The Hunt (2)
Following Kyle's orders, Rayna headed first to the waiting room of the Golden Lion Knight Brigade.
Just yesterday morning, it had still been the place she belonged.
But now, that room was no longer a place she could return to.
Rather, it was where the prey had gathered.
'The hunt.'
Kyle had said it just like that.
If those cowards didn't have the guts to step forward on their own, then make them crawl onto the training arena by force.
And Rayna understood the meaning of that command perfectly.
Clack.
The door to the Golden Lion Knight Brigade waiting room opened.
The noise from inside went silent in an instant.
Dozens of knights turned their heads.
Their gazes were complicated.
Hostility toward Kyle.
Rage that their comrades had been wronged.
But beneath it all, unmistakable fear lingered.
The sight of Barren Kreuz's head being severed from his body.
No one could forget that scene.
But their gazes toward Rayna were different.
They feared Kyle.
But they did not fear Rayna.
"Lady Rayna."
A mid-ranking knight spoke up.
A knight who had not been promoted to High-level Knight despite approaching middle age.
One who had always dismissed Rayna's talent in life.
A sneer curled at the corner of his mouth as he looked at her.
"I heard the rumors. That you resigned from the Golden Lion Knight Brigade. Is it true?"
Rayna met his gaze.
"It is."
A murmur rippled through the waiting room.
"Really?"
"You left the brigade of your own volition?"
"You've gone mad."
Open insults directed at Rayna, as if daring her to hear them.
Dozens of knights had gathered here.
That paltry number had inflated their courage.
The mid-ranking knight clicked his tongue.
"Then the other rumor I've been hearing must also be true?"
His eyes twisted with malice.
"The rumor that you pledged your loyalty to Kyle — that madman?"
In an instant, Rayna's gaze turned cold as ice.
"Watch your tongue."
The air in the waiting room stiffened slightly.
Rayna spoke in a calm voice.
But her words carried a clear warning.
"I will not forgive any insult directed at my liege."
Liege.
The moment that word fell, the knights' expressions shifted.
And then, almost immediately—
"Hah!"
Someone burst into laughter.
"So it was true."
"She actually pledged loyalty to that madman. And it's really true."
"What exactly does one have to do to end up in such a state?"
"Must've gone even crazier than we thought."
The laughter spread.
Mocks erupted.
They did not fear Rayna's warning.
Rather, they found it funnier.
A young knight stepped forward.
His gaze swept slowly from Rayna's face down to her neck, then to her body.
A lecherous, brazen stare.
"Did that madman do something to you, perhaps?"
A cold glint settled in Rayna's eyes.
The knight did not retreat even upon seeing her reaction.
Rather, he laughed more shamelessly.
"Locked the training arena door and blocked it off — what exactly happened that made you call him your liege overnight?"
"Hahahaha!"
"Did you decide to play the lovesick fool for that eldest son of the madman's house?"
"Quite the choice, abandoning the brigade just to go to that bastard's bed."
Vulgar mockery poured forth.
A knight's honor.
The pride of the Grand Duke's household.
The sword of the north.
These were the people who had worn such words on their lips every day.
Yet what now flowed from their mouths was no different from the petty slanders and lewd remarks of common slanderers.
Rayna's fingertips twitched slightly.
At her hip, the hilt of her sword.
Her hand reached for it, then stopped.
'I have to endure this.'
She commanded herself, suppressing her rage.
She could not draw her sword right now.
It would not be difficult to cut down the few who smiled in front of her.
But that was not Kyle's command.
She was not a hunting dog.
She was the hunter now.
The prey had not yet entered the slaughterhouse.
"Revoke your statement."
Rayna said.
Her voice was cold.
But the knights did not take that coldness as a warning.
"Revoke it?"
"What are we, your servants?"
"Did we say something wrong?"
"Are you going to give us orders?"
"Oh! I was sorry to see the north's most beautiful woman following that madman — are you going to give orders to us too?"
Rayna silently observed them.
They feared Kyle.
But they did not fear her.
That cowardice was so blatant it was almost funny.
In a one-on-one sword fight, there was almost no one in this room who could defeat her.
And yet they were drunk on their numbers, brimming with false courage.
The same ones who trembled before Kyle from the front were spitting insults from behind, and they even seemed to believe that was righteous.
'Knights.'
Contempt flashed through Rayna's eyes.
They had forgotten the duty and obligation of being knights.
They remembered only the prestige that came with the title of knight.
Outward show, privilege, bravado.
Intoxicated by such things, they had forgotten even why they held a sword in the first place.
Rayna slowly opened her mouth.
"I will confirm it."
Her voice was excessively calm.
"The remarks just made — that my liege, Grand Duke Kyle Hartvalt, was called a madman, a piece of filth, and that I, his knight, was sexually insulted."
Rayna's gaze swept across the waiting room.
"Is this the unanimous opinion of the entire Golden Lion Knight Brigade?"
A brief silence fell.
Soon, the mid-ranking knight scoffed.
"If so, then what are you going to do about it?"
He raised his chin.
"The fact that that madman is the eldest son of the Grand Duke's household is itself a disgrace. You crawling under him is a disgrace too. Everyone here thinks the same."
"You mean the opinion of everyone present?"
"Obviously."
With that answer, voices erupted from all corners.
"Naturally."
"Who would oppose it?"
"Who would defend such a lunatic?"
"What are you going to do about it, little girl?"
Rayna asked again.
"Is there anyone who opposes?"
Instead of an answer, mockery returned.
"No."
"No, obviously!"
"Are your ears plugged?"
"I said everyone!"
Rayna finally nodded.
"I understand."
She withdrew her hand completely from her hip.
"I need to fetch something. Wait here."
"What are you going to fetch?"
"Don't tell me you're going to run crying to Kyle?"
"Sure, go ahead. Tell your liege. You must be terrified."
The mockery continued.
Rayna did not respond.
She turned her body and left the waiting room.
Just before the door closed, laughter rang out once more.
That laughter would not last long.
* * *
Rayna immediately headed to the Red Griffin Knight Brigade.
The result there was no different.
"You abandoned the Golden Lion and attached yourself to that madman?"
"A treacherous bitch crawls in here so brazenly."
"Our opinion? Obviously it's unanimous. That madman is a disgrace to the Grand Duke's household."
"What kind of Grand Duke? He's a lunatic."
Rayna posed the same question.
"Is there anyone who opposes?"
What returned was mockery alone.
"No."
"No, obviously!"
"We despise both that bastard and you."
Next was the Blue Tiger Knight Brigade.
The mockery here was even more brazen.
"What did you learn overnight that made your loyalty so deep?"
"We could treat you better than Kyle, you know. What a shame."
"Opposing opinion? As if such a thing could exist. Everyone thinks the same."
Rayna did not blink.
"I take it that means everyone."
Finally came the White Dragon Knight Brigade.
They put on the most refined airs.
The words on their lips were more polished than those of the other brigades.
But the essence was the same.
"There is nothing to discuss with one who has disgraced the honor of a knight."
"Kyle Hartvalt is a disgrace to the north."
"Your choice to call such a man your liege is likewise a disgrace."
"A filthy whore like you — how dare you?!"
Rayna posed the same question.
"Is this the unanimous opinion of the entire White Dragon Knight Brigade?"
"That is so."
"Is there anyone who opposes?"
"There is not."
That was enough.
Rayna had visited all four knight brigades.
Wherever she went, insults and mockery poured forth.
Contempt toward Kyle.
Sexual harassment and humiliation directed at her.
And the affirmation that all of it was the unanimous opinion of the entire brigade.
Not a single person opposed.
That was all of it — every last bit.
* * *
The door to Kyle's quarters opened.
Rayna entered and knelt on one knee immediately.
"My liege."
Kyle turned his head.
"Did you visit all four locations?"
"Yes. As you commanded, I visited all four knight brigades."
"Hmm. What were the results? Actually, it's obvious."
"Everything matched your expectations, my liege."
Rayna reported calmly.
The Golden Lion.
The Red Griffin.
The Blue Tiger.
The White Dragon.
The insults they spewed.
The contempt aimed at Kyle.
The sexual harassment and mockery directed at her.
And the fact that every single brigade affirmed it as the unanimous opinion of all its members.
When her report finished, a brief silence settled in the room.
Rayna kept her head bowed, awaiting orders.
She was not without anger.
She remembered every insult aimed at her, every insult aimed at her liege.
But she waited for Kyle's command.
Everything was according to his plan.
Then—
"Kheh…."
A low laugh slipped from between Kyle's lips.
He covered his face with one hand.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
"Hah."
It was a laugh.
"Puhahahahaha!"
Before long, uproarious laughter erupted.
Rayna lifted her head.
Kyle was laughing, one hand over his face.
A bloody radiance spread across his green eyes.
It was the kind of laughter that found the sight of prey offering their own nooses utterly unbearable.
"Foolish brats."
Kyle muttered, still laughing.
"They walk around with honor on their lips, yet they've forgotten what price follows from trampling on someone else's honor, it seems."
A killing intent as cold as ice radiated outward.
"Rayna."
"Yes, my liege."
"Using the authority and standing of the Grand Duke, summon all knight brigade members from your four locations to a grand assembly in the training arena."
His blood-red eyes blazed with ferocity.
"Tell them that those who insulted my knight and my name are demanding a fair duel."
"I understand."
Rayna bowed her head.
Kyle added one last thing.
"And tell them that anyone who does not heed the summoning order will be executed on the spot for treason. Oh, and those who flee from the duel can be punished for falsely claiming the title of knight, since they're no longer knights."
The hunt was over.
Now, it was time for the doors of the hunting ground to open.
