A man sat quietly by the window.
The wooden shutters stood open, allowing the warm summer wind to drift into the room.
It brought in a faint scent of blooming flowers from the garden below—along with the unusual sound of raised voices that broke the calm.
His gaze shifted downward.
From his vantage point above the cloister garden, the scene unfolded clearly before him.
A heated argument erupted between a woman and a man, specifically a knight and a lady. Even from a distance, the tension between them was apparent.
Then, the confrontation escalated. The lady's hand suddenly rose, and a sharp slap landed across the burly knight's face.
The sound echoed faintly upward.
The man by the window watched in silence, his expression unreadable.
From where he sat, he could also see two other ladies standing a short distance away—Meredith and Sylvia.
