"You heard me. Shake your hands now," ordered the princess, casting a cold glare at both knights.
"No way," Noah scoffed, turning his back from Eric while wiping the remnants of blood on his lips.
"Not even in my dream." Eric shook his head, also turning around with arms crossed on his broad chest.
The two knights were now acting like sulking kids.
"If you don't, I will tell the commander what happened today," she warned them.
Both men let out small laughs as if her warning was a mere joke.
"My lady can do whatever you wish," said Noah disparagingly.
He couldn't even care less about her remarks. Even Eric did not attempt to deter the princess from doing so.
Anna grunted out of annoyance. The two knights were testing her patience.
"Fine! I'll inform him and ensure he punishes everyone, including the men who just watched and did nothing to break up your fight."
Hearing the statement, the faces of all the other knights gathering there changed drastically. Noah didn't mind the threat at all. His face was casual, without a hint of emotion.
"I guess my escort won't care if I got punished too. Then, I'll go and tell him now," she announced decisively as she saw the apathetic face of her escort.
Anna was about to turn around when suddenly Noah spoke up, "My lady, why would the commander punish you? You're not involved in this matter."
"Earlier, Sir Navin himself said that he came to warn you to stay away from me. Meaning I am the main reason for this fight. Shouldn't I take the responsibility?" she responded to him.
"The commander wouldn't do that! My lady is his wife. It's dishonourable for a Cassian man to hit his spouse," Eric confidently replied.
"Ah... but you forget! We're in the knights' camp, where all its occupants are bound by his determined rule."
She looked at both knights alternately before continuing, "The commotion happening today will get a corresponding punishment. That includes you, me, and everyone here."
"Yes, but... it's absurd to have you punished," the second-in-command knight added with brows knitted.
"If you recall, my previous guards were almost severely punished by him. I had to beg the commander to let them go. It was his last favour. He won't be so merciful this time," she reminded them.
A stunned silence brushed the air. Everyone had a face clouded with worries.
"If both of you keep being stubborn, all of us will bear the consequences. Do you want it to happen?" the princess continued.
The two knights began to have dubious looks. However, no words came out of their lips.
"My lady, you don't need to bring up this matter to the commander," Rafe, who watched in silence, interfered suddenly.
A crease formed on his forehead. He was unsure what would happen if the commander learned about the matter. Though Kyren had been a bit lenient lately, he was unlikely to spare anyone.
"You saw it yourself. They refused to reconcile, didn't they? So, what choice do I have?" The princess gave a questioning look at him.
The healer shut his mouth and looked down. Anna's angry words pierced through his ears.
"The Knights of Gerhard are strong. So you won't bother about a flog or two. But I don't know what will happen to me." Anna looked down with a gloomy face.
"I guess it doesn't matter to you if an Ardelian woman like me got punished and humiliated in front of everyone," she added.
"That's not true. Cassian men honoured all women. It's our pride!" declared Eric.
He turned to face Anna and said, "Letting a lady be flogged in public for a mere fight is disgraceful."
"Is that so? Then, is it too much if I ask you two to honour me with the symbol of truce by a handshake? Or do you think the floggings worth more than my honour?" she tested the men.
"Definitely not! I'm your escort and a knight. I would surely protect you from any harm," Noah insisted, facing the princess.
"Me too! I'm an honourable Cassian man. It will be shameful if my lady is punished because of my act," Eric said firmly.
"Then do it. From now on, I don't want to see you fighting again anymore. You can continue after you return from this campaign. That time, I won't hold you back," Anna persuaded.
The two knights faced each other. With arrogance in their looks, they held their hands, clasping them briefly with a firm up-and-down shake. It was a reasonably formal handshake.
A murmur trembled through the crowd who were watching. It was as if a bizarre thing had happened.
Anna turned around to the crowd, who cast their eyes on her.
"All right! The fight is over. Disperse now!" the little lady ordered the rest of the knights.
As the men began to spread out on their ways, Anna approached Eric. Noah had returned to his place under the tree while the healer and his assistant went to clear up their lunch from the open area.
"Please get the treatment for your injury, Sir Navin." Her voice was now soft and soothing as usual.
"Don't mind me. It's just a nosebleed. I'll be fine," he replied, not even looking at her as if grimacing.
"Thank you," the princess slowly said in gratitude.
The knight turned to her and raised his brow.
"For what?"
"For your warning about my escort. I know you meant well," she remarked, a thin smile spread across her lips.
"I've no intention to scare you, my lady. It's just that I know what happened to you on the night when the commander brought you here."
He paused before continuing, "I've just learned that the commander has appointed him in charge of your safety. Had I known it earlier, I would've discouraged the commander."
"Seems like you really believe he did it," Anna guessed.
The knight exhaled a rage.
"There was no concrete evidence. But all circumstantial evidence pointed out that he did it. However, the commander still defended him and took his side. Because of him, we had been dispatched to this campaign for two years consecutively at each season," Eric explained with a solemn face.
"Wasn't there any witness of the crime?" she asked curiously.
"I saw it with my own eyes! So did the knights who were with me. When we arrived, he was half-n*kedly lifting the girl's lifeless body, covered only with his tunic. God, I really want to kill him!" Eric flared his nostrils and tensed his jaws, recalling the terrible incident.
As Anna listened carefully to the knight's explanation, her forehead wrinkled at a fact he mentioned.
"Did you say she was covered in his tunic only?"
"That's what I saw. The authority took the victim's body away and later confirmed that she was r*ped," replied the knight.
"And why were you heading to the place?" she asked again.
"We were in the kingdom of Dracor, and he was on duty to guard our belongings and supplies. We saw the scene when we returned," replied the knight.
"I see... After the incident, what happened?" the princess asked Eric again. The story told by the knight gained her interest.
"Somehow, the investigation showed that the woman had probably died an hour before we left the place. Since she was a slave, he was finally released unconvicted," he told her.
"That means he's not guilty!" the princess said excitedly.
"It's hard to say. The difference in time was slim, and it was estimated based on the body's condition. Because of the incident, the knighthood faced great disgrace. So, the commander demoted him to a low-ranking knight and imposed a hundred floggings. No one befriended him afterwards."
The reply only made Anna feel pity for her escort. She did not know that behind his serious face, Noah had suffered a significant loss and humiliation.
"Sir Navin, don't you think Sir Brooks's appearance during the case is almost similar to my husband?"
"Pardon, my lady? I don't get you."
The knight looked at her broodingly.
"The night when I met the commander for the first time... he was not wearing any clothes too, except for his pants," she recalled.
"He went for a swim at the lake. He must have rushed to save you that time. I saw him carrying you in his arms when he returned," the knight responded.
"What if anyone else saw him like what you've seen? Wouldn't that person think he had violated me instead?" she guessed, putting the finger on her lower lip.
"What?! The commander would never do that! He's a righteous man and full of dignity!" Eric raised his voice in denial.
"You are saying this because you know and trust the commander. What if the person did not know him at all? Wouldn't they have the same perception as you did of Sir Brooks?" She raised doubt in Eric's mind.
"That can't be! Noah was a mercenary. He had always been involved in dirty jobs. How can I put him in the same shoes as the commander?" he adamantly countered.
"From the way I see it, you've looked down on my escort from the beginning due to his past. You didn't even address him by his title. That's why you truly believe he did it," said the princess.
Eric averted his eyes from the commander's wife. She was quick to assess his 'unfriendly' relationship with her escort. The knight would only call Noah by his title when he wanted to make fun of him.
"I know what I saw, my lady! I don't lie!" Eric insisted, shaking the doubt away.
"I understand. It's not my place to say whether he did it or not. As he said, the law had decided that he was innocent."
Anna looked away momentarily, zoning out as she thought about the case.
"Huh! He was just d*mn lucky to be able to get away! If it happened in Cassian, he should be dead by now." Eric hissed in anger.
"People usually believe what they want to believe. If you could put aside your prejudice for a moment, look at the case from a different perspective," Anna proposed.
"What do you mean?" The knight raised a brow, questioning the princess.
"Think about it. Why would he commit a crime there knowing you'll be back anytime? And, if I may say..." she paused with a brooding look.
"What is it?"
"A r*pist wouldn't even bother to cover his prey with his clothes."
A sudden silence sealed the knight's mouth.
"It's just my opinion. I am talking as someone who nearly became a victim," Anna continued.
"It's hard to change what I thought about him. It's not just me, but we all felt the same about him," he remarked.
"I see what you mean. It's human nature. If you dislike someone, no matter what they do, everything will look bad."
Eric could not refute the lady's statements. The words that came out of her mouth were correct. Even before the case happened, he had felt distaste for Noah for his menacing behaviour. Nevertheless, what Anna said just now somehow sent a new thought to him inwardly.
"I'll put what you said in mind. Thank you for the insight, my lady." The knight nodded.
"You're welcome. Since Sir Brooks had received his punishment, I hope you and the rest of the men won't treat him poorly," she requested.
Eric exhaled.
"If it's my lady's request, I shall grant it. I will not allow the men to bother him," he agreed.
Anna flashed a smile to the knight.
"Thank you, Sir Navin. You've been very kind. I hope we can be friends even though I didn't side with you during the fight."
"Most definitely."
The knight stood there and stared as the princess left, grinning her lips from ear to ear. Indeed, she had surprised him and the rest of the men. Who would have thought that the little lady of the camp had managed to subdue two experienced knights from a fight only with her words?