Chapter 8: Crime and Punishment (last part)

With the trial of Castor and my friend Carla over, Souma, Aisha, and I were

returning to the governmental affairs office when suddenly, Souma stumbled in

front of us.

"Souma!" I cried.

"Sire!" Aisha shouted.

When Aisha and I tried to support him, Souma put a hand on the wall. "I'm fine.

Just stumbled a bit," he said, motioning for us to stop with his free hand.

"But..." I said.

"It's all right," he said. "...I'd like to be alone for just a little while,"

Then he went into the governmental affairs office by himself.

From the glimpse I got of his face in profile, he looked pale and unwell. Left on

our own out in the hallway, I struck up a conversation with Aisha, who had likewise

been left behind and was standing there in a daze.

"He was his usual self just a moment ago," I said. "What do you think happened to

him all of a sudden?"

"I am not entirely sure myself," said Aisha. "However..."

"However?"

"He looked like a soldier returning from his first battle," she said, looking

troubled. "Like one... who had just killed for the first time."

"You mean he's feeling bad over how he killed the twelve nobles?" I asked.

But Souma had done that because he'd believed it to be necessary, hadn't he? If

so, he had nothing to regret. Besides, Souma had experienced his first battle in the

war with the Principality of Amidonia. He'd struck down Prince Gaius VIII of

Amidonia, and he'd had the corrupt nobles executed after that. This wasn't a first for

him.

When I pointed that out, Aisha shook her head. "This is mere speculation on my

part, but the time with Gaius was a case of 'kill or be killed.' The corrupt nobles had

clearly manifested their intention to rebel against him. However, in the case of those

twelve nobles, they were not immediately attempting to harm His Majesty. Even if

he knows it would be harmful to leave them alive, he questions whether or not it

was the right decision to kill them. In his heart, perhaps he can't quite come to terms

with it."

Aisha looked worriedly at the door to the governmental affairs office.

He can't come to terms with it... huh.

...Yeah. I thought Aisha's interpretation of it was correct. I'd heard Souma had

come from a peaceful world. There hadn't been a war there in some time.

Because he had come from a world like that, Souma absolutely hated to have

people die. But he wasn't so unduly optimistic that he thought everything could be

taken care of without sacrifices. That was why the policies Souma took were always

focused around minimizing the sacrifice while maximizing the reward.

It was a natural frame of mind for the ruler of a nation. However, in Souma's own

heart, he wasn't so insensitive that he could accept even those minimized sacrifices.

"Hey, Aisha," I said. "What do you do to support a soldier like that?"

"Well... I have never been a part of the military, so I am no expert on these

things... but I often hear it is best to make them forget about it."

"Make them forget about it?" I repeated.

"I hear that their superior officers and the older soldiers will invite them out for

wine and women to help them vent," Aisha said. "It is the sort of thing that only time

can heal, so they keep them from thinking about it too deeply and breaking down."

Wine, or the other thing... huh, I thought to myself. In that case...

◇ ◇ ◇

The trial had begun at noon. Now it was most definitely night time.

I lay alone in my bed, the governmental affairs office completely dark with all of

the lights turned off.

There was a lot of work for me to do. But, just for today, I had asked Hakuya to let

me shirk my duties. I just didn't have the will to do anything. Hakuya understood

that. I wished I could just go to sleep. But, contrary to that hope, I was wide awake.

If I used my head just a little, that might help, so I decided to think through

whether the execution was justified or not.

I thought that executing the twelve nobles had been correct, examining it in the

long term. If I'd left them alive, and if anyone had been hurt by the seed of calamity

they would sow, I was sure I would have regretted that. But, well, now I was

desperately holding my chest, trying not to regret that I had killed them.

"All cruelties should be carried out in one stroke."

"A prince need not concern himself over a reputation of cruelty."

"In order to avoid destruction, it is better to choose to fight."

"When the time of your demise comes, it is too late for regrets."

I went over Machiavelli's ideas over and over again in my head. But all I was

doing was looking for an excuse.

If I was going to regret something, I preferred to it be that I had chosen a path

that didn't hurt those I cared most for. I thought I had convinced myself of that

before making the decision, and I resented my own heart for still wavering despite

that.

While I was pondering, the door suddenly opened. I moved just my head to check,

and Liscia and Aisha were standing there.

In rather provocative attire.

"Huh?!" I reacted in shock.

They were both wearing what looked like thin bathrobes that only went down to

a little above the knee.

Maybe they weren't wearing anything underneath the robes, because the

cleavage that poked out from where the collar met, as well as the bare thighs that

stuck out from beneath, were captivating. In the light that came in from the hallway

beyond the open door, their silhouettes were accentuated in a provocative way. It

made Aisha's height and her shapely figure stand out all the more, while Liscia's

well-balanced body was beautiful, too.

It was a little too much for me to take in all at once, and I stared for a while,

entranced.

...Honestly, if I hadn't been feeling so down at the time, all reason would have

likely gone out the window in an instant. However, in my current state of mind, it all

seemed more like a bad joke.

"...What do you think you're doing?" I demanded.

My tone was so scary that I startled myself. No, that wasn't what I ought to have

been saying, and I knew it. It was like I was taking my frustration out on them.

I kept my tone as calm as I could manage and corrected myself. "I believe I asked

you two to give me some time to myself."

"We can't leave you alone when you're like that, now can we?" Liscia paid my

objections no heed as she came over and sat down on the edge of the bed where I

was lying down.

Aisha also said "P-Pardon my intrusion," and came around to the opposite side

from Liscia before politely taking a seat.

Whether I turned my head left or right, there was a beautiful girl's bottom. I

could only cover my eyes with one arm, looking straight up. "What is this...? What do

you two want...?"

"That's, well... we want to help you forget, you could say..." Liscia said.

"Come again?" I asked incredulously.

"Anyway! You can do whatever you like with us!" Liscia burst out.

"I-It is my first time doing such a thing, so I am counting on you, Your Highness!"

Aisha cried.

"You can do what you like with us"... "I am counting on you"... what are these two

saying?!

"Listen... I'm not in the mood right now," I said.

"Ohh, if only we'd had Madam Juna here with us," Aisha said sounding

disappointed.

No, Juna's busy going through the procedure to transfer here from the Navy right

now, okay? I sighed... Oh, whatever. I'm sure they're doing it because they're concerned.

While I was thinking that, Liscia started fidgeting. "Um, Souma..."

"What?" I asked.

"It's a bit chilly, so can we join you under the covers for now?"

[MISTERLP]: hehe boi

She was shivering, huh... Well, it is almost winter, after all. They must be cold in

those outfits

[MISTERLP]: you must warm they.

Before I could say It wouldn't be a problem if you had dressed properly to begin

with, the two hurried under the covers. It was a single bed, making it was a tight fit

for three people. Inevitably, the two of them ended up pressed up against me. Close

enough I could feel their hearts beating.

"Whew," Liscia said. "This is nice and warm, huh."

"Indeed," Aisha said. "I could fall asleep just like this."

"This is my room and office, though, you know..." I could only put on a wry smile

in response to their comments. But, well... it really was warm.

My worries from before seemed to be melting away. That was how great the

warmth of others was. Just by having someone there next to me, my heart felt

lighter.

I could remind myself that I was protecting them. That I wanted to protect them.

"You two," I said.

"Hm?" Liscia said.

"What is it?" Aisha asked.

"Thanks."

When I said that, the two of them smiled, one on each side of me.

Then, perhaps because we were tired, the three of us soon drifted off to sleep.