The Crownless Knight

Edward was born to Anna outside marriage and grew up hearing people call him a bastard and repeat slander about his mother. His father held rank and status but did little to stop the talk, and for years Edward carried the shame that came with the name Anna. Three masters from the Round Table took him in and trained him. Under them he awakened Swordheart, a trait few knights ever develop, and began working with a dark greatsword that weighed two thousand jin, far past what an ordinary man could lift, let alone swing. When the Iron Knight trials opened, Edward entered them to clear his mother's name. He fought Cain and beat him. The trials were run under rules set by William, who judged candidates by bloodline rather than skill, and Edward's birth put him at the bottom of that ladder no matter what he did in the ring. He kept winning anyway. His masters spoke up for him, and knights who had once looked down on him began kneeling before him as his strength became impossible to explain away. The suppression continued, blood rules and all, but the proof of what he could do was already in front of everyone. Edward took off his family crest and left his father, who by then regretted how things had gone for Anna and for his son. Edward founded his own order, one that judged knights by what they did rather than who their parents were, and stepped into the position of a king without a crown.