Chapter 5

Riverforth is a village located south of the Archduchy. The Fedam river acts as a border that separates Riverforth from Clastro, a land owned by Count Polit, located on the other side of the river. It was a peaceful and prosperous town in Melody's memory.

It takes at least 3 days to reach Riverforth on horse but just outside the gates of Westreon castle is a portal that connects to different parts of the Kingdom. It would only take 2 hours through the portal to reach Riverforth. We used the portal since I wanted to get there as soon as possible.

When we got out of the portal, there were knights lined up outside. They were about to kneel down but when they saw me they paused, the look on their faces tells me how surprised they were. A buff man in a black armor came forward as I came down my horse.

"My lady," he greeted as he looked down at me, his eyes were too sharp for my liking, "what are you doing here instead of the archduke?"

"I came here in place of my father." I looked at him as I held my chin up. "I will fight Count Polit."

"My lady, this is not a playground where you can just prance around anytime you want. This is now a war zone where you could get killed." He angrily scolded me. "You should go home and tell the archduke to come here."

"Who are you?" I asked him as he was about to turn his back at me.

"I am Ravian Corin, the head of the knights assigned to guard Riverforth." He replied proudly.

"And who am I sir Corin?" I asked again.

Sir Corin looked at me and I stared back at him.

"You are Lady Melody Castellan." He answered through gritted teeth.

"Yes, I am Melody Castellan, the eldest daughter of House Castellan. I am a part of the house that you swore your loyalty to." I looked at him coldly. "Yet you did not even bow down to me."

I looked at every knight behind him who were shocked and won't meet my eyes. I asked them, "You know what I hate the most?"

"I hate traitors."

The moment they heard what I said, they all visibly flinched.

'So these idiots are all in this.' I thought to myself.

"W-we are all Knights of N-Noktis," a fat knight in black armor stuttered, "we s-swore loyalty to H-house Castellan my l-lady."

"Really now?" I looked at him and smirked. "If that is true, why are you setting a trap for my father?"

Sir Corin suddenly swung his sword at me, I stepped back and summoned Vita. They started to unsheathe their swords as they looked at me. The knights who travelled with me also unsheathed their weapons and all of them surrounded me. There was no one around which means they planned to attack my father here.

"So this is the loyalty you were talking about sir knight?" I laughed sarcastically. "For betraying house Castellan, your punishment shall be death."

"A little girl trying to act tough." Corin laughed. "We will capture you and send you to Count Polit. That way, the archduke won't be able to do anything but come here."

"W-what is happening?" The knight who came with me asked. "I-i can't move my body!"

The other knights also realized that they cannot move. I swung my sword in my circles like I was warming up my hand. They all looked at me surprised before horror struck.

"What did you do?" Corin shouted.

I looked at him as coldly as possible.

"I am a Castellan, a family blessed by the gods and goddesses, you can never compare to my powers." I say as I walked to the knights behind me. "So why the hell would I fight you using a sword?"

I looked at the knight who was nearest to me and beheaded him where he stood.

"I only summoned my sword so I can behead you, traitors." I said as I walked to the next knight and beheaded him too. Blood showered from the two headless bodies that were still standing without heads.

The knights realized that they are going to be killed one by one. They started to panic and tried to beg instead.

"My lady, please, I apologize for betraying you. I will never do it again." The third head came rolling.

"Please, please spare me my lad-" the fourth head rolled without completing his sentence.

"Tell me who planned this." I said as I started to walk towards Corin but he kept his mouth shut. I looked at his underlings and saw that they were not planning to say anything.

"You are leaving me no choice." I said as I made the blood on Corin's body seep out from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He bellowed in pain yet no one would hear him since I put up a barrier earlier. His underlings shivered at the sight of their leader screaming.

"Now, I will make each one of you suffer horrible deaths if you won't start talking." I looked at them. Another one started screaming in pain.

"I'll talk!" A lanky looking man with a mustache cried at the furthest back. "I'll talk so please spare me."

"Start talking then." I smiled at him. "I want to know everything you know.

"Yes." He said nervously but seemed to realize something. "Y-yes my lady."

I stood closer to him to listen.

"S-sir Corin came to me yesterday and asked me if I wanted to earn money." He started as he looked at Corin's direction. "He said he collaborated with Marquis McClaire to fight the Archduke. He said that he-he will receive the title for Riverforth if they succeeded. M-my daughter is sick my lady, I needed money to have a doctor see her and buy medicine. Please. I be you my lady, don't kill me."

"What was their exact plan?" I asked.

"I only know that they burned the barns that housed Clastro's food and grain supply and left a Castellan flag lying somewhere to make Count Polit think that House Castellan attacked them. That is the reason why he waged war." He took a few breaths and continued. "From what I know, when the archduke comes, we are assigned to capture him but I didn't know that Marquis McClare plans to attack Westreon castle and eliminate all of you until earlier today. I cannot back out because they threatened me with my family. I am sorry my lady, I-i really wasn't aware they were planning to kill all of you."He started crying.

"Are there other knights who betrayed us in the headquarters?" I asked him.

"None my lady." He replied. "We are all the traitors."

I feel sorry for him but my family is being targetted here. I looked at him and sheathed my sword. All bodies dropped to the ground, either without a head or bathing in their own blood. All except for this lanky guy with a funny mustache in front of me.

"Take me to your headquarters. I need to talk to all of the knights."