"All right. Don't spurn the Tartun Empire's goodwill."
Duke Kingsley appeared to be advising Paige, but he was really speaking to Annan.
By then, Annan had settled on his condition.
"Then my condition is... an apology."
"An apology?" Paige paused, not because he found it hard to say, but because it seemed too easy. "Is that all?"
"Not to me. To Broken Fang."
The relief faded from Paige's face, replaced by a snarl he struggled to suppress. "You want me to apologize to a rat?"
He was one of the youngest counts in the Orr Empire. One day, he would surely hold a seat in the Imperial Capital's House of Representatives. Losing his position as a frontline Commander would only give his enemies in the Empire something to laugh about. Bowing his head to a Ratfolk, though... that would stain his name for life and give them ammunition to use against him.
"Not a chance!"
Annan looked at him without flinching. "I don't think you're foolish enough to make the Thirteen High Kings take the blame for you and give the McKennan Ratfolk something to laugh at... are you?"
"You've got nerve, asking a noble of the Orr Empire to apologize to a Ratfolk," Duke Kingsley said coldly.
"Duke Kingsley, you've got one thing wrong." Annan turned to the "mountain" on the sofa and spoke with quiet grace. "This isn't 'a noble of the Orr Empire apologizing to a Ratfolk.' It's 'a Commander who made the wrong decision apologizing to a cavalryman he falsely accused.'"
His gaze returned to Paige's ashen face. "There's no shame in that, is there? The Orr Empire's troops might even think you care for your soldiers like your own sons."
"Heh..."
Duke Kingsley was plainly mocking him, yet a trace of admiration flickered deep in