Ke City

"Once the battle is over, bury him," Reiner said with a hint of melancholy. "Bury him as a follower of the Holy Church. Let his epitaph read: A loyal knight."

Reiner quickly cast aside his melancholy and said to the knights and soldiers, "Get ready! The enemy may continue to resist. Archers, use the windows to keep them suppressed with arrows. Everyone else, attack the gate!"

The keep's gate was made of thick wood. It would not be impossible to break it down by force; after hacking at it with longswords for a while, they could expose the bolt inside. There were no guards in the castle either, so taking this isolated keep would not be difficult.

"Milady, the people outside have begun attacking the castle! What should we do?" A maid shoved open the door to Lady Gwen's bedroom in panic, forgetting even her usual etiquette.

"What?" Lady Gwen stood up, her hair disheveled, her hands trembling slightly as she held her child. She cried out, "Why? Did the negotiations fail? How did he handle this? Why has this happened?"

"Forget that, milady! What we need to consider now is what to do! They're about to break in, and we don't have any troops left!" The maid shouted hysterically, just as distraught as Lady Gwen.

Lady Gwen froze. She was not only shocked by the maid's attitude toward her, but also understood the predicament she was in.

She ignored the maid's insolence and instead looked down at the child in her arms, gazing deeply at the tiny little person.

"Linda!" Lady Gwen called the maid's name.

"Yes, milady!" Linda was somewhat flustered by Lady Gwen's sudden calm. After all, she had just been disrespectful toward this noblewoman.

"Take these!" Lady Gwen removed the necklace from around her neck and handed Linda the Gwen Family's signet ring.

"What are you doing, milady?" Linda asked in astonishment. That necklace was something Lady Gwen had always treasured dearly, and the Gwen Family signet ring went without saying—it was the symbol of an entire family. Yet she was now handing such precious things over to her.

"Take Sura and leave this place. Leave this castle. Go somewhere no one knows you, and raise him to adulthood!" As she spoke, Lady Gwen took a money pouch from a chest in the bedroom. "There are ten gold coins in here—the remainder of the Gwen Family's income for this year. It will be more than enough for you to raise him and teach him martial arts and swordsmanship."

Linda's expression changed repeatedly. She truly did not want to take such a risk, but the temptation of ten gold coins was too great. It was most of the annual income of a barony. As long as she took Sura away, all those gold coins would belong to her. She was deeply conflicted.

But after thinking it over again and again, she ultimately agreed to Lady Gwen's request. Those ten gold coins would be enough for her to live without worry for the rest of her life, and all she had to do was take Sura away and raise him.

"Very well, milady. I will take the young baron away and raise him to adulthood." As Linda spoke, she accepted the items in Lady Gwen's hand, including the pouch containing the ten gold coins.

Lady Gwen gave Linda a meaningful look, then said, "Leave here as quickly as you can! The enemy is all outside the keep. Take Sura and go before they break in!"

Linda looked at the little master in Lady Gwen's arms. "Yes, milady. I'll leave at once!"

With that, she took Sura from Lady Gwen's arms. As though he sensed something, the tiny child burst into loud wails the instant he left Lady Gwen's embrace.

Hearing her son cry, Lady Gwen was equally reluctant to part with him. She covered her mouth and began to weep uncontrollably, leaning against the bedroom wall and sobbing, looking utterly helpless.

She walked over to Linda's side and gave her son one long, loving look, as though she wanted to carve his tiny features deeply into her mind.

Looking at her wailing son, Lady Gwen sobbed to Linda, "Cover his mouth! Then leave this place!"

Linda bit her lip and covered Sura's mouth. When she reached the doorway, she looked back once at Lady Gwen, then quickly pushed open the door and left.

By then, Lady Gwen's face was already streaked with tears. Watching Linda leave with Sura, she took an exquisitely crafted short sword from a drawer.

She bit down hard on her lower lip, her heart filled with turmoil. She could not bear for her noble self to suffer the humiliation of those lowly soldiers. She knew exactly what someone like her meant to them—something they craved but could never have: a noble lady, ordinarily too exalted to be profaned. But once the castle fell, she would be nothing. She would become a plaything they could violate at will. Even their baron would usually be unwilling to restrain his army for the sake of a baron's wife.

Her lips had been bitten open by her inner conflict, and several drops of blood ran down from them.

Suddenly, she drew the short sword and swiftly slashed it across her throat. A line of blood immediately flowed down her neck.

But it was not enough. She could not feel her life slipping away. She raised the short sword again, pressed it against her neck, and slowly drew the blade across it, enduring excruciating pain and immense psychological pressure as she cut a deep wound into her throat.

Suddenly, blood sprayed from the wound like a small fountain, shooting three or four meters into the air. She felt the strength drain rapidly from her body. The lack of oxygen to her brain left her dizzy and disoriented, and at last, she lost her balance and collapsed to the floor.

Watching the blood flow out like a stream, Lady Gwen closed her eyes and gradually lost all signs of life.

Outside the keep, the Crimson Gryphon Knights continued hacking at the wooden gate with their longswords. Their blades had already carved a depression into it. Unfortunately, they had not brought any prisoners of war on this campaign; otherwise, the wooden gate would have been broken long ago.

Wood chips flew from the gate. After the Crimson Gryphon Knights hacked at it with all their strength for half an hour, a clear breach finally appeared. Through the crack, they could now see the bolt behind the gate.

Sir Valas thrust his longsword into the gap in the gate and flicked it upward. The bolt was easily lifted, like a bare-assed rider without a saddle mounted on the back of a wild horse.

Without the bolt's protection, the keep was like a helpless maiden stripped naked before the wolfish knights. Its fate was easy to imagine.

Sir Valas kicked open the gate and charged inside with his longsword in hand. The knights behind him surged through the gate and into the keep like a flood.

After entering the castle, they encountered no resistance at all. Some soldiers chased panicked maids through the halls, while others searched everywhere for valuables and gathered them up.

For a time, the shrill screams of the maids echoed throughout the keep. Reiner wanted to stop them and impose some discipline, but he had no time to deal with it. He only wanted to capture Baron Lobean's wife and child as quickly as possible, lest something go wrong.