When this room rang out through the hall, everyone suddenly fell silent.
I looked in the direction of the voice and I saw someone leading a group of people onto this stage that had been prepared.
Everyone in this group was wearing the same cloak and mask as the rest of us, so I wasn't able to see who these people were. But it made it clear by the way that everyone looked at them that they were the ones that were in charge of this branch.
As for the one leading them all, if I had to guess, it was the Lord Baron.
After they walked up onto the stage, the others behind the leader of this group went to the side while the leader of this group came to the center of the stage.
This person didn't speak right away as they looked over the crowd in front of them.
As their eyes swept over the crowd, they fell onto several people in the crowd…including me.
When I saw these eyes looking at me, I couldn't help feeling a bit awkward and nervous. It was almost as if those eyes had a special reason for looking at me which made me even more certain that my identity had been revealed.
I really wanted to get out of this place, but I couldn't with all of these people staring at me.
After those eyes swept through the crowd, the person cleared their throat and said, "I want to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedule to come to today's meeting."
Everyone nodded to this and muttered a few words of agreement in response.
After the crowd settled, that person continued by saying, "We've all gathered here because we have a few important things to discuss today."
After saying this, that person's eyes fell onto me and they said, "This brother, why don't you come up here?"
As he said this, everyone turned to look at me.
When this happened, I tried to act like this wasn't related to me at all, but I really couldn't with the leader staring at me and with everyone looking at me like this.
So without a choice, I had to walk up to the stage.
As I stood there in front of the leader, he looked at me with a smile before saying, "This brother, welcome to your first meeting. I've heard that you are the new brother that brother Richard has introduced to our cause?"
I couldn't help being surprised when I heard this since Richard was the name of the man who gave Madame Rose the cloak. However, I had never heard of anything like this before.
It really felt like I was about to be exposed and then killed…
Since I had no other choice, I could only nod in agreement to this.
Seeing this, the leader gave a satisfied nod before saying, "Brother, there is nothing to be afraid of. We are simply introducing you to the rest of the brothers."
The leader then raised a hand and took off his mask, revealing his true identity.
I wasn't surprised at all when I saw who this person was, but I was surprised that he pulled off his mask and pulled back his cloak so easily to reveal who he was.
Naturally the leader of this group was the Lord Baron.
I recognized him immediately because there were plenty of paintings of the Lord Baron in the manor for me to look at.
Not to mention, he was the enemy, so I would be a fool to not memorize what he looked like.
The Lord Baron then waved his hand at the rest of the people and they all took off their masks and pulled down their cloaks as well, revealing what they looked like to me.
I was very confused when I saw this.
Why would they reveal all of their identities to me like this?
But thinking about it, I came to one conclusion.
They were about to kill me, so they didn't care if I saw their faces.
I braced myself for what would follow, but it caught me off guard again.
The Lord Baron walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder as he said, "New brother, will you reveal what you look like to us?"
I couldn't help revealing a bitter smile deep down when I heard this, but I forced my expression to remain calm. Then I said in a calm voice with a bit of awkwardness, "This…I actually currently have a wound on my face, so if possible, I wouldn't want to reveal it. Can I do it next time instead?"
The Lord Baron narrowed his eyes to look at me, as if he was doubtful of me.
But in the end, he suddenly revealed a smile and said, "Brother, that's not a problem at all. Take care of yourself, we're all brothers here."
I couldn't help being taken aback when I heard this.
I was certain that this was a public execution, but the Lord Baron was actually covering for me…
Just what was happening here?
But before I had any time to think about it, the Lord Baron patted me on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you can go back down now."
I just nodded in a daze and walked off the stage.
When I came back to the group that I had been with before, they looked at me with looks of awe. It was as if they had been impressed that the Lord Baron had personally called me onto stage.
It just made me even more confused as to what was happening.
But after I was sent down from the stage, the Lord Baron wasn't finished.
He raised his hands and the crowd immediately fell silent.
Once they were silent, the Lord Baron continued, "Everyone, I want to welcome some special guests today."
Special guests?
I couldn't help being surprised by this, but it was clear that I wasn't the only one as I could see surprised looks all around me.
The people who had been standing to the side came over and stood there with the Lord Baron.
Then they slowly pulled back their hoods and took off their masks to reveal who they were.