While getting way too excited in their celebrations, some of the knights attempted to stand up and dance—only for several of them to immediately regret it.
The moment they put weight on their broken limbs, a chorus of agonized screams erupted.
"AAARGH—! SHIT, MY LEG!"
"DAMN!—WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!"
"I FORGOT MY RIBS WERE SHATTERED!"
"MOTHER OF GODS—IT HURTS!"
One knight, who had attempted a triumphant fist-pump, instantly collapsed back to the ground with a pained groan. Another, who had barely gotten to their feet, wobbled for half a second before crumpling back down, clutching their sides like they were dying.
The joyous celebration immediately turned into a symphony of agonized groans to which Aisha and Skadi both snapped their heads toward Cassius, their expressions flat like they were blaming him for their suffering.
Cassius simply shrugged, completely unbothered. "They were the ones who came to kill me first."
Aisha twitched violently. "You—" She sucked in a breath, fists shaking in frustration. She wanted to argue. She really did. But...damn it, he was right.
Cassius was the victim here.
The only reason any of them were alive was because he allowed them to be.
Aisha bit her lip, suppressing the urge to scream.
And before she could explode like a balloon, Julie quickly waved her hand in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
"Alright, alright, let’s move on from that. What’s done is done. If anything, we should be thanking the Young Master for not going all out and obliterating us."
There was a brief silence.
Then—
Skadi, whose battle-hungry nature would never let such a comment slide, snapped toward Julie with wide, excited eyes. "Wait—What?! Did you just say that he hadn’t truly gone all out when he fought with us?!"
"Yes, Skadi...He was." Julie sighed already knowing how the battle crazed pup was going to react.
"B-By how much, Captain?! How much?!" Skadi gasped, her tail brimming with excitement.
Julie cast a wary glance at Cassius before nodding. "I can’t say exactly how much…" she hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "But from the way he kicked me at the start of the fight…" Her emerald eyes darkened slightly as she remembered the sheer force of that single strike. "Im pretty sure, he could have blown me to pieces with just that one attack if he wanted to."
The weight of those words settled over everyone like a thunderclap. Skadi’s ears twitched as her excitement skyrocketed.
"Blown you to pieces?!" She echoed in awe. "How the hell is he that strong?!"
Even Aisha, despite herself, felt her feline instincts scream in alarm. Her fur stood on end.
And before she even realized what she was doing, she had crawled behind Julie, peeking out cautiously like a wary house cat assessing a very large predator.
Her expression was defiant—like she was silently saying, I’m not scared of you!—but her entire body language betrayed her obvious unease.
Cassius chuckled, thoroughly entertained by their antics.
Skadi, on the other hand, was practically vibrating with excitement. Her silver tail flicked rapidly behind her, her eyes gleaming as she immediately turned to Cassius with unfiltered enthusiasm.
"Young Master!" She barked, crawling closer. "How the hell did you get this strong?!"
Cassius merely smiled, tilting his head slightly. "Oh? Curious, are we?"
"Damn right, I am!" Skadi grinned. "You’re crazy strong! But more importantly—" She smacked a fist against her open palm. "Can you hit me at full force? I wanna see if I can take it!"
There was a long pause.
Then—
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Julie yanked Skadi back by the collar before she could take another step.
Skadi yelped, arms flailing. "Hey, hey, what was that for, Captain?!"
"What do you mean, ’what was that for’?!" Julie snapped, still holding onto her scruff like an exasperated parent. "You just asked to be hit—by someone who could have blown your head off with one attack! Have you lost your mind?!"
"No, but I do have a stronger body than you, Captain!" Skadi said proudly, puffing out her chest. "You might be faster, but I’m way tougher so I can probably take it!"
Julie sighed, rubbing her temple. "Skadi, no matter how tough you are, you’d probably be reduced to a fine mist if he hit you seriously."
"I can take it!" Skadi insisted, tail still wagging.
Julie exhaled deeply, then turned her sharp gaze to Cassius. "Am I wrong?" She asked, watching him carefully. "If you hit her at full strength, what would happen?"
Immediately after she asked that question, Julie scrutinized his face, searching for even the slightest hint of an answer.
As a grandmaster herself, she had sparred with many of the strongest warriors on the continent. She understood power, could feel it when she was up against it.
And Cassius...he was something else entirely.
The way he had moved, the way he had toyed with them—it was beyond anything she had ever encountered.
Yet, to her growing frustration, Cassius remained utterly unreadable.
Instead of answering, he simply smiled. That damn vague smile.
’Is he just messing with me? Or is he really that powerful?’ Julie’s brows furrowed.
Before she could push him further, Lucious—who had been silently watching the exchange with growing amusement—cleared his throat. He crossed his arms and gave a proud nod, speaking on his master’s behalf.
"Of course, she wouldn’t stand a chance." He declared confidently. He then continued to taunt her by saying, "If my master really hit her at full strength, she’d probably fly all the way to the moon so you better stay away."
Lucious smirked, waiting for Skadi to get offended, maybe argue back.
Instead—
Skadi’s ears perked up, her tail wagging in excitement. "The moon?" She repeated, her eyes shimmering. "I can go to the moon?!"
Lucious blinked. "Wait, what?"
"That sounds amazing!" Skadi grinned widely, turning back to Cassius. "Come on, Young Master! Give me a good punch! I’ll spend a day there and then come back the next day!"
"Y-You’re not supposed to want that..." Lucious visibly recoiled.
"Skadi, for the love of—" Julie facepalmed.
"What?" Skadi looked between them, confused. "What did I do? Skadi said nothing wrong."
Aisha, who had been rubbing her face throughout the entire exchange, sighed heavily and muttered. "She was definitely dropped on her head as a baby…"
Lucious, still staring at Skadi like she was a completely foreign species, nodded slowly. "That...actually makes a lot of sense."
Meanwhile, Skadi pouted, crossing her arms as she looked at them. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asked again, ears twitching. "What’s wrong with wanting to go to the moon?"
Cassius hummed, stretching his arms above his head.
"There’s nothing wrong with going to the moon, Skadi." He said casually, as if the topic was still up for debate. "But more importantly, before you got to the moon for vacation we need to get everyone to the infirmary so they can get stitched up." He scanned the battlefield, his gaze lingering on the groaning, battered knights. "Even though it was a matter of survival." hh mused. "I can’t say I’m exactly proud to see my own knights in such a condition. I don’t want them lying around like this—let’s get them treated."
Aisha, who had just finished adjusting her cloak, peeked out from behind Julie and smirked.
"Oh? And how exactly are you planning to do that?" She asked, raising a skeptical brow. "You beat them up so badly that they can’t even move, let alone get up on their horses."
Cassius was about to respond when—
"Young Master!!"
A sharp, hurried voice cut through the conversation like a blade. Everyone’s heads snapped toward the source.
Julie and Aisha instinctively reached for their weapons. Skadi’s ears twitched violently.
And Cassius?
Cassius simply tilted his head, utterly unbothered since he recognised the voice that was calling out to him.
Charging toward them, with urgency in her stride and fire in her eyes, was Isabelle—her long blonde hair flowing behind her as she sprinted with a mix of panic and determination. Just a few paces behind, struggling to keep up, was Portia.
But that wasn’t all.
A horde of maids followed in their wake.
Julie’s mouth fell open slightly. "What in the world…?"
Aisha blinked in surprise before a slow, amused grin spread across her lips. "Oh?" She drawled, turning to Cassius with a teasing glint in her amber eyes. "Are these your reinforcements, Young Master?"
Cassius smirked. "Don’t laugh too soon." He remarked smoothly. "You should be more concerned. With the state you’re in, those maids are more than enough to take all of you down with their pans and brooms."
Aisha immediately shut her mouth. She did not want to get thrashed with a mop by a maid.
The moment the horde of concerned maids arrived and took in the battlefield before them—battered knights sprawled across the ground, their young master sitting leisurely among them—an immediate transformation took place.
Like an army preparing for battle, the maids swarmed around Cassius, forming a protective circle around him as if he were some fragile prince in need of safeguarding. Their expressions hardened, their gazes sharp as they stared daggers at the injured knights, practically radiating hostility.
It was shocking.
Julie blinked.
Skadi tilted her head, confused.
Aisha’s brows furrowed.
Since when did the Holy Guard get glared at like the enemy?
Wherever they went, people always cast them looks of admiration, gratitude—even reverence. Yet these maids were staring at them like they were criminals who had just committed the worst sin imaginable.
And then, while most of the maids held their defensive formation, another wave of maids rushed directly toward Cassius, their expressions shifting from battle-ready soldiers to overbearing caretakers in an instant.
"Young Master!" Isabelle cried out first, nearly throwing herself onto him.
"Are you alright?! You’re not hurt, are you?" Portia gasped, kneeling beside him in a panic.
"Do you need water? A warm towel? A fresh change of clothes?" Another maid asked, already pulling out a handkerchief to wipe at his non-existent sweat.
"Did those barbarians lay a hand on you?! Should we teach them a lesson?!" One particularly feisty maid growled, rolling up her sleeves as if she was about to throw hands with the Holy Guard.
The knights—stunned beyond belief—could only watch as Cassius was coddled like a baby that had just taken a light tumble.
Julie let out a slow, rueful smile at the sight. "The reports weren’t wrong…" She murmured under her breath. "He really is popular with his maids."
Aisha, on the other hand, wasn’t smiling.
She was staring, eyes wide with visible disbelief. "This isn’t just admiration..." She muttered. "This is—this is actual worship! He’s like some kind of deity to them!" Her ears twitched violently as she tried to wrap her head around it. "What the hell kind of mind control did he put on them?!"
Skadi, who had been innocently watching the scene, suddenly perked up. "Ooooh!" She turned to one of the maids standing near her and asked, completely genuinely. "Why do you guys like your master so much? Don’t commoners usually hate those stinky nobles?"
The maid—a sharp-eyed woman with her arms crossed—hesitated for a brief second, her instincts warning her that this wolf-girl was technically the enemy. But after a moment, she scoffed and tossed her head.
"Hah! Like you’d understand." She said, looking down at Skadi like she had just asked the most idiotic question in the world. "Our young master can’t be compared to those disgusting, greedy nobles. He’s better in every way."
Skadi’s ears twitched, and her tail wagged slightly. "Better how?"
The maid, now fully in rant mode, straightened her back proudly and began listing reasons with absolute conviction.
"Not only is he charismatic, refined, inteligent, talented and so many other amazing things. But he actually cares about us!" She declared. "When we look upset, he asks if we’ve had a bad day. When we’re tired, he lets us rest. When we feel ignored by the world, he talks to us like we matter." Her eyes glimmered with pure admiration. "Unlike those pigs in the noble courts, he doesn’t treat us like disposable objects. He’s just like his mother—"
She paused suddenly, realizing she had said too much.
But the knights had already heard it.
The moment his mother was mentioned, a wave of realization swept through them—especially Julie.
She knew about Lady Florence.
Everyone in the Holyfield estate did.
Florence Vindictus Holyfield wasn’t just another noblewoman—she was a legend among the commoners.
A woman so kind, so generous, so devoted to the people under her care, that she was widely considered a saint. Unlike the typical aristocrats who saw their servants as nothing more than tools, Florence treated her people like family.
She didn’t just give to charity—she visited the poor herself. She didn’t just make policies—she listened to the voices of the weak. She didn’t just rule—she protected.
And because of that, she was loved.
By everyone.
But among the knights present, it was Julie who knew her best.
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After all, the Hellbane family—Julie’s lineage—worked directly under the Holyfield family. They had served the estate for generations, acting as its sword and shield.
And Julie had met Lady Florence once before.
Only once. But that one encounter had left a deep impression on her.
She still remembered it vividly—the way Florence carried herself with an effortless grace, the way her eyes radiated warmth even when speaking to a child like her, the way she smiled like she truly saw every person for who they were, not just their status.
It was that moment that had shaped Julie’s ideals.
That moment that made her think—
"This is the kind of woman I want to grow up to be."
So now, seeing Cassius surrounded by his devoted maids, hearing the admiration in their voices, it all made sense.
The reports had always painted Cassius as an unruly noble, a disgraceful young master with no redeeming qualities.
But if he had inherited even a fraction of Lady Florence’s heart—
Then of course the maids would worship him.
Of course they would adore him.
Of course they would follow him anywhere.
But sadly, while Julie was having such wholesome thoughts, her reverence for Lady Florence growing, it was all shattered in an instant.
Ruined...All because of one maid.
One very devoted maid—who, completely unaware of the weight of the conversation, absentmindedly muttered aloud in a dreamy voice:
"And also...Because Master is such a good lover…~"
Silence.
A deadly silence.
And to make matters worse—
She wasn’t finished.
Like she had momentarily forgotten where she was, she continued in a soft, dazed murmur, her eyes hazy with fond memories:
"He just knows exactly what to say to make a lady happy…"
"Especially in bed…Oh, he’s so energetic in bed and can never seem to stop~"
The maid, realizing what had just escaped her lips, suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth, her entire body going rigid like a criminal who had just been caught red-handed.
But—it was too late...The damage had already been done.