Chapter 677: Who Is On Trial Here (Part Two)
The instant Ashlynn mentioned having Marcel take Sir Rain’s sword away, the portly knight’s face immediately drained of color and his hand left the hilt of his sword almost before he realized it. Seeing the way the young man smiled at him, as if he couldn’t wait for an opportunity to come close to him again, only made the feeling worse as he sheepishly returned to his place on the tailgate of the wagon.
Sir Rain tried to return to his posture of bored indifference, but no matter how much he tried to look like he wasn’t bothered, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly tense and on edge. It wasn’t just the threat of unleashing the knife wielding merchant on him that bothered him. It was the way that everyone here, from the hunter Eamon or the Constable, Daithi and most especially Lady Ashlynn herself, had reacted to his threat.
The soldiers who came with him looked suitably nervous, but everyone that followed Lady Ashlynn looked... amused. Some of the servants even looked at him with pity! But no one, not the young knight Ollie, the smug merchant Marcel and most certainly not Lady Ashlynn herself looked the least bit intimidated by his threat! And when she spoke to him, she spoke to him like a child, threatening to take his sword away before he ’hurt himself with it.’
He’d threatened strong men before, men who clashed directly with him, refusing to back down. Some times, those tense exchanges even led to blows as neither man was willing to retreat from their stance. But Lady Ashlynn, somehow, left him nothing to clash against, and instead made him feel small and ashamed for acting out... Like he was a petulant child instead of a powerful knight.
"Let me make two things clear," Ashlynn said, pulling attention back to herself and giving Sir Rain a reprieve from the weight of his men’s gazes that seemed just as filled with pity for his humiliation as everyone else’s had been. "Sir Kaefin died with his pants around his ankles for trying to force himself on me. If he hadn’t dragged me into his bed chambers, he’d likely still be alive today."
Ashlynn’s tone was as calm as the still water of a mountain lake and her words were precise and slightly clipped as if she was stating a simple fact but to the people gathered here, there was almost nothing she could have said that would have been more shocking. The servants who came from the vale looked at her in stunned horror, wondering who would dare to assault the mighty Mother of Trees.
Strangely enough, the people who had come with Sir Hugo and Sir Rain had expressions that were similarly horrified though many were mixed with disbelief. For Lord Owain’s own Steward to assault his liege lord’s wife sounded... far fetched would be an understatement for how incredulous it sounded.