Chapter 246: Walter

“Bring them over.”

At Graham’s command, several guards stepped out from the rear, dragging two soot-covered, bound men before him.

“Sir, please have mercy! We truly didn’t poison the water!”

One of the men, his face pale with panic, immediately flopped to his knees in front of Graham, pleading desperately.

“Idiot!”

Graham’s temper flared at the sight of the man begging for mercy.

Did he think he could just shirk his responsibility like that?

Graham kicked the kneeling man, knocking him over, while shouting in rage.

“Even if you didn’t cast the poison, your negligence in guarding it is your responsibility! So many people in the caravan have been poisoned. If any serious symptoms develop, you’ll be the ones to answer for it!”

Graham wasn’t just worried about the current chaos and weakness of the poisoned victims.

More importantly, he feared whether more severe symptoms would manifest later.

If it was just confusion and lethargy, it was manageable, but if there were lasting side effects or casualties, Graham would be in deep trouble.

Not only would he have to pay compensation, but the caravan’s reputation would be ruined.

Even if he sent these derelict guards to prison, the damage to the caravan would be irreversible.

That said, every debt has its debtor.

If they could find the actual culprit, the situation would be resolved, and the caravan’s liability would be lessened.

“You two useless fools! Were you properly guarding the water source yesterday? Did you see anyone suspicious!?”

“Sir! We were right beside that carriage all yesterday! We didn’t see anyone suspicious at all!”

The man cried out from the ground; they truly hadn’t noticed anyone unusual.

In the crowd, Vidar let out a silent, cold sneer.

Of course the guards hadn’t seen anyone suspicious—they had been under the influence of the Purple Mist Grass smoke at the time.

They had no idea someone had entered the carriage to contaminate the water, and they genuinely believed they had been standing watch the whole time.

“Heh, since you claim you didn’t see anyone suspicious, doesn’t that make you the prime suspects for the poisoning?”

The brown-haired noble, his face twisted in a look of boredom and impatience, walked toward the two men.

He looked down on them with disdain before glancing at Graham.

“Old man, hand these two over to me. I’ll make them talk.”

Graham’s eyes flickered.

Although he had been rough with the men, it was born out of anger over their negligence; he had no intention of torturing or interrogating them.

The noble’s words made a cold sweat break out on Graham’s brow; it sounded like he intended to use private punishment.

“What? Are you actually feeling pity for them? Or are you in on it with them—maybe you stole from your own supply and poisoned it yourself?”

The brown-haired noble’s gaze was sharp and mocking as he glared at Graham.

Graham was left speechless by the malice behind the accusation.

If he refused, he would be suspected by the crowd.

If he agreed, he didn’t know what would happen to the two men.

This noble clearly wasn’t a kind soul.

To nobles like him, the lives of commoners were like weeds—especially those suspected of a crime.

If they went with him, they might never come back.

Watching this from the crowd, Vidar was gloating internally.

He hadn’t expected there to be such a troublemaking noble in the caravan.

This was perfect; the more chaos the man caused, the easier it was for Vidar to stay hidden.

While it was true that Vidar’s personal guards had their own water, they weren’t all clustered around him; they were scattered throughout the caravan.

Therefore, it was nearly impossible to spot Vidar’s scheme just by looking at who was hydrated.

Graham’s face turned grim as he locked eyes with the noble.

The two were at a standstill.

Just as the brown-haired noble was about to hurl another insult at Graham, Field’s voice rang out.

“Sir, isn’t your judgment a bit too arbitrary? Besides, under Kingdom law, even a noble cannot simply subject a commoner to private punishment, right?”

Field’s voice was calm and steady.

She couldn’t stand by and watch the noble’s overbearing behavior any longer.

Under Kingdom law, nobles were indeed forbidden from using private punishment on commoners at will.

The only lives they officially held absolute power over were slaves bound by a slave contract.

However, while that was the letter of the law, many nobles still oppressed commoners in reality.

“Oh?”

The brown-haired noble turned to look at Field.

He could tell Field was no ordinary person, so his tone softened slightly, though his words remained arrogant and sharp.

“I heard the old man call you… Feide, was it? Master Feide, you seem quite friendly toward these commoners. I wonder why someone like you would show such concern for these pests?”

“Oh, right.”

Crunch—

“Agh!”

As the noble spoke, he ground his heel into the back of the kneeling man’s hand.

He clearly applied significant force; the man’s hand bones creaked under the pressure, and he let out a scream of agony.

“Right now, they aren’t commoners; they’re poisoning suspects. A little bit of violence is understandable, wouldn’t you agree, Master Feide, who refuses to show your face?”

This time, the noble didn’t direct any suspicion or blame toward Field.

He dared to be rude to Graham because Graham was the caravan leader and his subordinates were at fault.

Furthermore, based on Field’s attire, demeanor, and speech, the noble could clearly see she was no commoner.

Among nobles, she was likely of a much higher rank.

Therefore, while he dared to speak arrogantly, he didn’t dare truly cast suspicion on her, choosing instead to focus his vitriol on the two negligent guards.

“Walter, you—!”

“Stop this at once!”

Seeing Walter humiliate and beat the guards in broad daylight, Graham finally reached his limit and shouted the noble’s name.

Beside Field, Natalia also couldn’t bear the scene.

She called out for Walter to stop as she stepped forward to block him from continuing his brutality.

“Heh, a nun? Get out of my way.”

Walter didn’t back down an inch.

He swung a hand to slap Natalia’s face.

However, just as his palm was about to strike her cheek, a fair, slender hand firmly clamped onto his wrist.

“That’s enough.”