Try Begging - Chapter 165.2
Standing on the brink of a horrific life and an even more horrific death, these men easily fell for Winston’s low-level manipulations. While begging Jimmy and Dave for their own lives, their eyes were filled with disdain and resentment towards the two.
Eventually, one of them gave up.
“Just kill me… kill me now…”
It was a fate they would face eventually. They had concluded that facing it sooner rather than living in daily fear was better. However, Jimmy and Dave couldn’t simply sentence the man to death.
“Kill me… please just kill me…”
Watching the man mutter the same words in a daze and observing the two rats who would not die today, Leon clicked his tongue.
“Can’t you do it? Anyway, what does it mean to do it right? Fine, I’ll choose today.”
Despite pretending that he was reluctantly making the choice, Leon had already decided who would be executed. After carefully observing the behavior of the three prisoners, pushing them into various crises, the person he chose was neither the one who tried the hardest to survive nor the one who first volunteered to die.
“The most indecisive person who neither betrayed first nor gave up first.”
As Leon pointed his whip at one of the prisoners, the man’s face contorted, and he trembled.
“I despise indecisive people.”
He was thoroughly disgusted by their reluctance to take risks, their cowardice, and lack of courage. As Leon recited his reason for choosing today’s execution, he suddenly stopped.
“Wait a minute, who is this?”
He spread his arms and marveled as if recognizing a dear acquaintance.
“This person, despite being so indecisive, yet was the first to suggest giving Grace an honorable death.”
The man’s face turned even more pale as he looked at his comrades with eyes full of accusation. It meant that someone who was there at the time had revealed everything.
“I didn’t give the orders… Hey, everyone thought that, too, didn’t you? Tell me, everyone!”
But the comrades either turned away or avoided Leon’s gaze.
“Please, just spare me.”
Leon bent down towards the man crawling on the dirt, who was staring death in the face. The tip of his whip pushed the man’s chin up.
“Ah, you should have swallowed cyanide and died honorably. Then, you could have avoided today’s dishonorable death.”
“Please, I was wrong.”
“I now understand why you raised that woman. It’s astonishing. You held the joker but didn’t know how to use it, and instead, you were undone by that very joker.”
Leon clicked his tongue and straightened up.
“You need to hear clearly that you’re dead.”
It was unnecessary to say who wanted to hear this news. Looking back, Campbell nodded, holding a notebook. Tomorrow’s newspaper would report the execution.
“Look closely. I’m doing my best to avenge you.”
Leon sighed, pressing his fingertips to his temples, and gave his order.
“Take him away.”
The waiting soldiers dragged today’s condemned prisoner to the execution post. With his legs giving way, he was dragged along, kicking and screaming uselessly.
“You killed that monster’s father! Dave! It should be you standing here!”
As he was bound to the post, the condemned man cried out, and David Wilkins turned his head sharply.
“Ugh!”
The tip of the whip lashed out, striking the man’s neck that was exposed from his prison uniform. He collapsed, unable to get up, writhing in pain.
This man had been injured during the Blackburn operation when he was caught in an explosion caused by Grace as he tried to escape through an underground passage, leaving him unable to use one of his legs.
At Leon’s gesture, a soldier standing behind lifted him to a sitting position.
“If I’ve especially seated you in the royal box, you should show the appropriate respect.”
This time, the whip’s tip jabbed into the cheek of James Blanchard Jr., who was avoiding eye contact.
“Look properly.”
Little Jimmy was relatively obedient, but Wilkins continued to avert his gaze, lowering his head repeatedly. Leon took a pair of black gloves from Campbell, put them on, and grabbed the man by his hair.
“Look closely at how your children die. And see how the remaining ones are, and you will meet your end.”
As he reminded him of what had been done and what was yet to come, the man squeezed his eyes, filled with loathsome tears, shut and clenched his teeth. His jaw was clearly trembling.
The first encounter with this man was still vivid, even after several months.
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