Chapter 118 Fearful of Death
Candy just turned her head away, refusing to look at their shocked expressions, and shouted up to the Zotfort soldiers above on her own, "Two people have already fallen down, hurry up and pull me up!"
The Zotfort soldiers standing on the cliff had been watching the whole time. In fact, all the soldiers resting there were treating Candy and her group as entertainment. Of course they knew what Candy had just done.
"No way, isn't that woman supposed to be some knight captain? Instead of trying to save her own soldiers' lives, she just kicks people off the cliff to save herself?"
"So this is a knight captain from the Soth Empire? I heard she was supposed to be really amazing, everyone praising her and all?"
"You got the wrong person. Their country has more than one female knight captain. The amazing one is someone else - I heard she's Duke Skoda's daughter. Her swordsmanship, her bearing, she's like a second Duke Skoda. How could this one compare?"
"Besides, I heard that one actually looks back to protect her comrades on the battlefield. Nothing like this one we caught, who sacrifices others to save herself."
Over there, Candy had already gotten her wish and been pulled up. Her legs had long gone soft from fear. She slumped to the ground in despair, not daring to meet the eyes of the others as they were pulled up.
But when she heard the Zotfort soldiers comparing her to Anne, she still couldn't help roaring out in frustration, "Have you all been bought off by that bitch Anne too? What's so great about her? She just has a good background and that kind of father, so people are willing to praise her!"
Someone sitting nearby who looked like an officer sneered, "What's this? I heard you two had a match in the military camp. Who won and who lost? You're yelling so loud - did you win?"
Candy was speechless. After a long pause, she muttered, "Anne played mind games. She deliberately made me think she'd been pretending with everyone else before, so I let my guard down and lost to her. If we really fought, who knows who would win!"
"Is that so?"
The officer pointed at Hanks behind Candy. "You're from the military camp. You should know what happened. Tell us. If you don't talk or make things up, tomorrow we'll put you next to this woman, and then your life won't be in your hands anymore."
Hanks paused. "At the time, Candy lost to Anne in one move. She wasn't satisfied and challenged again, but got beaten by the woman with the spear who's with Anne."
Everyone burst out laughing.
Candy angrily turned to glare at Hanks. "They tell you to talk and you just talk? Did you think about my dignity at all?"
She expected Hanks to quickly apologize and take back his words. Instead, he looked at her coldly like a stranger and said flatly, "Do you still need dignity?"
Candy realized with horror that it wasn't just Hanks - even the few knights beside him who were still alive were looking at her with that same cold gaze, as if looking at a dead person.
This shouldn't be happening.
Candy clearly remembered that these people had fought alongside her for so long. When they infiltrated the town to capture the child Frol was protecting, they went together. Later when they received rewards, they received them together. Candy believed that without her, these people wouldn't have achieved what they did.
They had once been completely loyal to Candy. When she first gained recognition, she shared the rewards with everyone who helped. As knight captain, she led them to victory after victory, earning them wealth for their families back home.
But now?
The Candy they had all relied on had kicked a brother-in-arms off a cliff just to survive.
This completely shattered their perception of Candy. Looking at her now, she seemed utterly unfamiliar.
They had been willing to endure exclusion and criticism to stand by Candy's side, because back then Candy was worth following. But now?
Even Hanks couldn't answer that question anymore.
Hanks had disliked Anne because of Candy, and even after Anne beat Candy in their duel, he still treated Anne coldly.
But Hanks felt guilty about Anne. Most people joined the military because they admired Duke Skoda, and he was no exception. When Candy first said that Anne knew nothing about combat or military strategy, and was only made knight captain because Friedel promoted her, he was furious - Anne, as the Duke's daughter, had so much wealth but didn't cherish it, instead coming to the military camp to use her father's reputation to do bad things. How vicious.
After the duel, Anne proved her abilities and worked with everyone to plan attack formations. Hanks admired Anne's skills in his heart, but as Candy's relative and subordinate, he had to support Candy.
Now that Candy had been captured, she actually told the enemy to capture Anne - wasn't that just being afraid of death?
What's more, there weren't many of them left alive anyway, and Candy, knowing the rope wasn't tied securely, deliberately kicked people down just to get pulled up faster. What a vicious heart!
Candy wasn't someone worth trusting and relying on at all. She was just a woman who feared death and held petty grudges!
Hanks had to admit that the Zotfort people captured them but didn't kill them right away, instead hanging them all on the cliff together, probably just to watch them suspect each other and kill each other.
A very sinister and ruthless tactic, but very effective.
The silence didn't last long. The Zotfort people seemed to receive orders and tied them all up and threw them into a nearby small cave. This must have been an animal den before, which the enemy had cleared out.
Candy looked at the ropes on her body - tied very tight, impossible to break free. Even if she could break free, it would be useless. Here in the Drogo Mountains, with wild beasts ahead and enemy troops behind, there was no escape.
She thought of Holden and their battlefield argument, anger flaring as she resented his lack of understanding and hated that no one had stopped her.
"Damn it, why didn't anyone stop me back then!"