Chapter 59 Course Correction
First on her list was Neville.
He had to apprentice himself to General Hawke, enlist, and win his laurels on the battlefield.
With that decided, she said softly, “Let’s forget the haircut for now. I hear General Hawke k searching for a disciple to inherit the Hawke Spear Technique. Neville, your talent with weapons is unmatched. Why not ask him to take you on?”
Daisy fully expected Neville to agree without the slightest hesitation.
After all, that was precisely the road he had walked in their previous life.
Yet, Neville rubbed the half–shaven side of his head and muttered, “Soldiers have always stood beneath scholars. Why abandon the bright, paved road of examinations just to start as a lowly recruit? Or do you think I’ll never earn a degree?”
Daisy fell silent.
At the academy, he ranked near the bottom year after year; the idea of him winning a degree was all but laughable.
Still, she could hardly voice that truth aloud.
“Neville, that isn’t what I mean. I only-”
He cut her off. “Besides, army life is misery. I might not see home for weeks. Daisy, could you really bear to leave me suffering alone in a barracks?”
She stared at him, bewildered.
He lounged in his chair, entirely devoid of fire or purpose.
How can this be?
In the previous life, he had become Godfrey Hawke’s student.
Uncertain where the road had split, yet desperate to mend it, she blinked back tears and said, “Are you angry with me? I only want the best for you. Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. If General Hawke chooses you, you could someday wear a general’s cloak–your name might thunder through the realm like Commander Gates“.”
Zephyr, too, had traded ink for steel and won glory while still a boy.
In barely three years, he had forced the border kingdoms to kneel, paying tribute each winter, never daring to raid again.
Yet, in all the long history of Aurelia Province, only Zephyr had succeeded.
Neville sighed. “It’s not that I don’t crave fame, but life is not so simple. Zephyr is The Duke’s heir; for all we know, half his victories were claimed on borrowed power. People like us, with no backing, find it nearly impossible to rise. Daisy, you’re a sheltered girl; you wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”
Having voiced his complaint/he leisurely sipped the fresh tea the maid had poured.
Chapter 59 Course Correction
Daisy watched him, conflict swirling behind her eyes.
He was only sixteen.
This should have been an age of blazing ambition, yet he looked content to drift through dull days.
He was nothing like the dazzling deputy commander of the Imperial Guards he had become Before
She could not grasp what had changed. Even if corruption lurked, were all great men lifted by it?
Surely a few chosen souls still carved their names with nothing but their own blades.
Why can’t Neville be counted among them?
Before she could argue further, Neville pushed back his chair and walked out, calling over his shoulder that he had a date with his friends for drinks.
Left alone with her frustration, Daisy resolved to assemble a generous gift and pay a personal call on Godfrey the next morning.
1😐:ཀྱི ངེས་བྱས་པ་ན་ར་
Her aim was simple – persuade the elderly man to accept Neville as his student.
The next morning dawned.
Stepping into the reception hall of Hawke Manor, Daisy froze. Sadie and Alexander were already seated with Godfrey, talking and laughing like old friends.
“What a stroke of luck. Sadie, you’re here too?” Daisy said, though unease tightened her smile.
“Daisy, I came with Alex to visit General Hawke,” Sadie replied softly.
“Mr. Alexander, your leg is still healing. May I ask what brings you to General Hawke today?” Daisy asked.
Alexander answered only with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.
Sadie set down her cup, her tone calm. “Mr. Hawke has offered to teach Alex the Hawke Spear Technique. He came today specifically to become his disciple. Those boxes are his gifts of apprenticeship.”
The embroidered cases held ginseng, valuable herbs, ancient scrolls, and jade carvings, each a treasure that a collector would fight for.
No one could call the offering anything less than lavish.
Daisy’s face darkened.
Sadie’s gaze slid to the food box in her sister’s arms. “Could it be that you, too, have come to seek apprenticeship?” she asked.
Godfrey stroked his beard, curiosity gleaming in his eyes as he studied Daisy.
Flustered, Daisy placed the box on the table. “Our family purse is rather thin, General Hawke, so please excuse the modesty of this token”
Inside lay nothing more exotic than a selection of delicate pastries.
“They may not match Mr. Alexander’s treasures,” Daisy continued, “yet Neville’s admiration for you, and his
2130 MI, 15 Aug
Chapter 59 Course Correction
resolve to study under you, are no less. You saw how close he came to winning the martial trial, so please, for that, accept him as your pupil.”
Alexander slapped the table and roared with laughter. “Neville wants to study, you say? Then where is he? He cannot even show his face and sends a girl to plead for him. Is that what you call determination? You must be trying to fool Mr. Godfrey!”
Sadie lifted her cup and took a quiet sip of tea.
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