Chapter 36: Chapter-36

“I was sent to deliver a message.” He walked closer, movements liquid and predatory. The fox knight behind Elara tensed immediately, hand moving toward his sword.

Robin smiled. “Easy, brother. I’m here under diplomatic flag. Princess Eleana wishes the Fourth Princess to know that her comments last night have been… discussed. And that consequences are being considered.”

“Consequences.” Elara didn’t move. “How specific.”

“Very specific, actually.” Robin’s golden eyes gleamed. “For example, the textile merchants who cancelled on you this morning? That was just the beginning. Every merchant contact your staff has approached has now received visits from palace representatives. Warnings about the risks of partnering with a princess in such… precarious standing.”

So that’s how Eleana was moving. Economic isolation. Cut off all the merchant relationships before they could form.

“Interesting strategy,” Elara said.

“It gets better.” Robin leaned against the corridor wall with casual arrogance. “Your sister also wanted me to remind you that the Crown Princess trials begin in two weeks. And one of the challenges will be combat demonstration. Knight-bonded princess versus knight-bonded princess. Public arena. Witnessed by every noble house in the empire.”

He smiled wider. “I wonder how you’ll compete when you’ve publicly declared that bonding knights is slavery and you’re too morally superior to participate? Will you forfeit? Or will you suddenly discover your principles are flexible when losing means death?”

The fox knight’s growl was audible now.

But Elara just looked at Robin with that same empty expression. “Tell my sister thank you for the advance notice. It’s helpful to know exactly which traps she’s setting.”

“Oh, that’s not a trap, Your Highness. That’s just reality. You made a choice last night. Now you get to live with it.” He straightened. “Assuming you live at all. Terrible things happen to princesses without proper protection. Especially ones who make enemies of everyone who could defend them.”

It wasn’t quite a threat. But it was close enough.

“Noted,” Elara said. “Anything else?”

“Just one thing.” Robin’s smile vanished completely. “I’ve served the First Princess for six years. I chose that bond. Wanted it. And I’m very, very good at what I do—in the bedroom and on the battlefield. You insulted that last night. Called it slavery. Called me property.”

He took one step closer, and the fox knight’s sword was halfway out of its sheath before Elara’s hand signal stopped him.

“I’m going to enjoy watching you fail, Fourth Princess,” Robin said softly. “I’m going to enjoy watching you realize that all your clever words and moral superiority mean nothing when you’re bleeding in an arena with no bonded knight to protect you. And when that happens? I’ll make sure it’s public. Humiliating. And absolutely permanent.”

Then he bowed—mocking, precise—and walked away.

The corridor stayed silent for several heartbeats.

Finally, the young maid spoke. “Your Highness… is he right? About the combat trials?”

Elara’s gaze shifted to the young maid still pressed against the wall, eyes wide with fear at having witnessed the confrontation.

Elara stared at her—not hostile, but cold and assessing, like someone cataloging a potential security risk.

The maid trembled. “F-forgive me, Your Highness. I should go now. I didn’t see anything, I swear, I—”

Elara nodded once.

The girl grabbed her cleaning bucket and fled down the corridor so fast she nearly tripped over her own feet.

The fox knight watched the exchange but said nothing. His ears remained flat, tail still twitching with suppressed tension from Robin’s veiled threats.

They walked in silence toward the eastern gates for several minutes. Then Elara spoke, voice thoughtful.

“That knight is unusual.”

The fox knight’s step faltered slightly. “Your Highness?”

“Sir Robin. He shows hostility. Malice. Personality. Emotional range.” Elara glanced back toward where Robin had disappeared. “Beast knights are conditioned to be obedient, neutral, functional. You all are. Even the ones who serve cruel masters maintain blank expressions and perfect protocol. But him?” She frowned. “He smiled like he enjoyed threatening me. Spoke with personal investment, not duty. That’s abnormal.”

The fox knight was quiet for a long moment, ears drooping slightly. When he finally spoke, his voice carried something almost like reluctance.

“Your Highness is correct. Sir Robin is… unprecedented among beast knights. He’s the first I’ve ever encountered who displays emotion so freely. Cheerfulness, cruelty, genuine pleasure or anger—things the rest of us are conditioned to suppress completely.”

“How is that possible? Doesn’t the conditioning process eliminate that capacity?”

“It should, Your Highness. The final stage of conditioning is… comprehensive. It removes personality, individual desire, emotional expression. Turns us into perfect servants.” He paused. “But there are rumors about Sir Robin. Old stories from the training facilities.”

“Tell me.”

The fox knight’s tail flicked once, uneasy. “It’s said that when Sir Robin was undergoing final conditioning—the stage where they break what’s left of your mind and rebuild it into pure obedience—something went wrong. The trainers had him prepared for the procedure. But at the last moment, another knight trainee interfered. Took his place. Died in the conditioning chamber instead.”

Elara stopped walking. “Someone died so Robin could escape the final stage?”

“So the story goes, Your Highness. By the time the trainers realized the substitution had happened, Robin had already been assigned to preliminary household duties. And because he’d completed all the other conditioning stages successfully, he appeared functional enough that no one questioned it. They assumed he was simply a high-performing knight with strong natural loyalty.”

“But he wasn’t fully conditioned.”

“No, Your Highness. Which means he retained personality. Emotions. The capacity for genuine preference and personal agenda.” The fox knight’s voice dropped lower. “Most of us can’t hate or love or want anything beyond serving our assigned masters. Sir Robin can. He chooses to serve Princess Eleana. That makes him far more dangerous than any of us.”

Elara absorbed this, mind already calculating implications. A beast knight with personality and emotion but also combat training, physical advantages, and the social camouflage of appearing to be a standard obedient servant. He could operate with genuine strategic thinking while everyone assumed he was just following orders.

“Who was the knight that took his place?” she asked.

“No one knows, Your Highness. The records were destroyed. Some say it was his brother. Others say it was a stranger who just… decided one person deserving freedom was better than none.” The fox knight’s ears flattened completely. “Whoever it was, they died screaming. The final conditioning stage isn’t meant to be survived by anyone with an intact mind.”

They reached the palace gates, and the noise of the city beyond washed over them.

“That’s why he can threaten you so effectively,” the fox knight continued quietly. “The rest of us can’t really understand the concept of wanting someone to suffer. We know the definitions, can perform violence when ordered, but there’s no personal investment. Sir Robin actually wants to hurt you. Enjoys the thought of it. That makes him very, very dangerous, Your Highness.”

Elara stepped through the gates into the crowded street beyond, adjusting her cloak. “Noted. If he approaches again, consider him hostile and respond accordingly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

She wasn’t particularly worried about Robin or the tournament he’d mentioned. Those were future problems. Right now, she needed merchant contracts and money. Everything else could be addressed when it became immediately relevant.

“The Merchant Quarter,” she said. “We have a meeting at noon. Move quickly.”

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