After receiving the prince’s order, Castor hurried back to his room. The sun was already high in the sky after the events of the consecutive duels, giving him very little time to pack.

Eyes red with anger, Castor tossed his belongings into the first trunk he could find. He was still incensed at the results of the duel and the heavy-handed way the prince was handling the aftermath. It was clear the young royal intended to see the contents of their bet through to the end.

If he’d known it would come to this, he wouldn’t have made that bet in the first place. He wouldn’t have even given that blond rat a chance to crawl back up from the dirt. Inwardly, he swore that if he ever saw Conrad again, he’d kill him on sight.

The sky was tinted pink by the time he finished packing, and Castor unceremoniously dragged his luggage out the door. As he made his way through the barracks, he felt the stares of his fellow Raven Knights on him, but chose to ignore them all. No one came up to ask where he was going; Castor was not popular amongst his more disciplined colleagues, and had no other companions beyond Brin.

In a burst of pettiness, he refused to pick up the trunk as he made his way to the Crown Prince’s office. He dragged it down every hallway – thump, thump, thump – and ignored the looks of annoyance he received from servants and nobles alike at all the noise he was making. The folds and wrinkles he left in the carpet filled his heart with fierce satisfaction.

When he finally crashed his way into the Crown Prince’s office, he found Captain Azela standing behind the man’s desk, as always, and the Crown Prince sitting there and looking at him with distaste.

“Reporting as ordered, highness,” Castor sneered, no longer bothering to address the man with respect. His Captain’s brows lowered at his rude tone, but Castor didn’t care.

What did it matter? He was getting kicked out anyway.

“Castor.” As if in response to his lack of etiquette, the Crown Prince also did not bother using ‘Sir’ to address him, instead waving a sheaf of papers in his direction. “Please, come in. I’ve been expecting you. What do you suppose these are?”

Castor left his luggage where it lay, half-propping the door open, and approached the desk without any sign of reverence or fear. The smiling Crown Prince did not seem to mind, and instead handed him the stack of documents.

Castor begrudgingly thumbed through them. The Crown Prince, observing him carefully, watched his expression grow uglier and uglier with each paper he skimmed, his skin turning red and white in shades.

“That’s right,” the prince cheerfully answered his own question. “It’s a personal report from every servant girl, manservant, apprentice, and Castle Guard member you’ve ever harassed. I’ll admit, it’s a grand collection. I was almost impressed.”

The Raven Knight was puzzled at the prince's friendly tone and raised his gaze before flinching at what he saw.

This man.

This man was just sitting there and smiling cordially at him, but the smile did not reach his eyes. Those vicious purple eyes were filled with threats and contempt, and beyond that, thinly veiled disgust.

Too late, Castor realized that the Crown Prince, though young, was not someone he should risk angering. Even if he’d thought his fate was sealed, there were worse sentences than expulsion.

“Your highness, I –”

“Oh, now you’re addressing me respectfully. I see you’re only capable of being polite when it’s in your best interest.” Sighing, the Crown Prince threw a disdainful look over his shoulder at his personal guard and asked, “Explain to me how garbage like this even ended up in the Raven Knights, Azela.”

The Captain dipped his head. “I apologize, your highness. I was too lax in my supervision.”

“Is that so?” The prince eyed the now-sweating Castor up and down, reaching out to tap a finger against the back of the papers that the other man still held. “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Castor? Just from these testimonies alone, your crimes are numerous. Harassment, theft, assault, neglecting to show proper respect before the crown… it’s a very impressive list. How shall I deal with you?”

Castor's eyes were restless, darting left and right, refusing to look the prince in the eye. He’d blustered his way through his duties and the duel, relying on his wit and authority as a knight to bash down obstacles. But the man in front of him was the Crown Prince. The authority of a mere knight was nothing to him.

“… I will accept whatever sentence your highness decides on,” he finally said through gritted teeth. If he was meek, perhaps the prince’s sentence would be lighter.

The young royal sighed, retrieving the papers from him and tapping them lightly against the top of his desk to straighten them. “Well, a number of victims have requested your expulsion from the Knights, but that’s already part and parcel of the results of your duel, so they have no complaints after today. Castor.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“If I had it my way, I’d have you jailed for these petty grievances and for annoying me, but a certain young miss has requested that I see the contents of your little bet through to the end. And I am a man of my word. If I catch you inside these walls after dawn tomorrow, I will have you jailed for these offences. Am I understood?”

“Yes, your highness.” Castor calmed enough to bow his head, secretly hiding his mocking grin.

Expulsion was a sentence with countless loopholes. 'It's not a crime if you're not caught' - in the prince's words, so long as Castor wasn't found within the palace walls, he was free to do as he pleased. If he played his cards right, he could still access to his former connections - and he'd be able to track down Conrad. Someday, he’d find that uppity blond brat and make him pay the price for humiliating him.

“Good.” The Crown Prince stood from his chair. “Then let’s go.”

“Go?” Castor echoed, more than a bit confused as the prince strode towards the door.

“Of course, I will escort you out myself,” the royal smiled at him. “Azela, carry his luggage.”

The stone-faced Captain obediently picked up Castor’s trunk of belongings and walked out.

Castor, caught off guard and a little afraid that they might throw his things out the nearest window, hastened to catch up with them and fell into step behind the prince, secretly cursing the two men in his heart. 

The servants along the pathway paused curiously and glanced at the odd threesome as they strode by – one tall and foreboding, one all smiles, and the third clearly sulking. They recognized the prince and called out respectful greetings, and the Crown Prince slowed his pace to return them, making the trip to the palace gates take much longer than necessary.

Castor was positive he was doing it on purpose. The longer they dallied, the more people looked at him. A few seemed to recognize him – probably from the duel – and nodded sagely as they recalled the announcement the prince had made before the fights, explaining the bet that had been made with the young cadet. It seemed that the prince was personally carrying out the sentence; they were lucky to serve such a disciplined young royal. Many of them had friends or fellow colleagues who had suffered at the hands of the two knights, so no one was sorry to see him go. 

Castor, who saw the thoughts behind their eyes, snarled at anyone who came too close, forcing all to keep a distance from him.

When the castle gate came into view, he saw a group of people clustered around it, as if in wait. As they drew close, he recognized one face and a low growl sounded from between gritted teeth: “You.”

The small gathering consisted of Conrad, Captain Aleron, and two people he didn’t recognize – a redheaded soldier and a slim girl with dark hair.

“Came to see him off?” The Crown Prince didn’t seem surprised to see them, only greeting them lightly.

Captain Aleron bowed. “I tried to stop them, your highness,” he said apologetically, gesturing to the three people behind him.

“No matter.” The Crown Prince waved his hand. “Young Conrad’s earned this right.”

Castor spat on the ground, surprising everyone. “Was this all just a grand setup to embarrass me further?” he demanded of no one, a manic smile on his face. “Today’s show wasn’t enough for you?”

Conrad gazed at him for some time before shaking his head. While there had been pity on his face at first, it now hardened into cold dislike. “I came to make sure you didn’t harbour any hopes of coming back,” he informed the other man firmly. “Our duel was made public. The people of this city and all the servants know your face, and they know your sentence. Please don’t return. You’ll only make things difficult for yourself.”

“Shut your mouth, you dirty little beggar,” the disgraced knight snapped back, making the boy’s brows lower. “Your win today was only through tricks and subterfuge. You’re not worthy of being a real knight.”

He felt a fierce satisfaction when he saw the actual hurt in the youth’s face at that, but a bout of sudden laughter from out of nowhere ruined the moment. Castor turned to glare at the offender – the dark-haired young woman had burst out laughing at his words.

“Something to say?” he jeered, eyeing her up and down.

He vaguely remembered seeing her amongst the group of Conrad’s friends after the duel had ended. She stuck out because of her dark hair and dark eyes, which were very uncommon among Ateolans.

“Hearing you try to lecture someone on the merits of a real knight was so ludicrous that I couldn’t help but laugh. Do forgive me,” she replied with a smile. Beside her, the redheaded soldier let out a soft snort at her words.

Castor’s eyes narrowed as something occured to him. Dressed in a tunic with her hair down like this, she looked very different, but... he was sure that this was the girl from the hallway. He recalled how she had provoked both he and Brin with similarly sharp words during that confrontation, as well. Then he looked from her to Conrad, connecting the youth’s oddly confident way of speaking during the duels with the way this girl was talking to him now, and the pieces fell into place.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The little mastermind behind this.” The disgraced knight stared at her. Anger tinged his vision red. “I was wondering why that blond bastard suddenly gained a silver tongue. Guess it was because of you.”

“Oh, you figured it out?” Astra had no intention of hiding her involvement, seeing as he had guessed correctly. She supposed it was a credit to his intelligence that he’d connected all the dots. “Why, want to have a go at revenge?” she grinned at him. “I’ll allow it.”

For a moment, since she had given him both the idea and her permission to carry it out, Castor debated rushing at the young woman to tear her to shreds. He had lost his livelihood and his home all at once, and had no idea where he would go from here, let alone what would happen to Brin. He didn’t even know if the other man had woken up yet. He had few connections in the city, and the public now knew him as a disgraced knight; he would not be able to expect welcome from anyone. 

But as he entertained the thought, fixing his eyes on his target, he suddenly felt chills go up his back. Looking up, he unintentionally made eye contact with the three men standing behind the girl. 

Conrad, Captain Aleron, and the redheaded soldier were all staring straight at him with cold eyes. In those gazes, he saw his future: if he took a single step forwards, they would have him flat on his back and covered in bruises before he could blink.

It was a warning and a threat – touch the girl, and they’d make him pay for it.

Hiding his nervousness, Castor shook his head with a snort, trying to maintain his dignity. “Sorry, lass, but I don’t hit women.”

“Oh?” Astra’s brows went up – she hadn’t expected this ruffian to try for such an obviously fake lie. She thought he’d try to bluster through with something rougher. Watching him act like a gentleman after everything he’d done was disgusting. He was absolutely the type to hit anyone, man or woman – and the testimonies of his crimes that she and her friends had collected were proof of that.

Still, she wasn’t about to let this golden opportunity pass her by. Stepping forwards a little, she smiled. “How magnanimous of you.” She could see the wary way he was watching her, but she felt confident that he wouldn’t try anything stupid with the Crown Prince and the two Captains here. “And how lucky for me.”

And then she punched him in the face.

Castor went reeling, tripping over an uneven spot on the path and fairly tumbling backwards, a large palm pressed to the spot where she had struck, his cheekbone aching as he looked up at her in disbelief. For a body that looked quite petite, he wasn’t expecting her to have such deceptive arm strength. He heard a sound that was something between a sneeze and a laugh – the redheaded soldier had exploded in mirth only to quickly to try and smother it.

The Crown Prince turned his head to the side, suddenly taken by a storm of coughs. Behind him, Captain Azela took one look at his prince's face and could only shake his head and sigh. 

The girl shook out her aching knuckles and said, “That was for Shula.”

The feisty, still-indignant maid had made the request of Astra some time ago, begging her to ‘sock him a good one for me’, and Astra was never the type to let her friends down. 

-----

Author's Note:

Another chapter done, and now we're ten chapters in, hooray! ˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖

If you're still reading after ten chapters, thank you. This is basically the end of Conrad's first character arc (don't worry, there will be more in the future!), can you guess who the next character focus will be? 

I had a pretty hard time writing about Castor. He's a bad guy, but I didn't want him to be a textbook bully, so I tried to make him smart. But, when I look back, he can't be that smart since he fell for Astra's scheme... I didn't hate him very much while I wrote about him, so I wonder if I didn't make him mean enough... 

I wanted to make Conrad and Castor's duel very action-oriented, but the whole point of Conrad's victory is that he won by surprising his opponent. Skillwise and strengthwise, Conrad still isn't ready to go head-to-head with trained knights yet. But he's trying! 

For a private update, I was tested positive for Covid last week, which is why I haven't written in a while... After my condition improved a bit, I wanted to finish Chapter 10 as soon as I could. I hope you guys are all staying safe and healthy ~ Please take good care of yourselves and I'll see you in the next chapter! ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶