Chapter 524 – Persecution
Chapter 524 – Persecution
In the dimly lit interior, a small cluster of candle flames gave off a faintly bright light, keeping the inside from falling into complete darkness.
With the help of this faint light, one could catch a glimpse of the portraits hanging on the walls of the house.
A hand like a withered twig holding scissors reached up to the candle and snapped to shorten the wick.
The candle grew brighter, illuminating the face of the hand’s owner, an old man with wrinkles covering his face, his eyelids sagging and drooping, almost completely covering his eyes, as if the old man had his eyes closed all the time.
“Alas!”
The old man let out a helpless sigh.
“Child, do you see this room full of portraits?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
A very young voice responded to the old man, the owner of the voice was standing in the shadows by the wall, he was tall and stood tall, as if he had been trained for a long time, he stood there motionless as a pine tree.
“The generations of our family’s ancestors are watching you.”
“I can feel their gaze.”
The old man nodded in satisfaction.
He approached a wall filled with portraits, probably noticing that a particular portrait was covered in dust, and pulled out a handkerchief, carefully brushing it over the portrait.
While wiping, the old man said softly:
“Our family has flourished in this village since records began.”
“We are rooted in this side of the land, we are the fruit borne by this land, and we …… are the children of this land.”
“I have always believed that nature has her own order, that the world operates with its own laws, and that human ethics are part of this innate order and law.”
“That is why we distinguish the noble from the lowly in our society as naturally as the heavens cover the earth forever.”
“And our family ……”
The watched gaze swept over a portrait
“Undoubtedly belongs among the noble in this land.”
“For centuries, we have guarded this land, we have pioneered this land, we have managed this land ……”
“The prosperity of the village cannot be separated from the hard work of our family. Under our management, the folk here are simple and the people live and work in peace and happiness ……”
The old man’s words caused the body of the man by the wall to tremble slightly, revealing the excitement within him.
“Grandfather, I have always been proud of my family.”
The old man nodded, “The family is also proud to have an outstanding child like you.”
But he immediately changed his words, his tone even took on a hint of fierceness: “Now, yet there are people who want to destroy the perfect order that already exists, in a vain attempt to bring this quiet and peaceful village into a chaotic, disordered future.”
“Oh!” The old man sighed painfully, “This is a disaster, this is the collapse of civilization, this is …… this is against the way of nature.”
The young man’s body shook violently, but this time not with excitement, but with fear; he had realized what his grandfather was going to say.
“Count Greiman, our lord ……”
The old man’s voice took on a choked edge. “To think that one who is without a doubt one of the Noble Ones in our world should …… even think of destroying that order.”
“So unwise ah …… so unwise ah ……”
The old man recited this several times over and over again.
“He can’t even see that it is the current order that supports the throne of the Gleeman family, he can’t even see that he wants to destroy the order will surely be countered by the order?”
“My child, do you know? More than a hundred years ago, when the ancestors of the Gleiman family came to the northwest bay, they were nominally the lords who were subdivided into Alda, but in reality, they were sent here as prisoners by the kingdom, they were single and without relatives, and they were ostracized by the neighboring lord’s family, it is us …… who are the family that grew out of this land, and we helped the Gleiman family to stand in the northwest bay, and we are the family that grew out of this land, and we helped the family to stand in the northwest bay. House Lehmann gain a foothold in the Northwest Bay. It was the local families in village after village that forged House Gladman’s lordship.”
The old man couldn’t stop shaking his head, his face filled with a look of pain.
“The Gleiman family also followed the way of territorial governance since ancient times, handing over the villages and towns to us, the ancient native families, this is just a little reward for our devotion to loyalty, we are also an extension of the lord’s power, we have been diligently collecting taxes for the lord, and at the same time adjudicating all kinds of disputes in the countryside for the lord, and it is we who ensure that the territory’s various affairs in the territory.”
“And now …… And now …… cough cough!”
Under the old man’s emotional excitement, he actually coughed violently.
The young man panicked and came over to pound his back.
“Alas, getting old. I didn’t think that in my waning years, I would see such an out-of-the-ordinary lord come out of the Gleeman family. He has gone so far as to disregard the loyalty that we, as a family, have devoted ourselves to for hundreds of years, and wants to take away our honor, our status, our wealth, and our prestige in the village.”
Hearing the old man’s words, the young man was silent as he lowered his eyelids, as if he was sitting in a complex battle of thoughts inside.
“This …… this …… although as a matter of fact I can’t make up my own lord, but what is this behavior of Earl Gleiman if not ingratitude. He has forgotten how his family sat on the position of lord, he has forgotten how his family’s wealth was amassed, and he has forgotten by whom his family’s honor was vaulted.”
The old man’s entire body trembled as he spoke with excitement.
He turned around and looked at his grandson with a hopeful face.
“My child, your father should have talked to you.”
The young man’s body shook again.
“No, I can’t do that, I …… swore an oath to the lord to serve him for the rest of my life.”
His voice trembled just like his body, mixed with fear and struggle.
“Don’t make me, don’t make me.”
Seeing his grandson in this state, the old man picked up his walking stick and fiercely leaned on the ground, making a loud ringing sound in the not-so-large room.
“Loyalty has a prerequisite, what’s the point of unilateral loyalty? Now that Earl Gleiman betrayed us first, for us to continue to be loyal to him is to belittle ourselves! A person who belittles himself will not even be forgiven by the merciful Heavenly Father.”
The young man’s eyes widened in fear, and they were filled with helplessness.
“You are forcing me, you are forcing me!”
“This is not forcing you! Remember, you are fighting for the glory of the family, we are born and raised in this family, the family raised us and made us, we have to fight to preserve him.”
He came to the young man’s side and gently stroked his back, calming him down gradually.
“I know that this is a difficult choice, but you are the only one of the families united with us who has the stature to bear this burden.”
(End of chapter)