Bodyguard's Love

Chapter 16

Matthew froze in surprise when he heard those words. He slowly pulled the dagger away from the bandit's throat and took a few steps back.

"What are you saying ?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'm telling you the truth ! Believe me ! I saw him with my own eyes ! It's impossible that the man I saw earlier was Duke Lobelia !" the bandit replied.

"Do you take me for an idiot ?! How come you didn't realize that the person who gave you the order was not Duke Lobelia but an impostor ?!" he asked in a threatening tone.

"What do you mean by impostor ?" asked the bandits' leader, an expression of pure shock on his face.

"Yeah. He's an impostor. The real Duke Lobelia is the one you saw earlier at the hall."

"That's impossible..."

"What is impossible is the fact that you didn't realize it."

"Because I don't know him ! I don't know Duke Lobelia ! I couldn't have known that the other man was an impostor ! I've never seen the duke before !" he shouted.

"Don't say nonsenses ! Even if you've never seen him before, there isn't a single citizen in Auvrovaria who doesn't know that the duke is a middle-aged man. How could you believe that a young man was him ?! You better look for another excuse that is more relevant and logical if you want to preserve your life !"

"But I'm telling you the truth ! I really don't know him !"

"And how is that possible ?" asked Matthew with an intimidating look.

The bandit freezed at the question. He started trembling like a leaf of fear, then collapsed on the ground on his knees.

"I-I'm a stranger... I-I'm not from here... I-I'm from another kingdom..." he confessed.

"Another kingdom ?" the captain asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yeah... The kingdom of Naintis..."

"How interesting. And what brought you here ?"

"I-I ran away..."

"And why is that ?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I'm being wanted... I-if they catch me, they'll kill me !"

"Who ?"

"T-the royal guards..."

"And what did you do to make them want to kill you ?" he asked coldly.

"I-I did bad things... I-I'm the leader of a bandit group, after all... I-I killed several people to steal their money... We were being chased, my men and I, a few months ago. S-So we ran away..."

"And you came here. From all the places you could go," he said, annoyed.

"W-we had no choice !"

"And what happened next ?"

"W-When we got here, we didn't have a single penny in our pockets and we were very tired and very weak. So, we started stealing everything we could to survive. Then one day, someone came to look for us in the house where we took shelter at. He assigned us a mission that he said was very important. He gave us a lot of money and he provided us with a new place to hide. He promised us that when the mission is over he would shower us with gold."

"Was it the young man with white hair and red eyes ?"

"Yeah. It was him. When he spoke to me, he was wearing a cape with a hood that was covering his head. But I could see his eyes and some of his hair."

"And how did you know it was, supposedly, Duke Lobelia ? He introduced himself ?"

"No. I learned it from hearing his servants call him that."