Thrown Into A New World: Let The Punishment Begin!

He had been teaching the Young Miss of the St. Claire family for a few years now and it was obvious that a few had noticed his continual late appearance each morning.

Though the Captain wasn’t required to arrive right when the recruits of the Red Scorpion Knights would begin their day, he had done so of his own accord in the past.

He and his Deputy Captain would be ready to train the knights each morning and this had continued for a very long time but they had noticed a change in the Captain’s schedule a few years ago.

One of the few people who had sensed this shift in Captain Desmo Reel’s schedule was none other than Duke Tanner, the head of the Red Scorpion Knights.

Desmo was one of his finest men so he had been keeping an eye on him all along.

Therefore, when he noticed this change, he had tried to look into what could have caused it.

.....

Unlike most of the knights here, Captain Desmo did not stay in the dormitories provided by the Duke within his vast estate.

The Captain had his residence just a few miles away from the Tanner estate and would arrive on time each morning.

Though he wasn’t skipping any of his duties, the Duke was still curious and had sent someone to check on what was causing this delay in his usual routine.

The person sent was discrete in following the Captain and due to his skill and expertise, not even the secret guards stationed by Earl St. Claire had noticed that someone was keeping an eye on the movements outside their estate.

Through this confidential mission, Duke Tanner had figured out the reason why the Captain was late each morning.

He was said to be visiting the St. Claire estate for a couple of hours each day before he reached the Tanner household which was a few minutes away from it.

Since the Duke had asked for complete secrecy, only he and the knight who was asked to take on this mission were aware of this truth.

The Duke wasn’t surprised to see that Captain Desmo was visiting the St. Claire estate as he had known that the Earl was a good friend of his.

He was also asked by his good friend to teach Miss Yvonne some self-defense techniques when she had insisted upon learning them.

However, things began to look suspicious when he heard that the Captain entered and left the estate from the back entrance each morning while making sure that no one had noticed his presence.

There were a few reasons that the Duke had thought of which would explain his cautious behavior.

The first and most probable reason that had popped up in his mind was that Captain Desmo was asked to keep these classes a secret from the rest of the world.

It was understandable in the beginning but soon it made the Duke wonder just how long it could take for him to teach the little girl?

Miss Yvonne was said to be a genius in academics and even if she was just average at physical fitness, at the latest, the classes should have ended after a year.

However, this schedule had been continuing for years now so his second inference made more sense.

Having a clandestine affair with someone in that estate would explain everything with ease.

Even now, instead of arriving at the Tanner estate, he took a detour to enter the St. Claire household.

Using the child’s training as an excuse, he must be meeting this certain someone.

A name had appeared in his mind, whom the Captain could be rushing to meet each day but considering just how much the Countess loved her husband, he had rejected that thought.

The Earl would have already chopped Desmo into little pieces if something of that sort was truly taking place between the two.

Based on how freely Desmo was moving in and out of the estate, it was obvious that Earl St. Claire was aware of his arrival each morning.

There was no way that he would allow such disrespectful actions to take place right under his nose.

Therefore, Duke Tanner had already removed Countess Raylene from the list of suspects.

Since the daughter of the St. Claire family was too young to be on the receiving end of the Captain’s affections, she too was struck off the list next.

The Earl’s family was small and there were no more members that could be connected to the Captain so the Duke had broadened his horizons while conducting his investigations.

He could not ask his knight to enter the St. Claire estate to pry further into what Captain Desmo was up to as that would alert the skilled secret guards always present there.

Therefore, he was making blind guesses and had come up with another theory about what was delaying the Captain each morning.

Thus Duke Tanner had finally come to the conclusion that his right-hand man, Captain Desmo Reel, was having an affair with a maid working there.

Since there were no other possibilities, the Duke was sure that he had reached the right conclusion.

From his inferences, he had figured out that the Earl must have already known of what was within his close friend’s heart and thus had allowed him to meet his lover each morning.

The classes with Miss Yvonne were just a ruse to conceal the true intentions behind his actions.

Teaching the child was already a secret and now, the maid had become his second secret.

Thus he was entering and exiting their estate through the back entrance to avoid any watchful eyes of the nobles who might notice him near the St. Claire estate each morning.

After meeting his lover, he hurried over to the Tanner estate and focused on his trainees here.

The Duke had given it much thought and was sure that he was right in thinking so.

After all, given the Captain’s teaching expertise, there was no way that the classes with Miss Yvonne could have continued for so many years.

It seemed that he had come across this maid when he was giving his lessons and had fallen in love at first sight.

Whether he was slyly prolonging the classes or using it as a ruse to meet his lover was still unknown.

However, in the Duke’s mind, Captain Desmo Reel having a secret lover for years now was an undeniable truth.

For the maid, he was willing to move around covertly lest he exposes his relationship with her.

However, the Duke did not approve of his efforts to keep her a secret from everyone.

After all, he wasn’t the first son of the Reel family so it would be fine even if he married the commoner woman as his bride later on.

There was no reason for him to keep her hidden from them as they would have approved and accepted her as long as she liked him wholeheartedly.

On numerous occasions, Duke Tanner had wanted to give relationship advice to his subordinate who had finally gotten his first taste of youthful love.

No matter what the reason was, no woman would desire to be kept a secret by the man she loved.

Therefore, he hoped that Desmo would also make his relationship status known, at least to those he was close to.

However, if he were to advise the Captain then it would be akin to exposing his nosy behavior.

After all, he had asked one of his close knights to spy on the Captain, in the beginning, to figure out where he would be each morning.

Though he had taken his order back once he realized what was truly happening, it was all the same.

It would only prove that he was spying on his subordinate so he had remained silent, pretending to be ignorant but the Captain had also been rigid in his way even after so many years.

The Captain continued to visit the St. Claire estate to meet his lover yet had never let anyone in on what he was up to even now.

He had never revealed his relationship with her and the Duke disliked this careless attitude of his subordinate.

Therefore, he had decided to have a serious talk with him once he arrived at the training grounds of the Red Scorpion Knights this morning.

The Duke and that knight had kept what they had discovered a secret until now.

Duke Tanner had not even revealed this news to his wife which indicated how much he respected Desmo’s privacy.

However, Desmo’s attitude was not what he condoned so he would have to explain to his senseless subordinate that he needed to do better if he wished to continue this relationship with that woman.

___

In the St. Claire mansion, Yvonne was enjoying her breakfast with her family where Grandpa and the twins were explaining how the match between the siblings had been interesting for them to witness.

The little girl was thus ignorant of the fact that her classes with her trainer had been misunderstood as him using her as an excuse to continue meeting his lover each morning.

Not only Yvonne but the Captain was also clueless of the stern talking to that he was about to receive once he met the Duke this morning.

Nevertheless, even if she had known about it, she would have only laughed to her heart’s content as there was nothing loving that took place during the time he spent in the St. Claire estate.

In fact, he proved to the child the reasons why he was called, ‘Neo’s Spawn’ by those around him.

Not to mention that if Rutherford were to hear of this, he too would join his child to laugh at Desmo’s pitiful and awkward situation that he would soon be facing.

After all, wasn’t he the one who had mentioned that Desmo could be the ‘Dirty little secret’ of the St. Claire estate when he had first asked him to be Yvonne’s trainer?

It looked like his prediction had come true but Desmo had turned out to be the one with a secret instead.