Your loyalty won't be known

Ian turned his head.

Vortigern was standing outside the tent curtain, the moonlight falling on him like gauze, as if dyeing him with a touch of pale white.

Those eyes, which had shared years with King Uther, were now filled with complex emotions.

Ian knew that Vortigern before him already understood that he had come to assassinate him tonight.

"When did you find out?"

Ian asked coldly.

Since he had been exposed, he no longer kept silent as before.

"Well... if you're talking about that."

Vortigern walked into the tent curtain alone—he wasn't afraid of Ian, who had come to assassinate him.

"Perhaps it was when you said you wanted to kill the enemy but didn't swear allegiance to me."

Only then did Ian realize that his little tricks hadn't escaped Vortigern's eyes at all.

He had seen everything.

"Vortigern, you don't deserve my allegiance. I will only be loyal to..."

Before Ian could finish speaking, Vortigern interrupted:

"Morgan, the daughter of King Uther, right?"

"Your repeated defeats were just to please her. You didn't even let her know any of this. You just silently took on all the blame."

"Ian, do you really think this is worth it?"

There was no blame in Vortigern's words, more like an elder sage advising a young junior.

Ian knew this was trying to shake his resolve, and he immediately replied:

"It's worth it!"

"It's no problem for a knight to bear infamy for the person he swears allegiance to!"

"But if the person you swear to chooses to sacrifice you for their own selfish desires."

Vortigern stared straight at Ian, "Do you still think this is no problem?"

"Selfish desires?"

"Yes." Vortigern sighed deeply, "A princess coming to the front line in person and winning consecutive victories without ever commanding."

"Anyone who looks at the overall situation can tell that there's a big problem—it's all just to show off her clumsy skills to her father."

"I should have been grateful that this foolish behavior would lead the British army to eternal damnation, but I didn't expect that my brother's mind hadn't been dulled by the years, and he saw through it all."

"It's a pity."

[Vortigern's calm explanation made you fully understand why Morgan appeared on the front lines.]

[You were glad that King Uther was wise and wasn't fooled by his daughter's tricks.]

[But your loyalty still belonged to Morgan.]

"No, Your Majesty moved the princess away for other reasons!" Ian retorted, "It's definitely not as you said!"

"But what reason could make my brother move a general who had achieved such victories away from the front lines?" Vortigern pointed out the problem mercilessly.

"Is he worried about his daughter's safety?"

"But if that were the case, he wouldn't have let her come to the battlefield in the first place."

"..."

Ian was silent.

In fact, he had felt everything Vortigern said just now.

But—

That was Morgan.

The person he swore allegiance to.

No matter what she did, he should accept it!

[You drew the sword Morgan gave you and stabbed at Vortigern.]

[As a former knight of Britain, now a claw of the White Dragon, your attack was fierce and swift.]

[Talent Combat Continuation++ has been replaced by Heart of Desperation++: You began the assassination of Vortigern. You had a premonition that you would die here, but before that, your attention would be completely focused on assassinating Vortigern.]

[But just like when you first met Vortigern, as the Low King, he had an unimaginable intuition, and your attack was difficult to be effective against him.]

[You fought your way out of the tent curtain and came to the middle of the army camp, attracting a large number of soldiers.]

[Talent Proxy++ activated.]

[The dark clouds covered the bright moon in the sky, and everyone except Vortigern mistook you for Morgan because of the sword in your hand. No one questioned it.]

[Vortigern's strength was far above yours. While dodging your attacks, he also kept counterattacking, and the wounds on your body were constantly increasing.]

[Talent Fight to the Death activated.]

[The pain of the wounds made you sober. You realized how dangerous the Low King Vortigern was. He might become a stumbling block for Morgan's future.]

[So even if you really died here today, you were determined to do something more for her.]

[Your body began to exert abilities far beyond normal, which shocked the soldiers who wanted to come over to help.]

[Vortigern had only seen your strong will to survive, but had never seen your determination to die.]

[Taking this opportunity, you finally left a wound on his face.]

[But that was all. Vortigern quickly reacted, and you were quickly knocked to the ground.]

"Stop."

Vortigern stopped all the soldiers who wanted to approach.

"You all step back."

No one dared to disobey the White Dragon King.

In the dim night, Vortigern bent down, looked at Ian lying in the pool of blood, and sighed.

"Young man, no, I should call you Ian."

"Do you know? If you had only once entered the tent curtain without your sword, you would have realized that it was a trap I set for you—I never rest there."

"But I didn't wait for you to do that, and you didn't discover it was my trap."

"Do you know? I think that if we had the chance, we should have become better rulers and ministers."

Pfft—

Ian spat a mouthful of blood on Vortigern's face.

"That's absolutely impossible! I will only swear allegiance to Princess Morgan!"

"Kill me, Vortigern!"

"..."

Vortigern wasn't angry because of Ian's unreasonable behavior.

On the contrary, he became even more regretful.

Vortigern wiped the blood from the wound on his face.

"Ian, your loyalty makes me sigh, but your stubbornness also makes me feel foolish."

"I won't kill you."

"Because your actions will bring you consequences more painful than death."

"Withdraw the army from here!" Vortigern waved his hand, "We are going to open up a new battlefield and overthrow Britain!"

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

[Vortigern didn't give you the final fatal blow.]

[He left here with his troops.]

[You quietly thought about his words in the pool of blood, but couldn't agree with them at all.]

[For you, Morgan was the entirety of your soul.]

[Your consciousness gradually blurred, and Morgan's figure appeared in front of you again.]

[You closed your eyes, ready to leave this world with the afterimage in front of you.]

[And at this moment, you heard a familiar sound.]

[It was the horn of Britain—they had come here.]