NOVGO.NET Chapter 413: The lighter path.
Chapter 413: The lighter path.
In a large hall near the square, around a hundred captured provisioners were held captive—all of them sitting together, their hands bound with ropes, guarded by men of the Watch.
The air was heavy with their mutters, fear, and anger. Some kept their heads low, others whispered among themselves, waiting for what was to come.
And finally, it began.
The doors of the Hall opened and Matriarch Morvain walked in.
The hall fell silent at once, the Men of the Watch moved their right fists onto their chests, doing the traditional Velmourn salute.
Morvain nodded at them, her tall figure, wrapped in her fur cloak, looked colder than the snow falling outside.
The Matriarch then stared at the Men of the Watch and—
“Leave.”
She ordered.
“But Matria—”
The Watch’s Sergeant, the one who led this operation together with Kael, tried to reason but—
“I said leave.”
Morvain repeated, looking right into the man’s eyes. The Sergeant momentarily stiffened up, he then stared at the tied provisioners before staring at the cold Matriarch and very quickly, he realized it.
None of these provisioners were nearly strong enough to hurt the Matriarch. Even if they tried to use their numbers against her, the Matriarch would be able to hold on until the rest of them came here and protected her.
The Matriarch was safe.
“As you command, Matriarch.”
In the end, the Sergeant bowed his head, he then stared at the rest of his men and nodded.
The men nodded back and in an orderly fashion, every one of them, together with the Sergeant, left the Hall, leaving the Matriarch alone with the provisioners.
Morvain finally stood in front of the provisioners, her sharp eyes scanning every face in the room.
The provisioners stared back at her, Morvain could see some of them looking at her with hopeful eyes, expecting her to help them and get them out of this place now that she was finally here.
But…
“You will all remain silent during your punishment.”
The Matriarch spoke in a heavy, dismissive voice.
“You will walk to the square, you will bow your heads, you will apologize. And you will not run your mouths about things best left buried. Do you understand?”
For a moment, no one answered, seemingly taken aback by her words, but when they finally realized that she was planning on abandoning them—
A man with a scarred cheek stood up, his voice trembling but his eyes remained full of defiance.
“Understand? We understand plenty, Matriarch.”
He began.
“We stole because you told us to. And now you want us to suffer while you stay clean? We won’t take the blame alone.”
He hissed in annoyance. He wasn’t going to sit and take the blame without any resistance.
And with his initiation, murmurs rippled through the room.
“That’s right.”
“We only followed orders!”
“It wasn’t our fault, it was yours!”
As more and more provisioners began to speak, the scarred man looked right into Morvain’s eyes and—
“We didn’t say anything when Dragon Rider Kael captured us because we decided to wait for you to come and solve the situation peacefully,
But if your idea of solving this situation is to let us take the blame, I can assure you, Matriarch.
It will not go your way.”
The man then narrowed his eyes and—
“Do not force us to expose you, Matriarch.
Because if we are punished for the crimes we didn’t commit,
We will make sure your truth doesn’t stay hidden either.”
He spoke directly, not hiding his intentions.
“Exactly!”
“Get us out of here or be ready to fall together with us!”
“We won’t stay silent!”
“Yes! We will reveal your truth!”
The rest of the provisioners raised their voices as well, threatening the Matriarch, and while some of them still remained silent, their gazes made it clear that they were together with the rest.
No one was willing to take the blame. Even if some of them were, with the rest of them raising their voices, their thoughts began to change as well.
But…
Morvain didn’t say anything, her eyes moved slowly across them and in her usual, low but cold voice,
“Expose me, then. Tell them the truth.
Let’s see how many of them will believe you.”
She spoke in a carefree tone.
“…what?”
The scarred man narrowed his eyes as Morvain placed her hands behind her back and walked towards them—
“Before you do something foolish.
Ask yourselves—who will the people believe?
You, the proven thieves?
Or me, their Matriarch, the woman they have followed for years?”
The Matriarch questioned and very quickly, the murmurs began.
After all, the provisioners already knew the answer to that question.
Another provisioner, a younger woman, shouted.
“You can’t threaten us like this! We bled for these people too! We worked those stalls day and night, we stood on stalls even when heavy snow fell on us—!”
“And yet,”
Morvain cut her off coldly,
“You also lined your pockets. You kept what was never yours. Do not pretend you are saints.”
“This is wrong! You’re pushing us under the snow to save your own skin.”
A man spat on the floor, his anger couldn’t be hidden.
“Wrong?”
Morvain tilted her head, looking right into the man’s eyes in an intimidating manner,
“I stole from my own people.
Did you think I was a good person?”
The man flinched at those words, his eyes widening in shock. It seemed like he was seeing the Matriarch’s new face, a face he had never seen before.
And it wasn’t just him, even the provisioners Morvain wasn’t staring at looked down, fear creeping into their eyes.
“T-This is tyranny.”
One of them muttered bitterly and Morvain—
“Yes. It is tyranny.”
She nodded, agreeing without hesitation.
“And tyranny keeps you alive.
Remember that when you stand in the square.”
She answered in a heavy, oppressive voice.
“If we shout the truth, if we say you ordered this, the people will turn on you!”
Another angry voice spoke from the back.
“No, they won’t.”
The Matriarch, however, shook her head in a calm voice.
“They will laugh in your faces. They will say you’re cowards, inventing lies to save your own hides.
Do not forget what you are.
You are thieves, and thieves have no honor.
Your words do not amount to anything.”
“…”
“…”
Silence.
Absolute silence fell over the place.
The provisioners all stared at each other with uncertain looks on their faces. After all, they all knew it as well.
The people had almost blind faith in the Matriarch, heck, even they were no exception. Despite knowing that the Matriarch was the one who allowed them to steal from the old, never once did they think she was a bad leader or someone who would betray them.
That was simply how charismatic this woman was.
There was no way the people who had only seen her perfect side would ever doubt her.
Finally, Morvain took a deep breath and—
“You have two paths ahead of you.”
She began, her words attracting the provisioners’ attention.
“You can make this easy by taking the punishment silently. The punishment might be harsh, but the Velmourn blood in you has faced worse, it won’t kill you, but it will end the matter right there and I will be owing you one.
Or you can make this worse, resist, reveal the truth, go against what I want you to do and… even if you manage to get a few people on your side,
You will have me as your enemy.”
The Matriarch then stared at the scarred man and—
“And I assure you,
I will not forget what you chose.
I will target you with every chance I get, I will make your life here in the heights worse than everything you have experienced so far, so much that death will feel like a light escape.”
The woman then glanced at the rest of the provisioners and—
“I was already called a Monster today—
Do not make me unleash that Monster inside of me because this will not end well for any one of you.”
She threatened directly before she took another light breath, calming her gaze and—
“I am offering you the lighter path.
Take it.”
The provisioners exchanged glances again, one by one, their shoulders slumped. A few cursed under their breath, showing their frustration, but no one dared speak loudly.
“…we will do it,”
One finally muttered.
“Public apology and punishment,
We… we accept it.”
He lowered his head.
The rest of the provisioners nodded with the same reaction, all agreeing to taking the ‘lighter path’.
The scarred man looked at her one last time and—
“But don’t forget,
You owe us one!”
And for the first time ever since she came here, the Matriarch smiled lightly and nodded,
“You have made a wise decision, you will not regret it.”
The scarred man just clicked his tongue and lowered his gaze, he didn’t like how he was at the short end of the stick, but he knew he had no choice.
Morvain on the other hand, just glanced at the provisioners and—
“Now prepare yourselves.
The people are waiting.”
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