758 Chapter 756-Time For The Traitor(3)
The tension in the room thickened as Draxton"s broken form was dragged into the chamber, and the reactions of the QuiverLords were mixed. Their discomfort was evident, each of them feeling a pang in their heart seeing the situation of the one that had crawled to the top with them.
Vexa"s golden eyes narrowed, but her usual predatory playfulness was muted. She still sat with authority, her gaze shifting between Draxton and me as if trying to reconcile the brutality before her. Eldon looked down at his bow, his fingers tracing the wood with a soft sigh, while Sylvanna"s sharp eyes bore into me, demanding an answer without words.
Ragar shifted comfortably in his seat. Malek, meanwhile, remained as cold and detached as ever, his crimson eyes glinting under the hood as he silently observed.
Faelan glanced briefly at Draxton, then back at me. Though quiet, there was a storm brewing in his eyes, the kind of storm that only someone deeply conflicted could hide behind such an elegant facade.
And then there was Lyra. Her usual stoicism cracked, and for the first time, I saw uncertainty in her. She was struggling, just like the others. They might have despised Draxton for his betrayal, but the sight of him now, like a broken doll, was a bit too much.
I felt their judgment bearing down on me, not in overt rebellion but in the silent, aching disappointment of comrades forced into a decision they didn"t want to make. Sylvanna"s voice cut through the air.
"That"s enough. Even for a traitor, this is... excessive."
I met her gaze, allowing a moment of silence to stretch between us, then leaned forward, placing my elbows on the table. My eyes swept across the room, taking in the QuiverLords" faces before resting on Draxton, who lay in a heap at my feet.
"Excessive?" I mused aloud, my voice calm and measured. "Perhaps."
I stood, walking around the table, the echo of my boots ringing off the stone walls of the chamber. My eyes never left Draxton"s broken form as I circled him like a predator a.s.sessing its prey.
"But betrayal," I continued, "does not come without consequence. This man—" I gestured to Draxton, "—sought to tear apart everything my master built. He would have destroyed you all for his selfish ambitions."
Draxton"s eyes barely fluttered as I spoke, but the weight of my words filled the room, challenging the QuiverLords. I knew they understood the necessity of what had been done, but their hearts still ached from the sight before them.
I turned toward the table, meeting each of their gazes. "Would you prefer I had done differently? Should I have allowed him to walk free, unpunished?"
A silence settled over the room. The discomfort was still there, but none of them spoke up. Vexa"s eyes gleamed with something close to approval, her wild nature resonating with the demonstration of dominance. Eldon sighed again but remained silent. Sylvanna, for all her sharp words earlier, now looked contemplative, as if weighing my actions against her ideals.
Lyra, however, was the first to speak. "This is not about his punishment," she said softly. "It"s about the respect we once had for him. Even in defeat, there should be dignity."
I smirked at those words, my grin clear for all to see as I took a seat right back, their gaze on me as I suddenly spoke.
"Should that be the case even when he is corrupted and is part of the other side working against the world?"
My question put a dent in the room, the gazes of everyone focusing on me as I saw the sheer surprise filling their faces, and Malek was the first one to shout out.
"What kind of nonsense is this?!"
To her words, I looked at Noel, who was taking it all with a calm gaze, my signal being more than enough for him as Noel went forth to place his hand on the man"s back, a raging aura pushing against Draxton and along with it, a thin line of corruption reformed around him, the mark of the corrupted one.
And the first line of indication that he works for the other hidden side working to bring down the order of the world, and the moment that came to light, a stifling silence filled the halls.
"..."
Everyone had shut their mouths; the situation now had completely changed in another direction, the truth raw and bitter for them to swallow right in front of them as even Lyra, looking defeated, leaned against the chair. This was no longer about just betrayal of the a.s.sociation; this was a betrayal of the whole world.
"Since when?" Eldon asked his calm look lost as he, with reddened eyes, focused on Draxton, who could only look to the ground. The sign of the corrupted, the mark of the ones that work on the other side, was shown. To this, I gave my signal to Noel, who started to place some doc.u.ments on the table, each one for the QuiverLords.
And it wasn"t long after that the situation started to shift. The gazes of those who held pity now only held raging anger and disgust. Even Lyra flashed a scene of shame on her face, the rest that thought of each other as a family now only looking at each other with disbelief.
"Ho-How can this be true?" Lyra suddenly spoke, to which I, tapping on the table while leaning into the chair, suddenly spoke against her.
"So, what do you think will happen if the world gets to know about this?"
It was just a whisper from me, but I could see the shiver running through the backs of everyone in the room, their gaze having turned cold. If the truth was ever out that someone in the highest position of the archery a.s.sociation, someone who fought together with the Archery Empress, worked for the other side, a corrupted one, then no one would be able to tell how badly this a.s.sociation might fall.
Heck, they might even become a target, with even the lives of the rest of the QuiverLords also being endangered. Everything they did would be put under a microscope, their whole life to the back would be tested, and the War Council wouldn"t let this go at all. They will make sure to look through the Archery a.s.sociation inside out, and the public position they hold would fall.
The reputation of the rest of the QuiverLords would fall to the bottom. How closed must their eyes have been that they didn"t see their own comrade that fought with them as corrupted, that he was betraying them? The whole trust in the a.s.sociation would have ended the moment the truth would have come out, and it wouldn"t have been pretty at all.
"You sit in the comfy seats you have earned and have now forgotten the betrayal of the world. You shout out as if you know better than me, yet you can"t understand the situation in your own place."
I spoke, the attention of everyone on me as I looked at each and every one of them, their gaze now holding a different kind of respect for me. As I twirled my fingers, I spoke.
"So what should I do with him now?"
My words were light, to which, to my surprise, Sylvanna was the first one to speak.
"Kill him, kill him in the most brutal way possible, else condemn him to the greatest suffering."
Her words were st.i.tched with deep coldness and disgust, no hint of appreciation left in her voice because everyone who read from the proof understood the fact that even from the beginning, this was never about them together as anything. From the very beginning, he was aiming to end it all, and thus, they no longer held any emotion from them at all.
Looking to the bottom, I could see Draxton wriggling in his place, the last of his pride and hopefully crushed as the man whimpered on the floor, looking like a puppet with broken strings. My eyes then landed on Eldon, who spoke.
"Who else knows of this?"
"Other than the ones in this room, no one else, not even my master." Eldon nodded his head at those words as he spoke.
"What"s your plan forward?"
Hearing him question me back made me smile, the indicator that I have now earned their true following, making me chuckle on the inside as I spoke.
"You all know that the a.s.sociation is still rocky since Draxton has disappeared."
Everyone nodded their heads at those words. Draxton looked over his branch for a long time, he having earned their respect and loyalty from his works. On the outside, he lived a very perfect life, that"s why there was a big rock and shift the moment he seemingly disappeared, and Ragar even now doesn"t have full control of that branch.
It"s to be expected, after all, changes like this are never easy, especially when the reason for the sudden change isn"t given. It"s because of how well Ragar has dealt with the situation that the branch hasn"t fallen through, the loyal men of Draxton keeping their mouths closed under his power, but it won"t last for long.
They would need a reason, and Ragar still has to get more control, not to mention the spies we would have to root out that Draxton himself had brought in. Thus, with my smile widening through my face, I spoke.
"From now on, we will talk, we will talk about how we will put on the most elaborate script that will affect everyone in the whole world."
My manipulation genes slowly tremble within me.