Chapter 148: We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour

Chapter 148: We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour When Cass woke up the next morning, he actually felt refreshed. He didn’t even mind that Sam had to wake him up a little bit early since Lady Fiona had dropped off quite a bit of paperwork in the morning. He just accepted it, smiling, and ate his breakfast without assistance, his hands able to grip onto a fork as long as the pieces were precut for him. He was munching away by himself in his office after he had gotten dressed with the help of Sam, reviewing some documents that Lady Fiona had sent over when he started to notice a pattern from the nobles requesting help. They all sounded sincere on the surface, but something just didn’t quite feel right about it. He was reading through two documents that sounded similar, but were written by two different noble families. That was when it clicked. It was basically copied and pasted. Those fools had to have a basic document that they sent out asking for aid from the hero. Cass’ temper flared. Lady Fiona might not know it, but it was so incredibly rude. It was the slight of the highest order if this came from nobles. Lady Fiona wouldn’t think anything of it, hell, if Cass hadn’t had to catch up on all of this shit rather quickly, he might not have either. He’d read the books though, the ones of noble speech and behaviours, and this was up there. If you are going to write a letter, it has to at the very least, be sincere. It would be even more of the case if you were asking for aid from someone like Lady Fiona. Even more so when she was married to three of the most eligible bachelors in the country, who were tied to the very essence of the Kingdom. Cass called Sam over, and asked if he could begin to take a tally of something for him. He didn’t think it was a breach of his words to Lady Fiona last night if he asked Sam to not really read the content, just scan it. If it was written in the same format, put it in a different pile, if it was original, put it in another. Cass would read the ones that were original first, respond to them to continue the good relationship, while bringing the others to Lady Fiona. This was not a Byron conversation in the slightest. He wouldn’t be able to convey how fucked up this was. Cass wondered how long this had been going on, and how long the others had been laughing at them. Cass was pissed, and wondered if there was a correlation between the nobles that treated Lady Fiona rather poorly, and the ones that his grandfather favoured. That was something he was also going to dedicate some time to looking into once he finished eating and he had more desk to work with. ~ Cass dedicated most of his morning to going through everything with a fine tooth comb, and responding back to the nobles who at the very least were writing her personal letters asking for help. His anger at their behaviour was only fed more as he realised that there was an overlap in his treatment and Lady Fiona’s. He felt justified with his concerns, and just as Draken was about to knock on his office door, Cass pushed it open, a grim look on his face. Draken paused, clearly surprised, while Cass’ expression didn’t shift. Byron and Sam were behind him, both carrying quite a bit of paperwork. Draken glanced between the three of them before something clicked. "Oh! Are those related to the work that Fiona said she would give you last night?" Draken asked, smacking his hand as if that was a great achievement. Cass glanced at his open, easy expression and took a deep breath. He probably looked like he was going to murder someone. He really wanted to. "They are. Are you here for our lesson?" Cass asked and Draken nodded, before his orange gaze glanced over everyone again. "I am, but I’m more interested in this now. I just checked on Fiona to make sure she was taking it easier. She’s in her rooms if she is where I just left her." Draken told him, and Cass actually appreciated the fact that he had just checked on her. Cass nodded, turning and began to walk once more. Everyone followed him as he left his own rooms and headed towards Lady Fiona’s. ~ "Lord Blackburn is here, my Lady." The servant announced, and Cass swore he heard something fall over and silence before finally Lady Fiona called for him to enter. Cass was a bit surprised that they didn’t announce Draken with him, but he didn’t worry about that too much as the door opened and Lady Fiona gave a weak smile. She did look better then when he had seen her last night, but he was sure his words were going to sour her mood. When she realised he had a rather serious expression, and Draken was behind him, her smile faltered. "Is something wrong?" She asked, and Cass let out a soft sigh. "Well, something certainly isn’t right." Cass told her grimly, as she stepped back, allowing everyone to enter. "Boys, can you find an open spot to put the two piles?" Cass asked and they did as they were told. Lady Fiona glanced at the grim look in Cass’ eyes and shifted nervously. "Was there something I missed?" She asked and Cass gave her a small, pitying look. "Did you let Lord Vespertine or Lord Ridgewood look at the correspondence between you and the other nobles before?" Cass asked instead of answering her question and Lady Fiona shook her head. "No. Of course not. I didn’t want to burden them." Cass sighed, running his fingers through his hair stiffly. Pushing back his hair and revealing the scar he had on his head from his fall. Lady Fiona flinched but didn’t say anything as Cass slowly shook his head. "It’s not a burden, especially given that you are unfamiliar with how subtle nobles can be with their disrespect." Cass muttered. Lady Fiona’s eyes widened as Cass hinted at what the issue was. "What? Disrespect? How?" Lady Fiona asked and Cass’ expression hardened. "Wait? Who has been disrespecting my wife? Who am I eating?" Draken stepped in, anger radiating off of him as he joined Lady Fiona and Cass. Lady Fiona groaned, putting her hand on her face while Cass dropped his hand, glancing at the angry expression on Draken’s face. He wanted to ask if that anger also translated to Cass, but the words caught in his throat. That wasn’t something he needed to know. He didn’t want to find out how disappointed he’d be if he wasn’t included in that anger. "We aren’t eating anyone yet, Draken." Cass said and Lady Fiona stared at Cass in surprise. "You would allow him to do so? Isn’t that against everything you stand for, Lord Cassian?" Lady Fiona asked, serious, and Cass shrugged. "Sure, if they didn’t do this over and over and I believed that this level of disrespect also continued into my own interactions with them." Cass replied cooly, and Lady Fiona seemed to pale. "O-Oh." Lady Fiona said, swallowing and Cass sighed. He gestured to where Sam and Byron had placed the piles. "I’ve taken the liberty to already reply to those who have been sincere and written their own letters, even if they were vaguely offensive in their words. That’s fine, since they stuck to noble code. Whatever their misgivings are, you are still married to three potential Dukes. There has to be a certain level of respect given." He gestured to the smaller pile before turning to the larger one. "This one, however, I wanted to cross check with you. I want to know if you remember how many times they have sent letters like this, and also that we will not be responding to their calls of aid. In fact, we are going to send back a letter to all of them saying the exact same thing." Cass said firmly, not going to take no for an answer. Lady Fiona’s jaw dropped. "B-But Cassian! We can’t just not help people! That goes against everything a hero stands for!" Lady Fiona protested and Cass remained firm, even in the face of her loud declaration. "They do not own your body, Lady Fiona. It is perfectly fine to put your foot down if the people you are helping do not respect you." Cass said and Lady Fiona’s face went white. "No! That isn’t-that’s not right, Cassian. I can’t-" She was fumbling, not taking Cass’ words well. Cass did not back down. He wasn’t going to. If Lady Fiona was going to remain the hero of this tale, she needed to grow a damn spine. He wasn’t going to say that Lady Ava had encouraged her to help others, because that felt unkind to say. He was actually fairly certain this came from Lady Fiona herself. This type of behaviour, plus the way that the others had taught her about heroes. She had probably heard about how selfless and giving all heroes were and that had influenced her. She needed people around her to put their foot down. That was going to be Cass. Honestly, it probably had been Lord Blackburn this whole time. "Lady Fiona, they do not own you." Cass said darkly. "You are not some object at their beck and call. The basic level of respect is owed to you, since you are doing them a favour by helping them. They all have guards, and people who are supposed to protect their areas. The fact that they aren’t and are turning to you because you are ’free labour’ is disgusting and they should face the consequences of their actions." Cass met her panicking gaze with his serious, solid one and she froze. Like a deer caught in the headlights. "B-But the people-" She started and Cass sighed. "They are also their people. If they aren’t willing to step in to protect them, I’ll make sure to write a rather scathing report and send it to the King. With your name on it so it is taken seriously. I am not above forging signatures to prove that some nobles are rotten to the core and need to be replaced." Cass declared tartly, not budging on his stance. "Now, come over here. I’ve already made a list of names associated with the letters, you just need to tell me if this is their first offense or not." Cass ordered and Lady Fiona followed him numbly. Draken followed, but he seemed pleased as punch in the face of Lady Fiona’s lack of a spirit and Cass’ rage. Cass laid down the law, not letting an inch of Lady Fiona’s sympathy for the people affect their discussions as they moved through the names. It was hard conversation on Lady Fiona’s side, since so many emotions were involved. It was hard on Cass’ side because he had to fight shaking her, letting her take her time processing betraying these unloyal nobles to Cass so that he could deliver an asswhooping in only the way a noble could. He hadn’t told Lady Fiona this, but he was also planning to cut off funding to projects in their cities if he was involved. Which was laughable, since the Blackburn family was in every damn city. Cass was not about to let these fools take advantage of them because Lady Fiona was good. They were going to realise what fucking around and finding out really meant.