episode_0097

“You don’t look so good?”

At Lawyer’s question, Natasha turned her head.

Her expression was filled with anger and regret.

“Would you be happy if you were me?”

It was a complex emotion mixed with resentment and shame bursting from within.

“Why? I did as promised. There’s no reason to feel bad at all.”

Natasha frowned at the words that Lawyer casually threw out as if he knew everything but didn’t.

She wanted to resist, but she couldn’t properly resist.

The sense of loss was that great. It felt like something huge had snapped in her heart.

But Lawyer wasn’t one to just listen and let it go, even though he knew that.

Slap.

With a clear sound, Natasha’s head turned.

“How noisy. More importantly, where did you sell your courtesan etiquette?”

Natasha touched her cheek at the distinct pain.

It was quite swollen.

Was it regret? Or was it because of the pain?

Tears streamed down.

She wanted to cry her heart out, but she couldn’t.

Her heart just ached.

“I believed you wouldn’t make me do anything shameful…”

“I believed it!”

A cry mixed with resentment, Lawyer listened in silence.

Thanks to his silence, Natasha was able to say everything she wanted to say.

“…So, what are you trying to say?”

“…Huh?”

Natasha’s face was covered in tears and snot, looking unpleasant, but Lawyer didn’t seem to feel anything.

“Are you saying you hate all of this? Then you don’t have to do it. Just give up everything and leave. Abandon your husband who can’t do anything properly and the elves you cherish. Isn’t it a very simple choice?”

“……”

“If you want to abandon the elves as a princess, choose. I’ll withdraw the troops at any time. A full-scale war with the orcs was quite difficult for us too.”

“……That’s.”

She tried to quickly take back her words, but Lawyer’s attitude was firm.

“Tell me right away if you want to. That you will exchange the lives of the elves for your shame. You’ll probably be a princess who will go down in history.”

“N, no.”

“What’s no? Didn’t you just say it yourself?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“You can’t take back words. I think I’ve said it several times, but you still don’t seem to remember.”

“……Please, give me another chance. Please.”

“Chance, I can give you as many chances as you want.”

“……Really? T, thank you.”

“But you have to pay the price. Didn’t I let you get away with it once before?”

“……What do you want?”

“Hmm, I have a lot of worries. Threatening the Emperor, that’s a crime of treason.”

“……Treason? What are you talking about?”

“Think about your actions again. Didn’t you threaten the Emperor? In this world, just wearing a sword in front of me is treason. So what about my actions?”

It was a stretch.

But Natasha didn’t have the power to refute such a stretch.

Originally, everything followed the logic of the strong.

“If it’s treason, are you going to execute me?”

Generally, the leader of treason was executed, and all those involved were beheaded.

This was not much different for the elves.

In the case of the elves, the treatment of treason was similar.

“Do you want to die? Well, if you die like this, I can’t guarantee what will happen to your race.”

“……!”

“Well, even if it’s treason, if you’re someone who doesn’t know much about human customs, I’m willing to show mercy once.”

Lawyer paused for a moment.

Even this alone showed that he was hiding something.

“What do you want? Is it my purity, as you said at first?”

In this situation, the only thing Natasha could offer as a condition was that.

It was because from the beginning, Lawyer had shown a lot of signs that he wanted her purity.

But that wasn’t it.

“Purity? That’s something I can take anytime. Don’t think that what I haven’t taken yet out of goodwill is yours.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that right? A courtesan’s purity, that’s an absurdity.”

“……”

“From ancient times, Aman had a punishment for governing criminals. If you endure just one day, I will forgive all your sins.”

“……What is it?”

“It’s simple. Enduring the sacred whipping.”

“……”

No matter how she thought about it, whipping was scary. But she had to endure it.

If there was a tiger with its mouth open right in front of her and a snake flicking its tongue, she had no choice but to choose the snake.

“I understand. I will endure it.”

“Good, I wish you luck.”

***

“Haaahm, it’s not as great as I thought?”

Oberon, with Lia next to him, looked around while clinging to her.

He was expecting a festival, but it wasn’t that great.

The taverns in the square were noisy, but there was nothing to them.

Most of the food was what they had been eating to the point of getting sick of it, and the tavern’s alcohol didn’t suit his taste.

It was just the right taste for the cheap price.

“Then shall we go see the event?”

“Event?”

“Yes, the festival isn’t just about eating and drinking. There are plenty of fun events too.”

“What’s there?”

“Um… just a moment.”

Lia immediately started asking something to the people around her.

Lia came back a moment later and said with a smile.

“Unfortunately, the duel is already over. But there will be a criminal’s punishment in the square soon.”

“A criminal’s punishment? They’re showing that at the festival?”

Oberon thought of a guillotine that would behead people.

No matter how he thought about it, showing something like that at the festival was very unpleasant.

Lia smiled and shook her head when she saw Oberon’s expression.

“Punishment doesn’t necessarily mean execution.”

“Then?”

“Most of them are show punishments. If you don’t want to receive this kind of punishment, you must pledge allegiance to the Imperial Family.”

“Isn’t that too oppressive? If I were them, I’d feel resentment.”

“Before you feel resentment, it’s important to make a living. At least under the current Emperor, you won’t go hungry.”

“That’s true.”

In fact, Oberon didn’t really understand what it meant to be hungry.

It was because he was far from living a life of starvation, both when he was with the elves and now.

“Anyway, do you want to go see it?”

“I’m curious, so let’s go see it.”

Oberon followed Lia to the square.

Sure enough, there were quite a few people gathered around the square.

“Is it here?”

“The prisoner will be out soon. Shall we go a little further to the front?”

“Further to the front from here? It looks like it’ll be quite crowded.”

“It’s okay. We have the token given by His Majesty the Emperor. If we have the token, we can go to the very front.”

“Really? That’s good.”

Oberon followed Lia forward without any resistance.

In the center of the square, there was a place that looked like a stage for executing criminals.

But he couldn’t find any blades anywhere.

‘They’re just decorating it like that.’

Oberon thought while observing the atmosphere.

After a while, a loud voice was heard.

“The prisoner is entering!”

Most people’s eyes turned in the direction the prisoner was coming from. The prisoner was practically naked.

‘……Wow.’

She was practically naked, and her body was quite excellent.

She was full of curves in all the right places.

Moreover, she was a woman who looked great with her glamorous blonde hair.

“We will now begin the one-day punishment.”

But as the prisoner got closer, Oberon couldn’t help but have a stiff face.

‘……Natasha?’

The face he glimpsed.

Eyes that seemed to contain a blue lake and pointed ears.

No matter how he looked at it, it was his wife Natasha.

Oberon couldn’t understand why Natasha, who was working as a maid, was here.

He could only think to himself that he must have seen it wrong.

In this unsettling feeling, the prisoner’s arms and legs were fixed to the chains.

He couldn’t see the front of the prisoner anymore.

“From now on for one day, the prisoner will be whipped. Anyone who wants to forgive the prisoner, please come up.”

Aman’s traditional punishment, this was something that all citizens participated in.

It was a punishment close to social death.

In fact, in cases like today where a beautiful woman came up, it was famous for many people to participate.

Oberon was similar.

‘I have to check if it’s Natasha myself.’

It was the moment when doubt arose.

Thud.

Lia, who was next to him, snuggled into his arms and held his hand.

“Do you want to participate, Oberon?”

Even though the reason was different, it was clear that he was thinking of participating.

“……Uh.”

“Then, follow me. We have to get in the waiting line. It seems like there are a lot of people today because an elf came up.”

“Okay.”

“But it’s the first time an elf has come up. They’re creatures that are hard to see even once.”

“……”

“I’ve seen them twice, so I’m very lucky, right?”

“I guess so.”

Oberon answered quietly.

His eyes were still fixed on the elf on the stage.

He could only see her back now, but he just wanted to see her face as soon as possible.