Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Malin smiled and shook his head, "I’m sorry, I will not show mercy to those who harm the innocent, nor will I offer a way out for the children of those who kill the young. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; it is a very simple and clear principle. So, the mercy you want, I cannot give you." After speaking, Malin raised his gun and shot the old man dead, then put away his gun and stepped back.

Link Svenson instructed the gendarmes to drag away the family of the old Earl.

Some cursed Malin, some spat at reality, but Malin merely listened silently to their last words. Eventually, as the old Earl’s wife was being hanged, the soldiers distributed poison to the Earl’s children, helping those who didn’t want to drink it to do so.

"Your Highness Malin, you must be feeling uncomfortable." Link, beside Malin, asked.

"Indeed, when I think of the children of your comrades being hanged, while I give poison to these children, in the end, I have been merciful." Malin said this with a sigh—after all, this is a life-and-death struggle, clearly leaving no room for any warmth, yet I gave these children a final mercy.

But who, in turn, will show mercy to those revolutionaries and their children?

Humanity keeps repeating the same mistakes, as it was ten thousand years ago, so it is ten thousand years hence.

"Your Highness... no, please don’t say that. In my eyes, you have already done what none of us could. Before you personally executed old Hagelberry, none of us believed you wouldn’t give that old man a way out, given he is your kin." Link looked at Malin, his eyes full of respect, but more so with anger at his family, "Like my family, when my relative came to face me and my brother, before he came, I never thought the family would abandon us for this."

"I killed old Hagelberry because I understood he chose to sacrifice himself. He could not betray his King, nor his oath... so he chose death, because he knew I would certainly fire." In Malin’s eyes, old Hagelberry was even more ruthless than he had imagined; he always said he would pave the way for Lulu’s child to inherit the Hagelberry legacy. Now it seems the path is clear, with Lulu’s child left without enemies, because after today, the Hagelberry family will only have Lulu and her unborn child remaining.

"But Your Highness Malin, it is precisely because of your action that the soldiers trust us so much; because they believe we mean what we say, and all so-called sins will be judged." Link looked proudly at the continuously passing soldiers in battle formation under the gallows—among those nobles in the city, there are still those who resist stubbornly, but they will find no way to escape.