On the carriage ride back I told Rudolf and Lily that Her Majesty the Queen would grant us a reward of five thousand gold coins. Rudolf went speechless, then burst into tears. A grown man, sobbing his heart out inside the carriage. Lily and I recoiled a little at the sight. Still, the fact that Rudolf would cry this hard told me just how heavily those debts had been weighing on him.
After crying himself out, Rudolf sat on the floor of the cramped carriage and bowed his head to me. Even on that narrow floor he folded his huge body down and sat.
"Lord Robin, thank you. I never dreamed the debts would be paid off this quickly… I had heard the wager was overwhelmingly against you. I thought the same. I never imagined you could win… Lord Robin, I could not bring myself to believe in Lily's power. If I had known it would turn out like this, I wish I had at least bet ten gold coins myself… but I did not even have the leeway to spare ten gold coins…"
