On the way to the hall, Noel spoke without looking at her.
"Lily… can you fight?"
The question was sudden.
Lily glanced at him, slightly surprised. She studied his face for a moment.
There was nothing there.
No hesitation,No curiosity.
Just a quiet need for an answer.
She gave a small nod.
"Yes."
Noel didn't respond,He simply continued walking.
The hall was already filled when he arrived.
Retainers and vassals stood in small groups, speaking in low voices. Some looked tired, others irritated. A few had clearly traveled from far away.
Most of them didn't know why they had been called.
Noel stepped inside, his gaze moving across the room.
He spotted Oliver among them.
Their eyes met briefly.
Noel gave a faint nod. Oliver returned it, his expression serious.
Then Noel walked forward.
He didn't rush, but he didn't slow either. He didn't greet anyone. He didn't explain anything.
At the front of the hall stood a single seat.
Rowan Hendrix's seat.
Noel reached it and sat down.
A few people frowned.
One of the older men shifted where he stood, clearly displeased. Another exchanged a glance with the person beside him.
But no one spoke.
Lily moved to stand behind Noel, slightly to his left.
The murmurs in the hall faded on their own.
After a moment, a magistrate stepped forward. He bowed lightly, keeping his tone respectful.
"Young master," he said, "may I ask why we have been summoned? Some of us have come from quite a distance."
A few others looked at him, their expressions unreadable.
Noel looked at the man.
He didn't answer immediately.
"You already know what has happened," he said at last.
His voice was calm. Even.
"We've taken losses."
That was all.
No explanation,No details.
The room grew quieter.
Noel continued.
"As the heir of the Hendrix family…"
He paused briefly.
"I'll be handling matters from now on."
This time, the reactions were clearer.
Not loud,but present.
A faint crease of doubt on someone's forehead. A subtle shake of the head from another. Someone in the back let out a quiet breath.
No one agreed.
But no one objected either.
Noel noticed.
He leaned back slightly, his gaze moving across the room.
Not searching,just observing.
Then he said,
"If there are concerns, you can speak."
Silence followed,A long one.
The word hung in the air like a blade. Noel had declared himself clan leader, and the room had responded with frowns and disbelief. But no one spoke,Not yet.
The older retainers exchanged glances. The younger vassals looked at their boots.
The magistrate who had first spoken sat rigid, his jaw tight.
Noel waited. He did not fill the silence with explanations or pleas. He simply sat in his father's chair and let the weight of his presence do the work.
Then a voice rose from the middle of the table.
"With respect, young master."
The speaker was Corvin, a barrel-chested man with thick arms and a thicker neck. He managed several of the Hendrix border villages and had served Rowan for over a decade. His face was red, whether from anger or the long journey, no one could tell.
"You are what? Fourteen? Fifteen?" Corvin leaned forward, his palms flat on the table.
"The Hendrix family is bleeding. Our lord is dead. Our soldiers are scattered. The neighbors circle like wolves. And you expect us to simply accept a child as our leader?"
He did not shout, He did not need to. His words landed like hammer strikes, and several heads around the table nodded in agreement.
Noel looked at him. His expression did not change. His voice, when he spoke, was calm.
"I expect nothing," Noel said.
"I am telling you how it will be."
Corvin's eyes narrowed. "And if we refuse?"
Noel tilted his head slightly.
"Then you are free to leave. The Hendrix family does not hold onto those who do not wish to stay. But know this."
His gaze swept the room, cold and unhurried.
"If you walk out that door, you walk away from the name. From the protection. From the lands your families have worked for generations. You will find no welcome here again."
The room stirred,Quiet murmurs, Shifting bodies.
Corvin's jaw worked side to side. He wanted to argue, that much was clear. But he said nothing.
Noel continued.
"You think I do not understand the situation. You think I am a child playing at lordship."
He paused.
"So tell me. What is the problem? Speak plainly."
Another silence. Then Corvin exhaled heavily and sat back.
"The problem," he said,
"is coin. Your father spent much of the treasury on the border defenses. The harvest was poor last season. And now, with the baron dead, the banks are calling in their loans. We have until the end of the month to pay, or they will seize the lands."
He looked at Noel with something almost like pity.
"That is the problem, young master. And no amount of sitting in that chair will fix it."
The room went very quiet.
Noel did not flinch,He had known. Of course he had known.
The Hendrix family was drowning, and the vultures were already circling.
"Then we pay," Noel said.
Corvin blinked.
"With what? Our treasury are empty."
Noel turned his head slightly. "Lily."
Lily stepped forward from behind him, her movements silent. She stopped at his side and waited.
"The Kennedy family," Noel said.
"My mother's house. My grandfather is Martin Kennedy. Send a message to him tonight. Tell him the Hendrix family requests a loan. Enough to cover the banks and secure the lands until the next harvest."
Corvin frowned.
"The Kennedys are not known for their generosity."
"They are not," Noel agreed.
"But they are known for honoring family. My mother was Martin Kennedy's daughter. He will not let her children lose their home. Not while he lives."
He looked at Corvin. "That is my first decision. We borrow from my grandfather. We pay the banks. We hold the lands. Then we rebuild."
For a long moment, no one moved. Then the subtle shift began.
A vassal near the back straightened in his seat. A retainer on the left uncrossed his arms. The magistrate who had first spoken rubbed his chin, his earlier doubt replaced by something like cautious consideration.
Corvin studied Noel for a long time. Then he gave a single nod.
"As you say, young master."
Noel did not smile. He simply turned to the next matter, his voice steady, his eyes cold.
The meeting continued for another hour.
Noel addressed the immediate concerns one by one.
The loans, the border patrols, the survivors of the beast attack, The distribution of supplies to the villages.
He spoke with a calm that seemed unnatural for a boy his age, his answers measured and precise.
But the retainers and vassals were still skeptical.
They listened. They nodded when expected.
Some even offered quiet words of agreement.
Yet beneath the surface, doubt lingered like fog over a field. Their eyes followed Noel as he spoke, but their minds were elsewhere. Calculating, weighing.
He is too young.
He has never led anything.
The Kennedys may not help.
What if the banks refuse the delay?
What if the neighbors attack while we are weak?
No one said these things aloud. Not after Corvin had been silenced.
But the questions hung in the air, unspoken and heavy.
Eddard, a wiry man who managed the farmlands, shifted in his seat.
He had not spoken once during the meeting. His arms remained crossed, his eyes fixed on the table.
When Noel called on him directly, he answered in short clipped sentences and offered nothing more.
Dame Rina, who commanded the small garrison at the outpost, stood with her back to the wall throughout the meeting.
She had refused a seat. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword, and her expression never softened.
When Noel outlined his plans for the border, she gave a single sharp nod. Then she returned to staring at the door as if expecting an attack at any moment.
When the meeting ended, the retainers rose slowly. They gathered in small clusters, speaking in low voices. Their words did not carry to Noel, but their meaning was clear enough.
They were not convinced.
After everyone left, Lily turned to Noel's side, facing him, and asked, "Should I send a letter to the Kennedy family for help?"
Noel turned to her and said, "No."
Lily frowned. "Why? Are we not asking for help?"
Noel looked at her. "I have not woken up for twenty-one days. My mother has been the same, in a vegetative state for twenty-one days. They have not sent help or asked how we were doing. It is clear they do not care about us."
Lily's expression tightened. She understood immediately. Then she asked, "Then how are we going to solve the money problems, young master?"
Outside the hall, in the corridor, Corvin walked beside Eddard. Their footsteps echoed on the stone floor.
"He speaks well," Eddard admitted. "For a child."
Corvin grunted. "Speaking is not leading. We will see what happens when the Kennedys answer. If they answer."
"And if they do not?"
Corvin stopped walking. He looked back toward the closed doors of the meeting hall.
"Then the Hendrix family falls," he said. "And we find new masters."
Eddard said nothing. He simply walked on, his face unreadable.