“No. Instead you find someone, and you growl and whine about how they shouldn’t have lied at all. And then they’ll apologize, and you’ll all get together and sing in harmony and promise to never tell a lie again.”
Mergo let out a short sigh. Three out of four had turned out this way now, and he hadn't taken a moment to reset his palate. He was getting weary.
“Lying was an unkind thing to do to you all. I haven't talked much with my compatriots about it, but I know some of them feel bad about this charade. I would have preferred a situation where we could have been honest and upfront," he admitted, and for as even and regulated as his tone had been whenever he spoke, he seemed sincere. "That is not how the cards were dealt. The best option I saw was to lie. You're within your right to be upset, but it won't stop people from lying to you in the future. It won't undo what we've done. And while I am most certainly a bastard, it made it by you all unchecked."
Not that he could blame them. Truthfully, Mergo didn't know if he would have caught it in their position. He would've been suspicious of even more interlopers being pulled into things, but a white lie would not have been on his mind out of all the other possibilities. Mergo would have lost that one, and he would archive it as a possibility in the future.
"The question is," he continued, and his hands stopped to fold together as Mergo leaned a little forward in his chair, "what will you do with this information? Reveal it for what it is?"