"How long does he want us to wait!" Riton said irritably.


    He had finished the dried meat on the table, most of the food, and half a pot of ale. He felt that at least an hour had passed, but Arthur still refused to appear.


    Grice still chewed the dried meat quietly, looking calm, and his face seemed to have a taste of delicious.


    Leighton frowned with two charcoal eyebrows and looked at Grice beside him. He wanted to say something to pass the hard time.


    Before he could speak, Grice stepped out first and said, "don''t worry, it hasn''t been too long. It''s good for us to wait."


    "Good?" Leighton stared at him.


    "Leighton," Grice lowered his voice, "when you are angry, do you have any other reaction besides beating someone up?"


    "Other reactions..." Leighton thought and understood Grice''s meaning. "You mean he''s venting his discontent now?"


    "You can speak louder!" Grice glanced at him discontentedly and continued in a low voice, "If he came out to see us from the very beginning, we should feel uneasy - he can''t wait to see his traitor for forgiveness. Since he chose to wait for us, it means that he doesn''t intend to kill us all. Wait, from the moment we stepped into the castle, the fate of the family is no longer determined by us. What we can do now is Accept all his punishment. "


    "I came with hope!" Leighton lowered his voice. He didn''t want to accept the punishment of "everything". At least let the family be safe!


    Grice stopped talking and continued to chew the dried meat.


    "Damn it!" seeing that the other party was silent, Leighton cursed and reached out to grab the dried meat in front of the other party.


    "Hey, you guy, you can ask the servants for it."


    "Shut up!" Leighton leaned back in his chair, frowned, and tore up the dried meat with patience.


    Arthur didn''t let them wait too long - to hang them out, it was to show his attitude, not to humiliate them.


    By the time Arthur entered the council chamber accompanied by Thorne and the four guards, Grice and Leighton had already got up and stood at the table. When they heard the shaking of the knight''s armor, they immediately stood up from their chairs.


    Seeing Arthur walking up the steps and sitting safely in his chair, they thought.


    "Lord count," they said, bowing their heads to Arthur''s eyes.


    "Are you satisfied with the food?" Arthur asked.


    They lowered their heads and listened to the questions without waves. They couldn''t help tightening their hearts.


    After a while, Grice, who really didn''t know how to answer, had to harden his head and say, "thank you, sir. The food is very good."


    "Yes, it''s very delicious," Riton said quickly.


    Looking at the two men with their heads down, Arthur asked again, "come to me. What can I do for you?"


    The two men with their heads down looked at each other as if they had made up their mind, then walked away from their position together, looked Arthur, and knelt on one knee at the same time.


    "Sir, we have come to apologize to you and ask for your forgiveness." they said at the same time with their heads down.


    Looking at the two men kneeling on the ground, Arthur said, "I have only guilt here, no forgiveness."


    Arthur''s cold voice seemed to freeze the air in the Council hall. In the silence, Grice and Leighton''s foreheads were covered with fine beads of sweat.


    If they could, they wished Arthur could yell at them instead of such cold words.


    This made them feel extremely uneasy, and even doubted the previous speculation. Perhaps Arthur didn''t intend to open up to them at all.


    Leighton, anxious, lowered his head and glanced at Grice from the corner of his eyes. He wished this guy could say something beautiful that could save the situation!


    "Please punish me."


    Hearing Grice''s low voice ringing in his ear, he was stunned for a while. Leighton almost wanted to vomit blood. This bastard, even if he said a few words of mercy.


    The Council Hall fell into extreme silence again. He hung his head and stared at the gray floor tiles. Leighton''s palm was covered with sweat. He could feel Arthur''s eyes falling on him, as if there was a great gravity.


    "Please punish your excellency." he had no choice.


    Staring at the two people in front of him, Arthur said with a slight sigh of relief: "you should know exactly what punishment the traitor will face."


    "Yes, sir," said Grice, raising his head, "but please forgive our family. I assure you that they will never hate you."


    Looking away from Grice, Arthur looked aside at Leighton and asked, "what about you?"


    Looking up, Leighton''s eyes were full of struggle and hesitation. He knew that this was the moment to determine the fate of Pompeii family.


    "Please forgive our family, they are innocent!" said Leighton excitedly. "My child is still under age, and my wife advised me not to betray you, Lord count. Everything is my own idea! If you want to kill me, kill me alone!"


    Kneeling on the ground, Leighton raised his head and turned his voice back in the Council hall. Arthur sat in his chair on the stone steps without expression, beside Thorne and four castle guards. When the sound falls, the quiet and pleasant scene is like a painting full of profound meaning.


    Until Arthur broke it all.


    "Your family''s title will be deprived, the fief will be recovered, and the population in the farm will be relocated to the periphery of Shanghe town. Do you have any opinion?"


    "What about our family?" Riton asked.


    They both stared at Arthur and prayed that he would not say anything heartless.


    Looking at them, Arthur said, "do you know where Baggins and Nick''s family are now?"


    The two shook their heads and flashed scenes of corpses, refugees, slaves, prostitutes and so on. That''s terrible.


    "Their families are now in Shanghe Town, hiding their surnames, children go to school, women work and live like ordinary civilians."


    "Aren''t you afraid that they will avenge you when they grow up?"


    Leighton blurted out, even though he realized he had said the wrong thing. Grice glared at the idiot.


    "I''ll ask Sir Thorne about them," said Arthur.


    Looking down at them, Thorne said coldly, "they should be grateful, not die."


    They frowned deeply and hid their surnames, at least they would not let their families suffer cold eyes and ridicule. It is probably the best result to live like a civilian in Shanghe town.


    "Thank you, my Lord."


    After a low reply to Arthur, they took off their swords and put them at their feet. They got up and looked calmly at the castle guards on both sides.


    Although they have regrets, they don''t regret coming to Lingfeng castle to apologize. This is their punishment. At the moment, they felt unprecedented peace in their hearts.


    Just as they were waiting to be escorted down, Arthur above said faintly, "why, don''t you want to wear a sword?"


    ……