She poured out the things she knew, one after another:
From Frost Fierce’s supply at the border to the line of sentries Titus set in the north, from the secret conflicts between the tribes to how the war with the Axebreaker tribe was being fought...
She spoke faster and faster, more and more chaotically, as if the long-suppressed emotions had completely collapsed, dumping out everything she knew.
There was no longer any resistance to the interrogator in the dungeon, no longer any of the Barbarian Warrior’s pride.
Sif listened till the end, without saying a word beyond what was necessary.
She just whispered, "Close the door."
The iron door slamd shut, the sound of heavy locks echoing down the corridor, lingering.
Visa still sat in the corner.
She tightly hugged her knees, burying her face in the crook of her arm, as if her entire being had collapsed.
Promises, battle flags, glory... all seed to have turned into a silent joke.
......
Night fell heavy, the lights in the Red Tide tower dim and faint.
Sif walked up to the assembly hall, the echo of boots on the corridor clear and cold.
She did not knock, but pushed the door open and entered.
Louis was leaning over his desk arranging so drawings, hearing the door, he looked up and raised an eyebrow, as if he already sensed sothing off about her expression.
"What did they say?" he asked, his tone steady.
Sif did not answer, rely walked forward in silence.
She stood in front of his desk for a few seconds, her expression like stone, hard and cold, yet the next mont, the emotions buried for so long finally collapsed.
She softly began to speak, "It’s Titus, it’s him... they all say he killed my father."
Her voice was as thin as a needle, yet carried the utmost of suppressed sobs.
"He’s my brother... the person I trusted most since childhood. He even taught archery, he was still by my side when Father died... how could he..."
She suddenly sat down on the chair, burying her face in her palms.
"I stayed here, I stood up again, I even... thought I no longer hated.
But I can’t deceive myself, I haven’t let go at all.
They said I betrayed Cold Moon, but Cold Moon was gone long ago!"
She was nearly losing control, tears silently sliding down, tears falling onto the intricate tal clasp in front of her, gradually blurring the stubbornness she had suppressed for so long.
Louis did not offer any unnecessary words, gently pulling her onto his lap, letting her lean closer, his palm softly caressing her back.
In that mont, she did not resist.
She leaned into his embrace, as if finally not needing to face everything alone.
Heavy betrayal, the hatred of extermination, the tearing and guilt within blood ties, all like a tidal wave, inch by inch subrging her in this quiet office.
"You’ve done very well," Louis murmured.
Sif did not respond, just buried her face deeper into his shoulder, like a child finally allowed to be weak.
After a long silence, Louis gently said, "Get so sleep first, the rest... we’ll handle it slowly."
Sif nodded slightly, her eyes red as she stood up, gave Louis a glance, and turned to walk out of the office.
The door closed, so quiet it was as if nothing had happened.
Not long after, an official holding a black leather dossier entered, placing a sealed docunt on the long table in front of Louis.
"The record of Miss Sif’s conversation with Scout leader Visa," he bowed slightly.
Louis nodded, and after the person left, he opened the seal and flipped through the thick record book.
The handwriting was neat, the sentences precise, the recorder nearly word-for-word replicating the emotionally suppressed yet information-rich conversation.
His eyes quickly scanned each line, the lines between his brows deepening with a few key phrases.
This conversation between Visa and Sif, was starkly honest, almost piercing, with no concealnt, and hardly any misleading.
Combined with the recent strands of evidence pieced together in his Daily Intelligence System about Frost Fierce tribe...
This testimony could almost be deed highly credible.
"Titus..." he softly read out the na, his fingertip lightly tapping the edge of the page.
Once a mber of Cold Moon’s bloodline, yet swiftly rising to power after Cold Moon’s demise, annexing the old faction, re-establishing the system under the banner of Frost Fierce, acting cleanly and decisively without hesitation.
Not to ntion that mysterious Burning Pain Vine Court power, proving extrely troubleso.
Louis slowly closed the intelligence, gently exhaled, got up and walked to the window, gazing far out at the antenna snowfield beyond the city walls in the night.
For so reason, he had a clear premonition: the direct confrontation with Titus was not far off.
And he would, for Sif, and for himself, settle this bloody account, one by one.
User Comments
0 comments from readers