A few minutes ago in the meeting room where they met for the first time.
Freyja sat before Grace with a calm face while showing her dominance as a matriarch of her clan. Her blue eyes were fixated on the faces of her new opponent.
She simply folded her arms while gesturing for her men to bring some warmed honey milk as she waited for their words.
" Good afternoon, ma'am. I believe you are the person who is here to have a conversation with us."
Freyja didn't the attendant's words, keeping her silence until the warm milk came with some light snack. As one of the leaders of her people, she didn't want to look stingy before her guests, so she brought out the most delicate delicacies like soft bread, fresh butter, and grated sugar. Each of them was extremely hard to make and demanded a lot of attention.
Grace who noticed this, carefully picked up the bread and spread the butter on it while following Freyja who also showed how to spread sugar on it.
The sweet taste of sugar and soft milky texture of butter coupled with delicate bread almost made him devour it in one bite. Furthermore, the rich honey milk was as soft as the silk of the East, quenching his thirst for a long journey.
" I am Freyja, the war mother of my people and leader of internal affairs of this territory. I will be straightforward with you as you ought to be with me.
Your children created havoc in our territory and caused quite a headache for our people. Moreover, we also found quite a few rats in our vicinity."
Grace narrowed his eyes to ponder more, believing she was suggesting that those rats were his. However, the truth was that he didn't send any unless his father sent him without his consent.
Even so, he couldn't admit that these rats belonged to his territory, scheming other ways to hide it or distract her.
" Unfortunately, our territory doesn't have any rats. If you want it, I can send some pesk exterminator."
Freyja didn't change her expression, sipping her milk to delay some time before a tray of a dish arrived before them. It was covered in the metallic dome and no one could tell what was inside except Freyja.
" I will have a conversation with you after you sort yourselves and believe me if you are thinking of me as a lowly woman, you are greatly mistaken. Even my husband and child don't dare to ignore me."
After saying that she left the tray to them, leaving nothing but the empty seat in front of their bewildered faces.
The warrior next to them took off the tray, losing it with a shock.
" It is a human head!"
The horrified head of a rat was plated before them with a little blood. The knights almost burst out with anger, thinking they were declaring war on them.
" My lord, I will demand an explanation from them."
The attendant tried to leave the area for a fight but Grace grabbed his sleeves while looking at the head with silence.
He then grabbed the knife, stabbing it in the middle of his temple while cracking his neck. His warm hands grabbed the hair of the head, throwing it to one of the knights.
" Clean this mess up and conserve that head for me. We will go home now!"
His cold eyes were focused like a sword that was ready to be drawn from its sheath. Perhaps, he was too benevolent toward those old bastards in his home. Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to challenge his authority like this.
" Write a gratitude note for them and leave the children here. I don't want them to see my hands are soaking with blood."
He wasn't a merciful type of lord and certainly, he wasn't ignorant either. He might love his family and his people but those who dared to point a sword to his throat would die by his hands.
The knights trembled under his intense bloodlust, imagining the horror of the upcoming battle for he was a warrior that couldn't be measured by a normal lord status.
" Lucas, grab that attendant from before. I believe we need his tongue for my plan."
Lucas took a sharp breath, and saluted to him to acknowledge his command.