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TWL Chapter 352: A Sword Drawn, A Trust Broken
🕑 Added 2025-04-06 18:25:41 +0000 UTC“By order of Duke Lannister, I’ve come to summon you, Milva. Mr. Geralt and the others are already in the duke’s chambers. You’re the last one missing." As Rayla spoke, she noticed Milva’s expression becoming increasingly strange. The dim torchlight obscured her features, but Rayla, seasoned in battle, could sense the killing intent.
"Black Rayla, the captain of the special combat force of Aedirn, whose main combat opponents are the Scoia'tael." In Rayla's stern eyes, Milva slowly spoke of her resume, and what followed made Rayla's face change drastically.
“When we captured the Scoia'tael, the duke already suspected you’d try to act on your own. He warned me—if you give false orders at night to remove us, we were to arrest you without hesitation.”
The Cintran guards spread out, but their weapons no longer pointed at the Scoia'tael—they were aimed at the Aedirnian captain.
No matter how brave and skilled Rayla was, she couldn't face a whole team of guards at the same time. At this moment, she was frustrated, but she didn't feel any resentment. She just sighed: “Even this was within Duke Lannister’s expectations?”
“Duke Lannister is all-knowing,” Milva put the longbow on her back and drew her longsword. “Falsely delivering his orders is an insult to his name! If not for the duke’s affection and his explicit command to spare your life… my arrow would’ve pierced your throat long ago!”
Rayla was frustrated, but she couldn't help but chuckle when she heard it: “You? I’ll admit the duke is valiant, and his judgment not bad. But you can’t take me on, little girl.”
Rayla, as a woman, knew how difficult it was for a woman to gain an advantage in a fight. She had a place in the barracks because of her tall stature and natural strength, comparable to that of a man. In comparison, Milva's body was too petite, and her lack of strength was apparent at a glance.
If she had used a bow and arrow, Rayla might have been a little more cautious, but Milva actually drew her sword at this moment, which amused Rayla.
"Just try and you'll find out." said Milva, assuming a textbook sword stance. She turned to her comrades. "No one interferes. Just keep her from escaping."
Rayla shook her head: “I won’t run… But it looks like I’ll have one more thing to apologize to the duke for.”
Rayla's mentality was still relaxed at the moment. She was the captain of Aedirn. This identity meant that Lann would not rashly execute her if she did not kill the Cintra people.
The problem was, she already bore the guilt of attempting to bypass Cintra’s guards and exact vigilante justice on the Scoia'tael. If she then seriously injured Milva, it would be equivalent to publicly slapping the duke’s face. The duke might not execute her, but cutting off the hand that harmed his servant would be entirely within legal bounds — even His Majesty Demavend couldn’t say anything against it.
She couldn’t afford to injure Milva too badly — she wouldn’t be able to explain herself afterward. With that in mind, Rayla swept back her cloak, revealing the great sword she had hidden underneath. In her original plan, that blade was meant to drink the blood of the Scoia'tael tonight.
…
A quarter of an hour later.
"I'll give you a chance to tell me what you were really thinking."
In Lann’s stone house, Rayla knelt in front of Lann with her hands tied. There were bruises on her face, her armor had been completely stripped off, and there were a few sword marks on her clothes. It was obvious that her opponent had been at ease and had deliberately restrained their strength.
Her great sword was held in Milva's arms, and there was no trace of blood on it, making it clear that no one had been hurt.
Rayla opened her mouth to explain, but the pain in her chest and abdomen nearly made it impossible for her to breathe. It took her a long time before she could speak hesitantly.
"I underestimated your guard, Lord Lannister. She was so powerful that I was suppressed in the first exchange. After that, I couldn’t find a chance to counterattack and was overwhelmed at every turn. I was disarmed in five moves..."
Milva raised her chin proudly, and her honey-colored hair seemed to glow warmly under the light.
"Well done, Milva. You completed my task well." Lann chuckled and praised Milva. He never hesitated to reward and acknowledge his subordinates.
The maid also puffed out her chest this time, and her lively expression lifted the mood of everyone in the room.
But then Lann turned his head back to Rayla, his tone suddenly cold, making the atmosphere in the room turn solemn.
"But that's not what I’m asking, Captain Rayla. There's no need to avoid it. My question is: why did you betray my trust and try to lynch my captives?"
Lann slammed the table hard, shattering a corner of the stone surface and making Rayla's eyes twitch.
"Do you know that this is dwarven territory, and these Scoia'tael are from the Ferenc clan? Vavrinek didn't even dare to judge these Scoia'tael within his own clan and had to transfer them to Mount Carbon. He didn’t trust his own civilians to watch over them, fearing that some guards might grow soft-hearted and give them an opportunity to escape. So he specifically asked the soldiers of Cintra to guard them until more experienced dwarf warriors returned."
"In this situation, you attempted to lynch these Scoia'tael. I don’t even have to think to know that your goal was to kill them."
"I have to ask you a very serious question, Captain Rayla—where does this place us in Cintra by your actions?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, every Cintran in the room turned their burning gaze toward Rayla.
"No, Lord Lannister!" Lann's last words scared Rayla, "I didn't think of putting Cintra in an unjust situation."
Rayla took a deep breath and tried her best to defend herself: "It's no secret that the Scoia'tael are supported by the Nilfgaardians. Especially these Scoia'tael are wanted criminals in Aedirn, and as a captain of the special forces, I can't turn a blind eye. Killing them means weakening the power of Nilfgaard."
"And... after the events of the day, I believe you can also see that those young people of the Ferenc clan have great malice towards human society. For the Scoia'tael, they are the best source of soldiers." Rayla couldn't help but take a breath because of the wounds on her body from Milva, but she still forced herself to continue, "If left alone, they can easily be turned by the Scoia'tael and become enemies of humans, so I plan to eliminate the hidden dangers first..."
Rayla's words are not completely unreasonable, which can be seen from the fact that Kolgrim and his party stayed outside for so long and insisted on each other with the Scoia'tael. The young people of the Ferenc clan wavered between going home and joining the Scoia'tael, which was the main reason why Kolgrim and his party could not return. If it weren't for Lann's appearance that gave them a blow, these dwarf youths might have hesitated for even longer.
Lann sighed: "There is nothing wrong with your reason. Even I can't find fault with your starting point. But Captain Rayla, have you ever thought about how much trouble your behavior will bring to Cintra and even Aedirn behind you?"
Rayla lowered her head: "I will use my blood to calm the possible anger of the dwarves, and I will bear all the consequences."
Lann was so angry that he laughed.
He strode forward and pinched Rayla's chin, lifted the female captain's head without questioning, and said to her condescendingly: "You will bear it all? Even if you, a captain of Aedirn, use ten lives, you can't extinguish the anger of the dwarves! And then Cintra and Aedirn will pay the price for your recklessness!"
In this era, there is a primitive legal tradition of 'let the instigator pay with his life and let the hatred come to an end'. But many times, the blood dripping is not the end of the contradiction, but the beginning of a new hatred. All the suppressed anger will erupt at the right time in the future.
"I don't believe that you, as Demavend's confidant and with your political sense cultivated in the court of Vengerberg for so many years, would not know the consequences of doing this. You are not only hurting Cintra, but also Demavend, to whom you are loyal!" Lann's strength almost suffocated Rayla, "But you are blinded by your hatred, so you ignore the war that may be ignited by you in the distance."
"You’ve disgraced the emblem you wear on your collar. Be thankful you’re not from Cintra, Captain Rayla. If you were, you’d already be standing trial for what you’ve done."
"But you will lose your freedom in Mahakam next, and my servants will keep you under guard until I hand you back to Demavend."
Lann was too lazy to add the honorific suffix 'Your Majesty' after 'Demavend'. And Rayla didn't have the heart to defend the name of her king. She knew that she would end up like this after being caught, and even this was considered good. But when Lann pointed out her thoughts, all the speculations about the possible consequences of her actions that she had forcibly suppressed came to the fore, making her lose her soul. So much so that she did not resist at all when Milva took her away for custody.
