It was clear that the captured soldiers were more than a little terrified of Michelle, no, the fate that awaited them, but Emilia didn’t feel that was necessarily a good thing.
After all, when compelled like this, people were much more likely to ‘confess’ what they believed the one torturing them would want to hear instead of the actual facts, as that would be the most ‘reliable’ way out of their desperate situation.
Moreover, Emilia didn’t really need these people to ‘tell’ her anything.
The crimson-haired girl already knew everything she needed to know, and everything she didn’t… could these people hide anything from Crystal’s ability?
Even if she couldn’t read their mind, differentiating the truth and falsehood in their words, as well as judging when they were or weren’t hiding something was well within her capabilities. Given enough time and control over them, it wasn’t really inferior to mind reading.
Of course, all that being said, Emilia wouldn’t reprimand her dear maid for something so ‘trivial’.
Waving them over, the crimson-haired girl grinned. “Michelle dear, since you’ve already been here for a while, why not show Crystal around while I deal with these scum?”
Perhaps the ‘maid’ was also a little embarrassed at having overdone her ‘job’, so she just nodded meekly.
Crystal, on the other hand, couldn’t help but scratch the back of her head in confusion. “Don’t you need me here to… you know?”
Seeing the crimson-haired beauty shake her head with a smile, the blonde heroine also shrugged and followed after the embarrassed Michelle, leaving only Dixie and a few soldiers with Emilia and the ‘prisoners’.
Emilia waited for the two girls to leave before she had the rest of the prisoners freed from their gags as well.
Some proceeded to plead for mercy with all their might, and a few others directly started confessing their ‘crimes’ on their own, but the crimson-haired empress seemingly ignored them all as she continued to stand a few feet in front of their kneeling group with an unperturbed smile.
”Done barking?”
Her words inevitably triggered the final shreds of resistance in one of the soldiers, and he sneered while spitting at her feet. “Y-You’re lucky we must have had a traitor who leaked our mission, or right now you would have been getting fuck—ughukkk!”
Watching their comrade fly all the way to the wall where he collided with a terrifying crunch, the rest of the soldiers felt a chill run up their spine.
Seeing how the man only twitched twice before going completely still, Emilia couldn’t help but frown.
The dark-haired girl ducked her head in shame. “S-Sorry, E-Emily, I-I just couldn’t hold back because of what I thought he was going to say.”
Emilia sighed. “It’s fine. We have many spares, and it’s not like they’re of too much use anyway.”
Hearing chillingly cold words of the gorgeous empress in front of them, the remaining terrified soldiers didn’t even dare to squeak.
It was one thing to beg for death, and another thing entirely when it really came.
Many of them were still holding out hope that this seemingly innocent and childish Empress would take pity on them and let them go after seeing their miserable state, but now, it no longer seemed like things would be so simple.
In the best case, even if she wasn’t truly coldhearted and indifferent, the little beauty in front of them was clearly furious beyond belief.
If they truly wanted to arouse her pity and get mercy, they would have to figure out a way to either quench or redirect her anger first.
Unfortunately, none of them were particularly clever with words. And the only time that snake of a ‘captain’ could have finally been of some use, he was nowhere to be seen.
As for whether he was being kept in a different place or ‘offed’ entirely… they really couldn’t bring themselves to care.
Emilia grinned. “Good, you guys finally showed some discipline, huh? I was starting to wonder if the training at Red Dusk was as bad as the character of their politicians.”
The soldiers only smiled helplessly, clearly not wishing to aggravate her further.
The crimson-haired girl smiled. “Since you are all finally back to your senses, let me show you something interesting.”
Under the confused eyes of the ‘prisoners’, the large television screen on the other side of the room that they had previously failed to notice suddenly lit up, and shockingly enough, it showed an official statement by the spokesperson of their Red Dawn!
What made them both furious and helpless wasn’t that the woman denounced their ‘terrorist attack’ or expressed sympathy for the ‘targeted victims’, but the complete exposure of their identities!
Not only did they publicly shame them, however, but also revoked all the benefits to their families!
This wasn’t what they were promised at all!
Obviously, they had no idea that their identities had already been revealed by Emilia’s side first, and it would have been futile for the government of Red Dusk to continue sheltering them.
Plus, Emilia also conveniently forgot to inform them of the fact that her ‘spies’ had let her know that the government didn’t really feed these so-called martyr’s families to the dogs, so to speak.
They would still secretly be taken care of and protected, and be given brand new identities after being relocated. These were all necessary steps to ensure that their own ‘conspiracy’ wasn’t exposed any further than it already was.
But Emilia conveniently skipped all these ‘irrelevant’ details, and just smiled while watching their reactions. “Ah, how miserable. Not only did you sacrifice everything for your country, but they wouldn’t even protect the honor and future of your families in return. Of course… if you think that is all they did… well, unfortunately, I have some more bad news for you.”
Looking at her pitying expression, the captured soldiers suddenly felt a chill run up their spine. ‘J-Just what could be worse than everything that they have already done?!’
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