"Come on, cut the guy some slack. I'm sure all of you would be a bit pissed too if the Countess tossed you out of her room because of another man." Gareth said, his tone resembling one of sincerity, but his words were venomous.
Gareth deliberately raised his voice, making sure that every knight in the training grounds heard him. Gasps of surprise and a few chuckles could be heard from the surrounding knights.
Lloyd's face flushed red in outrage and embarrassment. He had just been humiliated by the person he wanted to humiliate himself. Something that he couldn't stand.
The eyes of the three men standing with Gareth widened in surprise before they burst out in uproar, laughing without inhibition. Unlike the other knights who at least tried to hide their laughing, these three didn't bother doing so.
They laughed in his face, not at all worried about trying to preserve his dignity. Veins began popping on Lloyd's forehead, threatening to pop. Even though they were all knights in the same order, not everyone was friends.
And judging by how these three were currently laughing at Lloyd, and their words earlier, Gareth could easily tell their attitude towards him. Sure enough, these three were clearly not on good terms with Lloyd.
Before Gareth was brought to the estate, Lloyd was her only lover to actually live there long-term. The others only lasted for a few days before the Countess grew tired of them. Lloyd was the only one who was constant.
He was, for all intents and purposes, the Countess' favorite, something he wasn't afraid to flaunt to his fellow knights. Previously, Lloyd was just an ordinary knight. However, his life changed for the better when the Countess saw him one day while he was training.
Admittedly, the dude was good-looking. Maybe not as good-looking as Gareth, but still... He was good enough to draw her attention. Without much fanfare, he also became one of her lovers.
However, the difference between him and her other lovers became distinct after a while. While the others came and went, Lloyd was the only one who stayed. Since he was a knight of the House, he couldn't exactly be kicked out.
Moreover, he was actually a good knight and had a lot of promise. One day, after a night of passion, the Countess promised to give him the Ardent Cultivation Technique if he were to progress further in his swordsmanship.
Since then, it was as if a flip switched in his head. He began bragging to his fellow knights, telling them that he was soon going to become an Ardent. Becoming an Ardent was the ultimate goal of the knights, so having someone rub it in their face so shamelessly was infuriating.
Most of them tried to suck up to him, trying to earn his favor before he became someone they couldn't touch. However, there were others who disdained his arrogant attitude, believing he wasn't a good representative of the knights' chivalrous code, or just plain didn't like him at all.
Clearly, the three men were of the latter camp. However, there was little they could do against Lloyd. Since he was the lover of the Countess, reporting him did little. The most the Captains would do was give him a slap on the wrist, as they were also wary of Lloyd becoming an Ardent and seeking revenge against them in the future.
The Commander himself was an Ardent, and aside from training the knights, didn't care about their mundane squabbles. The lack of punishment only further fueled his ego, and he had become somewhat of a tyrant among the knights.
However, Lloyd was not a fool. His arrogance didn't extend towards the Captains or the Commander, only surging through the knights. However, after a while, he began to get paranoid.
Just as he had gained the Countess's favor through sheer luck, he wondered if there would be another. Another man gaining her favor would surely make her forget about him, and he would be back to being just a regular knight.
That was when he devised some sinister plots. When new men eventually came, he would tell some maids who he had already convinced earlier or who he had secret relationships with to add something to their food.
It wasn't poison, no. That would be too obvious. Instead, he would add slight traces of drugs that could reduce the potency of the men's libido while making them tired.
By the time the Countess called them, they wouldn't be able to 'perform' very well, and would finish very quickly. With their terrible performance, the Countess, left unsatisfied, would inevitably seek him out, cementing his position even further.
However, he wasn't done yet. By the time they were chased out of the estate, Lloyd would either hire people or would go himself with some of the knights that were on his side and would kill them, ending any potential future troubles.
Gareth had carried out this strategy quite a few times and was confident in his abilities. That was why he was surprised when he heard that the Countess had taken a liking to a slave boy.
Images of his previous self flashed in his mind, remembering how he had also started. Feeling a bit weary about the newcomer, he decided not to even give him the chance to enter the estate.
That was why he sent those thugs to beat him up until he was dead. He specifically told them not to use weapons, and make it look like he died from the beatings he received as a slave, deftly covering the crime up.
He had thought the plan was foolproof, with no chance of failure. And it worked. It really did—until Gareth was 'magically' alive the next day.
By then, it was too late to make a move, so he could only wait for Gareth to enter the estate. He had initially wanted to employ the same strategy, but soon discovered he couldn't.
The Countess had surprisingly designated two maids for him, who served him his meals. These two maids were ones he didn't know and hadn't had the chance to bring to his side.
No matter. He was still a slave that the Countess would get tired of herself soon, right?