aunt, the Northern Duchess, was as trustworthy as the Knight she had personally ennobled.
Back then, Levi could have tied her up and handed her over to Damon for a fortune, but he didn’t. He was even less likely to do so now.
Kale looked as if he wanted to speak but held his tongue.
He had been temporarily promoted by Duke Fulina and appointed as Liya’s personal knight, tasked with ensuring her safety.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch as Liya prepared to leave alone with the Lord of High Cliff Castle.
However, Liya’s resolve put him in a difficult position.
"Knight, if I’d wanted it back then, I would be Miss Liya’s Guardian Knight. And you? You’d probably still be soone’s attendant."
Levi just smiled, revealing a piece of his and Liya’s private history.
Right after he was ennobled, Liya had repeatedly invited him to beco her Guardian Knight, but he, having no room for won in his heart, had refused.
Hearing this, Kale was taken aback.
A Guardian Knight was a far more special position than a personal knight, both in status and in the level of intimacy it implied.
Typically, they were chosen from childhood companions who grew up alongside their Monarch; the bond between them went without saying.
Kale found it hard to believe that this Lord of High Cliff Castle had been invited to beco a Guardian Knight as an adult. He glanced at Liya, seeking confirmation.
"That’s right. I did invite Baron Levi to beco my Guardian Knight, but he refused," Liya confird with a matter-of-fact nod.
These were just the facts; there was no reason to hide them.
In truth, compared to Levi, she found many things about this knight, Kale, to be unsatisfactory. But as a person of high station, she would never let it show.
Kale looked crestfallen. ’So I’m the one who’s not needed.’
The Lord of High Cliff Castle and Miss Liya had apparently known each other for a long ti.
It wasn’t his fault. Everyone knew the Lord of High Cliff Castle was Miss Liya’s Vassal, but no one knew the true nature of their relationship.
After helping Liya onto his own docile dun horse, Levi casually commandeered Knight Si Kai’s magnificent black steed. He’d had his eye on it for a while and had been itching for a ride.
Levi rode slightly behind Liya, and the two made their way slowly toward the distant High Cliff Castle.
The people from High Cliff Castle and the Guard Team from Bailiu City ford two distinct groups, trailing far behind the pair.
It was clear from Liya’s actions that she wanted to speak privately with the Lord of High Cliff Castle, so no one was foolish enough to ride too close.
Kale hung his head, listlessly following at the very rear of the procession. Just then, a voice called out from ahead of him.
"Hey, kid, you’re not going to let this get you down, are you?"
Kale looked up and called out with a wry smile, "Knight Si Kai."
Si Kai ca up alongside Kale, and they walked side-by-side. "When I was your age, I was a personal knight for soone, too. I know exactly what you’re thinking."
"Miss Liya is certainly beautiful, and she has a gentle, understanding personality. Girls like that tend to be very captivating..."
He trailed off, winking with a knowing smile.
Kale’s face flushed red. He wanted to argue, but that would violate the knight’s code. He could only put on a stony expression and remain silent.
"Heh." Si Kai had already seen right through him. He continued, "I was once a personal knight to a very beautiful Monarch. Honestly, what man doesn’t like a beautiful woman? Naturally, I too ca to admire my Monarch."
At this, Si Kai stopped abruptly.
Kale, who had been listening intently, couldn’t take the suspense. After a mont’s hesitation, he asked, "And what happened then?"
Si Kai grinned, pleased with himself. No one knew how to get a rise out of young knights better than he did. His expression grew nostalgic. "Afterward, I ca to understand sothing: so things are simply not ant for you."
"Our job is to avoid improper thoughts about what doesn’t belong to us. That path leads to the Abyss. We only need to protect what is ours."
"Isn’t that black horse yours?" Kale asked cautiously, glancing at the figure on the black horse at the very front.
Si Kai went silent, his fists clenching.
’Great. Just great. I try to comfort you out of the kindness of my heart, and you call out like this.’
’Damn that Lord of High Cliff Castle! My Big Black!’
Knight Si Kai silently cursed the unscrupulous Lord. This was the first ti he had ever violated the knight’s code by viciously cursing soone in his heart.
He’d seen people swipe food and swipe money, but he had never seen soone swipe a horse.
For a Knight, his mount was more important than his wife!
And wasn’t this just another kind of Minotaur?
Si Kai finally sighed. "And another thing: if you aren’t strong enough, you can’t even protect what is yours."
Persecuted by a certain individual, Si Kai now had a new epiphany.
’If only I could defeat the Lord of High Cliff Castle,’ he thought, ’I’d challenge him to a knightly duel, teach him a brutal lesson, then drag him before my horse and ask him if he still feels like riding.’
"Kid, take my advice. The Lord of High Cliff Castle is a big shot we can’t afford to provoke, and Miss Liya is on a completely different level from us. There are plenty of beautiful won in the world; you’ll find one that’s ant for you," Si Kai said, patting Kale’s shoulder with painstaking sincerity.
In truth, he was driven by two things. One was his genuine desire to ntor young knights. The other was his fear that this young knight might do sothing rash, offend Lord Li, and bring trouble upon the entire Guard Team.
Finally, just to be safe, he raised his eyebrows and added with a roguish grin, "In the brothels of Bailiu City, you can find beautiful won of every Race. As long as you have the money, they’ll belong to you. You can even have a different one every day!"
Kale stared, dumbfounded, as if seeing this supposedly virtuous Knight for the very first ti.
"Ahem, as the Knight Commander, I’ve never been, of course. I heard it all from Old Gray," Si Kai said, righteously clearing his na.
"Believe it or not!"
Seeing Kale’s still-skeptical expression, Si Kai spat out the words and hurried away, his retreating back looking a tad flustered.
After a mont’s hesitation, Kale mounted his horse, trailing the Lord and Liya from a safe distance.
anwhile, the pair, completely oblivious to what their subordinates were thinking, were chatting idly.
"Levi, I can’t believe you actually carved out a territory in the Wilderness," Liya said, her voice filled with admiration.
Countless Pioneer Lords from Debei have poured into the Wilderness over the past few decades, but very few have managed to establish a firm foothold.
She knew Levi had acquired those Beastman Guards from her aunt Fulina in exchange for Gold Coins, but she never imagined he would train them to be so formidable.
Even Kolon’s hand-picked White-robed Iron Guard weren’t this elite.
"Actually, you deserve so of the credit for that,"
Levi replied, looking at the dark clouds gathering on the horizon.
He had a feeling it would snow in the Wilderness within a few days and wondered how different it would be from the snow in the south.
"What credit could I have?"
Liya frowned, unable to imagine how she could have helped, given that she had been in Bailiu City the whole ti while Levi was pioneering in the Wilderness alone.
"Those Gold Coins that were my startup capital,"
Levi prompted with a small smile.
Liya’s mind drifted back several months. It had only been a few months since she’d fled Kolon City, yet it felt like over a year ago, distant and almost unreal.
After a long mont, Liya sighed softly and studied the impossibly young and handso face beside her. "Levi, you’re really so different from how you were."
"Haha, of course I’m different! I was only ’one blade, eight’ back then, and now I’m ’one blade, nine.’ But you’re still a shorty."
Levi’s serious deanor lasted only a few sentences before shattering into a grin.
"That’s true. I have no idea what you’ve been eating to grow so fast. I haven’t gotten any taller."
Regarding this, Liya nodded in agreent.
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