Ⅲ
Soft sobs rose from the deck.
It was Little Leondsay.
The round-faced young noble with brown hair and an air of immaturity staggered against the ship's rail when he sensed his father's presence vanish. Tears flowed involuntarily, but his upbringing kept him from crying aloud. He could only grit his teeth and let the sobs escape.
Seeing this, Little Yacaz and Little Lalia instinctively moved to comfort him.
But Miss Windsor stopped them.
She held Little Yacaz and Little Lalia back with one hand, raised the other high, and brought it down hard-
Smack!
The slap rang out!
Then came her furious scolding.
"What are you crying for?!
Lord Leondese died in battle. That is a noble's honor!
As his son, your tears are desecrating your father's honor!
For your father's honor, for House Leondese, go back right now and gather every last person you can muster!
We must hold off those peeping ones in our fathers' stead!
The peeping ones from the Inner Bay!"
She unceremoniously seized Little Leondsay by the collar and viciously slapped him again.
At first, the sobbing Little Leondsay was stunned by the blows.
When he realized Windsor had slapped him, the young noble was furious.
But after hearing what Windsor said next, the young noble swiftly came to his senses.
Looking at the fierce Windsor, the young noble felt nothing but admiration.
None of that had occurred to him just now.
He was no match for Windsor.
Not only Little Leondsay, but Little Yacaz and Little Lalia came to the same conclusion.
Miss Windsor struck while the iron was hot-
"Go notify the other houses. Although we don't know what happened, I think our parents must have left some contingency measures to deal with an emergency like this.
At least, my father did."