At a forest, in the eastern side of the Mist Kingdom.
One of the many things about him that hasn't changed is his hate towards nobility. He travelled all around the Empire, and in the past five years visited every single Kingdom. In doing so he met many nobles, but his impression of them didn't change. While there were one or two good people, most of them were trash.
Rhys gaze fell on the cottage that they arrived in after walking.
"This place is quite secluded."
At those words Kain sighed again. "Rhys-"
"It's perfect." Rhys mumbled. There was nothing but forest in their surroundings, the path that led to this place took a good ten minutes to climb up.
Even if he causes a mess, nobody will bother making the effort to climb this long hill. According to the details he learned from Kain, this guy was one of the main culprits to the assault.
'He boasted about how he managed to pin her down, of course I learned that he only managed this after seducing a maid to poison the Queen's drink.'
The image of this unknown man pinning Lyn down upset him greatly. Just a punch, that is all he will do.
Kain opens the door with a key, and the first thing they hear is the sound of moans followed by something being thrown across the room. Rhys gaze dimmed seeing the sight before him. There was a man with dark lilac coloured hair there holding a wine glass in his hands. In the center of the room was a large bed, and there were two women tied up with ropes.
"Oh? You're finally here sir Kain. Look, I have a present for you. You can enjoy yourself too while you treat my arm."
Kain frowned. "Those clothes, don't tell me you-"
"Can you believe what I saw when I was wandering the forest? Not one, but two apprentice knights that directly serve the Queen. When they saw me they didn't help me and treated me with disgust instead."
"I'm sure even the apprentice knights know what you have done sir Rai."
At those words the man named Rai's gaze dimmed. "What did I do? What exactly did I do to end up being exiled by my family?"
"You assaulted, well it failed but you tried to harm the Queen. You know this very well."
"The Queen, that's right that woman. I managed to get a little taste before she woke up. Unfortunately it was only her legs, if the drug worked I would have done more. Just thinking about what happened excites me. That kind hearted Queen struggling like that, what really turned me on is when she tried to use her magic only to accelerate the effects of the drug. Seeing her in that condition, flustered and breathing heavily with that lustful look in her eyes-"
Rhys didn't allow the man to finish his sentence, he drew his blue Mizuichi sword from its scabbard and aimed his sword at Rai's other arm. He didn't hesitate to slice Rai's arm. A large amount of blood gushed out and continued to pour.
"Aaagghhh-my arm, my other arm!" Rai screamed.
".."
"You bastard, who on earth are you-" Rhys cuts Rai's sentence off by extending his sword towards his forehead.
"Whose women did you think you touched?" Rhys words are deadly.
It took a moment but recognition filled Rai's eyes.
"Y-you, your Rhys?"
"That's right."
It seems like there are people who still remember him, even though five entire years have passed already.
At those words Rai's gaze darkened. "I remember you very well," Rai laughed. "You probably have no idea do you? The reason we planned that assault on her was you. It's because we all knew how precious she was to you."
"Do I know you?"
"How dare you forget who I am! You may be a nobility from the Rain Kingdom but you still spent your time as a low born commoner. You're nothing but dirt but you dare forget the great Elderic family?"
It took Rhys a moment to recall who that was.
'Isn't that the name of one of the noble families who were engaged in illegal deals, and spreading fake money..?'
Now that he thought about it, that was the time he first took the lead to help the Mist Kingdom soldiers. Initially Lyn was in charge but she ended up being poisoned and had a terrible fever. Considering how it was the final fight. He decided that he would take over the command. That battle was hard to forget, there were so many deaths due to the enemy playing dirty tricks. However because the enemies were nobles, they weren't executed on the spot and some were given pardon/light punishments.
'I didn't like how it was handled, but as an outsider, there was only so much I could do.'
"So, the scums from that time towards Lyn-" Rhys could barely say those words without gritting his teeth. Before he came hare, the faded images of a random man touching Lyn already angered him. However, now that he can put faces to the culprits, he felt even more disgusted.
"Hahaha, you have no idea how angry everybody was do you? A person like you destroying all our hard work. You have no idea how much we wanted to take revenge. Due to that tyrant Queen however we had to put our plans on hold, and act as good nobles who wanted to help the Kingdom. After regaining our honour from the war, we planned to challenge you to a dual and humiliate you. However, you ran away. You coward!" Rai screamed.
Rhys could only sigh after listening to Rai's rambling. To think that was the reason why they attacked Lyn.
"Everybody knew how much you cared for her, so we thought we could use her. If any of us succeeded in seducing her we could show off when you came back. But that woman didn't budge, she refused all our advances! She even glared at me and said 'you will never be half the man Rhys is.'"
That stupid girl, what on earth was she saying in that type of situation. Rhys could imagine it clearly, her saying those words with those strong and powerful eyes.
Rhys shifted his blade so it was pointing at Rai's neck. "Listen to this warning, because I will not repeat myself again. If you lay a single finger on her again, I will cut you all down with my sword without a second thought."
"Why you-"
"This isn't a bluff, relay this message to your little friends. If any of you dares harm her again, assume that your life is over."
Rai couldn't say anymore after hearing those words. Rhys lowered his blade and walked away. He burned with the intent to kill, and he wanted nothing more than to turn around and chop off his remaining limbs so he would die.
He turned to Kain and didn't say a word but patted his friends shoulders, before exiting the log cabin. The moment he stepped outside, he felt droplets of rain fall on his face and looked up at the grey skies.
It's raining again, did it use to rain this much in the Mist Kingdom? 'I have been away for far too long, so a lot has changed.' But that's fine, he will never leave now. He will remain here, no matter what she decides. He will never leave her side again.
*Unedited*