With a connection with Crystal officially made, Ruena turned her attention to the most pressing matter in the Alodan Dukedom. The knights. The easiest way to deal with them was through the knight commander, who was surprisingly still the same as back then. For the first time since she began working with him, Leopold objected to her course of action.

  “As you say, the knights are a mess. Is it not the fault of the knight commander? It is far better to start from scratch,” Leopold argued, “Restoring the Alodan House is no easy feat, but it cannot be done halfway.”

  “That is why I intend to meet him myself and make my own decision,” Ruena pointed out, “If I intended to reset everything and start from scratch, you wouldn’t be here either, Leopold. No matter how good the knights are, I have no doubt Velcorna held them back. She always hated weapons and violence.”

  “If that is your wish, then I will summon him,” Leopold agreed reluctantly.

  Ruena sighed. Whatever his problem was, she would have to deal with it eventually as well. “No. I need to see the knights with my own eyes. I won’t be able to see how far they have really fallen unless I catch them by surprise. Just point me in the direction of the training grounds and general living space.”

  Leopold looked even more reluctant now, and searched the room for anything to change the subject. “My lady, may I ask why you have so many cats here?”

  Ruena glanced around and frowned. Just as he had said, the room was now full of cats of various breeds and sizes. “This always happens,” she muttered, glancing down at the one cat she had actually intended to bring along, “Jazz, I said I would give you a feast, not all of your friends. Go have them bother Soral if they are hungry.”

  Jazz gave her a look as if he were disappointed in her lack of intellect. She didn’t have to use the translation collar to know that meant she was off the mark with her conclusion. If they weren’t hungry then they must be curious.

  “Fine, they can take a look around as well. The more pairs of eyes the better,” she agreed, “The knights might be quick to avoid doing anything suspicious while I am watching, but it is hard to avoid the eyes of all of you. I do think you would have been enough, though.”

  The fluffy white cat shaped kitica rubbed his head against her ankles, immediately acting cute now that he had gotten his way. She knew he would turn on her in a moment if she didn’t deliver on her promised feast, though. She was also careful not to mention his growing belly or his weight after witnessing the incident when one of the new recruits had called him fat. Luckily there had been more mental trauma than physical scars.

  “The cats are your eyes and ears?” Leopold asked, looking both intrigued and impressed, “Incredible. How do you get them to listen to you?”

  “You don’t,” Ruena answered simply, “I just take advantage of their curiosity and reward them for telling me whatever secrets they happen to discover. Now, guide me to the training grounds.”

  As Leopold guided the way, some of the cats darted ahead while others trailed behind. It was incredible how easily they blended into their surroundings despite the fact that there had previously been no pets of any kind in the Alodan Mansion. Only Jazz stood out with his stark white fur and chubby form, only enhanced by his fluffy silhouette. Perhaps he knew this because he walked just ahead of Ruena as if making sure she knew he was the one setting the pace.

  The situation with the knights was worse than Ruena had expected. They recognized Leopold right away, but didn’t seem to respect him much. As for her, they seemed to have no idea who she was or what her golden eyes and jet black hair meant. What really caught their attention was Jazz.

  “The butler brought a cat?”

  “A cat and a girl?”

  “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “He did threaten to have us replaced with livestock that one time.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Okay, so this was Leopold’s fault. She wouldn’t take someone who threatened to replace her with livestock seriously either. Especially considering it was beyond his power to do so. Hearing the commotion, a rough looking man with hair grayer than Leopold’s burst out from the stables. He had scars that ran up his arms, thick leather gloves, and an eyepatch covering his right eye. The man seemed like he was about to start yelling when he spotted them. Unlike the others, he seemed to recognize Ruena as he stared right at her. The knight commander, perhaps?

  “Lady Alodan,” he greeted, immediately bending down on one knee, presenting her with his sword, “It has been my greatest wish to witness your return. I am Justus, the commander of the Alodan Knights.”

  “Then tell me why these knights are such a mess?” Ruena demanded, not missing their hurried scramble to suddenly seem respectable.

  “I have no excuse, my lady,” he told her, “If you send me away, I understand. I would just like to tell you one thing before I go.”

  “And what is that?” Ruena pressed, her suspicion growing. He was waiting all of this time to meet her and he was fine with leaving? She found it incredibly unlikely. He was probably placing his whole career on whatever he had to say.

  Justus took a deep breath. “I was there that day,” he told her, his words suddenly vague, “No matter what anyone else says, I believe you.”

  Ruena flinched as the meaning behind his words hit her, and she stared into his eyes for any hint of lies. He was sincere, almost too sincere. She recognized the look in his eyes as one she had often carried in her own. This entire time he must have been playing along, waiting for the perfect time to strike back.

  “That sounds like something we will have to discuss in more detail,” Ruena decided, “Shall we meet in your office? Or has that also been neglected.”

  “We can speak there,” Justus confirmed. The office of the knight commander had not been neglected, per se, but it was cluttered and crowded with the knight’s things that Velcorna must have decided there was no room for anywhere else in the mansion. The few other rooms they had passed looked like they had been repurposed to general storage. Luckily there was at least room enough for them both to sit and speak.

  “You claim to believe me. Tell me why you let the knights fall so far, and how you kept your position when all the other knights were chased off,” Ruena ordered.

  At this, Justus slowly began to pull off his leather gloves. Just like his arms, his hands were scarred from battle, but that wasn’t all. There were horrific burn scars on the backs of his hands that ran from his knuckles to his wrist. As Ruena stared at his scars, Justus began to tell his tale.

  The day Byron Alodan had died had been strange from the start. Rather than his usual patrols, the Duke had told his knights he had something important he needed to take care of alone. They never found out what that thing was, because the Duke was found dead that very night. Even now his murder was unresolved, like it was swept under the rug.

  The very next morning, the young miss vanished. Rumors spread that she was spouting crazy nonsense about her mother murdering her own husband. At first, Justus had been skeptical as well. That was until he saw Velcorna. Her husband had died, her daughter had vanished, yet she stood there with the other noble ladies smiling and laughing as if nothing of consequence had happened.

  Even once the guests left, Velcorna did not seem to have a care in the world. That was when the purge began. Any knights or servants who stood against her began to disappear one by one. Soon, Justus was the only one left of the original knightage. The only one who had ever seen the Duke or the young miss. Inevitably he was summoned by the widowed Duchess.

  Smiling, as always, she invited him to sit down to tea. She asked him some seemingly harmless questions. He answered them as carefully as he could, desperate to remain. If Lady Ruena were to ever return, someone needed to be there. Someone who would believe her, who would know the truth. That was when she asked him a simple question.

  “Are you loyal to Alodan?”

  He had answered without hesitation that he was. Then she asked her next question, one far more difficult to answer, but one he knew he had to answer well or it would all be over.

  “Are you loyal to me?”

  Perhaps because of his hesitation, even when he answered in the affirmative, the Duchess had frowned. She picked up the kettle with the piping hot tea.

  “Then prove it. Hold out your hands and do not move them until I give permission.”

  Ruena felt sick at this point in the story and told Justus to stop. “I get the gist of it. You can stop there,” she said, “I appreciate your sacrifice, but there was no need to go that far.”

  “Whenever I see these scars, I take them as my penance,” Justus told her, “Even if all of these things would have happened without me, I helped her with my own hands destroy the prestige of the Alodan Knightage. It has been many years, my lady. I will do whatever I can to help you restore Alodan to its former glory, and once you are done, I will take my leave. I no longer deserve the honor of a knight.”

  It was hard not to feel shaken by his words, but Ruena pulled herself together. “I will hold you to that promise,” she warned, “Now, tell me about the knights. Who is worth training and who needs to leave?”