"Weylyn Kalver! How long are you going to keep at this?! Did you not hear your brothers words?! You have accepted the Imperial decree, do you dare defy it now?!" Grand Duke Raego Kalver roared as he stormed into Weylyn's quarters.
"Yes father...I dare." Weylyn murmured without glancing back.
Grand Duke Raego was momentarily stunned by his daughter's blunt admission before his heart flared with rage again.
It was at times like this Grand Duke Raego blamed himself for raising his children to be unyielding and fearless.
"You! Are you going to keep being like this?! You will don your armor and come with me to receive the Lord Knight this instant!" Grand Duke Raego insisted fiercely,
Weylyn scoffed beneath her breath, further enraging the Grand Duke.
Duke Raego Kalver was not accustomed to this rebellious side of his daughter, truly she could be a handful to everyone else, but never to him.
"Weylyn Adelaide Kalver!" Grand Duke Raego growled.
Upon hearing Grand Duke Raego mention her full name, Weylyn sighed at her father's ferocity, her gaze still fixed on the bustling streets of the Dukedom of Kalver.
Grand Duke Raego hissed, storming up to her.
"Weylyn bids morning greetings to father." Weylyn said quietly, turning to her father and lowering her head into a bow.
The suddenness of Weylyn's calm reaction had her father quieting down and forgetting the tirade of words he had prepared for her,
Grand Duke Raego Kalver was always helpless towards this daughter of his, there was no one within the Dukedom of Kalver who did not know this,
Grand Duke Raego Kalver heaved a sigh, all his anger fleeting away as he placed a comforting hand on Weylyn's shoulder.
"Father knows your heart Lynn, if I didn't know my little girl...then who would?" Grand Duke Raego asked in a tender tone.
Weylyn tried to maintain a calm facade but failed, her lips trembled slightly as she forced down the sob bubbling up her throat.
"I cannot get it out of my head father... that night, the blood, his pain, it haunts me from the nights I toss in bed to my every waking moment." Weylyn admitted, shaking her head slightly.
Weylyn had been the only one to witness the death of Ronan Kalver, she had held him in her arms while he bled to death, her clothing had been dyed red with his blood,
She had watched him take his last breaths, in pain and gasping for air, she had watched the life seep out of him and the light in his eyes dim as he slowly gave up the battle to retain his life.
"I do know how hard it is for you, to have witnessed it personally..." Grand Duke Raego trailed of, heaving a deep sigh.
"But I bid you to think of your brother Lynn, not in his dying moment but in his days of glory and honor...to think of all he stood for, and all he fought for."
"These are the values I taught to him, the very same values I watched him impact to you and Rehan. Do you forget it so quickly?" Duke Raego asked,
Weylyn shook her head slightly, she knew clearly all her brother stood for, his purpose and his great vision were engraved in her heart.
"Then I bid you to think of these only and ask yourself, what choice would Ro have wanted you to take?" Grand Duke Raego Kalver asked.
"I... this will be the last time father... just this time and never again." Weylyn stuttered out in a trembling tone.
Weylyn bit her trembling lips as she leaned against the warmth of her father's chest and broke into sobs, her heart wrenching cries ripping out of her thin form.
Grand Duke Raego pulled his daughter closer to his chest, wrapping her securely in the warmth of his embrace as he rubbed soothing circles down her back.
Grand Duke Raego knew, that as tough and unyielding as he had raised his daughter to be, she was still merely a child of sixteen summers...
She was young, much too young to endure the kind of pain she had been forced to, but there was nothing he could do to ease her pain.
There was nothing he could do but ask her to be stronger.
After a short moment, when Weylyn's sobs had calmed down, she pulled away and wiped her tears.
"The Lord Knight has come for me himself?" Weylyn asked, lifting her gaze to Rehan.
"You are the youngest to be knighted in the history of Kinouri, it is only natural you are accorded the highest regard." Rehan Kalver said with a sad smile.
Weylyn nodded slowly, passing one last glance to the city she had grown up in.
As knight, her duty would take her where there was the most need and so she wondered just when she would be able to return back home.
"We will leave you to yourself then, I will send your attendants to assist you to get ready in a little while, the House of Kalver awaits to send you off." Grand Duke Raego said.
Rehan Kalver and the Grand Duke took their leave and Weylyn was left alone to her own thoughts.
She passed a blank gaze to the armour laid out on her bed, the armour bearing the insignia of the House of Kalver.
There was only one in the Empire allowed the privilege of wearing this armour and that was the Knight of Kalver.
Merely three months back, this had been her brother's exclusive privilege and now it had become hers.
This feeling of taking her brother's place, snatching his rights and privileges, stepping up to his position and being accorded the glory he had earned with his own blood,
This feeling left a bitter taste in Weylyn's mouth as she shut her eyes tightly and prayed for strength, for truly she was in desperate need of it if she was going to get by the days to come.
For just as she had promised her father, the tears she had shed today would be her very last for the new Knight of Kalver would shed no tears.