With the guidance of the soldiers, Lind arrived at a secret door. As the door slowly opened, a staircase leading underground was revealed. In the room below, a lantern emitted a soft glow that illuminated the stairs.
Lind followed the guards down the staircase and entered the hidden room, which felt oppressive. The air was heavy and damp, and the room was filled with the smell of decaying wooden tables and chairs. Doug was locked in this room, wearing handcuffs.
When Doug saw Lind arrive, White stepped forward and said, “After seeing the Demon Clan’s defeat, Doug chose not to escape. Instead, he sent a decoy with guards to flee to the Surde Region while he hid in the castle’s secret chamber.”
So it wasn’t White who confined Doug here; it was Doug’s own choice to stay behind, and the handcuffs were put on him later.
Seeing Lind enter the secret chamber, Doug’s eyes began to dart around, carefully inspecting Lind’s surroundings in the soft yet somewhat dim light.
“There’s no need to look,” Lind interrupted Doug’s last semblance of hope. “Lena didn’t come.”
Doug’s thoughts mirrored those of his two younger brothers. Although he was guilty of serious crimes, if Lena had been there, he might have managed to survive. This was also why Doug did not flee towards the Demon Clan; he had become useless, and whether he could escape to the Demon Clan’s dominion was uncertain. It was unclear if they would take him in.
Better to act contrary to the expected and hide in the secret chamber, waiting for Lena to arrive and plead for his life.
Unfortunately, Doug was still pulled out by White. However, Doug remained calm; after all, at his level, White couldn’t do much to him.
But when he saw Lind appear before him without Lena, Doug truly panicked. It was clear that Lind had no intention of giving him a chance to plead for mercy.
“Can we reach an understanding?”
“An understanding? At this moment? Doug, you must be joking.”
Lind was almost amused by Doug’s request. With Lind’s order, several guards quickly restrained Doug, preparing to drag him out of the secret chamber.
“No, Lind Ror, you can’t do this to me!”
Seeing that Lind was unmoved, Doug’s last line of defense crumbled, and he began to shout frantically, “I am also a governor appointed by the Royal Capital! We have a second-degree relationship, you have no right to judge me!”
“You cursed bastard, I am the rightful heir of Lars. You are nothing but an outsider, you…”
Doug still wanted to say something more when a guard stuffed a rag in his mouth to silence him.
“Lord Governor…”
White approached Lind and inquired about the next action.
“Let’s begin the trial immediately. Call the remaining residents of the Outer District as well; the quicker, the better.”
After receiving his orders, White left, and as Lind felt the oppressive atmosphere of the secret chamber, he ultimately made up his mind to leave the castle dungeon.
Some things needed to be resolved swiftly. Although Lena had little political intelligence, she was not foolish. The longer things dragged on, the more likely she would catch on.
Thus, Lind needed to handle matters before Lena could react.
Although he considered having a proper conversation with Lena, to be honest, Lind wasn’t confident he could persuade her; rather, he felt he would be the one persuaded by Lena. After all, now in Graywhite Territory, as long as Lena wished to protect someone, she would certainly succeed.
Moreover, the most critical issue was that there were actions Lena could not take, even participate in; such brutal actions could only be completed by Lind alone.
White understood what Lind was thinking, so he acted quickly to gather the remaining residents of the Outer District.
It’s uncertain whether White was genuinely in a hurry or if there truly weren’t many people left in the Outer District, but the crowd that came to witness the trial was quite sparse.
However, Lind did not mind; this trial was not solely for these people to witness but also included the trembling nobles.
Soon, Doug’s two younger brothers were brought up. To prevent these former candidates for governor from swaying the crowd with their words, their mouths were also covered.
This trial was personally overseen by Lind, with Lucanus presiding over it.
Lucanus took the stage, speaking in the tone of a bard, rhythmically narrating the crimes of the two.
To be honest, these two hadn’t done much wrong; they were merely backups for Doug and had supported him. However, compared to Doug, shedding their identities, their involvement in the murder of Duke Lars was enough to merit a gruesome fate.
It was evident that the two were so frightened they had almost wet themselves. They had never expected Lind to carry out the execution so swiftly and decisively.
The only good news was that Lind did not intend to torture the two; they would be executed immediately.
The method of execution was beheading, which could be seen as a form of mercy; this was almost the least painful way to die. At least Lind did not intend to engage in any forms of grotesque torture and had specifically instructed the executioner to be clean and not to inflict too much suffering on Lena’s uncles.
Ordinary criminals were usually executed by axe, but this time Lind chose a sword, not out of respect for the nobility’s death rituals, but because he still opted for dignity.
Before long, the trial for the two uncles concluded, and the executioner acted promptly; after all, a human neck was considerably weaker than that of a demon.
As for Doug’s charges, they were lengthy, ranging from the murder of Duke Lars to being stripped of his identity, and colluding with the Demon Clan. Just the charges themselves were enough to condemn Doug several times over.
Seeing Doug in the same situation, the surrounding nobles were terrified; these charges could easily be levied against Doug, but couldn’t similarly apply to them?
Doug struggled continuously, obviously unwilling to accept such an outcome, but a single line from Lucanus quieted him.
“If you keep squirming, it might not just be one swing of the sword.”
Lucanus’s tone was threatening, yet playful; it almost seemed like he was genuinely looking forward to Doug continuing to struggle, yet it also carried an aura of magic that quickly silenced Doug.
The executioner looked over at Lind, who was overseeing the execution, and upon seeing Lind nod slightly, he took the gem-inlaid sword from Doug’s castle and ended Doug’s life.
The most troublesome aspect of human affairs is that when you want to kill a person, you must also clean up their entire family.
However, strictly speaking, Lind was also kin to these people, so he couldn’t let things get out of hand or else he might be executed himself. Therefore, Lind limited the scope of the carnage, only cleaning up the close relatives of the three brothers.
As for the rest of the Lars family, Lind planned to let Lena deal with them once she arrived. Lind had played the role of the bad cop; it was now Lena’s turn to take on the role of the good cop.
Thus, the life of another governor of the Northern Border came to an end, and now, the Northern Border had only one master left.
