“Quickly…We have to go quickly.”
Bianca’s eyelashes trembled as she spoke.
What on earth had Bianca heard at the table that made her so terrified?
Arundel asked with a worried face.
“What did you hear that made you so scared?”
“His Majesty…until Your Majesty the Empress returns… will hold an execution every day…”
“…What did you say?”
Arundel doubted her ears for a moment.
No matter how twisted Zion’s temperament was, he wouldn’t go so far as to do that to an innocent person.
But seeing Bianca’s utterly serious expression, she knew she hadn’t misheard.
Arundel asked again for confirmation.
“So Zion… no, His Majesty the Emperor…said he would kill people at random until I return…?”
“Yes…there will be an execution tomorrow morning.”
Arundel’s heart pounded.
Zion was ultimately heading towards his original ending.
He was becoming a ‘tyrant’.
“I knew he would do that.”
Hills spoke in his usual voice, as if he wasn’t particularly affected by the situation.
“So, what are you going to do now, Your Majesty?”
Hills asked Arundel.
Arundel had been faced with difficult choices all along, but this time the answer was clear.
“We have to go before the execution begins.”
Bianca nodded in agreement at Arundel’s determined look, but her face was filled with worry.
“I knew…I knew you would make that decision, Your Majesty. But there’s a problem…”
“What is it?”
“It will take us two days to get back…”
Due to the whirlwind of events, they hadn’t realized that it would take physical time to return.
That’s when Hills’ eyes sparkled.
“I’ll have to step in.”
“What…? How…?”
Bianca questioned Hills’ confident attitude.
“I have magic.”
“No way…Warp?!”
Bianca, surprised, jumped up from her seat.
‘Warp? I think he used it once in the palace before…’
Was it such a great magic…?
Arundel, who didn’t know much about magic, wondered if using warp was something to be so shocked about.
“Yes. If you use warp, you can get there in an instant.”
Hills’ shoulders rose at Bianca’s awestruck gaze.
But Arundel wasn’t entirely happy. Instead, she spoke with a serious expression.
“Well, that’s really fortunate…”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Hills tilted his head at Arundel’s uneasy attitude.
Arundel didn’t answer right away, lost in thought.
“So if you use warp, we can get there right away? It won’t take even a minute, right?”
“Of course.”
At Hills’ firm answer, Arundel spoke with a slightly relieved heart.
“Then let’s stay here for a while today, and return around dawn.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
Bianca, who would have been in a hurry, was curious about the reason for delaying the return time.
Arundel glanced at Hills, sighed briefly, and spoke.
“There’s something I need to do.”
At Arundel’s somewhat solemn appearance, Bianca nodded without asking any further.
****
The next morning.
As promised, Arundel’s party gathered in front of the inn before dawn.
“Well, shall we go now?”
Hills raised his hand high.
Below it, a complex warp magic formation was drawn.
The execution was to be carried out at 7 a.m. It was around 6 a.m. now, enough time to return and stop Zion.
But if there was one thing that worried Bianca, it was Arundel’s state, which seemed like she might faint at any moment.
“…Your Majesty? Are you okay?”
Arundel looked like someone who had just been in an intense fight. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her lips were chapped in places.
“Yes… I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
But Arundel, whose voice was almost gone, looked far from okay.
What on earth had she done during the early hours of the morning?
Bianca was curious, but seeing that Arundel didn’t want to talk any more, she suppressed her curiosity.
Bianca turned her gaze to Hills.
“Can we go now?”
“Hmm… It seems like it will take a little longer. I forgot that the magic formation for moving three people is a bit different… haha.”
Arundel’s expression turned grim at the sight of Hills next to her.
‘This guy, at this crucial moment…!’
And considering what she had gone through because of that guy yesterday.
Arundel seethed as she recalled the terrible dawn. She had almost crossed the threshold of death.
Whether Hills knew of Arundel’s anger or not, he dusted off his hands and said,
“It’s all done now.”
“We have to go quickly…! It’s almost 7 o’clock…!”
Bianca spoke with an anxious face. Arundel was no different.
“Let’s go.”
As they stood in the circle with the complex magic formation drawn, the three of them disappeared in an instant.
****
A huge crowd had gathered at the execution stand set up in front of the palace.
Arundel pushed through the crowd, which was as dense as a cloud, and moved towards the execution stand.
Then, a man came up to the execution stand. The man going up was trembling with fear.
“Why…why me…?!”
The man protested with his hands tightly bound, but there was no one to answer him.
Zion said he would proceed with the execution without any further words, and Cain, there was nothing he could do in that situation but just nod his head.
He had to find a suitable person right away.
But no matter how much he thought about it, there was no suitable person, and Cain, who was in a dilemma, put a man who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for arson on the execution stand.
People’s eyes gathered on the man’s unjust face.
Like the others, Arundel looked around as he watched the man on the execution stand.
“Zion…!!”
Zion, who was sitting leisurely with his chin propped up, appeared at the execution stand. He seemed to feel no guilt at all.
Next to him, Cain and the prime minister, who were looking at the execution stand with anxious eyes, were seen.
As the loud noise signaling the start was heard, Cain stood up trembling.
And he came forward and shouted.
“…The execution will be carried out.”
The man looked up at the blade of the guillotine. Zion was just watching the execution with emotionless eyes.
The high-tied blade flashed eerily.
“Then…the execution…”
“Wait a minute!”
Just before the blade fell, Arundel, who had sped up, climbed onto the execution stand.
At the sudden intrusion of a person, the man who was about to pull the rope of the guillotine stopped his action.
Arundel took off her deeply worn hood and said,
“Stop it now.”
“…!!”
Everyone wore a surprised expression.
The murmuring of the people deepened. There were those who were relieved, and voices of criticism and jeering were heard here and there.
Zion, who seemed to pay no attention to such people, loosened his chin-propped posture and slowly stood up.
And he approached Arundel.
“You finally showed up.”
It was Zion’s face that she hadn’t seen in a long time. So maybe that’s why, it looked very different from Zion’s usual appearance.
His expressionless face did not contain any emotion. He was corrupted.
She had expected that he would have been in pain and confusion while she was gone.
But this is not it.
Arundel looked at Zion with a reproachful gaze.
“Even though I was gone, you did this…?”
“I told you, you’re mine.”
Emotion gradually appeared on Zion’s face, which had not contained anything. Arundel could read that emotion.
His eyes were filled with confusion, anger, sadness, and resentment. He couldn’t bear those emotions and was once again caught in madness.
In the end, nothing had changed.
“You can never leave me.”
His eyes were full of obsession.
Just looking at his gaze, Arundel felt like she was suffocating.
“You’re trying to kill an innocent person. Don’t you hear the voices of people criticizing you?”
“I don’t care.”
“I don’t care…!”
Arundel tried to refute Zion’s words, but Zion was already smiling bitterly.
“As long as you come back, it wouldn’t have mattered if a few, or even all the people of the empire, died.”
“You’re…still out of your mind.”
Arundel said, trembling.
“Just a moment.”
Then Cain quietly approached. Cain looked around and spoke in a low voice.
“…Let’s talk about the rest inside the palace. I’ll take care of this place.”
Only then could Arundel look around.
People were still in a frenzy.
Cain was right. They shouldn’t provoke people any more. Cain urged them again.
“You should go in…”
“Wait!!”
Interrupting Cain’s words, a person rushed onto the execution stand.
“Everyone!! You can’t end it like this!!”
The person who rushed in was Duke Hellen.
He climbed onto the execution stand and shouted loudly.
“What is this nonsense!! The emperor mercilessly kills innocent citizens for trivial matters!!”
Duke Hellen appealed with emotion.
Whether his method worked or not, the murmuring of the people grew louder.
“That’s right!!”
“Right!”
The voice of Duke Hellen, stimulated by the people’s response, grew louder.
“Moreover, there is a very shocking fact!”
Duke Hellen pointed at Arundel.
“That ‘Empress’ over there.”
And he shouted loudly.
“She has conspired with a demon!!”
There was a moment of silence among the people. But soon the murmuring grew louder, and the people exploded.
“What?!”
“That’s impossible!!”
“Is it true?!”
Arundel was stunned by the sudden exposure of Duke Hellen. Cain was the first to come to his senses.
“That… is nonsense! It’s a false accusation intended to slander Her Majesty the Empress!”
“Ha, I knew you would say that, so I brought a witness!”
At the end of Duke Hellen’s words, another person appeared on the execution stand.
“It’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”
It was Count Montreal. Zion’s pupils hardened as he faced the count.
Count Montreal’s shoulders were trembling.
“I told you that you would regret it.”
The excited voice of Duke Hellen followed.
“Count Montreal saw it clearly!! The mark of a demon stamped on the Empress’s wrist!”
“Yes. I told His Majesty the Emperor in case something big happened to the country, but instead, I was falsely accused and sent to prison!”
Count Montreal cried out in an aggrieved voice.
“The evidence is right on Her Majesty the Empress’s wrist! She’s bandaged as if she’s hurt, but inside there’s a broken star, which is the mark of a demon!”
The count approached Arundel.
“I’ll show you!”
And he forcibly grabbed her wrist and held it high.
In the process, Zion couldn’t stand it and grabbed the count’s collar.
“Stop it!”
“Why are you doing this. You’re getting excited, which is very unlike of Your Majesty the Emperor.”
The count grinned maliciously. Zion looked like he was about to blow the count’s head off at any moment.
Arundel, who was watching that scene, sighed briefly and whispered to Zion.
“I’m…okay.”
And she gently pushed Zion’s chest away. Sion’s pupils trembled as he looked at Arundel.
Arundel obediently went with the count.
The bandage on her wrist fluttered in the air.
‘Ah…So this is how it ends.’
Arundel closed her eyes and sighed briefly.
“Quickly unwrap the bandage!!”
“If there’s a mark, carry out the execution immediately!!”
“The Emperor is also an accomplice with the Empress!!”
“Right!! The demons’ appearance is all because of them!!”
The people’s resentment, which had been suppressed by the torment of the demons and the madness of the emperor, turned into madness.
The Duke, excited and delighted by the situation, had his hand trembling with ecstasy as he held Arundel’s wrist.
“I will show you all!!”
Swish-
The bandage tightly wrapped around Arundel’s wrist was weakly unraveled at the gesture of Duke Hellen.
“…!!”
“…!!”
“…!!”
Everyone’s faces were shocked by the truth unfolding before their eyes.
“There’s no way…!”
Duke Hellen muttered with a pale expression.
That’s right.
There was ‘nothing’ on Arundel’s wrist, which was boldly exposed. Only Arundel’s clean, smooth skin stood out.
Only then did a relaxed smile appear on Arundel’s face.
“What did you see?”
“Surely… there was a mark of the demon on the wrist…!”
Public opinion reversed.
The murmuring of the people flowed in a different direction.
“What are you doing!!”
“You’re lying in front of all these people!!”
People who thought they were being mocked severely criticized Duke Hellen.
But Duke Hellen didn’t stop there.
“There must have been a mistake with the demon’s mark! But there’s one more fact you need to know!!”
Since people’s trust had already fallen, the criticism of the people continued. But Duke Hellen continued to speak persistently.
“Do you know why His Majesty the Emperor brought Her Majesty the Empress!! The Emperor simply because of revenge…”
“Please stop it, Father!!”
Bianca appeared.
At the sudden appearance of Bianca, Duke Hellen’s pupils trembled.
“My…daughter… Bianca, why are you here…”
“Stop it, Father. It’s all over now.”
