"As long as I am in this room, you are safe."
But Julian wasn't worried about his own safety. He was worried about the Duke's reputation falling to the dirt and the charges of treason holding weight even in the wind.
He feared for the worst. But once again, he decided to trust the Duke.
And with that, the Northern knights were positioned by the gate in a long straight line, making it clear to the Golden Guard that they did not plan to open the gates, even if they were here on the Emperor's orders.
It was a blatant insult to authority, one that the Emperor had meticulously calculated.
The standoff at the gates felt like a physical weight pressing against the Estate's stone walls. While the Golden Guard shouted their ultimatums into the cooling evening air, the interior of the Duke's bedroom remained an island of defiant, heavy silence.
