Chapter 406. Arguing With The Ice Princess Just Makes My Blood Boil! (Too Much Glaze!)

The compression was still there, light and exact, and Mireya’s pulse was elevated under it. Rex noted this without adjusting anything.

"You have what you saw," he said. "A canyon floor and a series of outcomes you weren’t present for the beginning of."

"You have your interpretation of events, and your interpretation of events will be measured against every piece of trust I’ve built with every person in that expedition since this mission began." He looked at her steadily. "Think about that calculation."

"Especially about who Elizabeth is going to believe, and think about what Alexander is going to say when his first instinct is to support the person he’s watched perform reliably in every situation this expedition has produced."

"Never forget as well, for I just did to Apollo... I saved his fucking miserable life before he got punished by Aethelgard because of what he did by exploding half of it and even taking innocent victims."

Rex crossed his arms. "You heard it correctly, right? Innocent! The victims I kill here are not innocent; they are only those who deserve it.

Mireya remained silent. Her jaw was clenched, her gaze fixed on his, and she was evidently processing the calculation he had described, suggesting that she was reaching the same conclusion he had.

"You have Nerith," Rex said. "Talyra and Aisella."

"They’re going to want to know you’re safe before they want to know anything else, and by the time they’re done wanting that, the framing of today’s events will already be established."

"You can resist that framing, and you have every right to do so," Rex said. "However... you should clearly understand what you are opposing, the potential costs to yourself, and the impact on those who trust you before deciding to engage in that fight..."

The telekinetic compression remained exactly where it was.

"I’m not threatening you," Rex said. "I’m telling you the accurate state of things."

"What you do with it in the end is... your decision."

He let the compression go.

Mireya took a single controlled breath and remained standing without stepping back. She still has that angry look, and she was afraid while she was trying to stand properly because she could feel both of her legs trembling.

"You could have let them go," she said. "You had everything you needed..."

"You could have let them walk out, and it would have ended the same for you."

’This fucking bitch with her naive way of thinking...’ Rex thought. "Maybe that’s why all princesses are so fucking stupid.’

"Yes," Rex said.

"But you didn’t."

"No," Rex said.

She looked at him with the expression of someone who has asked a question and received an answer that answered nothing and everything simultaneously.

"Why?" she said.

Rex thought about this honestly, which he did not often do when the question was about motivation.

"Because they built an organization to eliminate people like me," he said. "And they were good at it. And leaving capable people with specific expertise and personal motivation in the field behind me is a decision I don’t make."

"That’s not the whole answer," Mireya said.

Rex looked at her. Mireya was correct that it wasn’t the whole answer, and she was perceptive enough to realize this, which Rex noted alongside everything else he knew about her.

"No," he said. "It isn’t."

Mireya was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Apollo wouldn’t have done this."

’Oh, here we go... the glazing starts now.’

"Did you not see that Apollo got affected with Kregg’s ring and was on both knees on the floor?" Rex said. "Apollo was unconscious when I pulled him out of this canyon."

"He is not a relevant reference point for this conversation."

"That’s not what I mean," Mireya said. "I mean that when Apollo gets his information, when he has what he needs from someone, he doesn’t execute them on the ground afterward...!"

"He reasons with people, and he gives them a way out." She held Rex’s gaze. "He would have found a way to bring them in, and still... he would probably have tried."

"So what? And then they come back just to destroy Aethelgard and kill more people?" Rex said this with a logical point of view.

"Apollo would have stood in this canyon for two hours trying to explain to Kregg why eliminating reincarnators was wrong," Rex said. "During that time, Kregg would have listened and identified the precise argument needed to make Apollo reconsider his position, allowing enough time for the Legion’s relay network to register the breach and begin moving."

"And then Kregg and Virella would have walked out of here with a three-hour head start, and the Balance Keeper would have the name change on her desk before we reached Drevash." He kept his voice down. "That is what Apollo would have done."

"It would have been well-intentioned and it would have solved nothing."

"You don’t know that," Mireya said.

"I know Apollo," Rex said.

"You know him for months," Mireya said. "I’ve known him for three years!"

"He is not the naive person you’re describing, and he’s dealt with things you don’t know about!"

"He has experienced loss and had to make difficult choices."

"Then he made those decisions in a way that allowed him to sleep peacefully afterward," Rex said. "That reflects a particular style of decision-making that leads to specific kinds of outcomes."

Rex glanced at Apollo, who remained unconscious. "Do you even see him right now?"

Mireya shook her head. "You’re talking about him like that’s a weakness."

"I’m talking about it like it’s a fact," Rex said. "Apollo is effective in the situations his approach is designed for, but this... wasn’t one of them."

"And you were," Mireya said. "You’re very effective and capable."

"Everyone on this expedition has seen that, and you know they’ve seen it, and you use it." She gestured toward the canyon floor. "But this isn’t what effectiveness really is!"

"This is just killing people because you decided to. Because you decided they weren’t worth the inconvenience of leaving alive."

"They weren’t," Rex said.

Mireya stared at him. "Do you hear even yourself?!"

"Oh, of course, lots of times actually," Rex said.

"That’s it?!" she said. "That’s the whole answer for you?!"

"They were inconvenient, so they’re dead." Her voice had started raising again. "Seven people in one canyon and now two more, and you’re standing there like you filed a report and your only concern is whether the ink is dry!"

"These are human beings! Every single one of them came here with a reason they believed in, and you—"

"Every single one of them participated in Apollo’s capture today," Rex said. "Virella put stone spurs through Iris’s back."

"Kregg has personally removed reincarnators from this world for fourteen years. Whatever they believed in, what they did with it was specific, and it was functional, and they were going to keep doing it." He paused. "What part of that produces a different conclusion for you?"

"The part where surrendered people don’t get executed," Mireya said. "That’s not complicated, and that’s a line that exists for a reason."

"It’s a line that exists because it’s useful in situations where the person you’re dealing with will be bound by the same line," Rex said. "Kregg was not going to be bound by it."

"The Balance Keeper is not going to be bound by it."

"They’ve removed forty-three reincarnators from this world, and the number was rising before today, and you can maintain your line."

"That’s your right. But don’t tell me it produces better outcomes, because it doesn’t."

"Apollo would disagree with you," Mireya said.

"Grrrggghhhh...!" Rex was on the edge to just end her right there, but then he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. ’Relax... this girl is just fucking naive at this point... and too much glazing towards that fucking bum.’

"I know he would," Rex said. "Apollo would sit down and have a long conversation about the foundational moral principles at stake and feel forcefully about the conclusions he reached and be entirely incorrect about the practical results."

He looked at her. "Apollo almost died today... In a canyon with ten Legion members and an extraction ring."

"Despite his designation. Despite three years of Mireya arguing that he isn’t naive." Rex tilted his head slightly. "How’s that working out for her?"

Mireya clenched both her fists. "Don’t say that...!"

"Eh, you brought him up first," Rex said. "I’m following the comparison where it goes."

"You’re using him to justify what you did," Mireya said. "You’re pointing at his failures to make your methods look reasonable, and they’re not!"

"They’re not reasonable at all, but they’re just ruthless, and you dress it up in tactical language because you know that’s what people around here respond to, but underneath the tactical language it’s the same thing."

"You decided these people’s lives were worth less than your convenience, and you ended them."

Rex looked at her for a moment.

"You’re doing something specific right now," he said. "You’re framing this as a conversation about Apollo because Apollo is a category you understand."

"He’s a reference point that makes sense to you. As long as you can measure me against Apollo, you have a framework." He paused. "I’m not on the same axis as Apollo."

"We don’t have opposing positions on the same value system. I don’t have the same value system."

"I know that," Mireya replied. "That’s the issue."

"That’s merely a description," Rex countered. "It’s not an issue."