The weight of her words crushed the remaining bits of hope lingering in the air.
The knights who had once taken pride in their cause now stared at the ground in silent horror, the reality of their situation pressing down on them like an unmovable weight.
Skadi’s ears flattened completely, her body trembling as she looked toward Aisha. Aisha, who had been so vocal before, now stood frozen, her amber eyes staring into nothingness.
Julie, the fearless leader they all admired, had sealed her own fate the moment she agreed to the vow.
And all of them…
Every single one of them…
Were going to die because of it.
Aisha’s voice was weak, almost trembling as she turned toward Julie.
"Why…? Why did you accept such a thing?" She asked, her eyes filled with disbelief and betrayal. "You should have fought back—you should have argued against it! This is beyond cruel, Captain!"
Her tail shook as her voice wavered. "And why didn’t you tell us? We’re your knights! Your squad! We would’ve fought for you! We would’ve demanded justice! How could they treat us like we had no trust, no worth?!"
Julie’s expression faltered, something shifting in her gaze—something unreadable. The weight of Aisha’s words pressed against her like chains, but instead of responding immediately, she hesitated.
A long silence followed.
Then, Julie exhaled and closed her eyes, her shoulders sagging ever so slightly. "It doesn’t matter if I told you or not since even if the patriarch hadn’t demanded the Eternal Vow…" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "…I would have taken it myself."
The world seemed to stop.
Aisha’s breath hitched. Skadi visibly recoiled, her ears shooting straight up, her tail freezing mid-movement. Even the knights who had been listening paled at her words.
Skadi, usually so brash and loud, could only stammer. "W-What? Captain, what are you saying?" Her silver eyes darted across Julie’s face as if trying to find some trace of deception. "That doesn’t make sense! Why—Why would you do that?!"
Julie’s fingers curled into her gloves, her jaw tightening. "I...I can’t say."
Aisha’s tail flicked in confusion. "You can’t say? Why captain?! Why?!...No matter the reason, we know you’d do it with the best of our intentions mind, so why can’t you tell us." The sheer desperation in her voice made even the injured knights flinch.
Julie still remained silent.
Skadi looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, her hands tightening into fists. "Captain…" Her voice trembled, pleading. "Please...tell us why."
But Julie only turned her face away, lips pressing into a thin line. Whatever the reason was, she had no intention of revealing it.
And before Aisha could shout again, before Skadi could demand answers, another voice cut through the heavy tension.
"…Ah."
Cassius suddenly let out a quiet chuckle.
Aisha and Skadi turned, startled by his sudden interjection.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground with his arms resting casually over his knees, Cassius tilted his head slightly, an amused yet knowing glint in his crimson eyes.
"So that’s how it is." He murmured, as if talking to himself. "It finally makes sense."
Lucious, who had also sat down beside him in silent exhaustion, blinked at his master’s cryptic remark. "Master...What makes sense?"
Cassius hummed, stretching his arms. "I finally figured something out—something that had been bugging me for a while now."
Julie’s gaze snapped toward him, wary. Aisha and Skadi looked confused but also curious.
Cassius then turned his eyes to Lucious, a smug look on his face. "I finally understand how exactly the Holyfield household planned to appease the Vindictus household after executing me."
Lucious frowned. "But, Master...didn’t you already say that earlier? That they would offer the heads of the ones who spread the rumors or the maids involved?"
Cassius let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. "I did say that, but that was just an example. A mere possibility I threw out. In reality…" His smirk deepened. "…there was no way the Vindictus household would be satisfied with the heads of a few mere peasants."
At this, the entire group froze.
Aisha’s breath stopped as she realized something, while Julie’s expression darkened.
And Cassius?...He just kept smiling.
Cassius leaned forward slightly, his eyes gleaming with quiet playfulness as he spoke.
"There was no way the prideful Vindictus family would accept such a meager compensation." He said, his voice almost lazy, as if he were simply stating an obvious fact. "They wouldn’t just let this go after their supposed heir was executed. No, the Holyfield household would need to do much more to appease their wrath, to ensure this doesn’t escalate into war."
He let his words linger, watching as realization slowly began to dawn on the knights around him.
"And that something…" He dragged the words out, reveling in the tension, before finally saying. "...is probably the lives of everyone involved in this mission to kill me."
A sharp intake of breath echoed from Skadi.
Cassius turned his gaze to the knights, watching their expressions twist with dread. "Every single one of you. From the common knights all the way up to your leader. You’d all be executed to appease the Vindictus family’s anger—no matter how cruel, no matter how unjust. Even though you were forced into this mission, even though you had no choice."
"That’s—!" Skadi started, her fur rising in anger. Her claws twitched, her mouth opening to snarl at the sheer absurdity of it.
But before she could lash out, Aisha swiftly raised a hand in front of her, cutting her off. Skadi turned to her, confused, but Aisha’s amber eyes remained locked onto Julie.
Julie, who had been silent this whole time.
Julie, who had not refuted a single word Cassius had said.
Aisha’s heart clenched painfully. She already knew where this was going.
Cassius noticed the shift in the atmosphere, the way Aisha’s ears drooped in silent anguish, the way Julie kept her head slightly lowered as if bracing herself. And he smiled.
"As cruel as it may be..." Cassius continued, stretching his arms lazily. "This is how noble politics work." His tone remained casual, unaffected, as if he had long since accepted this twisted reality. "Blood must pay for blood. It doesn’t matter why you did it, or whether you had a choice...What matters is that the Holyfield household needs a grand, dramatic display of justice to maintain their dignity."
The knights gritted their teeth. Some clenched their fists so tightly that their gloves creaked under the pressure.
Lucious, who had been silently absorbing all of this, frowned deeply. "But, Master." He interjected, his voice firm. "That doesn’t make sense. The Eternal Vow that Captain Julie made would prevent that from happening. It ensures that everyone would be let off after completing the task. That was the whole point of it, wasn’t it? A fair deal?"
The knights, still shaken, quickly latched onto Lucious’s words, nodding in agreement.
Cassius, however, simply smiled. A slow, knowing smile.
And then he turned his gaze back to Julie, locking eyes with her. The way she stiffened ever so slightly, the way her lips pressed together in the faintest hint of tension—it was all the confirmation he needed.
"Ah..." He said, his tone laced with joy like he were unraveling a birthday present. "Now that’s where the real twist comes in."
The knights tensed. Cassius tilted his head slightly, his gaze never leaving Julie’s.
"You see, your beautiful and intelligent Captain Julie..." He mused. "...probably already anticipated something like this from the very beginning."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Cassius continued, his voice smooth, unwavering. "She knew that even if she completed the mission, the Holyfield household could still decide to execute her entire squad anyway for the sake of giving face to the Vindictus household. And if that happened—well, there would be nothing she could do to stop it."
Julie’s fingers curled into the fabric of her gloves, but she still said nothing. Cassius’s smile widened.
"So…" He leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his palm. "She made a counteroffer or more of a demand or maybe even threat of retaliation to the patriarch of the Holyfield household, didn’t she?" Aisha’s swallowed hard knowing where this was leading to.
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Cassius’s voice softened, almost mockingly gentle.
"Instead of having everyone in her squad be sacrificed...she proposed that only she, one of the only two grandmasters in the Holyfield family, a highly valuable member be executed in their place."
A sharp gasp echoed from the knights.
"That way..." Cassius continued, his tone eerily casual. "She could ensure that none of you would be hunted down like animals once this was all over. You’d all be safe...at the cost of her own life."
His words hit like a hammer, sending waves of shock and despair through the knights.
Julie remained silent.
She had no rebuttal.
She didn’t even try to deny it.
Because Cassius was right. She had already accepted her death....From the very beginning.
Tears welled up in the eyes of every knight present, their chests tightening with the overwhelming weight of Julie’s sacrifice.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And yet, their captain—the woman who had led them through battle after battle, who had fought beside them, bled with them, protected them—had accepted it without hesitation. From the very beginning.
Skadi, her silver ears trembling against her head, shook her head violently. "No...No, no, no!" Her voice cracked as she stumbled toward Julie, grabbing onto her arm with trembling hands. "How could you do this, Captain? How could you make such a decision without telling us?!"
Aisha, usually so composed, looked absolutely flustered at what had been revealed. "It’s not fair!" She choked, her amber eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "You can’t just sacrifice yourself for us like this! We should have had a say!"
But Julie, ever composed, simply smiled.
A warm, loving smile that only made their hearts ache more.
She reached out and gently placed a hand on their heads, stroking Aisha’s soft ears and ruffling Skadi’s wild silver hair. "Well, that’s simply because..." She murmured. "...my life is nothing compared to the lives of my squad."
A fresh wave of tears cascaded down Skadi’s face, and Aisha sucked in a shaky breath, her body trembling.
"It’s my duty as your captain to protect you all." Julie continued, her voice filled with quiet conviction. "I would much rather die a thousand times over than watch a single one of you be sacrificed for this cursed mission."
A sob tore its way from Skadi’s throat, and she pressed her forehead against Julie’s shoulder, gripping onto her like a lifeline. "Damn it…" She whispered, her voice raw with emotion. "Damn it, Captain…"
Aisha squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head furiously. "You don’t get to make that choice alone!" She said through gritted teeth. "You don’t get to decide that your life is worth less than ours!"
Julie let out a quiet, rueful chuckle. "And yet...I did."
But the she exhaled deeply, her usually steady gaze clouded with exhaustion and sorrow.
"But it seems fate has decided to be crueler than I ever imagined." She murmured, casting her eyes toward the sky. "Not only was I always meant to die, but now...you all are, too."
She turned her gaze back to her knights, her expression filled with grief.
"I’m sorry." She whispered, the weight of those words pressing down on her like a mountain. "I failed you. As your captain, as your leader—I failed."
The silence that followed was deafening. The knights—her knights—stared at her, their faces twisted with anguish. Tears welled in Skadi’s silver eyes, but she furiously wiped them away, as if refusing to let them fall.
"Stop it." Skadi choked out, her voice shaking with suppressed emotion. "Don’t you dare say that, captain."
Julie blinked.
"Skadi doesn’t blame you." Skadi continued, her hands balling into fists. Skadi would never blame you. You did what you thought was right. You did what any good captain would do—you protected your squad."
She took a trembling breath. "And if we have to die, then so be it." She declared, her silver tail bristling with determination. "But we’ll die as knights of the Sacred Guard. Your knights."
Julie’s lips parted, but no words came out. Before she could protest, Aisha moved forward, her amber eyes burning with a mix of anger and admiration.
"She’s right." Aisha said, her voice steadier than Skadi’s but just as fierce. "You carried this burden alone, all for our sake. But you don’t have to anymore." Her gaze softened. "We will follow you anywhere, Captain. Even to the end."
The other knights, still wounded, still aching, still barely standing, murmured in agreement. One by one, they straightened their backs, wiped their tears, and nodded with unwavering conviction which made even Lucious who was a bystander to all of this feel a sense of pride and comaderie flow through him at the moment like he too wanted to die along them.
...But of course even if he wanted to do so, he couldn’t since his life was dedicated to serving his young master and a dead butler wouldn’t exactly be the most useful for him.