The Knight’s Stage

The nobles in the crowd were stunned. However, their hushed whispers were almost immediately cut off by a “But!”

Richard scanned through the assembly with an icy gaze, "In the name of the Goddess of Spring Water, the Goddess of the Hunt, and the Goddess of the Forest, I declare this knight a heretic. He is to be executed on the spot, and the church will be seizing his territory. His family will be stripped off all noble titles, sent to indentured servitude until they meet their end. This sentence will be carried out immediately."

The young knight immediately started trembling. Nobody had imagined that Richard would use the name of the goddesses to strike back so fiercely, giving no leeway at all. "It wasn't me, IT WASN'T ME!...