Frozen Flame of Dawn - Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Chapter 49: Blaming One Another_1

The former Dragon Unit captain, his face unreadable, turned toward Yenna once more. His voice was tight with restrained frustration. “And you’re just letting her do as she pleases? Did you even try to call her back?”

Yenna didn’t react immediately. When she did, her expression was unreadable, but there was something in her gaze—something deeper. “Do you honestly believe she would come back if I called?”

The captain clenched his jaw but didn’t answer.

Helen’s voice cut in, her frustration mounting. “Even if she wouldn’t, why inform us this way? Why go through a public broadcast instead of directly telling you? If she had the information, why didn’t she come to us first?”

There was an edge of betrayal in her tone now. Amara had been one of them—a soldier molded by the Federation. And yet, she had abandoned it.

Yenna’s gaze grew colder. “After what happened and what you all did to her, do you really think she has any loyalty left to the Federation?”

The room tensed. There was no denying the bitterness in Yenna’s tone. The way she said it, the way her voice dropped into a slow, deliberate chill, made it clear—this wasn’t just about Amira.

Helen’s fingers curled against the polished wood of the table as she met Yenna’s gaze. “You’re implying this is our fault?”

“Not implying,” Yenna corrected, “stating.”

Helen’s brows furrowed, but before she could speak, the old man—the one who had been mostly silent—finally spoke again. “I’m beginning to think you already knew about everything before the Surge.”

Yenna’s gaze flickered toward him, but she didn’t deny it.

The old man continued, his voice carrying the weight of authority.

“As I knew Amira, she wouldn’t have hidden anything from you. So you already knew about these things before the Surge, yet you still didn’t come forward and warn us. And let’s set that aside for now.” He leaned forward slightly, his tone turning sharper.

“I want to know—if you knew Amira was going to turn her back on the Federation, why did you do nothing to stop her?” His words carried accusation, as if blaming Yenna for allowing this to happen.

Across the table, the former Dragon Unit captain exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “Damn it, Yenna! She’s your student! You should have stepped up and stopped her before it reached this point!”

Yenna’s lips curved, but there was no humor in it—only something bitter, something deeply personal.

“Stop her?” She tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. “Tell me, Captain—how do you suggest I stop someone I trained to be unstoppable?”

The room fell into silence.

Because the truth was—it was impossible. “Even if I could have stopped her… I wouldn’t have.”

That statement alone sent a shockwave through the room.

The former Chancellor, who had remained silent for most of the discussion, finally spoke. “So are you saying it doesn’t matter to you whether the Federation crumbles? That you’re fine with this division?”

Yenna turned her sharp gaze toward him, unfazed. “I’m saying I don’t care about bureaucracy. I am loyal to the survival of our people—nothing more, nothing less.”

Her voice was steady, unwavering. “And if I believe her actions contribute to that survival, then I see no issue with what she is doing.”

Helen gritted her teeth, still stuck on her earlier argument. “But if you had tried—if you had brought her in—she could do so much more within the Federation than by herself! Now she’s out there with just a small unit. Do you really believe she can make a difference on her own?”

Yenna didn’t contradict her but instead, she asked a question of her own. “Tell me, Helen. If you were thrown in a cell, stripped of your title, humiliated, and left to rot—would you walk back to the very people who put you there and offer them a lifeline?”

Helen stiffened at the accusation. “That’s different!”

Yenna’s cold stare didn’t waver. “Is it?”

Helen had no response and she wasn’t the only one, because, deep down, they all knew the answer.

Amira wasn’t betraying them as they betrayed her first.

The old man leaned back in his chair, his breathing steady but there was something in his expression—not anger, but understanding.

Helen, on the other hand, was still bristling. “Even if she won’t take action against us, she also won’t help us.”

Her voice had lost some of its previous fire, but there was frustration in every word.

Yenna remained silent.

Finally, Helen let out a breath before leveling her gaze at Yenna once more. “Let me ask you this, Yenna—where does your loyalty truly lie?”

But before Yenna could respond, the old man exhaled sharply, shaking his head as he finally cut through the growing tension between Helen and Yenna. “That’s enough.”

His voice carried the authority of experience, a weight that instantly silenced the brewing argument as his gaze shifted from Yenna to Helen, then finally settled on the rest of the room. “Let’s not turn this into a debate of principles or who is right or wrong, shall we? What matters now is what we do next.”

His words shifted the focus. The conversation had turned heated, but they couldn’t afford internal disputes—not when a far greater threat loomed outside these walls.

He leaned back slightly, his fingers tapping against the polished surface of the table, before continuing. “Now that we know Amira is the one behind the broadcast, we must acknowledge something crucial—she likely knows far more than we do.”

Helen’s expression hardened, but she didn’t refute him.

“Our first priority,” he pressed on, “is to gather as much information as possible. We are still stumbling in the dark. We don’t know what caused this sudden surge, nor do we fully grasp the extent of its impact.”

His gaze flickered back to Yenna, studying her closely. “And I’m certain she has told you more than what you have revealed so far.”

His voice took on a sharper edge. “So care to explain that to us? Or are you still planning to withhold crucial information?”