CHAPTER 174: ATONEMENT

Meanwhile, back at the hall...

Jenna closed her eyes tiredly when she heard her father’s voice. At least there was a familiar face in the crowd who wouldn’t abandon her in the most cruel way.

"Brown..." Nikolai stepped forward. "We have tried to overlook your daughter’s disrespect because of your influence, but it’s only creating a large gap that shakes the very foundation of the council." When he got close to Jenna, he pointed at her.

"If we let her be, then others will follow her lead. They’ll think insulting the council is the right way to go."

The members of the council nodded in agreement.

"So are you saying I am supposed to let my only daughter face punishment and get whipped while I’m here?" the man asked, walking over to Nikolai.

Both men stood face to face with Jenna kneeling in the centre.

"Brown... you know why we even agreed to do this... it was because you pleaded for your daughter not to be harmed. She is a menace!" Nikolai lowered his voice, as though he was an ally. He reached forward to hold Brown’s shoulder, but the man took a step back.

"If Jenna is a menace, then what will you say about Gerald?" Brown asked with a sneer. "If he had loved my daughter right, then there would never have been need for a tournament."

Nikolai chuckled, rubbing his hand that had hung in the air because Brown moved away from the pat. "Love? You know children... they—"

"Your son is not a child, Nikolai!"

Jenna raised her face, her eyes wide with surprise when her father raised his voice at Nikolai. He had clearly made his stance obvious, because apparently, Nikolai was a dreadful man and should never be crossed.

"Father..." Jenna whispered.

Master Brown pointed at Nikolai’s face. "My own daughter had to live in shame for what your son did. And now again, I have to be dragged into your family feud because two of your sons want my daughter. If you ask me, Nikolai, you and your family are the problem and should be punished, not my daughter."

"I..." Nikolai opened his mouth to defend himself. When he looked around and saw the judging eyes that fell on him, he tried to laugh it off.

"You don’t believe this, do you? Gerald is my son, alright. And had his marriage under control until Jenna decided to desecrate her matrimonial bed with her brother-in-law! It runs deep... this—"

Jenna spat. She wriggled her body free, getting on her feet. "With all the respect I hold for the council and the men here... I’d like to say to you, Nikolai, you must be out of your mind."

"Oh no..." Rachel gasped. The woman pressed her palms together, hoping Jenna would look at her and not make things worse.

Blood drained from Nikolai’s face. He wasn’t expecting that- at least not from Jenna. "What did you just—"

"And I would like for your mouth to remain shut until I am through speaking." Jenna didn’t know where the courage was coming from, but she had something to let out of her chest first. Also, seeing her father defend her gave her a little confidence.

"Members of the council, most of you here have daughters. Even if not, then granddaughters, do you not?" Jenna waited, and when they mumbled a yes, she continued.

"I’d been married for years, but the celebration and cheers had on my wedding became the shadow that haunts my dreams at night. Why did I walk down the aisle? Why did I follow a man to his home? Why did I live in silence? Why? Why?"

Master Brown bent his head. He could hear the crack in his daughter’s voice. The man knew where all of this was going to end and should stop his daughter. She was already an object of mockery, but stopping her would forever silence the truth. So he stepped aside.

"Are you all going to let this woman speak?" Nikolai barked, with his hand on his waist.

The council had their attention already on Jenna, so nobody paid mind to Nikolai’s tantrums.

"I lived in silence, in hopes that if I endured just enough- if I could have children for my husband then one day he’d see me... he’d hold me with love and nothing more." Jenna paused and smiled, shaking her head.

"It took me those years to realize that I am Jenna. A woman who once had dreams... a woman who once had a smile on her lips that not even a rainy morning could take away. And when I did... I left." Jenna tapped her chest, her hands shaking.

Olivia tugged Rachel’s hand. "Nana..." the young girl sniffled.

"Though I had left, my past stuck with me. I saw myself only as a vessel of pleasure and pain. My scars were humiliation. I am the one who had been hurt, yet I couldn’t find happiness. I was tied to what destroyed me." Jenna walked towards the centre of the hall.

"But for once, Gerald was never punished. The sound of his name made me panic, not even for the right reasons. I couldn’t say his name out of love but shame and hate. Still... my motherland forced me to watch as he competed to take me back home as his wife. The nightmare I’d escaped half-dead!" She threw her hands in the air and exhaled.

"This nightmare!" Jenna ripped her dress, letting it fall to her waist so the council could see her body.

A loud gasp erupted in the hall. Some closed their eyes; others looked away.

"This was done by a man like you all, and I was made to live with it."

Rachel closed her eyes, and when she felt the wetness on her cheeks, she opened them. The woman didn’t know she had been crying.

"More than anyone, I hate this part of my life. I am ashamed of it, and I wish it never happened." Jenna chuckled dryly. "Maybe if I live fast enough, nobody would remember, including myself. Why do you all always drag me back to it? Why is Gerald being hailed as a hero and not punished? Why am I the one..." her voice broke,

"The one that has to be punished? Even with my voice lost and my dreams murky, I’d left searching for hope. Looking for the girl I used to be. Now I ask... if there’s still hope... if there’s still goodness in the hearts of the council, the members that have daughters, the women and everyone here... if there’s still hope for a woman like me, who had been failed by her kin once but was saved by grace, hope to other women waiting for love... then let that hope be used dutifully to punish the real ones who deserve it."

When Jenna was done speaking, Rachel rushed to her side, using a piece of her cloth to cover her body, while Olivia cried by the corner.

Nikolai, seeing that the council was moved by Jenna’s words, threw his head back and laughed hysterically.

"This is it! The reason why women are forbidden to rule. Their emotions can cause the fall of a kingdom," he joked. "Maybe our dear Jenna is more suited to write poems than be a wife. Don’t you all think?"

The hall remained in ghostly silence, everyone thinking about Jenna’s words.

Brown took the moment to say his bit. "As a father, I would want for my daughter to find justice. I beseech other fathers who love their family to help me. I have wronged my daughter in more ways than I can count. This will only be a speck of dust in my atonement."

The leader of the council hummed. He noticed Nikolai, who gave him a wink to ignore their words. Then, by the corner, a little girl bawled her eyes out. The man cleared his throat.

"The tournament shall continue—"

"What?!" Nikolai barked.

The man ignored him. "And after that, Gerald’s punishment will be decided. But also, Jenna and Rhane will face punishment for going against the council’s order."

Brown raised his hand. "I have decided to free my daughter from the ties with the two sons of Nikolai. She will no longer be the prize of the tournament... let the young man, Hart, be my son-in-law."

"Father?!"

Brown closed his eyes. "It is the only way, Jenna... to free you from all of this," he muttered more to himself. Then to the council,

"I believe she does not need to be punished anymore."

The leader of the council nodded. "If it’s that way... Jenna is free to leave."

"Father! What do you think you are doing?!" Jenna cried, fixing her dress. She ran after her father, who was making his way out of the hall.

Brown turned to look at his daughter. "Do you really think this bad blood will end with you marrying Rhane? It has run deep... the hate. I wish to make up for the past and remove you entirely from that family." He struck his chest.

"This shall be my atonement, Jenna. This..."