69 – House of Poitiers – 9
“I guess you’re asking to be let out of the castle, aren’t you? I had a vague idea that you would do that. “I will let you leave the castle as you wish.”
Then the mercenary captains started making noise.
“You’re letting me out of the castle?”
“Then there’s no need to fight, right?”
“We just want to go home…” “
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Meanwhile, Beth Aston was looking at Charles with her suspicious eyes. Because she had already been stabbed once in the back.
“That’s true, right? “If you mess up again this time, I will definitely kill you.”
“Yes. I will really get you out of the castle. “If you don’t believe me, it’s okay right now.”
“What?”
“They say it’s okay to leave right now!”
“Let’s all stop being like this and go out!” Get out!”
“Just!”
Everyone’s movements stopped at Charles’ shout.
“We go out one at a time. First, the tall mercenary leader in the back will be the first to leave the castle, and then the other mercenary leaders will leave one by one. “Beth Aston stays until the very end.”
“Huh?”
“What? “One by one?”
“Is there a reason for doing so?”
“Let’s say we send you out. So how are you going to get out of here?”
“Just go to the gate… ah.”
One of the mercenary captains who was speaking seemed to feel that his words were strange.
“Yes. If you open the gate to let you out, the enemy may break in. Therefore, we have no choice but to climb down the ladder one by one. “It is the safest for you and me.”
“Ah… “
Beth Aston thought. First of all, what you are saying makes sense. But Charles was the one who stabbed Aston last time. And as a mercenary leader who survived into his 40s, as far as he knows, it is not surprising for someone who stabbed him once to stab him again.
“Wait a minute.”
Beth Aston said.
“Why are the exit orders differentiated?”
“That’s… “
“And, why do I have to stay until the end? What’s the benefit of sending out all the others and leaving me alone? Now, wait a minute.”
At that moment, Beth Aston realized something about him. What if all the ladders are removed after all the mercenary leaders leave? If that happens, won’t all the mercenary leaders fall into the hands of the enemy and only the mercenaries will remain in the castle?
Can mercenaries who lost their commander unite and fight? No. Without a commander, they might lose their will to fight and surrender.
In other words, is this a plan to send out the mercenary leaders and swallow up only the mercenaries? So why do you want to leave yourself until the end?
‘Because I was trying to stab them in the back?’
I tried to stab him in the back once, so I want to get rid of him as revenge. Did that really happen?
Beth Aston, who had thought that far, shouted.
“I will accept the offer!”
The mercenary captains were surprised by those words. I didn’t expect Aston to accept the offer so easily.
“But!”
But. The next words were more important.
“I am the first one to leave.”
A mercenary group can give it to you. This is because I already made a lot of money and thought it was time to retire. But the issue is life. If Beth Aston remains here until the end, she will surely die. So somehow he has to be the first to go out and preserve his life.
After Beth Aston finished speaking, she immediately looked at Charles’ expression. Charles had a puzzled expression on his face.
‘As expected, was it a plan to get rid of me? hehehe… ‘
Beth Aston, who thought her prediction was correct, shouted with vigor.
“Why can’t you answer! “If I go out first, will there be any trouble?”
“Well, that…” “
“I am first! If you don’t do that, I won’t agree to negotiations! “No matter how much you do, you wouldn’t want 500 untrustworthy people living under one roof, right?”
Blatant threats. It was said that if Aston was not allowed to leave like this, they would stage a rebellion tonight and open the castle gates.
At this, Charles sighed as if there was nothing he could do and fell behind Isabelle. It was a gesture that she would delegate her decisions to Isabel, the castle owner. And Isabel…
“Please give me until tonight.”
“By tonight?”
“Yes. I will come to a conclusion before the sun sets. “The enemy won’t attack until the sun sets, so this should be okay, right?”
The mercenary leaders looked at each other’s faces. It’s tonight. That was worth the wait. As one person nodded, the other mercenary captains also nodded to each other. So did Beth Aston.
“Go ahead.”
The mercenary leaders went out with great vigor, and soon Isabel was faced with a difficult decision.
—–
“Charles Jean Rochepol, I believe in you. That’s why I asked you for help. That’s still the case now. I think your decision to send out the mercenary leaders is correct. If they open the castle gate under cover of darkness, we will be defeated. “I think it would be better to let them out of the castle as they wish.”
After her mercenaries left, Isabelle immediately began to express her thoughts.
“But… I am not confident. I have always made rational decisions based on logic. It’s the same this time too. And if you act naturally and follow logic, you will get natural results. “In my view, the natural outcome of this battle is defeat.”
That is correct. If Isabel leads this war with her own judgment, this war will be lost. This is because she was a woman who lived up to expectations, neither above nor below expectations.
“But Charles, you are a completely different person from me. We make decisions that are not natural and produce results that are not natural. I still haven’t surrendered after seeing your otherness. Charles, please. What are you thinking? What kind of strategy are you planning? I too would like to know your strategy. That way, we can tailor our actions to your strategy.”
“… “
Charles took out her chair and sat down opposite Isabelle, then thought for a while. And then he said.
“Mr. Isabel.”
“Yes, Charles.”
“If I were to ask you to trust me unconditionally, would you be able to?”
“… “
This time Isabel closed her mouth. If she were Princess Leonia, she would have trusted Charles. But can she trust Charles?
After thinking for a while, Isabel opened her mouth.
“I… “
Isabel, she has never trusted anyone until now. Her family, friends, and even her lord, Princess Leonia.
“To be honest.”
Because of this, no matter how great the man in front of her was, it was difficult for Isabel to believe him.
“No one in this world can be trusted unconditionally. “What I believe in is situations and logic, not people.”
So, the two did not speak for a while. And soon after the awkward time was over, Charles stood up.
“I knew. Isabel de Poitiers. You may not trust not only me, but even Her Highness the Princess, unconditionally. So trust your own judgment. Make the decision you think is right. Then, victory will be within your grasp.”
It was a somewhat unknown story. It felt like a Zen question. But all Isabel could do was trust her own judgment. As Charles said.
—–
That night came. Isabel summoned the mercenary leaders. Isabel’s conditions were as follows. As Charles said, she climbs the ladder and descends one by one from the top of the castle to the bottom of the castle.
And as Beth Aston herself strongly requested, Beth Aston goes down first.
Isabel de Poitiers first planted a white flag on the castle wall. The white flag meant surrender, but it could also mean stopping the fight for a while.
And Beth Aston successfully climbed down the ladder. Beth Aston came down from the wall, raised her hands and headed towards the enemy lines. The soldiers in the enemy camp took Beth Aston to the military camp. Other mercenary captains looked at Aston with envy.
“That bastard is alive.”
“I’m jealous… When is next?”
The mercenary leaders asked Isabel, but it was Charles who answered, not Isabel.
“Let’s wait a little longer. “You don’t know if the other person will accept your surrender.”
“Where else can you accept it? We are not the defenders of this castle, but merely mercenary leaders. Who would kill a hired mercenary leader? Next time, we might meet as employers. And if we accept your surrender, we can reduce the troops in the castle, so of course they will accept it, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but just in case, let’s wait a little longer.”
As Charles said, the mercenary leaders began to wait. I had no doubt that in a little while, a messenger would come from the enemy side accepting the surrender of the mercenary leaders. But what came out was Georges de Poitiers.
“Sister! “One of their mercenary leaders climbed a ladder and came to our camp, saying he would surrender. Do you know that?”
Georges de Poitiers hid his right hand behind his back and said.
“I know. He was sent by us. “I was sending them because some of the mercenary leaders said they didn’t want to fight.”
Isabel’s expression was one of despair as she said that.
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“Oh, is that so? Do you even know what his face looks like?”
It was a random question. Why on earth do you ask what Beth Aston looks like?
“I know, but what does it matter?”
“Was there a mole above his eyebrow? “Wasn’t it there?”
“I don’t know. “How can you remember such trivial information?”
“Well, I don’t really remember either. Was there? Wasn’t it there? “I’ll have to check it out.”
As Georges de Poitiers said that, he took out someone’s severed head from behind his back. The mercenary captains on the castle wall screamed. That’s because the head Georges grabbed was Beth Aston’s.