Prince Edgar had gone outside the capital on official business and had come back to the palace only by nightfall. The news reached his ears that the second princess had a duel with a commandant and was injured. As soon as he heard this, he hurriedly made his way to the second princess's chamber to check up on her.
But he was stopped outside by the princess's maids.
"Move aside." He said, his tone incensed with anger.
One maid knelt on her knees and begged, "My Lord, the doctor is checking upon her highness, you cannot enter."
Edgar turned around and waited impatiently. His face looked stone cold and the maids dared not look in his direction.
Just then another maid came out of the princess's room, and Edgar stopped her.
"What did the doctor say?" He asked the maid but just then his eyes fell on what she was holding. She seemed to be carrying away the princess's bloodied clothes. The prince's face assumed an expression that sent shivers through those present.
He summoned his aide and said, "Prepare my horse, and also go ahead of me to the military training unit to tell Commandant Astor to visit her ancestral graves and pay her last respects."
The aide was taken aback not by what the prince said, but by the expression he had when he said it. He had never seen prince Edgar act this way. He quickly set out to do what he was told.
It was late at night when Prince Edgar reached the military training unit. By this time the training unit was well lit by torches and lamps and most of the soldiers had been woken up from their sleep. They knew that the coming of the prince in the middle of the night meant something ominous. Something huge was about to happen.
Commandant Astor had also arrived by then. She was not unfamiliar with prince Edgar. Having seen him dueling the previous general, she knew his level of skill very well. Nevertheless, her whip sword rested around her waist ready to be used for what it looked like her last fight.
Astor could only internally sigh, only this evening she had looked forward to her new mission with the superior marshal princess.
"I think you have a good idea as to what brought me here." Said the prince without getting down from his horse.
Astor had always wondered why the prince had to duel with the previous general severely injuring the latter. Replacing the general could be done in a different way, nor did it look like the prince wanted to show off his strength. But now she began to understand. Last time the previous general had allowed the second princess to take a small group of soldiers to fight a huge pack of rebels despite knowing the danger involved. The princess had been imprisoned for the aftermath.
This time it was her turn. She had after all injured the second princess. So in the end, the Keirish prince was also a hot-blooded young man with feelings.
Even though the commandant knew what was about to happen, instead of kneeling down begging for mercy she simply said, "As I've now become the sword of the Superior marshal princess, I shall not readily bow to your highness's sword."
"Then I shall finish this quickly and let you repent in the afterlife," said Edgar removing his long saber from its sheath.