Chapter 226 - Self-destruction, Part VI
Chapter 226: Chapter 226. Self-destruction, Part VI
“I’ll sentence.”
“… Yes?”
“My father told me to finish quickly and report, so we have to hurry. The important thing is not to execute them but to support their manor.”
That was why the Emperor didn’t attend here.
“So I’ll take care of it all at once.”
Eventually, the aristocrat, who knew the character of Asher, handed over the papers as if it were inevitable, and Asher, who received them, began to call the names that were not yet called.
“… In this way, I sentence all thirteen of you to be beheaded.”
There was silence in that uncompassionate tone, and the square was filled with only the cold air that came out of Asher’s cold expression. Even Aria, who had seen his cold look in the past, was surprised by his cold voice.
“And the two are left, the former Duke and Princess Frederick.”
Unlike the other sinners, as the two were the main instigators of this rebellion, they seemed to be getting a separate sentence. Or maybe he had taken the papers from the nobleman, presuming he was feeling bored to give them the final sentence.
“I’m sorry for the Duke. Even though it had been a long time ago, your family has succeeded the royal blood, but you’re done with the end of the only historic Duke family in the empire.”
He said he felt sorry, but the Duke swallowed his saliva because his expression was cold.
“Sometimes a man has to cherish what he has, and then he gets something unexpected and precious.”
Asher said that and glanced over where Aria was as if she were a precious person he had unexpectedly acquired. Asher continued, “Now that I think about it, I should be grateful for the Duke, for you have been a good help in many ways since I was very young.”
The Duke’s face was cold, and the winter was not over yet. The cold air was still in full bloom, but he got a cold sweat.
‘Why did you do such a terrible thing if you are frightened like this?’ Asher ridiculed the Duke and continued to sentence him. “For the Duke of Frederick, his sentence is beheading, and his body will be hanged at the entrance of the capital for a month.”
The Duke closed his eyes tight. Nevertheless, he was not surprised, so he seemed to be prepared. It was not desirable, but nothing was scarier than this, so he walked to the last sinner, Isis.
“Frederick Isis.”
Isis’s body was trembling from time to time as she saw him for a long time. It was a different appearance when she had faced Lohan; it was full of malice.
Asher said as if he was disappointed when he saw that she abandoned herself to despair and had a desperate face.
“You were frightening since you married a king of another country and sold the empire.”
What he said was true. ‘How could you have thought of treason? No matter how much you hated me, even if you were the Duke’s eldest daughter, you should defend the empire.’
“If you weren’t that bad, why did your brother betrayed your family? I am so sorry to see your despondent face.” Asher pointed to the stands and whispered.
As she followed his hand, Oscar, a pale man, was watching his father and his only sister nervously.
For betraying his family, he looked as if he would fall out of worry; there was no shadow of a traitor on his face; there was only one face of his own brother, who was worried about his family and regretting. She had thought that if she met him, she would try to remind him of the terrible things he had done. “Why make that face?”
Isis asked, “What will happen to Oscar?”
“Well, he’ll live like a commoner, whom you hated so much.”
“…”
“He’s the one who put his family in hell, but you’re pretty relieved.”
“…”
‘What else could I do? I would not live properly if I lived with his mercy. If I could go back to the past…’ Isis, who knew that it was a foolish delusion, waited for her last moments to come without any further ugly outburst. It was all over.
She couldn’t even scream because she was caught in a trap as he had intentionally driven her into the corner. The only good news was that Oscar survived. She had never thought about the welfare of her brother like a scarecrow, but when she saw his face, she thought it was good that he was alive.
Asher smiled at this and said to himself in a low voice, so Isis would be the only one to hear it.
“You make a stupid decision to the end even if you succeed the very light but royal blood.”
And before she could even realize what that meant, he sentenced her.
“The sinner, Frederick Isis, is sentenced to beheading; the body, like the Duke, will be hanged on the walls of the capital for a month.”
As soon as Asher’s sentence was over, the sentence was executed.
The first one to be sentenced was the Viscount of Merriart, and his head was cut off. The sinners waiting for their turn for the only guillotine was either crying, peeing themselves or expressing their fears. Asher had prepared that on purpose.
Death unfolding before them was enough to make them lose their minds, and the knights would break their limbs whenever they faint so that they would wake up.
“What’s the last thing you want to say?”
Asher asked Isis, who watched the knights collect the head and body of the Duke who had been executed just before her. Although she submitted to her fate, it was hard to see her father’s head separated from his body. She shook her head with her eyes closed tightly. Her arms and legs were like thin leaves; they already lost their function and could be shaken by strong winds.
“I hope you won’t be reborn as a human being in your next life.”
Thud! The guillotine blade fell, and the head of Isis, who closed her eyes tightly, fell to the ground. It was such a lonely death for the evil woman who had shaken the empire in her hand and harassed the Crown Prince.
As soon as the last sinner was executed, shouts came from the crowd. It was the condemnation for the greedy criminals who had dared to swallow the empire and the praise for the Crown Prince who had overpowered them all in advance without bloodshed.
****
“It ends so easily,” said Aria, who had seen that Isis’s head was cut off, in a rather hollow voice. Isis was a high-ranking noblewoman who Aria had never dared to see her face in the past, but her end was so futile.
The high-ranking noblewoman, as high as the sky, was treated like a trivial thing, and she thought that her old self, whose head had been cut off by Cain, would have been nothing. She would be treated like trash. If the world was still there and was turning except for the wicked woman whose head had been beheaded.
‘If it wasn’t for the hourglass…’ If it hadn’t been for the hourglass, she wouldn’t have seen this precious sight.
She had promised to get revenge, but it seemed to be too much easier than she had thought, and on the other hand, she felt strange.
Even Mielle and Cain, who had looked so great in the past when she had nothing, were only seen in Aria’s eyes as very shabby, humble sister and brother. Of course, it wasn’t completely over because the highlight still remained, but it was different from the time when she had aimed at the right time and built up her force, being nervous. Now all that remained was to enjoy their slow and painful death.
“That’s what I’m saying. Who knew that the great nobles of the empire would be like that?”
Carin agreed, watching the dead bodies being collected while frowning as it wasn’t nice to see.
But it was simply because of the terrible scene, not a pity for the sister and brother, who had not treated her as their mother even though she had been a fake. The frightened sister and brother were shaking with their pale face because of the dead bodies in front of them, but no one paid attention to them.
“Now that the entertainment is over, I think we should go to her mansion.” As if he didn’t care about the scene, Lohan leaped from his seat and said. It seemed like he wanted to take Aria to Croa as soon as possible after he revealed her identity.
“… Yes.”
Chloe rose in agreement. It was more important for him to speak with his daughter and a woman he had longed for rather than with nobles of another country who he had no acquaintance with.