If such is their decision, I would entirely expect some to make the attempt to come after them. It is also possible that, failing that, the aggrieved may take out their frustration upon those that defeated the original king for allowing them to leave. To what extent, I could not say.

However, if the knights were to relapse into the behaviours they exhibited under the fallen king, I would not be surprised if society fully turned on those they once perceived as heroes.