“You just ran out of camp?” Alistair asked, for not the first time that day, and Liliana was afraid it wouldn’t be the last.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it running, more we snuck out,” Emyr piped up from where he was sitting, leaning against Lelantos in Alistair’s tent. Liliana wasn’t sure what happened in the four days they were gone, but somehow her brother had managed to get a tent that was at least half the size of her home back on Earth.

“You just snuck out of camp, chased down a dangerous creature we had very little intel on. Then, when you found said creature, you saw it was two Ranks above you and still thought it was a good idea to fight it?” Alistair revised his earlier question, his voice rising more and more. Liliana stared at him and popped a grape into her mouth.

“To be fair, at that point we tried to run away,” Liliana answered him with a shrug as she grabbed another grape to eat.

“So why didn’t you run away?!” Alistair was nearly yelling now and Lelantos growled, pawing at his ears and shooting the boy a glare.

Alistair cleared his throat bashfully, but his worry was still clear on his face. That same worry had been what finally tipped Liliana over the cliff she’d been standing on, and made her let him back in. She still held that poisonous secret close to her chest, but the worry that had been on Alistair’s face when they came back a day late was too much. She couldn't keep hurting all of them like this.

“I couldn’t recall Lelantos,” Liliana answered his question and Alistair groaned, rubbing his eyes roughly with his hands.

“How does that translate to both of you getting impaled by a giant, enraged, venomous snake?” Alistair questioned, not looking at either of them as he ran his hands through his hair, mussing up what was already becoming a tangled mess of braids.

“I had to save her life,” Emyr answered plainly.

Liliana shot him a thankful look. Not the first. She’d cried when he’d finally woken up, hugging him and further sullying his muddied and bloodied clothing. No one had ever risked their life to save hers before, and it meant more to her than words could ever do justice. She could now understand why Alistair’s view on her had shifted so much after the bandits when she’d thrown herself in front of Emyr to save him. She supposed they were even now, in a sense, but she didn’t think she could ever really repay him. And maybe that was why Emyr had pushed so hard to be friends, and why he and Alistair had been so hurt when she pulled away.

The selfless act of willingly throwing yourself between someone and certain death was something that would bond people together more so than anything else. Liliana had never really thought of what it had felt like to be on the receiving end of that, but she felt she could understand the increased goodwill of her brother afterwards. If she had a friend as precious to her as Emyr was to Alistair, and someone risked their life to save them, she’d be indebted to them as well, no matter her feelings for them previously.

“The serpent looked sad,” Liliana answered as she turned to look at her brother again, a small smirk on her lips. Alistair looked at her as if he thought she’d fully gone mad, and Liliana had some concern that he’d begin pulling his hair out at the root.

“I’m sorry, the deadly, murderous two ton snake looked sad?!” Alistair asked, his voice shrill. Lelantos growled again and Nemesis, who had been resting around Liliana’s neck, lifted her head to hiss at the distressed noble.

Liliana only had her out in the comfort of the tent, already finding out the hard way that the snake didn’t take well to being around too many humans. Nemesis didn’t mind her Bond, and she seemed to favor Emyr, but one other human was her limit. When the guards had found the four of them, Liliana had been violently awoken from her healing sleep by Nemesis panicking and about to attack the guards. Liliana had to order the guards back to the point they weren’t visible before she could calm Nemesis enough to get her to align herself with a summoning stone, so Liliana could send her into stasis.

Liliana knew they’d have to work on that, but she also knew that being so close to her garden’s home and grave was making the serpent agitated. Being close to the humans who had killed the serpent’s family was only making her more upset. Liliana lifted a hand and gently stroked the serpent’s scales until she calmed and resettled around her neck.

“She lost her entire family, Alistair. She was, is, a hurting child,” Liliana chastised her brother with a sharp glance. Alistair opened his mouth before closing it and mumbling quietly.

“Besides, Amelia put us on house arrest, or is it camp arrest? Tent arrest?” Liliana tilted her head, tapping her chin as she considered the correct vernacular to describe their punishment.

She and Emyr weren’t allowed to leave the camp unless it was with Amelia or Jason. They even had two guards, each dedicated solely to shadowing their steps. Liliana wasn’t too concerned. She didn’t want to sneak out again right now. Not with the villagers so close, and her own Bond still volatile. She knew the restrictions would itch more on the way home, but if they had the villagers as prisoners, it might be a good thing. Nemesis might very well decide justice was taking too long and try to settle the debt on her own.

Liliana was more concerned about the punishment for the guards who had been with them, and who had ultimately allowed them to escape. Even Jason hadn’t escaped a month’s worth of latrine duty, increased training and watch shifts. Liliana had only just stopped Amelia from ordering a flogging of the guards involved. She couldn’t stand the thought of the guards being so viciously punished for something that was her own fault. She and Emyr should’ve been punished far harsher than they were, but at the end of the day there was only so much Amelia could do to nobles. Guards, however, didn’t share the same protection granted to her by her noble status.

Liliana knew she wouldn’t be punished when she got home. Her father would be too happy about her not only bonding with a rare creature, but an unheard of variant of said creature. Liliana already had a headache thinking of the amount of balls, galas and tea parties she’d be going to at her father’s behest to show off his ‘prodigy’. But it would make it harder for Imogen to move when Liliana was home and under her father’s eye and favor. Liliana just hoped she’d have the time when she got home to finally find proof of Imogen’s crimes. Deals with not one, but two assassins, had to leave some sort of trail. Someone had to have seen Imogen contacting the assassins. If not a witness, a paper trail or some proof of the deal had to exist.

With her decision to let both Emyr and Alistair back into her life, even if she kept her secrets, the idea of staying in the camp wasn’t awful. It may give her time to figure out how to destroy the cursed pendant she had as well. Perhaps she could even use it as a bonding exercise. What brought people together better than destroying ancient, cursed artifacts?

“Has there been an update on the village?” Emyr asked, distracting Alistair from his mumblings. For the best, as Liliana thought she’d heard him considering shipping the two of them to an asylum. She hadn’t even known this world had those.

“It’s… not good,” Alistair answered, his hands dropping and his face serious. Liliana sat up straight on her pillow and faced her brother. Amelia and Jason had both been too angry at her, Emyr, and the guards who had lost them to update them on the village situation. Nemesis raised her own head, hissing lightly at the mention of the village. Liliana raised a hand to stroke the snake.

“Have they tried running?” Liliana asked, worried. Alistair shook his head, and his eyes darted to Emyr.

“They won’t. This is their home, for generations. For the same reason, they didn’t leave when they knew we were coming. They won’t run now. Commoners are stubborn,” Alistair scowled at that, and Liliana shifted uncomfortably. Her brother looked at her and Liliana read shame on his features. He was obviously still struggling with the classicist discrimination his mother had taught him.

“It’s the same reason a noble won’t abandon their territory,“ Emyr jumped in and Alistair gave him a grateful look.

“To these people, the land they live on is as much a part of them as their family name, besides what would they do if they ran? We have their recorded names, classes, levels and even appearance because of the bi-yearly census,” Alistair continued, and Liliana nodded, gnawing her bottom lip as she thought.

The bi-yearly census was something she’d learned of only recently. As a noble, she had to partake in it and had once already in this life. But it hadn’t been in the game, likely because it was irrelevant to the gameplay. Realm of Hope had been an RPG, not a kingdom building game. The census was done twice yearly because of how much people’s levels could change. And certain things were allocated based on the levels of the people in the area. Dungeons were the easiest example. If the dungeon was too low or too high for the average levels of the surrounding area, it needed to be handled. But the census also meant it was easier to track down criminals as they usually had fairly updated information on all citizens in the territory.

“So, are they going to give themselves up?” Liliana asked, though she wasn’t hopeful for the answer.

“Maybe. We have some scouts that can sneak into the village and have been gathering information. Seems the population is almost evenly split between those who want to give the list of names, and those who want to fight,” Alistair answered, and Liliana frowned.

“From what we gathered, it looks like it wasn’t the entire village who was part of the mob, though we can’t tell if any of them tried to stop it,” Alistair elaborated further, and Liliana looked up.

“Will they be punished too?” Liliana asked, and Alistair grimaced.

“If they give over the ones who took part? Likely nothing more than increased taxes. If the village attacks us, though, all of them will be branded as criminals. With the least of their crimes being insurrection,” Alistair said quietly.

His face was taunt and Liliana could see the stress weighing on him. He might not yet see commoners as equal, but he understood these would one day be his people, the people he was meant to govern and protect. Now he was seeing the dark side of nobility, the bloody part that held hands with the glamorous one. As much as being a Duke was lavish mansions, beautiful balls and lovely ladies throwing themselves at you, so too was it wiping out a village when they rebelled to stop the infection before it spread too deep.

Liliana could objectively understand the why behind the decisions being made. She was just glad she wasn’t the one who had to make those choices, not today, not ever. She couldn’t believe the pendant had tried to manipulate her into believing she wanted the duchy. Liliana wanted no part of having that much power over the lives of others. With a single word, her father could sentence hundreds to die. Eventually, Alistair would have that power. As she looked at her brother, Liliana thought to herself that he would be far better suited to it.

“So it’s death for a fraction of them to save the whole, or death for all of them,” Liliana surmised, and Alistair nodded, his eyes shadowed.

Insurrection was a death penalty, no trial, just death. Sometimes trials would be held but usually insurrectionist fought to the death and it was thought better to preserve the lives of the guards or military men and women fighting them than risk them trying to capture rebels. It was far more dangerous for their people to try to capture those attempting to kill them.

“Logically, the best choice is to give us the list, and save the village as whole,” Alistair trailed off, looking down at his hands.

“But logic rarely plays a part where emotions are concerned,” Emyr finished for him softly. Alistair nodded and didn’t lift his head.

Liliana drew her knees to her chest. She didn’t know what to say or do in this situation. She knew in books or shows the main character always had some brilliant idea to get everyone what they wanted. But this wasn’t a show or a book. It was real, and there were no pretty answers that would solve all their problems. She still felt hatred for the villagers, both from what she’d seen and from Nemesis. It was even worse now because the villagers hadn’t only killed an entire garden of rare, harmless, and helpful magical beasts. They’d slaughtered her Bond’s entire family. Nemesis’ mother, her father, her clutch mates. And Nemesis hadn’t been able to do anything but watch.

Liliana’s nightmares were now a replaying of that night from her Bond’s view. She had to relive what Nemesis had gone through. She got to feel as the young serpent snuck out of her mother’s nest to chase after some night bird. Liliana had felt the childish joy and excitement and then the serpent’s fear when she tasted smoke and blood on the wind. Nemesis’ despair, confusion, and fear as she saw her family being murdered. As she watched her father, her great hundred foot long father, the patriarch of their garden, trying to shield his clan with his bulky body. She got to watch as the serpent’s mother burned to death, wrapped around her unborn eggs. Nemesis watched her aunts, her uncles, her grandparents, cousins and siblings dying. Torn apart, some still alive, by crazed humans. She’d seen everything she loved and knew burnt to ashes.

So Liliana knew she was no impartial party on this matter. She held her tongue because the only suggestion on it was to set the entire village aflame. To let them know the pain her Bond had suffered. But that wasn’t justice, that was cruelty, and she could understand that. She wouldn’t let herself, or her Bond, become the very thing that had started this whole mess. Justice needed to be done properly. And the only way to see it done was to take those who had a hand in the massacre and put them on trial to see their earned fate.

“Are there truth spells? Or potions? We could use?” Liliana asked hesitantly, and Alistair shook his head with a dry laugh.

“If there was, we would have no crime at all, but no. Truth spells don’t exist and truth potions are rare and expensive for even a few drops,” Alistair answered her and Liliana lowered her head. She hugged her knees tighter to her chest as her fingers pulled at the seams of her pants.

Nemesis rubbed her petaled head against Liliana’s cheek. The serpent knew she was upset, and she didn’t like it very much. Nemesis had grown frighteningly attached in very little time, and Liliana attributed it to both the serpent’s age and her nature of being a creature used to a group. She disliked being in stasis and would only put up with it for a few hours, and when she was out, she was glued to Liliana. Only releasing her hold to sit on Lelantos’ head. Or once, Emyr.

Liliana looked at Nemesis as an idea formed in her head. She tilted her head to the side, and the serpent pulled back to mimic the motion. Liliana stared at the serpent for a long few moments before she patted her head and turned back to her brother.

“What if we knocked them all out?”