Kyren entered the tent, carrying silent Anna in his arms.
He gently seated her in the chair and reached for the small basin of water on the table, along with the clean cloth beside it.
After placing them on the floor, he knelt before her, soaking the fabric before rinsing it. Then, he lifted one of her feet and began to clean it.
"Kyren..."
Her sentences faded away when a daunting glare pierced her eyes, bringing a shiver to her skin. She swallowed the fear and slipped the apology from her mouth in a quiet voice.
"I’m sorry for acting out of place. I know I’ve misbehaved."
The steely blue eyes, ornanted with long lashes, gazed down, averting the princess’s innocent doe irises.
"If I see any cuts on your feet, I’ll add more punishnt to the guards," his low, masculine voice ca out sternly.
"Kyren... don’t!"
Anna’s hands inadvertently cupped his tensed jaws, lifting his face towards hers. Their eyes collided, and a spark of attraction erupted from the sensational touch.
"Forgive !"
Realising the unintentional act, Anna imdiately apologised again. Her shivering hands ran away from his face.
The commander’s intense look made her feel small. She fiddled with her fingers, not knowing what more to say.
"Fine. I’ll let this one slide for now."
After a short while, she heard Kyren’s reply. He stood up and threw away the cloth after finishing cleaning her feet.
"We need to talk," he said as he removed the scabbard from his waist and unbuckled his armour.
The sword was placed on the sword’s rack, and he hung the breastplate and the rest of the armour on the stand.
"About what?"
Anna raised her head and looked at her tall husband. She could see that he was still good-looking and attractive even in the ss of sweat and dust.
"You do realise that I’m the Knight Commander, don’t you?" he reminded.
"Yes, I do."
"I’m in charge of the entire campaign and the camp. So, everyone here should obey my orders. What you did today in front of my n was wrong. Defying and interfering with the commander’s order is punishable under the military law," he reprimanded her with his lengthy explanation.
Anna was stunned.
Did her husband an he would punish her, too, for trying to defend the guards?
Now, Ayden’s reminder about how strict Kyren was as the Knight Commander resurfaced in her mory.
Thinking about this, her anxiety swelled up. Her mind kept rolling, trying to find a way to counter the statent.
As her eyes shook, a fragnt of information deeply buried inside her head rose.
"You can’t punish by that law. I’m a civilian!" With mustered strength, she laid out her rebuttal.
"What did you say?" Raising a brow, Kyren looked at her without a blink.
"A civilian cannot be punished by military law! All the kingdoms on the continent adopted the sa rules based on the military legislation of the Ro’an empire," she added.
The commander had finished removing his armour. He approached his little wife, who sat on the chair, putting his hands on his waist.
"Is that so?" he scoffed.
Anna gulped her saliva.
Standing tall before her, the commander appeared intimidating with his stout stature. She nearly retreated, but reconsidered.
If she gave up now, she would face the consequences, and not knowing what they were filled her heart with fear.
"Yes! And... And the military law is only subject to the army’s active-duty workforce. So, it doesn’t apply to ."
Anna pulled out all the facts from the military law book she used to read that could support her situation.
"Are you saying I don’t have the right to punish you?" Kyren burst in annoyance.
"No, you don’t. If you punish , you’re subjected to the code of conduct penalty and power abuse."
The princess’s voice dwindled as the fear surged when the commander bent down and put his hands on the chair’s armrests.
Anna leaned back to distance themselves. However, she was locked in her position and could not escape him. She regretted spewing the facts that seed to anger her husband even more.
"Where did you learn this?" Unbeknownst to the princess, her statents had piqued the commander’s interest.
"I... I read from a book," she stamred.
Her heart skipped a beat at Kyren’s daunting look.
The commander stared at his wife. He was actually startled by Anna’s reply. He never thought this innocent-looking woman had any knowledge of military law.
The statent she gave him contained specific information known only to a select few in the military administration. A commoner was not likely to understand such extensive facts.
The unexpected replies surpassed Kyren’s expectations of Anna.
At first, he thought she was just a simple woman who knew nothing but cried at the drop of a hat, sulked over petty issues, and overthought sothing ridiculous.
The first five days they spent together did not project her characteristics as a person of knowledge. Perhaps because at that ti, Anna was still weak and badly hurt.
Kyren raised his back and regained his standing posture.
"However, you have interfered with my decision. You may be a civilian, but you have broken the camp’s rules," he continued against her.
"I didn’t an to. I wasn’t challenging your authority. But, the punishnt of twenty floggings is too much!" Anna frowned.
The princess could not imagine how the guards’ skin would break and bleed from the floggings, leaving physical scars, not to ntion their fear and sha. She felt guilty for being the sole reason for their suffering.
If only she had listened to them from the beginning, none of this would have happened.
"I take your safety seriously, Anna. I ant what I said," Kyren reminded her of his promise to protect her.
"Not by hurting others, Kyren. The guards were kind and cared for when you were not around."
Anna looked down in disappointnt. She was sad over the punishnt imposed on them.
"They failed to guard you properly and deserved to be punished!" he pressed on.
Then, turning around, he arrogantly said, "Let it be a lesson to them to be more obedient and loyal in the future."
"Shouldn’t loyalty co from respect instead of fear? That would be the best honour soone could get," Anna refuted, making the commander turn and look at his wife dubiously.
She had never acted like this before.
Kyren exhaled. The despondent face of his wife bothered him greatly. He knew that if he insisted, the princess would cry, and he wouldn’t like it—a lot.
"Fine!"
The commander strode out of the tent and shouted to the knights to withdraw the punishnt.
Instead of floggings, the guards were reprimanded with five days of heavy training and were imdiately dropped from their current task.
It was the first ti the commander had ever reduced the penalty when disciplining his n, which bewildered the knights. The two guards were quickly released from the poles and saved from the heavy punishnt.
Hearing that Kyren had commuted the sentence, Anna breathed a sigh of relief. When he reentered the tent, she quickly thanked him.
"Don’t ask to lighten any punishnt again. This is my last warning. I won’t be rciful next ti!" he told her.
Anna nodded in obedience.
Just then, a squire ca to the tent, bringing the commander’s helt and gauntlets, which were left at the entrance, together with a knight.
"There’s a ssage from Sir Brooks, Commander," the knight inford Kyren.
Swiftly, the commander was reminded of the task given to Noah.
"Let’s talk outside," he ordered the knight as he glanced at his wife.
As they stepped outside the tent, the knight then relayed the ssage.
"Sir Brooks inford that the task is done, and he’s waiting for your next order," reported the knight.
"Good. Tell him I’ll be coming shortly," he replied.
"Yes, Commander."
The knight bowed and left.
Entering the tent, Kyren walked to the sword rack and took his blade.
"I’m going out," he briefly said.
He hung the scabbard at his waist using the belt. Surprised by his sudden action, Anna rose to her feet.
"Wait! You’re leaving? Are you mad at ?" Her eyes rolled up and down, looking at her husband guiltily.
She rushed to him, trying to stop Kyren from leaving.
"No. I’ve got a task to complete. I’ll be back soon," he replied.
"But you just returned!" Anna’s expression showed her disappointnt.
"I’m not leaving elsewhere. I’ll be around here," he told her.
"I don’t want you to go. Please!" she pleaded ardently.
"I thought we argued. Shouldn’t you be angry now and don’t want to see my face?" Kyren insinuated.
"No! That’s not true! I want to be with you!" she insisted. "I’m sorry if I make you angry. Please don’t go!" Anna’s plump cheeks started to turn red.
The prince chuckled at his wife’s antics. The intelligent lady had now turned into a crybaby again.
"I still have to go. But I can return quickly. Do you want to?" he asserted.
Anna nodded fervently.
"Fine. I’ll make it fast. But rember. Your punishnt is still waiting for you."
He smiled smugly.
"Punishnt?"
The princess widened her eyes. She thought she had managed to escape her penalty after their argunt.
"Yes. I can’t punish you under the military law. But, as a husband, I have a right to teach my wife a lesson for misbehaving."
Kyren let out a disparaging smile. He then walked out of the tent, leaving Anna restless.
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