'SEE YOU MORNING' 086 Lübeck's Speech

The sky was already turning light, filtering through the gaps in the curtains to illuminate the windowsill and the head of the bed. Lübeck hadn’t slept well all night, because today was the day for the public execution of the rebel criminals. No matter what crimes they had committed, in the absence of any casualties among the security team members, he still felt it was disproportionate to end so many lives—a discomfort in his conscience.

Beside him, Emma was still fast asleep. She slept so soundly; even though the sky was growing bright, she remained in a deep slumber. With the rise and fall of her breathing, one could faintly see the veins beneath the fair skin of her chest, her full breasts, her elastic skin, her thick hair—all radiating the vitality of youth and life.

Faintly, from the kitchen beyond the door, he could hear Ruth already starting to prepare breakfast. Lübeck tucked the blanket around Emma’s shoulders, dressed himself, and left the room.

His gaze passed through the living room toward the kitchen. In the morning light streaming through the windows, there seemed to be a faint wisp of smoke curling inside the living room, slowly churning and rising within the space. He wasn’t sure whether it was convection caused by sunlight warming the room or air currents stirred by the rising fire in the kitchen. But its gentle stillness seemed to freeze this brief moment of early morning, a snapshot inserted into the decades of shared years between Ruth and Lübeck.

Lübeck pulled a chair into the kitchen and drew Ruth onto his lap. “Take a rest. Don’t just stand there waiting,” he said, holding her.

Ruth didn’t speak, only rested her head on Lübeck’s shoulder. Lübeck took her fingers—they were a little cold—and tucked her hands inside his jacket.

“A few days ago, Müller asked me to take in two girls. Their father died in the war, and their mother is remarrying. I refused at first, but now I’m thinking, why not adopt them and let them be daughters to you? Then when you grow old, someone will look after you.”

Ruth leaned in Lübeck’s embrace, lifted her head, and smiled at him. “How old are they?”

“One is three, the other five.”

“Oh, but they still have their own mother. Even if we raise them, they won’t feel close to us.”

“Oh.”

“If that little sister of mine can be relied upon, I’ll pin my hopes on her and on the child she has with you.” Lübeck knew she meant Emma—a kind-hearted girl. He just worried that when facing her own mother, her children would inevitably have selfish feelings and not treat them equally.

“Alright,” he said, “then I’ll tell my child to honor you just as they honor their mother.”

Hearing that, Ruth laughed. “Ah, I won’t count on other people’s children. If I can count on my little sister, that’s enough. Besides, who knows? Maybe I’ll go before you do.”

“Don’t say such unlucky words. Let us both live to a hundred, all right?”

“All right,” Ruth nodded, smiling.

Though the thought of Ruth going before him carried the bitterness of parting, Lübeck felt that if he could see her off at her final moment, it would be some repayment for the affection and companionship she had given him all these years. He could hardly bear to imagine how she would face a lonely life without him.

The beauty of the morning light carried a somewhat heavy dawn. Lübeck rode a carriage to the execution ground on the outskirts of the city. Since the establishment of the Zufluchtsland, only common thieves and assaulters had been punished here; never had a death sentence been carried out, let alone hanging. By the time Lübeck arrived, the area was already packed with ordinary onlookers, as well as families of the criminals. A large number of soldiers were maintaining order. The public mass execution was meant to serve as a deterrent.

Lübeck’s carriage entered the execution ground from another direction. He found the person in charge of the execution from the治安forces and inquired about the day’s procedure, then spoke with the judge on site and治安officer Trudy for a while, exchanging views.

By now the sun had risen higher, and the weather was warm and humid. It was almost the busy season for sowing, but despite that, many people still came to watch because of the gravity of the event in the Zufluchtsland.

With the striking of the hour from the市政厅 bell tower, the first group of criminals sentenced to hanging were led up to the gallows. Lübeck watched the process from the rear. The first batch were the conspirators behind the rebellion. It was due to their planning and orders that such a large-scale armed conflict had occurred, causing numerous casualties. On the execution platform, the judge was reading out their crimes and the verdict.

Lübeck glanced at the prisoners still waiting in the carts. Some were straining to see what was about to happen on the platform, some were curled up in corners, and others were looking through the gaps between the gallows’ support pillars toward the crowd, perhaps searching for their families.

Lübeck then rose and walked along the path beside the platform to the front. The reading of the crimes was finished, and each prisoner was being identified one by one. Just as he stepped onto the wooden stairs of the platform, the orders were already being shouted: “Prepare for execution.”

At that moment, a single command would pull away the planks beneath the prisoners’ feet, and they would fall, their necks snapped. The scene was deathly silent. The sound of Lübeck’s leather boots on the wooden platform seemed to reach the ears of the spectators in the very last row.

Lübeck walked to the center of the front of the platform and spoke loudly to the crowd below: “Fellow villagers, compatriots.

I, Lübeck, brought you all here. Together we built this refuge. For twenty years, this has been our new home. You chose to trust me. I led you out, originally for a better life.” Turning his head to look at the prisoners on the gallows, he continued, “not to send you to the gallows.” Then he turned back to face the audience.

“Look at what has happened. Many from the Bauer family have died, many from the Schmidt family have died. Why? For land, for profit, for money, for women? For power. Why is it that when we have enough to eat and a peaceful life, we forget the original reason we fled our former homeland? When we escaped the church that persecuted us, why do we now bring their slaughter into our midst, into this new, supposedly better home? While some are still haggling over profits, have they ever thought—” Lübeck turned, walked to the nearest prisoner, took a stack of newspapers from his satchel, and held them up before him. “Look at this. The Black Death. While you were counting your gains, did you ever think that you had already escaped the Black Death?”

Lübeck then walked to the next prisoner and showed him the paper. “Look at this.” Turning back to the audience, he said, “Cholera. Everyone here, we have been spared from cholera.” He walked to the front again, flipping through the newspapers. “Look, and war, typhus, syphilis, war, massacre.” Lübeck kept turning the pages, loudly muttering as if a little unhinged.

“Compatriots, many of you here, I still remember your faces. I brought each of you here, one by one, hoping that you would cherish the life we have now, be less calculating about profits, and care for the compatriots beside you. After all, it is together that we are building this common home of ours.” As he spoke, Lübeck waved his hands forcefully in the air, hoping his fellow citizens would follow his lead.

Finally, the crowd below began to murmur. Then a stir passed through the gathering. Suddenly, someone raised a fist and shouted, “Captain Lübeck, we support you!”

“Yes, we support you!”

“Captain, we support you!”

Seeing that the people finally had a reaction and an expression of their own regarding this event, Lübeck felt some release. As he looked at those familiar faces and figures, even though marked by the passage of time, still moving with him, his eyes grew moist.