The disheveled man and woman were dragged out of the windmill. What had transpired inside was all too clear.
Su Li felt that if he didn't intervene, and let Knight Frederick continue whipping them like this, the pair would be beaten to death on the spot.
So Su Li raised his hand to stop Frederick's fury, saying, "Knight Frederick, hold on for a moment. I think there's more to this than meets the eye. Aren't you curious why Gegil appeared near the notice board? He knew his wife was having an affair with your son in the mill."
Even if he's into such things and didn't mind, he should have been secretly watching, not wandering off miles away.
Upon hearing this, Frederick paused and looked at Gegil, pointing at him with the riding crop, "I'll give you a chance to save your life. Tell me what happened, and don't try to test my patience with lies!"
Gegil wailed in response, "Lord Frederick, I... I am innocent. I went to report that Henry raped my wife."
"Rape!" Frederick's fury surged. "You bastard, how dare you lie to me! If it were true, why didn't you stop it? Why run so far away instead!"
Gegil quickly defended himself, "Henry is a knight. How could I have dared to stop his rampage? He would have beaten me to death. I could only make it public and ask others to uphold justice for me."
Frederick turned to Henry, suppressing his anger and asked, "You bastard, what's your story?"
Henry was acutely aware of his father's brutality. If he was proven guilty of rape, his father would personally cleanse the family to maintain their honor.
Thus he quickly turned to Gegil and bellowed, "Nonsense! Alisa and I are in love. You were the one trying to extort me for 250 gold coins!"
Extortion too?
Frederick wanted nothing more than to lash these three villains dead instantly. He couldn't bear the thought of what ridicule he'd face from others if this matter spread far and wide without Young Master Suli's intervention.
Thankfully, it hadn't escalated yet; Frederick could still uphold justice, finally pointing the whip at Alisa and asking, "You tell me, who's telling the truth?"
Alisa's decision would determine life or death for the two men.
Alisa endured the pain and glanced at the flamboyantly dressed Henry, then at her unremarkable, grim, and rugged husband. After a few seconds of hesitation, she lowered her head and replied, "Henry forced me."
Henry's eyes widened in disbelief, struggling intensely, grabbing Alisa's shoulders and shaking her frantically, "Alisa! Alisa! Don't be afraid of his domestic violence, tell the truth! Didn't you say he frequently abused you, which is why you admired me?"
"Have you forgotten showing me your bruises and scars? He abused you, why are you still defending him?"
Su Li clicked his tongue in amusement; this matter was becoming intriguing, and he had to step in, "Alisa, verifying whether you were abused or not is quite easy. Just a question to your neighbors would suffice."
Alisa hesitated briefly but stuck to her original stance, "Gegil did abuse me, but it doesn't change the fact that Henry forced me."
Henry was utterly despaired, roaring in anger, "Wretched woman, so you've both been scheming against me from the start! This was a vile trap from the beginning! How am I any worse than him?"
Alisa was silent, evidently not intending to divorce Gegil.
Su Li skeptically asked, "He abuses you, yet you won't divorce him. I can only think of one possibility: He's... strong in that regard?"
Alisa looked at Gegil without nodding or refuting.
The outcome was all too clear. Such matters are often tangled and ambiguous; clothed, it's domestic violence, unclothed it might just be a couple's kink.
The only fool here is Henry! Not only outwitted intellectually, but also trampled upon in a manly aspect.
Although Gegil and Alisa seemed to be running a con, their unanimous testimony confirmed Henry's guilt!
Su Li watched Henry like a defeated dog, resisting the urge to laugh and shook his head regretfully, then turned to Knight Frederick, asking, "Knight Frederick, how do you wish to resolve this?"
Knight Frederick immediately raised the whip, lashing down fiercely, embedding it three inches deep, shredding Henry's flesh, and breaking several ribs on the left side of his chest. Without treatment, he would bleed to death in minutes.
Just as Su Li thought it was over, Knight Frederick suddenly charged at Gegil and Alisa like a wild beast, delivering a barrage of savage punches. In an instant, the two were struck, sent flying like broken kites, with a loud crash as the sturdy tree behind Gegil snapped from the impact!
Su Li's eyes widened; this was the first time he'd witnessed the full power of an Elite Knight's strike since his transmigration. At that moment, time seemed to freeze, and faced with such immense power, the bodies of the two commoners were nearly shattered, with blood spraying everywhere.
Su Li realized his naivety, clinging to past-world thinking, neglecting that this world was fundamentally different. Here, conviction didn't require much evidence; as long as a Knight Lord deemed someone guilty, a massacre could ensue.
A honey trap might be unsolvable in the past world, especially with feminists retracting consent, making it hard for the wrongly accused to overturn the case.
But in this world, if a Knight Lord perceives a setup, both parties could be sentenced to hang!
Watching an enraged Frederick string the three corpses on the tree and viciously whip their bodies, Su Li finally snapped out of his shock and promptly signaled Knight Schwartz to stop him.
"Knight Frederick, are you not considering the consequences of such rash actions?"
"What consequences?" Frederick couldn't hear past his anger, "Such scum, such vile lowlifes, even in a courtroom I would sentence them all to hang."
"But… you're no longer a court judge," Su Li reminded, "Beating people to death, you're aware of the repercussions, right?"
"Consequences? Mere compensation is enough! Killing a serf as a knight only requires reimbursing his master with a donkey or four sheep," Frederick, still seething, glared at Su Li. If he dared to nag further, he wouldn't mind teaching this presumptuous Apprentice Knight a lesson.
Su Li calmly said, "First and foremost, Gegil and Alisa are not serfs; they are free people, so compensation would exceed that for serfs. Additionally, Henry was an Apprentice Knight; his life doesn't solely belong to your family. He's also a member of Bauhinia Castle, and you can imagine the repercussions of an outsider killing a Bauhinia Castle knight. It could even trigger a war."
"The family losing an Apprentice Knight, do you think the court will hold you liable, imposing substantial fines? Most importantly, will they dig into the underlying secrets?"
On hearing this, Frederick calmed down. Although Apprentice Knight didn't carry high status, to the nobility, they were akin to prized serfs. Farmers might hold knights accountable for losing serfs. How could the nobility not pursue responsibility for losing such valuable assets?
Once it's pursued, the secrets would be hard to hide, especially with three Apprentice Knights and an Elite Knight having witnessed everything! By then, he and his family would be disgraced!
Frederick took a deep breath, fixed his gaze on Su Li, and asked, "What solution do you propose?"
Su Li responded confidently, "The solution is simple. As long as they're not part of the family, if there's a willing master who chooses not to pursue it, everything can be brushed off. You know, Knight Frederick, I have the right to summon 30 attendants, and both Alisa and Gegil are within that range."
"But what about Henry? He's an Apprentice Knight and not within that range," Frederick asked, frowning.
Nonetheless, Su Li ignored the question and said, calmly and confidently, "If I were the Court Judge and tried them, it would be perfectly reasonable as well."
Frederick immediately realized, although Henry wasn't within the range, if the entire Hohenstodten Clan joined Young Master Suli's Pioneer Territory, Henry would become a member as well!
After a moment of hesitation, he finally kneeled on one knee in front of Su Li, solemnly swearing, "Young Master Suli, I, Frederick Hohenstodten, along with my family knights, my son William Hohenstodten, my daughter Sophie Hohenstodten, and Apprentice Knight Henry, pledge our allegiance to you. We shall forever serve as your loyal guardians. Furthermore, please permit me to formally offer our fealty as my family officially joins your allegiance."