Chapter 38: The Better Choice

King Laxon coughed to gather our attention back onto him. He called for Ace to step forward, which she quickly did and knelt with her head bowed.

"You, Ace, have always served my family well," King Laxon said. "But you also didn't follow my daughter's word to let Ash go. She has it in her mind to punish you, and I cannot stop her as you are her knight. Will you accept this no doubt unjust punishment for an act that was not wrong?"

"With honor, my King," she replied without hesitation.

Rose stepped up and told everyone to stand, and we did.

"Ace, you are too by the books for your own good," Rose said. "You've spent your whole life training your body and mind, but only through textbooks. You've devoted yourself to the crown by casting away your life. You'll see this as punishment, Ace, but I see this as a trial to see just how well our knights genuinely are in the world beyond our closed castle walls."