After capturing their prisoners, the group began a thorough search of the room.
They ransacked every drawer and chest, even checking under the bed, but found nothing except some trade ledgers and a few vaguely worded, secret letters.
"The money isn't here?" Renn kicked the empty cabinet, looking disappointed.
"Looks like you were careful. You didn't keep anything important on you." Ye Weian tossed a ledger aside and looked at Gray Crow.
"Give it up, bastard!" Even trussed up like a ball, Gray Crow still dared to threaten him. "You won't get anything from me!"
"I didn't expect you to be so loyal to that woman," Ye Weian sneered.
"You... you actually figured it out. Well, you already recognized who I was, so I suppose it's no surprise you guessed the truth."
"Since you know I work for the lady, you'd be wise to let me go." With nothing left to lose, Gray Crow grew even more brazen. "You have no idea what Lady Selina is capable of. Even if you get away this time, it won't matter. The Amarisk Family's influence stretches across eastern Cormyr. You might escape once, but do you think you can keep escaping?"
When Ye Weian said nothing, Gray Crow assumed he was considering it and pressed on. "So let me go, and there's still room to negotiate. If I put in a good word for you, the lady might take pity on you and let you return to Suzar to live out your days in comfort."
"That wretched woman!"
Ailian's face flushed with anger, and she tightened her grip, making Gray Crow howl in pain. "How can she be so cruel? You endured four years of humiliation in Suzar, and she still won't leave you a way out... This is a disgrace to all nobility!"
Cain, standing nearby, looked even more troubled than Gray Crow.
The Orm Family had served the Summerstar Family for generations, but Cain had spent his entire career in the Purple Dragon Order and had only returned home after retiring this year.
He had no idea the infighting within the family had reached the point of life and death.
This was no longer just a dispute over the family estate. It was a scandal of kin turning against kin.
If he helped Ye Weian fight his way back to the territory and expose everything, he would be tearing the Baron's family's reputation to shreds with his own hands—and directly challenging the immensely powerful Baroness.
Gray Crow noticed Cain wavering and immediately tried to win him over. "Cain Orm, you're a smart man. You know that young master Lucas Xiaxing is the Baron's legitimate son, and the future lord of the territory. Think of yourself, think of your family! There's still time to earn merit and atone for your mistakes. Don't throw away your future for a bastard who's doomed to disappear!"
"Cain..." Ye Weian caught the conflict in Cain's eyes. He turned to him and spoke magnanimously. "If you're in a difficult position, it's not too late to leave. The road ahead may mean challenging the entire order of your family."
Cain fell silent for a long time. His hand tightened around the hilt at his waist, then loosened, then tightened again.
At last, the knight looked at Ye Weian and dropped to one knee, his voice heavy but resolute.
"No, young master. The Orm Family has indeed served the Summerstar Barons for generations, but I'm a knight. My honor cannot accept dealing with a member of the family through an underhanded, treacherous act like assassination. Lady Selina's actions have abandoned justice, and I will not obey her. I'll follow you all the way back to Firefall Fortress and bring the filth behind all this into the light."
He paused, then added solemnly, "When this is over, I'll personally apologize to the Baron and accept punishment for failing to protect you and bringing shame upon the family. But until then, no one will harm you while I still wield my sword."
Ye Weian looked at Cain, who seemed ready to face death, but instead of feeling moved, he shook his head.
"Cain, your loyalty is admirable, but your naivety saddens me." He went to the window and looked out at Firefall Town's darkness, his back to the others. "Do you think you can return and apologize to my father, and the Orm Family will be safe?"
Cain froze. He opened his mouth to argue but couldn't find the words.
Ye Weian pulled over a chair and sat down, answering the question himself.
"You might say the Baron is a just man, but what good would that do? My father is already fifty. Even if he recovers from this illness, how much longer can he protect you?"
"And what about Lady Selina? Her elder brother, Earl Wulfred, guards Cormyr's eastern frontier. The Amarisk Family's influence is deeply entrenched throughout the eastern kingdom, and the entire Summerstar Family has to depend on them. Even if everything you did today was perfectly in keeping with the code of chivalry, the Baron couldn't truly punish her."
Ye Weian kept laying it out, piece by piece, shattering Cain's hopes.
"You might say the Baron could divorce her, but what about the heir? Don't look at me. We both know that only a legitimate noble heir can inherit Firefall Territory and be accepted by the other nobles. He can't marry someone else, either. He's fifty, and in poor health. He has neither the time nor the strength for it. So you see, the ending is already decided, isn't it?"
Looking at Cain's pale face, he stated the truth without mercy. "Most likely, this will all be swept under the rug. When the Baron dies, do you think Lady Selina will spare an 'honorable knight' who once foiled her plans? The entire Orm Family will become her target."
At that, Cain's hand dropped from his sword.
He realized the extent of the trouble he'd gotten himself into.
"Boss, I think the young master is right," Renn said, unable to remain silent any longer. "The moment we accepted the mission to escort him, we were already expendable. We were either going to die at the hands of bandits or be hanged for failing to protect him."
"As the young master's guards, we've been caught between both sides from the very beginning." Harold gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "The nobles fight over power, and it's always the people below them who take the blame."
He suddenly realized how that sounded and scratched his head, embarrassed. "Sorry, young master. I didn't mean you."
"It's fine, Harold." Ye Weian waved it off. "I'm only a bastard. Not many people consider me a noble."
Cain looked at the two brothers who had followed him for years, then at Ye Weian's calm expression. Suddenly, the beliefs he had held since childhood began to crumble.
He realized there was nowhere left for him to turn.
Just as he was falling into despair, Ye Weian spoke. "Cain, you do still have a choice."
Cain looked at the young man before him.
"You can choose me. I'll carve out a path for you!" Ye Weian's voice was solemn. "I know the Orm Family has served beneath the Three Gold Stars on Blue of the Summerstar House for generations. I promise that when we return, I'll take back what belongs to me without splitting the Summerstar Family apart. As for the Orm Family, I'll give it a future more glorious than anything it could have under the Summerstar House."
Cain looked at the confident young man before him.
He remembered how Ye Weian had turned a battle they were bound to lose around with powerful magic.
They had worked together seamlessly to capture the bandit leader.
He had used healing spells to save six lives.
He had generously divided the spoils and promised compensation.
He had seemed blessed by the gods in the forest, leading them to Firefall Town in a single day.
And tonight, with a simple trick, he had captured Gray Crow and his bodyguards without even needing to fight.
Though they had known each other for less than half a month, every one of these moments reminded him:
Say yes. This is an extraordinary young man. He's someone worth serving. Maybe he really can do it.
So Cain dropped to one knee again.
This time, it wasn't to apologize for the sake of his family's honor. He knelt before Ye Weian in true, wholehearted submission.
He drew his longsword and offered it with both hands, his voice firm.
"...Lord Ye Weian. From this moment on, Cain Orm is no longer a knight of the Summerstar House. I will be your sword and shield. I entrust my life, and my family's honor, to you."
"Boss, you should've done that ages ago!" Renn and Harold exchanged a glance, then knelt without hesitation.
Ye Weian's expression turned solemn.
Though he sat in nothing more than a crude wooden chair, the presence granted by his eighteen points of Charisma made it seem like a throne.
In the eyes of Gray Crow and the two captured bodyguards, the young man before them seemed to have suddenly been bathed in dazzling light.
The suffocating pressure he exuded was even greater than that of their former master, the lady's father—the Duke of Malcast.
"I, Ye Weian Xiaxing, accept your allegiance in the name of the Weave."
Following Cormyr's ancient Noble Etiquette, he accepted Cain's sword and then tapped it against the knight's shoulder.
"Cain, Renn, Harold, I don't yet have the authority to formally knight anyone, but I promise that my future territory will have a place for each of you. As long as I stand, the Orm Family's banner will never fall. Your loyalty will be repaid a hundredfold."
Gray Crow lay sprawled on the floor, not even remembering to struggle. He stared blankly at Ye Weian, as though seeing the bastard for the first time.
It was one thing for this bastard to be talented in magic.
Now he had used their own words to win over a Purple Dragon Knight—and an entire knightly family—on the spot.
With that kind of power and finesse at such a young age, could the lady really defeat a monster like him?
"Wonderful, young master!" Ailian lightly clapped her hands beside him, congratulating her master.
Turning to Cain, who had risen to his feet, she said with certainty, "Uncle Cain, swearing allegiance to my master is absolutely the best decision you'll ever make. The young master isn't just a magical genius. He has the kind of..."
She had almost blurted out all the extraordinary things about her master—his rapidly growing magical power, the magic that had given her strength—but at the last moment, she remembered that these were secrets she must never reveal.
The little maid stuck out her tongue and hurriedly changed course. "...the kind of foresight that can see through any fog. No ordinary noble can compare! Anyway, as long as we follow the young master, we're sure to win!"
Cain nodded firmly.
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