"I asked him to accompany me there!" Adelia exclaimed in a defensive tone, and she nearly sprang up from her chair.
"Adelia!" The Duke's voice boomed, stiffening her. "You shall not speak unless spoken to!"
His command echoed for the second time, forcing her to sink back into her chair like she wanted to vanish, all to avoid his infuriated glare.
Aldous directed his gaze towards the Knight before him, trying to guage his words. "You took her there?"
"...Yes," Edward answered, though with some level of difficulty.
"She did not persuade you to do so?"
The Knight shook his head. "No, she did not," he stated firmly.
There was a long silence in the room as the Duke shifted his attention to his daughter, studying her slightly horrified expression for a moment before turning back to the kneeling Knight.
He had to be sure that Edward wasn't taking all the blame to protect his infuriatingly impulsive offspring.
Aldous inhaled deeply. "You have taken an oath to serve me and the entire Veldon lineage, Sir Edward," he continued. "Now, swear upon that vow: Was it solely your decision to take my daughter to that desolate street?"
Adelia's breath caught in her throat. Her father's method was the most effective way to get the truth out of a Knight; they would never sully their vows to their liege, no matter how harmless the lie might be.
She believed Knights were stupidly honorable like that, but she did not… completely dislike it.
Edward didn't hesitate. "Yes, my Lord."
"No." Adelia interrupted firmly, rising from her chair. "I asked him to."
Her father turned to face her squarely. "Edward has sworn upon his oath, Adelia," he began. "Are you implying that he is lying on that vow?"
Adelia swallowed hard at her father's sensible question, her resolve wavering as her gaze shifted to the Knight.
Seeing how he so humbly bared his back to his lord in a display of submission, to show that he was being absolutely honest, tugged at her.
She couldn't allow herself to dishonor him.
She pressed her lips together, internally reprimanding herself for her stupidity. "No…" she relented. "No, he isn't."
The Duke huffed with a hint of satisfaction. "Good. I believe that is what I wished to hear."
"But Father," Adelia interjected again. "I truly had asked Edward to suggest a destination for us to go."
"I am well aware of that, of course," her father agreed. "Considering it was reasonable for me to send you with him, since he knows the city well. Yet, out of all the possible places, he chose to take you to an abandoned street."
Adelia fell silent, her fingers clutching the fabric of her dress tightly. She understood that the Knight was looking out for her, but saying it out loud would sound like nothing more than a feeble excuse.
"Edward," Aldous called out abruptly, fixing his gaze on the kneeling Knight. "You took my daughter to a location you knew was deserted, and as a result, she nearly got killed because you were unable to protect her."
Edward's jaw clenched visibly, and Adelia realized at that moment that the Knight was fighting frustration... frustration far worse than the one she had felt, the one she was feeling…
The reason was simple: he was a Knight. He had sworn an oath to shield every member of the Veldon household, especially her. Because unlike the other Knights, he alone knew something of her that they didn't.
But he didn't have the strength to shield her from danger, despite his knowledge. In fact, he had placed her in that harmful situation in the first place, and he then lacked the power to protect her.
"Yes…" Edward croaked out.
"Do you accept your incompetence and wrongdoing?" Aldous inquired sternly.
"...I do."
"Will you willingly accept whatever punishment is given to you?"
Adelia gulped nervously.
The Knight seemed to bow even lower, ignoring the searing pain from the wound on his back. "I shall willingly accept any penalty you choose to impose, my Lord," he declared. "Because I have done wrong, so I will accept my responsibility for it wholeheartedly."
Adelia nervously clutched the folds of her dress in dreaded anticipation of what was about to come, as her father took another deep breath.
"Sir Edward Calive," the Duke began solemnly. "As punishment for your thoughtless actions, I hereby dismiss you from your position as vice commander of my Knight order."
A heavy tremor ran through the Knight as he knelt. He knew that the punishment for his actions would be severe, but hearing it out loud was an entirely different matter.
Still, he had no choice but to accept it. He had endangered the only child of the Veldon house, and if she perished, she wouldn't do so alone, as he knew the Duchess was fragile enough to join her upon hearing the news.
And the guilt of two lives would weigh heavily on him.
So, of course, he had no choice but to accept it.
"Father!" Adelia gasped with wide eyes. "Don't you think… don't you think that's too much?!"
The Duke's gaze bore into her. "You are hardly in a position to question me, Adelia," he retorted. "You were with him the entire time. Can you ever understand the torment I experienced while trying to locate you when I discovered the attack?"
Adelia felt a pang of guilt for putting her father through so much... truly—from finding out about his mentor's death to her ambush. She could only imagine how on edge he must have been.
But she couldn't back down; she refused to back down.
"Then maybe we should look at this from differing perspectives, father?" she suggested calmly. "Edward was only looking out for me when he took me there."
"No he was not, Delia," Aldous interjected. "He was—"
"Yes, he was," she cut in. "I was so upset that I couldn't handle the sight of a..." She swallowed, "...of a deceased man. He was trying to cheer me up by taking me to a tea shop there."
The Duke's expression turned to a somber frown, "Adelia, was that the only tea shop in all of Lavim? What happened to the others in the bustling streets?"
Adelia thought of letting him know how wonderful the tea was... how special and how she understood why Edward had taken her there, but she quickly decided that was a topic for later.
"Edward felt it to be the finest tea shop in the city, father, that was why he took me there."
"And then you found yourselves ambushed and under attack."
"How could he have predicted such a thing?" Adelia asked calmly. "I'm sure he knew that there had not been records of attacks in that area. He felt it was safe, father."
Her father was furious and fatigued, she knew, and all she wanted to do was make him see past his emotions and consider the situation from a perspective other than his own.
"Edward could never have anticipated the attack." She stated and the Duke opened his mouth to speak, but she hurriedly continued, "I agree that he has a fault in this, but the true culprits are the nobles who sent those assassins."
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