Chapter 74: Crime and Punishment
"It isn’t what it looks like, sir!"
Leif was the first to cry out and plead his case. He was the most likely not to want to disappoint the knights. He knew he would certainly do that if he was found breaking the rules.
"Then what the hell is it supposed to look like?" Sir Gunnar snapped, his arms crossed over his chest and a furious expression on his face.
The shadows cast over him made him look far more severe and the apprentices looked on in fear knowing they had messed up a lot.
"It’s all my fault," Irene pleaded, deciding a more honest approach would be better. "I forced these two to come with me. I was simply too curious, is all. They both tried to stop me but when I wouldn’t listen they decided to go with me so I wouldn’t get stabbed again."
It was a bit cruel to use her prior injury as leverage knowing Sir Gunnar had a particular weakness seeing the apprentices he looked after hurt. The knight grimaced at that but it didn’t take away his overall perturbed expression.
"These two have just as much say over themselves as you do," the knight argued.
When Felix began to speak, the knight quickly cut him off with a raised hand.
"You all will return to the barracks right this moment," he snapped. "You will need your sleep because you will be punished adequately tomorrow morning. Consider this the last time this happens or I will send all of you to the various corners of Chemois to repent for lacking chivalry and not following orders. I’m sure Sir Arthur will be none too pleased that his child is of the first to be kicked out of the knighthood."