CH 136

Pleading for Life

“I mean, that’s a given right? You were the one who gave the order to perform purge bombing on civilians, weren’t you? You can’t possibly escape your responsibility for that.”

Schleer said that like it’s a matter of course to Diaroze who was shocked by the words death penalty. Public opinions are also at play here. If Schleer chooses to let a person responsible for such a gave crime go then the target of the people’s hatred would shift to Schleer and the Calencian upper echelon and their nation would be viewed as weak.

“Ugh, but that was actually…..no.”

Diaroze, whose face immediately paled, muttered something but she stopped herself and shook her head from side to side. Seeing her like that, Kisei groans.

“What? You brought her all the way here just for this?”

Kisei said in a blaming tone which is unusual for him but Schleer only lightly smiles and shrugs in response.

“Of course not!”

She then walked up to Kisei with a cheerful smile that doesn’t suit the heavy topic they are discussing and gently placed her hand on him.

“Kisei-san is one of the greatest contributors in this war and I caused you a great deal of trouble due to my failure so I came up with something to make up for that.”

“…….I see?”

Seeing Kisei cross his arms with a difficult expression, Saki’s brows furrowed.

“You are not planning to push the trouble on Kisei again are you.”

“I guess you could say that huh.”

It was Valentina who replied. She has a tired smile and lets out a small sigh. Then, she wears her usual frivolous expression again.

“But this was a decision that I and Schleer had a lot of discussions on. Anyway, I want you to stay quiet and listen until the end.”

“Hmph…….”

Saki snorted and turned away. Well, Valentina aside, it’s not like she can not put some trust in Schleer. If she listens, it wouldn’t be too late to complain to her later.

“Well, it’s simple really. To put it briefly, we only want to hear Kisei-san’s opinion on how we should deal with Diaroze here. It was thanks to you that we managed to capture this woman after all…….you should have at least that much say in this matter.”

“It was actually ‘us’ who caught her though.”

Schleer glared at Valentina who said something unnecessary. On the other hand, without minding the two, Diaroze gazes at Kisei with the eyes of a scared puppy.

“From what I heard, you were put through a great deal of trouble by this woman, right? If you want to shoot her yourself at the execution then we should be able to accommodate that you know.”

Schleer put on an evil grin and placed her hand on Diaroze’s arm. Diaroze’s body shook in surprise and blood drained from her face.

“N, Nn, so that’s it huh……”

Naturally, Kisei understood that Schleer was only joking. Schleer is well aware that Kisei hates death on a personal level. If she intends to give out the death penalty no matter what then she wouldn’t have brought Diaroze here. Her temper can go out of control sometimes but it’s not like she’s the type of person that takes joy in abusing someone she has already beaten.

“Still, Uunnn……”

Of course, Kisei doesn’t want Diaroze to die. He’s certainly had been put through a painful experience by her but it’s something on the level that he can laugh it off and forgive her. The whip she used was a toy-like one that didn’t even hurt him and when he thought that she was going to assault him, she took off his restraints and just self-destructed. If she is willing to apologize properly then he doesn’t mind treating it as water under the bridge.

However, that was only what she’s done to Kisei personally. It is undeniable that Diaroze was in charge of the Noredian army invading Calencia and it was true that she is directly responsible for its inhumane operations. Now he’s worried that he might be too lenient because he’s using his own experiences to judge her.

“….Umm.”

After pondering on it for a while, Kisei called out to Diaroze who’s looking at him with teary eyes.

“Wh, what……I mean, what is it.”

Diaroze, who replied in her usual overbearing tone, immediately corrected herself. As expected, even someone like her can’t possibly keep up the arrogant act in this kind of situation.

“I want to clearly confirm this first. You absolutely do not want to die right?”

“O, obviously!……..I mean, of course.”

Diaroze desperately shook her head sideways.

“If you don’t want to die then I think that there’s a certain kind of attitude that would be appropriate for this though?”

“….!?”

As though she received a shock, the teary eye Diaroze stopped breathing for a moment. She then alternately looks at Kisei, Valentina, and Schleer. After a moment, she grits her teeth and slowly crouches down with her face bright red. No one knows if it was fear or humiliation but Diaroze grinds her head on the floor while making hiccup-like voices. It’s the classic dogeza pose.

“I’m, I’m sorry………it was all my fault. I’m so sorry…….please, please forgive me……..”

It was a splendid and pathetic figure of someone pleading for their life. Her figure looked so pathetic that even a hundred years of passionate love would turn cold in an instant but Kisei stroked his chest in relief. If she had said something like [I will give you as much money as you want so help me!] or [Why do you fool get to decide my fate! The one who’s going to die here is you!] or the like, it would be difficult for Kisei to save her.

The point here is that Diaroze has apologized for all she’s done. Schleer said that she only wanted Kisei’s opinion here so it might be the case where Diaroze will be tried no matter what he says. If he wants to save her then he needs her to save herself. And the most important thing she needs for that is the correct attitude.

“……….”

Kisei tightened his expression and stood next to Diaroze who’s still in the middle of a dogeza.

“O, Oi……..”

Although Saki tried to call out, Kisei’s already bent his knees and lowered his head.

“I think that it would be a waste to just kill this person. Please, will you spare her life?”

Hearing that, Schleer nodded as though that’s what she wanted to hear all along.

“I see. Understood, I will see what I can do.”