Chapter 161 (1/2)

Chapter 161

–Aegir POV–

Trisnea: Former Royal Palace

「Without a doubt, you are the King of Magrado, Geugis1 II?」

「……indeed, I am most certainly him . 」

While still dressed in his extravagant robes, the King of Magrado squeezes out a response with a bitter expression on his face . The King of Goldonia, the amba.s.sador of the Olga Federation who travelled with the fleet are in front, while Erich and Kenneth are nearby directing intimidating eyes at him .

I’m also there, but I have a seat prepared on the side instead of the front . It seems like Celia can’t get in, so Myla was brought in beside me as an a.s.sistant . I was just lightly stroking her thigh a little earlier, but restrained myself after she looked at me menacingly .

「You picked a fight devoid of morals with Goldonia as well as the Olga Federation and killed their soldiers and citizens . Am I mistaken?」

「That’s ridiculous! Wasn’t it Goldonia who started the war!!?」

「The origins of that began when you intervened in the war with Treia!」

The one who spoke harshly towards the Magrado King was the attorney general, Count so-and-so2 . Normally, one would be required to kneel to the royalty, even those from another nation, and such rough speech wouldn’t be allowed .

「In addition, you instilled into the citizens a sense of hostility towards another nation and caused unnecessary resistance……」

It’s certainly true that Magrado interfered with the war between Treia and Goldonia . But now that a ceasefire has been agreed upon, the direct cause of the war can not be brought up after that . Normally, Magrado would have a chance to voice their complaints too .

「Further yet, you forced the Republic of Stura to annex with high-handed means and the threat of a savage armed force……」

But this is not an impartial trial .

This is nothing but a farce, a kangaroo court to place all blame and responsibility on the Magrado royalty .

「Therefore, this court of law judges that banishment will not be enough to atone for your sins and death is the only other option!」

「What is my sin!? All of you can go to h.e.l.l for all I care!!」

「I sentence Geugis II to death!」

The attorney general and other parties besides the person in question stays silent while guards take the struggling King by his arms and removes him from the room .

The result must have been conveyed to the soldiers outside immediately as loud cheers erupted shortly after .

The soldiers I brought with me surround the palace acting as the courtroom, jeering and calling for the death of the sentenced individual .

「This is awful……」

Myla mutters beside me, and I completely agree .

Treating the loser of the war however you please is expected, but if you’re going to sentence them to death anyways, it would have been better just to lop off their heads immediately .

「Please don’t fall asleep . Everyone around us are important people with a Count ranking or higher . 」

「Oh great . 」

The trial continues, sentencing to death everyone from the relatives of the King to the people responsible for leading the army . All of them spat out curses as they were dragged away by the guards . I guess the sentence will be carried out right away .

「Looks like it’s almost done, hey Myla, what do you say you and me go to a nearby bar and have a cup or two?」

「……you’re probably planning to take me upstairs after, aren’t you . 」

「I want to make love to you one-on-one every once in a while too . 」

Pretending to chat secretly with her so that no one else could hear, I take her hand and place it on my crotch .

「You’re already hard?」

「I’ll use this to stir you up thoroughly . 」

Despite being angry, Myla gives in .

「Next, we will hold the trial for the former King of Treia, Trisnea III . 」

「……」

「So they postponed this case . 」

Enough of this, just sentence them all to death and get this over with .

Line them all up and just yell “Death sentence”, there won’t be any other sentence anyways .

「I……I……didn’t do anything wrong . Isn’t war something normal!?」

「You have a responsibility for something other than war, a crime committed against the citizens . Firstly, you ruled harshly over the newly attained citizens of former Arkland, you induced rebellion, and committed the inhumane act of killing citizens!」

「That was……done without my knowledge……」

There’s no chance an excuse like that would work for a King .

「Next, you brought the flames of war to the capital, you abandoned the citizens you should be protecting and planned to escape yourself with only your followers, and as a result caused unnecessary sacrifices from both armies due to the delayed peace agreement! 」

「Th-that is-! If I were to die or get captured, the Kingdom would perish and so I thought I could escape and have the people surrender……」

The Treian King is frail unlike the Magrado King . He is clearly afraid of death and has lost his mind .

「We have a witness for the actions committed by Trisnea III……here!」

One of the men brought by the guards stepped forward .

「Hey, hey, don’t tell me you brought a beggar for this . 」

It was unknown where the heckling came from, but it really was exactly as described .

With disheveled hair, an untrimmed beard and sunken eyes, the man who was brought in could only be described as a beggar at best and an insane person at worse if he wasn’t wearing formal clothing .

「Prime minister!? You were alive……」

「Order……you there, state your name and former status . 」

The man glared not at the attorney general, but only at the former King of Treia when he squeezed out his answer .

「Anselm Dunois……Marquess from the Kingdom of Treia and the prime minister . 」

「Umu, then explain the reason you have not received judgement here . 」

「On the orders of the King, I cooperated with the Magrado army, but was defeated and injured . During the time I hid in a nearby village, the war was finished . 」

「Fumu……so what are you here to testify about?」

「About Trisnea III’s despicable nature and brutality . 」

「What did you say!?」

「Tell him . 」

Marquess Dunois, who was muttering quietly before, suddenly took a deep breath .

「Trisnea III’s cowardly behavior is clearly not for the preservation of the nation but to protect himself . That’s because the fortune he had, which should have been only gold and jewels for war funds, was mostly giant paintings, antiques and other items unrelated to the preservation of the nation . 」

「I see . 」

King Alexandro, who stayed silent until now with a partial grin on his face while the other Magrado n.o.bles were being thoroughly disparaged, finally opened his mouth .

「Moreover, while I was injured, he branded me a traitor for not being in the capital and killed my family……killing everyone, even my young grandson……」

Dunois faces the floor as he cries .

It was something which happened a year ago, but I do recall seeing a disgusting scene like that .

「Prime minister, is this not something you made up!? Do I even have to accuse you of lying!?」

「Your Majesty! This pathetic old man has no reason to lie!」

The one Dunois addressed as Majesty was not the Treian King, but the Goldonian King .

Judging based on what was said, one would obviously want to be on Dunois’s side .

A King who forsook his country to save his family and his treasure versus a man who returned at the end of a war only to find his entire family killed and he himself labelled a traitor . A human’s natural reaction would be to sympathize with the latter .

「This coward!」「Someone who didn’t endure the hards.h.i.+ps of a battle and calling his subordinate a traitor-!」「There’s no need for a trial . Just sentence him to death!」

The observing n.o.bles hurled insults one after the other .

「I don’t know about that……」

「Is there something you find questionable?」

Myla looks somewhat displeased as I tilt my head in contemplation . She also seems to have believed what Dunois said and determined the King to be at fault .

「It’s true that his reasoning is sound and it’s a plausible story, but it sounds just like something you see in acted out in a play in theaters . 」

It seems like a tragedy Nonna would enjoy, maybe she would be trembling in anger at this scene as well .

I don’t have proof, but it sounds fishy .

However, the attorney general and the others don’t seem to agree with me .

Or perhaps it was a scenario they already had written down . They exchanged a few words with the King and then handed out their judgement .

「Trisnea III’s unjustness and cowardice is evident! Thus, this court of law sentences this person who betrayed the trust of the n.o.bles and misused his authority as King to death!」

「Y-you’re wrong! Dunois is lying! I am ……I am……I am-! Nooo–! I don’t want to die! Someone, someone save me!!」

Unlike the Magrado King, the Treian King was pulled away kicking and screaming .

Farewell, I doubt we’ll ever meet again .

「How unsightly, even to the very end……」

「No matter how unreasonable, this is what the fate of the defeated looks like . 」

I don’t want to be on the losing side .

If worse comes to worst, I’ll take my women and run away to the ends of the earth .

……it just dawned on me that I would need a lot of carriages though .

After that, the escaped leaders of Treia also got judged one by one .

It happened at that moment, just when I was reaching my limits of staying awake and I was starting to doze off .

「Therefore, you have not fulfilled your moral duty by failing to admonish the actions of the King while being royalty in close proximity and also enjoying the luxuries, granting you the death sentence ……」

「Aah……oh please have mercy……this pitiful woman has no knowledge about the law . There was no longer anything which could be done, please spare at least my life……」

「Mother……」「Please have mercy……」「Uuuu……」

My eyes shoot open after I heard the voice of a pretty woman .

There was more than one too!

「Who are those girls?」

Myla looks at me, slightly fl.u.s.tered from my abrupt question .

「You really fell asleep!? ……They’re the wife and three daughters of the Treian King . Just like the others, they’ve been sentenced to death . 」

My gaze s.h.i.+fts to the platform where I see a woman who looks to be in her mid 40’s .

She has aged a certain extent and looks worn out perhaps due to anxiety, but she still has a mature charm about her .

Her daughters are quite beautiful, having inherited a slight reddish tint to their blond hair from their mother .

The eldest daughter appears to be in her mid 20’s and is beautiful even while she’s looking down in tears .

The second eldest daughter is probably in her early 20’s and has matured into a nice-looking woman, but looks a little feisty . Her body is trembling, probably trying desperately to suppress the terror she feels .

The third daughter is still an adolescent……around 16 or 17 years old . She’s bawling her eyes out .

「Then these four, former Treian Queen Consort Marceline and her daughters Stephanie, Bridget, Felicie, will be sentenced to de-……」「Objection!」「……What!?」

「Lord Hardlett!?」

Myla panics, but I can’t just watch as four beauties get killed .

「L-lord Hardlett? 」

I stood up suddenly so the attorney general sounds confused .

The King and Kenneth also seem flabbergasted .

Erich was the only one who facepalmed .

But I couldn’t help myself from speaking out .

I’ll just argue for the sake of arguing and sort things out somehow .

It seems I have the right to speak anyways .

「Just like before if the King is truly inhumane, should we not allow his wife and daughters to speak to that? No, he probably made sure his family didn’t know about his cruel actions in the first place . 」

Seeing how this might be the last chance to save herself and her daughters, the Queen Consort Marceline nods greatly .

「Then the death sentence would be too excessive for something as trivial as fleeing the country . More so for women, who can’t even fight . 」

Regardless of rank, abandoning one’s country and running away is the lowest possible act for a man, but that is not the case if he just let his wife and children escape . It might not be praiseworthy for royalty to do so, but it isn’t something punishable by death .

「W-well, that is……but you see……」