The Marquis They Threw Away

Chapter Four: Sweet and Sharp

"Young Master, what should we do with Thorne's body?" Wren looked down at the dead man.

Gideon gave a sly smile, touched the ring on his finger, and with a wave of his hand, pulled the body into it.

It was called a Void Ring, a storage item. Ordinary people used plain storage bags, but a Void Ring was rarer, easier to carry, and held far more inside it.

Across all of Morrow, no more than three people owned a Void Ring. It made sense that Gideon, as the Champion Marquis, second only to the King himself, would own one this fine.

In truth, the Eternal Temple inside him would have made the perfect place to store his treasures, but Gideon barely understood what it was capable of. The old man snoring away inside it cared about nothing but his own sleep and ignored him completely.

"Tomorrow I'll send the King a gift he won't forget."

Coldness filled Gideon's eyes. He felt nothing for the Ashcroft royal family anymore, only a hatred without end.

The King's power was cold and without mercy, and Gideon's heart had already hardened past disappointment.

The debt from Broken Sky Mountain would be paid.

He had thought it was only a battlefield wound. A soldier, a commander, should take pride in dying on the field, let alone in being wounded there. That much he could accept without complaint.

But behind it all lay the scheming of the crown. While he fought for his kingdom on the front line, his king had put a knife in his back.

Well. If a marquis could rise to rule this kingdom, he could just as easily bring it down.

The next morning, dressed in a violet robe, Gideon stepped out of his room. The morning light fell over him, warm and gentle.

He stretched his arms and breathed in the crisp air left behind by the heavy snow. He felt reborn, as if waking from a long dream, and a fire of purpose and pride rekindled inside him.

Bang!

The gate of the house was kicked open, and a woman in official robes strode in, her expression full of arrogance. She held a red invitation card and tossed it carelessly, letting it land right at Gideon's feet.

"Gideon Hale, today Her Highness is celebrating her engagement to Kellan Vane, the prodigy of the Starlight Order. All of Morrow is celebrating with her. This invitation comes from Her Highness herself, inviting you to Skyfall Palace to attend the ceremony."

The woman's words dripped with contempt.

"Gideon Hale, given your current standing, you're not fit to set foot in Skyfall Palace, let alone attend the engagement of a princess and a prodigy of the Starlight Order. Her Highness only offers you this out of respect for what the two of you once were."

Gideon chuckled, thinking of what they had once been.

Eleanor had sent an invitation. What was her purpose? He could hardly fail to guess it.

She couldn't stomach the humiliation of being cast off by him, so she'd invited him here to return the favor in front of the entire kingdom.

After all, she had climbed all the way to the Starlight Order now.

After all, in the eyes of the world, a broken, useless former Champion like him was nothing next to a prodigy of the Starlight Order — a firefly standing beside the sun.

My perfect husband, Eleanor would say, deserves a prodigy like Marshal Vane. You, Gideon Hale, only deserve to stand at the bottom and look up.

"Laugh all you like. We'll see if you're still laughing once you reach Skyfall Palace."

The official, smug and satisfied, turned to leave.

"Stop."

A soft voice cut through the air, and a flash of red crossed the yard. Before the woman could react, a girl in red stood directly in her path.

Wren, dressed in red, looked colder and more striking than usual, her beauty impossible to ignore.

Today she wore the colors of the Scarlet Wraith once more, ready to stand beside her young master and teach this kingdom a lesson it wouldn't forget.

"You. Pick up the invitation and hand it to the young master properly."

Wren's voice was ice-cold, and it left no room for refusal.

"How dare you! Do you have any idea who—"

Crack!

Before she could finish, Wren slapped her across the face.

"Pick it up."

"You... you dare strike me—"

Crack!

The official, a woman who had served the princess for years and knew how to handle herself in a fight, was pitifully outmatched against a ninth-rank fighter like Wren.

Two slaps in a row left her seeing stars, staggering, barely able to stay on her feet.

"Gideon Hale, how dare you let this happen to me? I'm here on Her Highness's behalf!"

The official turned toward Gideon, appealing to him directly.

Gideon looked entirely unmoved.

"You'd better do as she says. I can't promise you'll walk out of here in one piece otherwise."

"Fine. Very fine, Gideon Hale. We'll see how long you can keep this up."

The official swallowed her fury, but she was a guest on someone else's ground, and she had no choice but to bow her head. The girl in red was simply too strong, and she was no match for her at all.

Judging by her expression, it didn't look like Wren would let this go until the invitation was picked up off the ground.

The official walked slowly toward Gideon, bowed, picked up the invitation, and held it out to him.

"Show respect. In this house, the young master will always be the Champion Marquis."

Wren's voice carried the weight of a ninth-rank fighter, not a girl of fifteen — and the servants watching from the gate knew better than to step in.

"Don't push this too far."

The official couldn't hold back any longer. This was too much. If Gideon were still the Champion Marquis in title, she would gladly kneel and pay her respects. But now he was nothing but a broken cripple. Why should she owe him any respect at all?

"So what if it's too far? Kneel first. Then present the invitation."

Wren strutted toward her, chin high.

"Impossible—"

Crack! Crack!

Before she could finish, two more slaps landed, sharp and loud.

The once elegant official's face was now a swollen, blotchy mess.

"Say one more word and I'll tear your mouth open myself."

Wren showed not a shred of mercy.

The official broke down sobbing. She had never been humiliated like this in her life. But under Wren's glare, she didn't dare say another word. She could tell this girl wasn't bluffing — she really might do it.

The official dropped to her knees with a thud, holding the invitation up with both hands.

"Please accept this invitation, my lord."

Regret flooded through her. She hadn't even needed to be the one to deliver it — any steward in the palace could have done it. She was the one who'd wanted to show off in front of the princess, to rub a little salt in Gideon's wounds and earn some favor. She had volunteered for this herself.

Looking back now, she couldn't believe how foolish she'd been to beg for this humiliation.

Gideon accepted the invitation calmly.

"Tell Her Highness — and while you're at it, tell His Majesty too — that I will certainly be there."

He put a deliberate weight on the word certainly.

Even after being invited like this, he intended to attend the engagement ceremony today.

It seemed Eleanor was eager to humiliate herself at her own celebration.

So be it. Gideon found that he was actually looking forward to it.

"Get out."

Wren snapped the words, and the official scrambled out of the yard as if she'd just been granted a pardon.

Ha ha ha ha.

Laughter followed her out through the gate, and by the time she was outside, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, nearly sick with rage.

"Wren, why do you have to turn into such a little tyrant? Don't do that again. I like your gentle side better."

Gideon reached out and flicked her lightly on the nose.

"I have to be fierce sometimes. Otherwise how could I live up to being the Scarlet Wraith?"

Wren stuck out her tongue, completely different from the girl who had just beaten an official bloody.

"I can be sweet and sharp, fierce and gentle, all at once."

"Trouble," Gideon said, but he was in high spirits.

After everything he'd survived, he felt reborn, and something in him had shifted for good.

He straightened his robe and strode forward.

"Let's go. To Skyfall Palace."