"Ugh… s-spare me… I beg you… Y-Your Grace…"
The servant's voice cracked as he crawled across the cold stone floor while leaving a faint trail of blood behind him. He had once worked quietly in the stables, unnoticed and unimportant or so he thought.
Now, he lay broken inside the prison, reduced to nothing more than a trembling mess.
One of Alon's intelligence knights stood nearby, watching him with an emotionless gaze. This knight was not just any soldier as he belonged to the Intelligence Order, trained to observe, follow, and uncover secrets long before anyone realized they were being watched.
The servant's legs were already ruined because the Duke, Draen himself had crushed them earlier using the hilt of his sword with each blow deliberate and merciless.
His left hand was also gone, severed cleanly, and now lay no longer his.
Just beyond the iron bars, Draen's massive hounds or creatures raised more like weapons than pets were busy tearing into the severed hand along with their low growls echoing through the corridor.
The man sobbed at the sound with face pale with terror.
This did not happen suddenly as Alon had been tracking the servant for some time.
Every strange movement and his unexplained absence along with every whispered conversation, Alon noticed them all. At first, he reported only small suspicions to Draen, unsure whether the man was acting under threat or coercion from an outside force.
And Draen had considered that possibility.
It would not have been unusual for someone weak to be pressured into betrayal.
But the truth was far worse.
As Alon dug deeper, he uncovered proof that the servant had been acting on his own will.
He had been accepting bribes in secret while passing information without hesitation. Worse still, when one of his fellow servants discovered what he was doing, the man did not hesitate to silence him. That colleague's death had been staged as an accident but it was no accident at all.
Greed had driven him with fear came later.
Now, faced with the consequences of his actions, the servant could do nothing but beg with voice breaking as he pressed his forehead against the floor.
But mercy was not something Draen gave easily especially not to traitors.
Assigned to the stables, the man had always believed himself to be invisible. Compared to the attendants in the main halls or the servants who worked closely under the Duke, he was nothing more than a small fry and a nameless hand who brushed horses, cleaned stalls, and kept his head down.
He thought no one important would ever bother to notice him.
What he failed to understand was that the stables were far from unimportant.
Horses were among the most valuable assets of the Dukedom.
They carried knights into battle, transported the Duke and his entourage to the capital and the palace, and were used in patrols, inspections, and long journeys across hostile lands.
A single poisoned or weakened horse could cost lives. Because of that, anyone who managed them was automatically placed under Alon's watchful eye.
And Alon never watched without reason.
The man hadn't only been passing information to outsiders for coin. As Alon's investigation continued, darker truths surfaced. With the money he received from bribes, the servant had assaulted several female servants while using threats and silence to keep them from speaking out.
Some even had endured in fear. Others had tried to report him only to be dismissed before Alon uncovered the truth.
By the time Draen learned everything, there was no room left for mercy.
"Y-Your Grace… p-please spare me…"
The servant dragged his broken body across the prison floor with his nails scraping uselessly against the stone. He sobbed as he reached out, desperate to grasp even the hem of Draen's boots.
But Draen stepped back before the man could touch him.
Without a word, he turned and walked toward Alon, extending his hand. Alon immediately understood and offered a clean handkerchief with a slight bow and Draen wiped his hand slowly as if he just touch something filthy.
"Hm, Alon," Draen said at last.
"Yes, Your Grace. I am here."
"I wonder," Draen continued calmly, "are my servants' wages insufficient? Am I being stingy when it comes to paying my people?"
Alon stiffened slightly before answering, his voice steady. "Not at all, Your Grace. On the contrary, servants in your Dukedom receive nearly double the wages compared to other noble households."
Draen glanced back at the trembling man on the floor. "Is that so? Then why do you think this bastard chose money over loyalty?"
"That was his own decision, Your Grace," Alon replied. "Please do not blame yourself and allow us to handle the remainder of his punishment."
Draen hummed in thought, then nodded once. "Very well. Throw him into my pets' prison. They've been starving, and I believe his body will ease their hunger."
The servant's eyes widened in horror. Even in his fading consciousness, he understood what that meant making his cries turned hoarse while being filled with regret and terror, but it no longer mattered.
"Get him," Alon ordered.
The knights moved at once, gripping the man and dragging him toward the iron gates that led to the hounds' enclosure. As the screams echoed down the corridor, Alon watched silently.
'You of all people should have known,' he thought grimly. 'You worked here long enough to understand how His Grace treats traitors and yet you still chose greed.'
Alon let out a quiet sigh.
'How foolish can one be to gamble their life so carelessly?' He thought again while shaking his head in disappointment.
Meanwhile, after dealing with the traitor, Draen headed back toward his study with steps steady and unhurried despite the lingering tension in the air.
At the same time, Lewis was walking down the corridor with Leo and Edrik following closely behind him.
The moment Draen spotted Lewis, his pace quickened out of habit.
He then reached out, clearly intending to pull Lewis into a familiar embrace but before he could, Lewis suddenly stopped short. His eyes widened, and without thinking, he took a step back then another until he ended up half-hidden behind Leo and Edrik, as if using them as a shield.
Making Draen froze in the middle of his step.
Leo stiffened instantly with his shoulders locking up.
He didn't dare move away, but he also didn't know where to put his hands or where to look. Edrik was no better as he stood there straight as a post, eyes fixed firmly ahead while pretending with all his might that he wasn't acutely aware of the Duke standing right in front of them.
The two knights exchanged a brief, awkward glance while both clearly was uncomfortable being chosen as Lewis's refuge especially when that choice was over the Duke himself.
Draen frowned with confusion flickering across his face. He then glanced at Alon while silently asking what was wrong.
Alon, after taking one look at Draen, leaned in and whispered calmly, "Your Grace… your robe."
Draen looked down.
Dark stains of dried and fresh blood splattered parts of his sleeve and hem.
"It would be best if Your Grace washed up first," Alon continued quietly. "Or His Lordship may be frightened to approach you like this."
Understanding dawned on Draen's face, he straightened while slowly lowering his hand, and let out a low breath. Lewis, peeking out from behind Leo still looked tense with his fingers gripping the fabric of Leo's sleeve.
Leo even swallowed hard, standing there like he'd been caught in the middle of a very dangerous misunderstanding while Edrik silently prayed this situation would end quickly.
"…I see," Draen said at last, his voice calm but subdued. He then took a step back while deliberately putting space between himself and Lewis. "I'll wash up first."
Only then did some of the tension ease. Lewis relaxed slightly, though he still stayed close to Leo and Edrik, leaving the two knights painfully aware of just how awkward and oddly significant the situation had become.
They could even tell that their Duke was angry just because his bride chose other people than him.
"My Lord, please come with me while His Grace is washing up. Would you mind having some tea with me?" Alon suggested which made Lewis lower his guard a little, as Alon seemed much gentler in demeanor compared to the Duke.
After glancing at Leo and Edrik who both nodded in agreement, Lewis straightened his back and nodded as well. And just like that, Alon led the way toward the greenhouse.