If that was how Edelgard was going to play it, then Darin moves to stand in front of her. At six foot four inches, he's definitely big enough to block her vision.

"So that means we meet violence with violence?! You're already risking lives by meeting it in battle so what the hell have you got to lose?! You criticize it for acting out of a baser instinct, but you're not acting any better!"

Darin straightens up, stands his ground, and stretches his arms out to either side to continue blocking, no matter how futile it might look when Edelgard has a battalion at her command.

"Aren't you an Empress? Is this all you know? All you care about? War? There are always other options! Stick with your contingent here while people of likemind as me head out and try and deter it! If we just jump to violence every time something like this crops up, Avalon won't survive! This is the last bastion of life in the multiverse, don't we have an obligation to at least try and protect what we can?! Can we really consider ourselves in the right if we don't exhaust every available option?!"