Chapter 379: The Shame Of A General
The corridors of the royal keep stretched before General Marlon Norse like a tunnel carved from judgment itself—stone walls on either side, lined with flickering braziers and whispering shadows. The clamor of the throne room faded behind him, but the sting of disgrace clung to his skin like sweat after battle.
Each step echoed with the rhythm of defeat.
His boots struck the cold stone floor harder than they needed to, a desperate attempt to drown out the voice in his mind. You were entrusted with Carles. You let it fall without a fight.
It wasn’t just the prince’s fury that haunted him—it was the truth of it.
Why did it ended like this? Hadn’t he planned it so well? The abduction of Lara and Mira being adopted were all his calculations.
When he thought that he was about to reach the top, suddenly he felt that he was spiraling down.
Reaching the outer courtyard, Marlon paused beneath an arched window overlooking the south eastern horizon. From here, the ridges of the Northem valley were visible, stretching out like a body laid bare for the vultures. Somewhere beyond those hills, Estalis banners now fluttered where Northem’s crest once flew.
He squeezed the sill with calloused hands.
Merlin...
The name flared in his chest like a wound. His son—hotheaded, stubborn, too trusting for the world he’d inherited—had fallen in love with a woman who smiled like spring and cut like winter. A woman Marlon had dismissed as harmless. "Let the boy have his girl," he had once told his aides. "A soldier needs softness in his life."
Fool.
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
He could still hear the voice of Reuben echoing in the high-vaulted chamber: You dare pin this catastrophe on your son’s whore?