Translator: Khan
Editor Group: Liber Reverie
So, when she asked, Lohan looked at Isis with a look of pity. “Don’t you see that they are a father and a daughter after looking at their faces? Even a dog that passes by can see it at once. Well, if not, there’s another way. You don’t know because you have never been invited by Asher to the pond of the Imperial Castle, but it’s very easy to judge the royal family.”
“… What is it?”
“Well, it’s not a secret that is needed to be hidden so much, so I suppose I can tell you. There’s a pond in the Imperial Castle, which only those who have succeeded the royal blood or who have been married and drunk holy water can enter. You know that. Of course, the child born by the woman who drank the holy water can also be recognized as a royal and enter it. They said that anyone couldn’t take out the holy water out of the pond without the Emperor’s permission.”
“… You mean that that woman has been in that pond…”
“That woman? Don’t talk too freely. Are you insane?”
“How, how do you believe such a ridiculous superstition? How do you know that, above all, as the king of another country?”
Lohan said with a sigh at Isis’s reaction that she could not believe anything. “You still don’t feel how close I am to Asterope. It was when Asher was about ten years old. Asher was nearly killed by your noblemen, and he’d been hiding in Croa for years. And of course, thanks to that, I saw a wonderful sight.”
Isis’s eyes widened as she heard the story for the first time even if she was a member of the Aristocratic Party.
And then, as if he had made a mistake, Lohan covered his mouth, and as he thought of the end of Isis, he whispered secretly, reading Asher’s countenance.
“Only my father and I know that when they die, the royals in crisis would have a strange power to be manifested. You’ve heard of it.”
Isis opened her eyes wide.
When he knew it was a secret, he seemed to have fun teasing Isis, and then he paused and said carefully, “The power of Asher that Mielle kept insisting on. The ability to suddenly disappear… Most curiously, it really came down to the royal family. How could Asterope have come to Croa in his dying condition, who was just ten years old?”
Isis said, stuttering at his secret confession, “You’re kidding me, right?”
“Why would I be kidding now? I don’t have enough time just to tell you the truth, who is going to die. By the way, I was so surprised that he suddenly appeared in the middle of the garden, and I knew that. In fact, the Aristocratic Party has done a great contribution in the manifestation of Asher’s ability, which is manifested only in a few royals and which most do not know.”
‘Was that true…? Was what Mielle said true? She was not insane… Or is Lohan crazy, too? Or is he just joking…?’ Isis’s mind was cast adrift. Her lips trembled, not knowing how to take his words.
“Think about it. Didn’t Asterope do it all even though you guys tried to insult and demand so much? Besides, how do you think they could keep the empire and the royal power for so long? Do you think there were only one or two people who were blinded by power like you? Don’t you think it’s because when they’re in a crisis, their strange abilities are manifested?”
Lohan’s words were credible. She had thought that the Crown Prince would not do it, and she had let him do a lot of work around the border areas to insult him. But the Crown Prince had done all the work in a mysterious way, even visiting there himself. It was impossible unless he had the ability to move the space. She remembered that they had said that there were two Crown Princes in fact.
‘So, was it real?’ Lohan tried to explain to her in detail so that she could believe it, and she looked at him in astonishment.
Lohan read the hope of telling her that he was lying, in her eyes, and he laughed at it and finished. “Well, it doesn’t matter to you what it is anymore. You guys will die, and Asterope will take care of you and become the emperor of the greatest power of all time, and in a while, Lady Aria will be the Crown Princess. He will remain at peace for a very long time with the nearest nation, leaving behind the great accomplishment of dealing with the evils that had dared to challenge the imperial authority.”
Lohan, who had left, turned away with a fresh face as if he was no longer frustrated, and Isis was left with a pitiful face, knowing the incredible truth. Her eyes fell to the ground.
Isis had treated Aria as a thorn in her eyes, saying that she was vulgar because of her humble origin, but it was Aria who took all the light of the world, and the Crown Prince who she had said that she would make him regret would be honored. And all that remained with Isis, who had always thought of them as hers was… despair.
She saw a guillotine in the middle of the square, and though there was still time before her sentence, she was already strangled by the guillotine in front of her.
****
“I’m going to sentence you because we’re running out of time.”
As soon as Lohan was gone, one of the causes of the delay, the nobleman pretended to be in a hurry; a long piece of paper was in his hand, which seemed to be a document of the punishment of the sinners.
The nobleman once scanned the paper and looked back on top of it, checking the contents and slowly walked among the sinners. Where he arrived was beside Viscount Merriart, who was the first to sell out his colleagues through Vika’s tricks. There was a certainty of faith in him, and the nobleman glanced at him who had been a little more stable than the others and sentenced him with a serious face.
“I sentence the sinner Viscount Merriart to be decapitated. All of his properties will be confiscated, and his title will be deprived.”
It was a cold tone, not even with any feeling as if it were obvious.
The nobleman’s voice that resonated in the square made him sank down as if he couldn’t believe it. It was as if his face showed why he was being punished like this, and he felt like this was unfair because he had tried to reduce his sentence by informing on the others.
From the beginning, beheading was decided to be his punishment, and the spectators began to murmur. Usually, it used to be sentenced a light sentence at first and the heavier they were after, and if it started with a beheading from the beginning, they would rarely get mercy in the future.
The Viscount asked the nobleman with his own eyes that were shaking.
“What about commutation?”
“Commutation?”
“I heard there’s an imperial law that gives me remission if I inform on the others, but…”
The sinners’ eyes were drawn to the word ‘inform’ of the Viscount because they had thought that all the sinners in this place could be saved through informing on the others.
‘Why is he going to be beheaded even though he informed on the others?’
The nobleman, who received their gaze fixed with question and fear, replied, “Of course, you should be fully considered because you gave important information and testimony, but the crime you committed in the first place is treason, and it was too great to be reduced.”
It was a cold reaction not to even speak. At this, the Viscount swallowed his breath.
“Yes? That, that means…”
“If you can’t prove that you’re not a traitor, then you can’t get the remission even if you do anything. You should think you will be done with a beheading, but if not, your whole body will be torn off and become food for the beasts.”
“… Huh?!”
The Viscount’s body collapsed to the ground, and he seemed distracted by the incredible reality. He thought he could avoid beheading, but how could this be?! Something must have gone wrong. If it’s Vika, he might have a solution because he had suggested that he should inform on the others at first.
“Please call Viscount Vika…”
“Why Viscount Vika?”
“He, he was sure I would get remission…”
When he found Vika, squeezing his last remaining strength, the nobleman laughed and said, “Are you still looking for Vika? Do you think he really helped you? Was every sin proved enough by informing on each other, not to be able to get remission? Now you should recognize who would most benefit from the advice of Vika. Why are you being betrayed twice?”
