CHAPTER 17

Chapter 17

İ thought everything was over when one of them confessed, but I was being naive.

One of the fathers said, " He might not have ambushed them, but it is a fact that he is not a squire yet; he is just a commoner recruit, and he assaulted noble-born squires. This can't go unpunished. We will punish the children for their lies, my lord; he needs to be punished too. Law says the punishment for assaulting a noble is ten flogging at the least."

Rodrik became as red as a tomato and started shouting at the fathers again,

" Assault is a crime punished by flogging. But lying to the lord is not. Which one is the bigger one? Lying to the lord is basically betrayal, which is punishable by death. Should we cut their heads?" All of the children's faces become pale as ash. They started to turn and looked at their father with a face full of terror.

Steward of Winterfell Vayon Poole comes close to the lord and says, "My lord, I think the children shouldn't witness the rest of the argument. Should we take them out of the solar?"

Lord Stark looked at the frightened children and said," Yes, let them wait outside."

Right as we were leaving the room, one of the fathers started shouting at Rodrik.

POV NED STARK

" How dare you call our children traitors."

"No, how dare you… You are trying to kill a child just because he is more talented than all of your children combined. Can you not look beyond your selfish needs? Can you not see if we train him right? We will be having the next Arthur Dayne serve house Stark. My lord, if we are not punishing the other children, we can't punish him too."

It is such a mess. Aermir acts so mature most of the time; I m forgetting he is only six years old. Why did he have to fight them? He should have run or bowed down to not give them a reason until he had the power to stand by himself. İ don't want to punish any of the children, but if I don't punish him, the minor nobles would be discontent. If I only punished him, nobles like Rodrik would be discontent. So I have to punish both sides but

have to make it look like Aermir is getting a harsher punishment.

I get up from my chair and say, " I have decided on their punishment."

"Their? My lord, you mean all of them going to be punished."

"Yes, it is a matter of fact that Aermir attacked noble born, but it is also a fact your children lied to me under oath, and they are the ones who assaulted him with the intent to maim. I m going to be lenient because all of them are so young, and this is my punishment for them. They are to be held under house arrest for the next month. As for the commoner, Aermir Drasil will be punished the same, but with one difference, he will only get two meals a day consisting of bread and water, nothing else."

Some of them look a bit discontent, but they nod their head like they are trying to make themselves believe this is what they want. "Now I want everyone but Rodrik to go back to their post. You are dismissed." I turned to the guard at the door and said, " Call Aermir inside."

POV MC

When the guard called, I walked inside. The nobles were getting out of the solar, and they were smirking at me. It looks like they got what they wanted.

I stood in front of the lord's table; Rodrik was standing right next to the table. Lord said, "Do you know what you did wrong?"

"I do not, my lord, all I did was defend myself."

"No, you didn't defend yourself. If you did, you would have retreated after defending."

"My lord, they were trying to break my arms; I couldn't just stand there and take the beating."

"Nobody expected you to take the beating, but I thought you were smarter, but it looks like you are not that smart." He strikes the table with his hand and stands up, then starts shouting at me, "You are not a squire yet; you are not their equal, don't you know that? You cannot in no circumstances hit a noble. It looks like I spoiled you because of your talent and forgot your age."

This is one of the bad parts of this world. I sometimes forget this world has aristocracy. I m so angry because I m about to get a punishment I don't deserve in my mind, but to every other noble, I most likely do.

"For a month, you are going to be under house arrest. You will not leave your room, and you are only going to get two meals a day consisting of bread and water. Now go and think about what you did wrong."

I was squeezing my fists so hard I thought my nails broke the skin in my palms. I was so angry, not at the lord or someone else. I was mad at myself. I m too weak; I will show all of them. I m going to climb to the highest peak I can climb.

POV NED STARK

"Rodrik"

"Yes, my lord."

"How good are the other six in their age group?"

"I would say top 10, my lord."

"HAHAHAH, a six-year-old beating the living shit out of six ten years old squires that were training around 4 to 5 years. HAHAHAH… Rodrik, I can't wait to see what he will do in the next ten years. I really want to see it. Rodrik, I m trusting you with this child. Don't screw it up. What was the name of that maid who took care of Aermir when his mother died."

"I believe she is called Brise, my lord."

"Summon her right now."