“It’s best not to try any foolish tricks. Be grateful that you get to die gracefully, as befits royalty.”
He snarled viciously and spat towards me. The slimy saliva landed not far from where I stood. Having become all too accustomed to such treatment, I showed no particular reaction.
Surely they weren’t worried I might attempt to escape at this point? If so, that was truly a needless concern.
They were nearly twice my size, and I was even thinner than usual, having not had a proper meal since being imprisoned. If they decided to use their fists, it was clear I wouldn’t be able to put up any resistance.
Not wanting to cause any unnecessary disturbance at this point, I quietly averted my gaze and waited for noon to arrive.
Since the execution site was the central square of the capital, all sorts of people would likely gather to witness my death. From the nobles who had always viewed my existence with disdain, to the street vendors who had transformed me into all manner of demonic figures in their tales.
‘What a fine spectacle this will be.’
I smiled bitterly. From the daughter of a traitor to now ascending the gallows as a murderer.
Looking back, perhaps my life was destined for this end from the very beginning.
My first sin was being born to a woman who became Empress by trampling on the primary wife. The second sin was marrying a man too good for me and stubbornly keeping him by my side.
To the Emperor, I was like a thorn in his eye, and he was always looking for an opportunity to get rid of me. The death of my daughter must have been an opportunity he couldn’t miss. The situation before me at that time was far from optimistic.
The berry that Soliet swallowed just before her death was a type of drug. Although strictly forbidden in the Empire, it was secretly consumed by some wealthy individuals due to its excellent effects as a sleeping aid. I was one of those people.
After my last childbirth, my body and mind were irreparably damaged. The aftereffects of having my uterus removed following a difficult labor were terrible. Spending entire nights in agony, feeling as if my abdomen was being torn apart, was commonplace.
It wasn’t just my body that was in shambles. The child who died without even being able to cry properly, and the doctor’s words that I could never have another child, slowly ate away at my mind.
Even the sedatives prescribed by the doctor had little effect. I needed something stronger. That’s when I found it.
I took it habitually. Although the effects weren’t dramatic, at least it prevented me from staying up all night.
However, it was still an illegal poisonous berry in the Empire, and since none of the Grand Duke’s retainers were particularly friendly towards me, it wouldn’t have been good for anyone else to discover it.
For this reason, I kept it in a box where I stored my mother’s keepsakes, out of reach of the maids. It seems my child, playing alone, somehow discovered it.
As is often the case with lethal poisons, the berry was quite beautifully shaped, which might have piqued the child’s interest.
I was the first to discover the fallen child. The familiar berries scattered on my bed, and my child lying peacefully as if asleep among them.
What mother could remain sane at such a sight?
Before that scene, I was neither a princess nor a Grand Duchess. I was merely a mother on the verge of losing her offspring.
I wrote a letter to Joseph, begging him to send the imperial doctor, something I had never done before in my life. But before the doctor could reach the Grand Duke’s residence, my child had already passed away.
After that day, I couldn’t live in my right mind. And before I could gather my wits, the Emperor, Joseph, pointed to me as the culprit behind all of this.
‘We hereby arrest Princess Sienna for the crime of killing her own child. Given the heinous nature of the crime, imprison her and strictly prohibit any contact with the outside world.’
The evidence was that the drug that led to the child’s death was mine, that I had long suffered from nervous exhaustion and depression, and that my relationship with the child’s father was at its worst.
No sooner had I been charged with murder than the influential nobles pushed me into a corner, as if they had been waiting for this moment.
The nobles unleashed fierce attacks, as if the severity of the damage they could inflict on me was a measure of their loyalty.
The whole process was like a well-orchestrated play. The protagonist was the Emperor who overcame crisis and inherited the throne, and I was the main axis of evil threatening him.
The script they created was quite plausible. In it, I was portrayed as an irrational woman with a pathological attachment to her husband, a villainess who burned with hatred towards her spouse to the point of killing her young daughter.
Rumors of the Grand Duke couple’s relationship being in ruins had already spread widely, so people believed the Emperor’s cleverly fabricated story without much doubt.
“Perhaps the afterlife would be better for me.”
I muttered to myself.
I was already exhausted. Chasing after the back of a man who didn’t love me. Struggling to survive among people hell-bent on killing me.
In my world where even breathing was uncomfortable, Soliet was my only paradise. What meaning could this world have for me without that child?
Curled up in the corner of the narrow prison, I waited for the bell to ring from outside the castle. When that time came, I would finally be free.
But even after the noon bell rang, no soldiers appeared. At first, I thought it was just a brief delay, but when no one showed up until the sun disappeared behind the mountain ridge, I finally realized something was amiss.
How my brother had longed to hang me by the neck.
My execution was to be a once-in-a-lifetime festival for him. Joseph had put his heart and soul into preparing for today.
Just yesterday, I had clearly seen them rehearsing the execution ceremony while keeping me locked in the iron cage.
Soldiers wearing iron armor typically reserved for war marching in formation, followed by about three musicians playing trumpets.
It was so grandiose that I couldn’t help but think it was excessive for killing just one person. It was more of a parade than an execution ceremony.
But now, when that parade should have reached its climax, it was too quiet outside the prison.
I wasn’t the only one who felt something was off. The guard standing outside the iron bars also seemed to sense that something was amiss, pacing around the prison with a restless look on his face.
That’s when it happened. Suddenly, one guard rushed in with a face as white as a sheet and shouted urgently to his colleague.
“We’re in trouble. It’s chaos out there right now!”
The guard who had been standing watch over me with an anxious face snapped at his late-arriving colleague.
“For heaven’s sake, they said you’d come at noon. Why are you only here now? And where are the soldiers? Why are you alone?”
“Listen, that’s not the issue right now. The capital has been turned upside down!”
As the one who had rushed in shouted as if exasperated, the face of the man who had been angry finally showed bewilderment.
“The capital’s been turned upside down? What on earth happened?”
“Haven’t you seen today’s newspaper? The Grand Duke’s will was plastered all over the front page!”
I, who had been hanging my head low, suddenly looked up at those words. The only person who held the title of Grand Duke in the empire was the man who had come here just half a day ago to provoke me before leaving.
But suddenly talking about a will? I frowned, thinking it was some bizarre nonsense.
“But His Grace was here just yesterday?”
“I heard there was a commotion at the Grand Duke’s residence at dawn. Gunshots rang out while everyone was asleep, and even the patrol guarding the neighborhood heard the sound.”
At the mention of gunshots, I felt my facial muscles stiffen.
“With more than a few people witnessing the scene of the body being recovered, and the Grand Duke’s handwritten will prominently featured on the front page of the morning newspaper, the outside world is in an uproar now.”
I blinked slowly. The words flowing into my ears didn’t make sense.
“…Who died?”
The guards, belatedly realizing my presence, closed their mouths with looks of ‘oops’ on their faces.
****
The will was concise and clear in its intent.
It stated that the money used to purchase the poison, which was illegal in the empire, came from the Grand Duke’s estate, and since the child’s death occurred at the Grand Duke’s residence, he should bear all responsibility.
It declared that he had committed a sin that could not be washed away even by death, so he would donate all of the Grand Duke’s assets to the state. It simply stated that the Princess was innocent, and that she was mentally unstable after the child’s death, pleading for His Majesty’s leniency.
In other words, my husband had exchanged his life and his family name for me.
Everyone knew it was nonsense. However, the will made public was tantamount to a confession, and he had already passed away, so the Emperor was in quite an awkward situation. He had only wanted to get rid of me, but ended up losing a national hero.
Of course, if the Emperor really wanted to, it would be nothing for him to ignore the will and end my life. But the price he would have to pay for doing so was too great. Regardless of how much people hated me, wasn’t the Grand Duke a figure revered by all?
No matter how powerful the Emperor was, it would not be wise to touch someone for whom the most honorable man in the entire continent had exchanged his life.
