Captured

Aden became very wary when saw members of the faceless appear before him.

"What do you want from us?" He spoke up, silently watching the masked men as they surrounded himself and the ladies, actively attempting to cut off their escape route.

Although the church of the twins had never actively resisted Leonard's rule in Algrim since the young king had never actively gone against them like some other kingdom due to the fact that they never seemed to do anything perverse to his subjects and served as a good check to the church of the seven's influence in his kingdom, Aden was still oddly enough very wary of them even more than his king despite having an even less political footprint than Leonard.

He wasn't wary of the church of the Twins unlike many would expect. But it had to be mentioned that Aden's few... encounters with the upper echelon of the church was nothing short of traumatizing, as none of those said encounters was particularly in his best interest but could only be described as highly... unusual.

For reasons unknown to him, the church or more specifically the person currently in charge of the church had developed a certain interest in him, to which he wasn't particularly comfortable.

But despite his inner tension, he didn't let any more emotions show anymore on his face other than his earlier shock as he quickly calmed his mind to analyze the situation before him.

'I hope it's not her, please don't be here, anyone but her...' Aden silently muttered a prayer under his breath while the men in masks had finally surrounded them, not that there was much he could do to stop them anyway.

While he was still trying to figure out the reason why they suddenly surrounded them one of the masked men spoke up in an emotionless voice.

"Lord Aden, we beseech you to come with us." The one to the farthest left said blandly not in the slightest betraying his thoughts.

Aden wasn't surprised by the lack of emotions in the masked man's voice as he is well acquainted with how well the members of the faceless can perfectly depict the emotions of their choice.

They could very well choose to use a tone one would use with a close friend and immediately switch to one that could only be used with one's sworn nemesis in a heartbeat as long as it suited their goals, or more appropriately the goals of the church.

"And why should I do that? Since you could figure out who I am, you think anyone can just walk up to me and demand I follow them and I would just comply?" Aden said in a fiery tone whilst taking a battle stance.

He was still very much injured from his last fight with Vlad and was only trying to see if he could bluff his way out of this as well as he did with the bandits, but the more observant masked individual was having none of that.

"Lord Aden we are both clear that you are in no state to put up a fight. You are both injured and outnumbered so any thoughts of resistance would be futile.

It would be in your best interest if you just compiled with our demands." The second masked individual said in their signature emotionless voice.

Sigh...

"Who wants to see me then?" Aden asked quickly changing his tone to the same dead one they are using with him while putting away his weapon back in its scabbard.

He realized that there was no way out of this so he decided to just let it be. At least they weren't outrightly aggressive so they might not really want to harm them then. If that's the truth then it would truly be more sensible to be cooperative and while trying to figure out their motive, if not then...

He would think about it when that time came.

All those years he spent surviving alone on the edge had made him more adaptable than the average noble in situations like this, so rather than shouting stupid phrases like 'let go of my noble self you low born bastards' or foolishly resisting in a hopeless situation, he had already changed his demeanour when he realized the decisions here were no longer his to make.

"You will find out soon enough." The first masked man replied emotionlessly while walking towards Aden and the royal duo to apprehend them.

Iris And Queen Irina in the back were still cautiously staring at the masked gaggle when one of the masked men walked towards Iris who immediately pointed her weapon at the individual before turning to Aden questioningly.

Aden gritted his teeth in annoyance before giving a nod of approval and allowing the masked man to force him on his knees, bind him then cover his head with a hood after seizing his claymore.

Aden felt extremely displeased as it has been a very long time since he had to submit himself to another person's mercy, but he didn't struggle since he knew that there wasn't any other way out.

Assuming he was alone, even while he couldn't fight his captors off due to his injury, he still had a very slim chance of escaping albeit with serious injuries if he was lucky enough. But now he couldn't fight back in the slightest because he was considering the queen's and princess's safety. He could only allow himself to be captured while swallowing up his grievances in silence.

The masked men quickly bound their hands properly in hemp ropes and covered their heads with sackcloth hoods before leading them and their nervous steeds away.