Suzaku Kururugi was somewhat stunned by Xiao Ran's question. He had no idea how to answer it. Doing it was wrong, and refusing to do it was wrong. Doing it might allow some people to live better lives, but it would sacrifice other innocent people. Refusing meant that both sides would die. It was a choice Suzaku Kururugi simply could not make.
Lelouch, meanwhile, remained silent. Something like that could absolutely happen within the Empire, because the Empire did not see civilians in any occupied territory as people equal to themselves. Although the Empire did not mind displaying its false benevolence to the outside world under normal circumstances, once its interests were threatened, even that pretense would vanish.
Unable to decide, Suzaku Kururugi felt his head spin and loudly retorted toward Xiao Ran, "N-No... that's impossible. The Empire would never do something like that."
"Is that so? Then tell me, who carried out the previous massacre of civilians?" Xiao Ran smiled faintly. "Let me tell you why the massacre happened. The Resistance Organization took something very dangerous from Clovis—the girl you saw before. That girl held an extraordinarily special status within the Empire, yet Clovis had secretly captured her."
"Once the Empire's other people learned of this, learned that the girl was in Clovis's hands and had been captured by him, Clovis would face an extremely cruel punishment. So, to conceal this, Clovis ordered the massacre in the civilian district. And that is exactly like the question I asked earlier. Would you fight for the interests of a small minority and slaughter civilians who originally belonged to the same country as you, or would you sacrifice yourself for the future of the greater majority?"
"When all is said and done, the Empire is merely a nation that has already been