"By who?" Clara's voice trembled with alarm.
Noah heaved a sigh, his expression reflecting a mixture of frustration and helplessness.
"I wish I knew," he admitted. "I have spent years investigating, but there is no trace. All the evidence, though circumstantial, pointed towards me. It was enough for everyone to believe that I was the culprit."
"His Highness, the Grand Duke never believed it!" countered the knightess.
Curiosity tinged Noah's response as he probed further.
"How do you know?"
A glimmer of certainty shone in Clara's eyes as she explained, "If he did, you wouldn't be here. You would have been immediately expelled from the knighthood, stripped of your title, or executed!"
Noah's lips curled into a bitter smirk, his voice filled with pain.
"I almost faced that fate... The scars you and Emily saw on my back were the result of it. I was subjected to a hundred floggings by His Highness himself, and I came close to death."
