CH103 Before the Mad Earl
***
The look Earl Drake gave Alex was the kind that said, "I've already told you the answer; you just weren't listening."
He hadn't said it outright, but the meaning had already been conveyed.
It took Alex a moment, but a thought struck him. Still, he wanted to confirm it.
"Why do they call you the Mad Earl?" he asked.
Without missing a beat, Earl Drake replied, "Oh, that's because I led my mercenary corps—just a hundred or so men—to attack an Earl family. My current noble title came from wiping that family out."
Alex's brows furrowed.
Indeed, attacking an Earl family, which would have boasted thousands of professional soldiers, with only a handful of mercenaries, was the very definition of madness—never mind actually winning and wiping out the noble line entirely.
Still, there had to be more to the story. No sane man would lead such a suicidal charge without reason.
He looked to his father with a silent request: Tell me the whole story.
