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Three days ago
"What happened? Explain yourself, Simon."
In the dim cellar of an abandoned fishing village, Sir Arya, tightly bound like a rice dumpling, demanded an explanation as he saw his brother Simon approach.
They had been attacked the previous night. Dozens of enemies had come under the cover of darkness, surrounding them before they had a chance to react.
After a brief, futile resistance, Arya chose to surrender, and he was then tied up and thrown into this cellar, where he had been locked up ever since.
"Speak! Simon! Answer me!" Sir Arya roared, his frustration evident. He couldn't understand why Simon hadn't warned him about Wilder's move the night before. It wasn't until Simon and Sir Wilder entered together that Arya realized the truth: he had been betrayed.
"Why? Why did you betray me?" Arya shouted at his brother, his voice filled with rage.
The sudden movement pulled at the wound on Arya' face, and blood seeped from the still-healing scab. But Arya ignored the pain, his eyes burning with fury as he glared at Simon.
"I had no choice, brother," Sir Simon muttered, his head lowered, unable to meet Arya' gaze. His voice trembled with fear. "They caught me."
"Wilder caught you?" Arya stared at Simon in disbelief before turning his gaze to Sir Wilder, standing next to him. "Damn it! Didn't you say that this old man had absolute trust in you? Where did you slip up?"
"I don't know," Simon shook his head, his tone filled with confusion and terror. "I don't know! They found out the truth. The afternoon before yesterday, I walked into the Ward family's castle, and they caught me. They beat me, Yaris... they threatened me. They said they'd cut me into 3,600 pieces alive if I didn't cooperate."
"Did you also discover the truth?" Arya interrupted, no longer paying attention to Simon's words. He turned to Sir Wilder and asked, "It doesn't matter if Morgan, the Black Falcon, uncovered the truth. But why do you know it?"
"It wasn't me," Wilder replied, shaking his head, his voice carrying a hint of weariness. "When I heard the truth, I was more shocked than you are now. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. Even though he explained it to me in detail, I couldn't accept it. It wasn't until Simon confessed everything that I realized he was right."
"So who is this person? Did Morgan, the Black Falcon, crawl out of the Seven Hells?" Arya scoffed, his frustration turning to disbelief. The story seemed more absurd than the fairy tales told by old nannies.
"It's me."
A voice came from behind Sir Simon.
Arya, wincing at the pain in his swollen eyes, forced them open and saw a figure standing in the shadows behind Wilder, someone he hadn't noticed at first.
"Who are you?" Arya asked, thinking the figure was just another attendant of Sir Wilder.
"It doesn't matter who I am," the boy said with a smile as he stepped forward. He squatted down in front of Sir Arya. "Shall we talk?"
"What is there to talk about?"
"Of course, we're going to discuss some things your brother doesn't know," the boy said, glancing at Simon, who recoiled into the corner in fear. "There are questions I still need to answer."
"What doesn't Simon know?" Arya hesitated, his gaze shifting for a moment. "Simon is my brother. I don't think there's anything I know that he doesn't."
"It seems there are too many people here," the boy said, turning to Sir Wilder. "Can you give us some privacy?"
Wilder's brows furrowed deeply at this request. It was audacious. He should have been the one interrogating Arya. Giving up his right to question him in favor of Sir Lucien was already a significant concession, but now this boy wanted him to leave? It was an insult.
"The next caravan will be our chance, Sir. They could arrive at any time. You'll need to design the trap yourself so we can catch all the ghosts from White Wall City. Fighting is your domain—leave the other details to me, alright?" Ian said earnestly.
It was hard to find a reason to refuse such a proposal. "Alright, but if you need anything, make sure to tell me immediately." Sir Wilder glanced at Arya' empty right forearm before nodding and then grabbing Simon, leaving the cellar.
"Even if you get rid of him, I won't tell you anything." Arya leaned his head against the moss-covered wall, a look of defiance on his face. "The robbery on the King's Road was just a whim between Darren and me to make a little money. It has nothing to do with our family."
"It has nothing to do with the family? But you're using the family's fief to hide your bandit group? Taman Village, the most active village collaborating with Sir Wilder's bandits from the start—who would have guessed that it's actually the base of White Wall City's ghosts?" Ian's voice was sharp.
"Simon and I are both illegitimate children. Darry City will go to our legitimate brother when our father dies. My father felt guilty for us, so he gave me a village," Arya explained, pausing for a moment as though considering his words. "But I wasn't satisfied with the meager benefits a village could bring, so I did this. Simple as that."
"Perfunctory," Ian started to speak, but Arya cut him off.
"It's always you asking the questions. That doesn't count as 'talking.' Now it's your turn to answer me." Arya spoke suddenly, as if a new thought had crossed his mind.
"You're my prisoner now, Ser."
"But you can't make me speak. If I don't want to, you can try, but it won't work."
"You want to know how much we've figured out so you can spin a perfect story that doesn't involve the family before the trial, right?" Ian smiled, reading Arya' thoughts. He saw the flicker of understanding in Arya' eyes, then his expression darkened. "A fair deal, just ask."
"Don't look at me like that. I have no hostility toward the Darry family. If you can clear the family's name, that's your business. How about it? Want to play this question-and-answer game with me?"
"How did you find out the matter was related to us? Did Black Falcon tell you?" Arya wasted no time and asked his first question.
"Those are two questions, my friend. I'll answer the second one… When I first saw Black Falcon, he was already dead, and I don't think he ever told anyone about you. It was a secret even he didn't share with his adopted son."
"Impossible! 'Mountain Weasel' swore before he died that he would only reveal the secret to Black Falcon! If Black Falcon didn't tell you, how could you know the truth?" Arya' voice trembled with disbelief.
"It's my turn to ask questions now, Ser. These are the rules of the game you set." Ian extended a finger, shaking it playfully.
Arya groaned but then nodded, conceding.