The Duke’s Study

  Due to the circumstance and the content of their talk the atmosphere in the room hadn’t light to begin with, but Commander Regulus’s suggestion had made it get worse.

  Now it could be cut with a butter knife, but the Commander knew such thing would happen after all the Duke was too much of an honorable man to cover up a murder with a blatant lie.

  “Scorpions can’t make fire or leave that kind of wounds” the Duke curtly said, pointing out in one swoop why such thing wasn’t even a remote possibility, then he stood up and slowly got closer to the Commander of his Knights as Regulus started exposing his case on the matter

  “The details of Margaret’s autopsy and the only ones who saw the body were your youngest daughter, Lady Veronique and Miss Hawkings” he explained his eyes never leaving the ones of the Duke “it will be more believable if we say Margaret had been unfortunate enough to end up with their young, it would explain why there was a body to find”

  “You want me to lie? Let the murderer get away with it?” the Duke questioned him, the outrage in his voice was the main reason Regulus was loyal to him and him alone, a moral fiber as a solid as the one found in the Duke of the Aurelia was rare between the most privileged class of their society.

  There were questionable characters even within the Royals, and as far as Regulus was concerned the only proof of a dark stain on the Aurelia was a redheaded brat.

  “No, we will make them think they did and keep investigating” Commander Regulus clarified his intentions on the matter “if anyone asks it was all part of the plan to catch them, nobody would blame you and Lady Veronique would be in the clear” it hurt him to call that brat a Lady, but it was the proper thing to do least he angered the Duke

  “I am surprised you of all people would suggest anything that would benefit Veronique, don’t you often refer to her as a brat?” the Duke looked at him with suspicion

  “I may not like the brat, but it’s clear she didn’t do it and I want the real murder’s head on a pike” the Commander explained himself, his feelings on the matter coming out clear since the Duke was fully aware of his insubordination.

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  “Even if I were to follow your plan, this doesn’t mean there won’t be others that will still blame Veronique” the Duke highlighted to him, accepting his explanation.

  “My Lord doesn’t need all of them to believe it, only most to keep the water from boiling over” the Commander reasoned and added seeing the slight confusion on his Duke’s face “The Hound Master has filled me in on her plan and I must say it’s a good compromise”

  “Is it? Even if you will have to deal with her on occasion?” the Duke didn’t seem trilled and brought up a potential issue

  “I can be professional” Commander Regulus affirmed with confidence

  “Do you? I heard you frequently yell at one of your subordinates because of his hair” the Duke inquired making the man flinch at the truth, no doubt Regulus wasn’t expecting him to know about such thing too “and that said subordinate coincidentally ended up as Veronique’s second guard” a slight accusation was made.

  One that the Commander couldn’t let slide

  “I admit I got a temper and I promise will work on taming it” Commander Regulus started after a pause “but I didn’t assign Noah to Veronique to punish him, I assigned him there because he works well with Daryl and Vincent, Lady Rhea’s guards” he defended his decision “I thought the three of them together would make it up if Kain was found larking”

  “It appears you underestimated the Undead, I heard he kept the Scorpion mostly at bay by himself, while one of those Knights died in one shot” the Duke had recalled sounding impressed

  “Daryl had been arrogant, he tried to copy Kain instead of using his skill” Commander Regulus explained the event “and you know monsters usually have a preference for us humans” he made sure to add

  “It may be so, but if an Undead puts himself between one of them and a human they get attacked all the same” the Duke reasoned making a fair point before he presented his demand “What Kain did was admirable, I want you to bestow him with a cuff and swear him in as a True Knight”

  “I can’t have a Knight that can’t use skills!” the Commander got on his feet out of outrage, but the Duke wasn’t fazed, he didn’t move a millimeter even if his commander was towering over him

  “You will have a Knight able to defect a Scorpion’s pincer without a skill” the Duke had said with an air of finality and the two of them stared at each other till Regulus got a resigned look on his face and went back down on his knee

  “…I summit to your will my Lord” the Commander ultimately said bowing his head, the Duke frowned out of displeasure

  “No Regulus, I don’t want you to summit to my will, I want you to understand your mistake” he explained “You focused so much on what Kain couldn’t do that you never considered his strengths and as such you have deprived yourself of a great ally” the Duke walked back to his desk and sat down, letting out a breath before he spoke again “Due to the recent events I fear a repeat of such mistake in the future would be devastating on the Aurelia” he let his words settle in

  “you said it yourself, we were lucky to avoid a full massacre” the Duke reminded him “and we can’t rely on luck”

  “We won’t, my Lord, I will make sure of it” Commander Regulus made such vow full of conviction and determination.

  He wasn’t going to let such event occur again, not while he was in charge

  “I know you will”