Chapter 412: I will ensure their silence.
“I will be wherever you are,
But…
If you leave after seeing every single inconvenience,
We won’t have a place to live.”
Lavinia answered as she looked into Kael’s eyes, and Kael… after a brief silence, he asked another question with an uncertain look on his face,
“…so should we just ignore what they did?”
“No.”
Lavinia shook her head.
“We need to understand why they did it because their choice most certainly wasn’t wrong.”
“…”
Kael narrowed his eyes at those words, but Lavinia didn’t back down,
“They said it themselves, Kael.
They didn’t have a choice.”
“They killed their own people—worse, they starved them to death.”
Kael countered.
“What would you have done? Feed the old?”
“Yes.”
“What about the Ergency Ration then?”
“I would have found a way.”
Kael answered confidently, but Lavinia—
“What way, Kael?”
She questioned directly.
“What way?”
She repeated her question.
“I… I would have tried to farm on the mountain lands.”
“That would be too dangerous. Not only would you be attacked by the wild, the Tribesn won’t leave you alone either. Your way would put the farrs at a greater risk; it might even get them killed.”
Lavinia shook her head, discarding this idea.
“Then instead of letting the old take the burden of saving food, I would have taken food from every Velmourn. This way, even if people remained hungry, they wouldn’t starve to death.”
“So instead of living a fulfilling life, you wish to torture them to live a life full of empty stomachs while they are forced to work? Wouldn’t you say death is a sweeter release than a life like that?
And what if your people start collapsing after months or years of not being fed properly? What would you do then? What if this happens during a famine, where you have already used all your ergency rations? What then?”
“…”
Kael didn’t say anything.
He… couldn’t say anything.
In the end, Kael was rely a student who was suddenly given too much power. He didn’t understand most things. He may know what was right and wrong, but in the end, he still couldn’t look at things from a grander perspective.
He was too kind-hearted to take important, cruel decisions that are good for the long run.
In the end, he could only stand, clenching his fists in frustration when suddenly, Lavinia gently held his hands and—
“There are tis when you need to prepare your heart to take a decision your mind knows is correct.
A cruel, repulsive, but correct decision.
That is what it ans to be a leader.”
Kael stared into Lavinia’s eyes, his heavy heart calming a little as he tightened his hold on her hands.
Then after a brief silence,
“…then what about the punishnt?”
Kael questioned.
“Are we going to punish the Provisioners for their corruption? If they were doing everything for the good of their people, wouldn’t it be wrong to punish them?”
Lavinia smiled at that.
“Since you are asking that, I take it that we won’t be leaving the Heights anyti soon, correct?”
“Do you want to?”
Kael questioned, and at that question, Lavinia stayed silent for a mont.
Did she want to leave?
Maybe…
Sowhere in her heart, she wanted to leave it all and stay on so faraway island with just her and Kael…
It was sothing her heart craved all along.
A place where she wouldn’t have to worry about people stealing her Kael away from her.
But…
As she stared at Kael and the powers he was blessed with—
It was clear that he wasn’t a player who could stay out of the ga for long.
They needed power.
And to get that power, they needed to follow through with her plans.
In the end, Lavinia just took a deep breath and—
“I do not.”
She answered Kael’s question, and the Hero smiled,
“Then we won’t be leaving.”
Lavinia smiled back.
For a mont, the two just stared at each other. Lavinia’s face flushed for a mont when her eyes fell on Kael’s lips—the sa lips she attacked while Kael was asleep.
“Are you alright?”
Kael questioned.
“H-Huh? Oh, yes, I am. I was just thinking about the question you asked.”
The Mage quickly changed the topic.
“The public punishnts, huh…”
Kael muttered.
Lavinia nodded slowly, and then she ca up with the decision,
“Let us leave it to the Matriarch.”
She spoke as she glanced at Kael and—
“The Ants are already keeping an eye on the Council Elders, correct?
Let them be the ones to make the decision. We will just obediently follow what they co up with.”
She suggested.
Kael stayed silent for a while, as if thinking it through. Then, he smiled lightly and—
“They would know better.”
He nodded, agreeing with her suggestion.
“Let us let them do their thing, while we return and get so rest. We have so ti till the punishnt, no?”
“We do.”
Lavinia nodded with a smile as she let Kael take her to their ho to get so rest.
…
Back in the Elders’ Hall, right after Kael and Lavinia left, a heavy silence fell over the place. No one said anything. The Elders stared at the floor, Kael’s words echoing in their heads—so felt uncomfortable, others simply clenched their teeth in helplessness and frustration.
“Monsters, huh…”
The Matriarch muttered with a heavy sigh, ending the minute-long silence. Her words attracted the Elders’ attention as she forced a smile on her face,
“What else did we expect to hear?
We are people who let the people who have given their all for us starve to death. What are we if not that?”
“…”
“…”
None of the Elders denied those words—heck, they didn’t even raise their heads. They just continued to listen to the Matriarch’s words, silently agreeing with them.
“Maybe people like us truly should not survive; maybe our blood should perish—”
Morvain continued, slowly turning towards the window, watching the snow that had been falling for more than twenty-four hours without stop.
“And maybe the world is making sure of that.”
She spoke as she walked towards the window and stared at the gloomy sky with dark clouds and no signs of the sun showing itself.
“The world doesn’t want us to live. Maybe it is the punishnt for the cris of our ancestors, or maybe it is the consequence of our own mistakes—we won’t know. This isn’t sothing that is in our hands.”
Then, the Matriarch turned back towards the Elders under her command and—
“But what is in our hands is the decision to struggle.”
She began. The Elders finally raised their heads and glanced at her.
“Even when the world wants us to perish,
we will struggle to survive till we can.
Because that is what we do.
That is what the Velmourn blood running in our veins wants us to do.”
The Elders nodded, their eyes showing their determination to survive.
“How are the preparations for the public punishnt?”
Morvain questioned, beginning their work again.
“Everything is prepared. People should start gathering at the square within half an hour.”
Aelindra reported.
“But Matriarch, would it be right to punish them?”
Suddenly, Draksis, the Leader of the Forge, questioned. Just like Kael, he had the sa question in his mind.
“They did what they did because we told them to.
Should they be punished for following orders?”
“They did what they did because they wanted to.”
The oldest Elder, Nyris, the High Chronicler, answered, her intelligent eyes staring at Draksis.
“They knew what they were doing was wrong; they knew what they were doing could never be revealed to the people.
Even if they did what they did for the sake of those sa people, in the end, the fact that they benefited from it cannot be denied.
They have been enjoying the privilege of having the power of rations for a long ti now.
It is ti to pay the price for it.”
The High Chronicler declared.
“What if… they reveal the truth?”
Tarevian questioned.
This was what he feared the most.
What if, to avoid the punishnt, they reveal the truth about this in front of the people? What would happen to the Velmourn unity once the people learned the truth?
“It would be their words against ours.”
Nyris shook her head.
“There are no records of stolen rations being handed to us. Even if they reveal the truth, in the end, the people will need to choose between trusting the corrupt criminals or the Elders who have been working for the people’s betternt.
The choice is obvious.
Even if there are doubts, those doubts will be eased with ti.”
The High Chronicler explained.
“If it cos to it, those people will bring up the existence of Ergency Rations and every ti they were used.
When more questions are raised, those doubts would only get stronger.”
The Voice of the Commonfolk was still worried.
But then—
“Don’t worry; all of that won’t happen.”
Morvain spoke with a confident look on her face.
“I will talk to them.”
She declared.
“Talk to who…?”
Tarevian raised his brow, and—
“The Provisioners.”
Morvain answered.
“I will ensure their silence.”
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