This was precisely why countless serfs endured suffocating oppression and exploitation. They meekly accepted their fate and desperately had children, all for the hope that a descendant might one day rise to become a Knight Lord, or even establish a Knight Clan of their own.

"...So this is the reason for your betrayal?"

Mivana fell silent for a long moment before she spoke.

"Huh? What are you talking about, we..."

"Still going to lie?!"

The Wolf-eared Maiden stepped forward, a low, beast-like growl rumbling in her throat.

"Such a clumsy lie. How could a group like you possibly defeat Beastmen, who are physically superior to humans in every way? Your weapons were also forged by the Beastmen. There’s only one way you could have killed them: by ambushing them from behind when they were at their most exhausted... perhaps right after they finished their labor, or after driving off wild animals."

"They trusted you, helped you, and even protected you. And you, just to secure a spot as a Knight, traded their lives for riches and status."

"K-Knight Lord!"

The villagers’ faces turned deathly pale. They dropped to their knees on the spot and began to kowtow desperately. The village elder slammed his forehead against the ground until it was a bloody pulp, saying:

"We... we couldn’t hide it from you. It’s true, we killed those Beastmen in a sneak attack..."

"We... we had no choice! This land is too barren. It’s a struggle just to pay the taxes each year. I beg you, have mercy! If just one of us can become a Knight, our village will be exempt from taxes. People won’t have to starve to death every year anymore! My crimes deserve ten thousand deaths, I beg you to spare the others!"

Mivana didn’t listen to the villagers’ pleas and cries. Instead, she lifted Aschena’s head from the wooden box and gently wiped the stains from her cheek with her fingers.

’If this head had been displayed on a gallows or a pillory, I wouldn’t have been so moved or saddened. That would have been an expected consequence. Once you choose to make an enemy of unjust Knights, you must be prepared to face defeat and execution.’

’That would not be a cause for sorrow, but the glory of a death well-earned.’

But to be backstabbed by the very people you trusted, the very people you protected... How absurd. It made Mivana feel... furious.

A fury she had never felt before.

Mivana tilted her head back, and the hood covering her wolf ears slipped off. Her handsome, imposing face held a trace of melancholy, but she bit down hard on her lip.

"A B... Beastman?"

"Damn it, she’s not a Knight Lord?!"

"We were tricked! They’re all in it together!"

Seeing Mivana’s true features, the surrounding villagers cried out in alarm and quickly backed away.

But after retreating a short distance, they noticed Mivana hadn’t made a move. The Wolf-eared Maiden seemed to be lost in deep thought, kneeling on the ground like a statue.

Seeing that Mivana was apparently unresponsive, the village elder’s grandson—that sturdy young man—crept up behind her, grabbed a nearby pitchfork, and thrust it with all his might toward the defenseless Wolf-eared Maiden.

However, the moment the pitchfork touched the back of Mivana’s head, it shattered with a loud CRACK, as if it were a block of tofu striking a sharp blade.

"!!!"

Completely unharmed, Mivana slowly turned her head, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smirk.

"You grovel before the Lord who actually harms and tramples upon you, offering your necks to be slaughtered. And yet you dare to strike at your righteous protectors?"

"You... you greedy, foolish, short-sighted, shallow people... you’re no better than base animals..."

The Lady Knight’s smile vanished. She swayed as she rose to her feet. The moment she looked up, a scarlet light consumed her beautiful golden eyes, and a deep, utterly ice-cold voice emerged from her lips: 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I will never forgive."