I suspect not following the orders of a prince would have repercussions to the knights' families, otherwise the internal thoughts about knighthood and honor wouldn't really make sense (as if they know it's wrong, normally they just wouldn't do it).
Janet, so far you’ve shown yourself to be a smart and capable diplomat, please don’t let your solution be ‘annihilate the Pareiah Tribe’ like most cliche sniveling politicians would.