Chapter 31 --31
After walking several paces, Elara stopped and turned to face the fox knight trailing behind her.
"That lion beastman. How much influence does he have?"
The fox knight paused mid-step, ears flicking forward in surprise. A subtle expression—one Elara had learned to read as equivalent to shock in someone trained to show nothing.
She tilted her head slightly. "Beast knights aren’t supposed to display emotions. Most of you show nothing—not reluctance, not pleasure, not even acknowledgment beyond functional response. But he was smiling. Why?"
The fox knight lowered his head immediately. "Your Highness, it’s not that we cannot feel emotions. We simply aren’t permitted to show them." He paused, choosing words carefully. "Sir Robin is... different. Perhaps because he is the First Princess’s most favored knight, but he displays expression quite openly compared to the rest of us."
Elara processed this. "So he shows emotion regularly? This is normal behavior for him?"
"Not constantly, Your Highness. But more than standard protocol allows." The fox knight’s voice remained perfectly even. "If you wish, I can eliminate him for the disrespect."
Elara blinked once. Then the information clicked into place—something she’d read in the household regulations but not fully internalized until now. Beast knights could kill each other at their master’s command. No trial. No investigation. Just execution of an order.
The casualness of the offer was what struck her. No hesitation. No moral weight. Just a tactical option presented for consideration.
"Does he have influence over anything that poses danger to me?" she asked instead.
"No, Your Highness. Beast knights hold no authority over royal family members or palace operations. If you wished, you could have him whipped in the courtyard right now. You could order him to grovel on the ground. He would have no recourse." The fox knight’s tail remained still, expression neutral. "We exist to serve. We have no power beyond what our masters grant."
"So he’s functionally irrelevant," Elara said. "Just a trained asset. A tool."