His Majesty’s Execution Table
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I will take care of it now.”
Jess pulled a scalpel out of his bag. Loriell trembled in shock as the sharp, gleaming blade caught her eye.
“Ah, ahh! Ah…No. No. Please. Save me. Please!”
“Hey, stay still. What if you move like that and it cuts off somewhere else?”
Loriel squirmed, tears welling up in her eyes.
Herhan frowned as the sound of the chair legs to which Loriell was tied kicking and dragging on the floor annoyed him.
“That’s enough, Jess. Since we’re here, let me ask Loriell one thing.”
At his signal of a slight raise of his hand, Jess took a step back and put the scalpel down.
Loriel nodded as fiercely as the fear that stretched to the tips of her hair.
Thinking that she would answer any question the Emperor asked without hesitation.
“Loriell. Where did you hide the ‘Queen’s Sun’?”
“…!”
But it wasn’t a question about the source or background of the poison, but a completely different question.
Loriell’s head was blank as she had not prepared an answer or alibi in advance.
The drugs that Jess had given her had left her thinking in a daze.
The only thing that Loriel could think of was the desperation to atone for her sins, even if only a little. She wanted to live.
“Ah…no.”
“…..”
“I don’t know, I didn’t steal it.”
“……”
“Really, I don’t know! I didn’t touch the jewel, Your Majesty!”
Herhan stepped back as if he was tired.
Since Herhan knew everything, he didn’t even think about threatening her to confess.
‘Maybe it was wrong to try to talk to this woman in the first place.’
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I should have tamed her better. Please rest outside for a moment. I will get back to you after I have sorted things out.”
As he said that, Jess took out a new pair of gloves from his bag and put them on.
Suddenly, a hand wearing black leather gloves clenched and unclenched its fist a few times before picking up the scalpel it had put down earlier.
Loriell started to tremble and started to fight.
“Are you crazy! Are you really going to cut my tongue off? Don’t do that. I answered your questions well. Why are you doing that? Your Majesty…Your Majesty!”
Meanwhile, Herhan was retreating without any hesitation.
Loriell seemed to be falling into the abyss of despair.
‘Why don’t you just grab me and yell at me? Why are these people acting like this all of a sudden!’
There was no time to calculate anything anymore.
Loriel closed her eyes tightly and cried, clutching at even a shred of hope.
“It’s all the princess’ doing!”
There was silence for a moment. Jess froze in place with her scalpel in hand, and Asion, who had been guarding the door with his arms crossed the whole time, also looked shocked and shaken.
While everyone froze, holding their breath, only Herhan turned around and stood in front of Loriell.
Tak—tak—tak
To Loriel, each sound of approaching shoes sounded like the cracking of the ice on which she stood.
“Say it again.”
“Ah, the princess….Princess Greta…”
Loriell trembled as she felt something. Now, this is the only way for her to survive.
“Princess Greta ordered it all.…It was like that from the beginning. It was the princess who ordered me to spread bad rumors about Miss Riella and it was the princess who ordered me to instigate Aide El!
“Yes. That woman had ill feelings toward Miss Riella from the beginning and approached me. It was the princess who gave me poison. She told me to feed it to Your Majesty!”
Loriell continued her protest in a raspy voice.
“I didn’t know anything. Really. I was just a maid who respected Miss Liella. The princess told me to do it all. Princess Greta told me to do it all.…”
‘Did it work? I think it worked.’
With that thought in her mind, Loriell cried harder. The more tears she shed, the better. It would help her assert her innocence.
The Emperor was right in front of Loriell.
With a fierce look in his eyes, as if he might smash her head in if she moved too far.
“Do you know what would happen if what you said was false?”
Loriell nodded with her face covered in tears and snot.
Of course, it’s going to be beheaded.
But there is no way for the Emperor to find out. She always met with the Princess in secret, and all the evidence was disposed of.
“Ha, there is not a single lie. Princess Greta gave me poison. It was also the princess who tricked Aide El into kidnapping Miss Liella.”
That was when the emperor standing in front of Loriell slowly reached out his hand and grabbed Loriell’s wrist.
Loriell opened her eyes wide, tears welling up in her eyes.
‘He put his hand on me now…His Majesty took my hand….His Majesty has finally come to me….’
An even louder sob rose from Loriell’s throat at the unbelievable situation.
‘Now I’m alive, I’m alive now.’
Loriel sobbed, shaking with joy, having finally saved her life.
“Loriell.”
“Ugh, yes….”
“You lied.”
“….!”
The Emperor, who was holding Loriel’s wrist, opened his blue eyes wide and glared at Loriell.
At that moment, the hairs on Loriell’s entire body stood on end.
Loriell felt it instinctively. The Emperor, this man, now knows the whole truth.
Although she didn’t know how that was possible, Loriell realized that her entire soul had already been pierced by that man.
“Ah, Your Majesty. No. I, I mean, I….”
Now Loriell didn’t even shed a tear. She just looked as pale as if her soul had run away, and she struggled to free herself from the Emperor’s grasp.
Loriell’s wrist was twisted in Herhan’s fist, the tendons bulging violently.
Herhan also gave up his soul. Herhan, who had witnessed all of Loriel’s cruelty in her memories, could not help but lose his composure.
“Ugh, ugh…ugh,”
The hand that had crushed Loriell’s wrist now held her neck.
“Ugh! I really don’t know what the poison is.….She gave me some medicine…Majesty…Ugh!”
Meanwhile, Loriell, who had been making petty excuses, now turned pale and let out a gurgling sound as she gasped for breath.
Just as Loriell’s breath was about to disappear in vain, Asion and Jess caught Herhan.
“Your Majesty. Don’t get your hands dirty. I’ll do it for you. Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty. If the princess is really involved, we shouldn’t kill her yet.”
Herhan didn’t hear.
Asion barely managed to drag Herhan out, who had lost his mind and was shaking his unfocused pupils wildly.
Jess followed them.
No one picked up Loriell, who had fallen to the floor.
* * *
When Loriell came to her senses, she was tied to the chair again.
The investigators didn’t ask Loriell much, just went in and out of the room a few times to clear the area.
It’s as if all the tiresome questions like why did she do that, where did she get the medicine, who’s behind her, are now of no interest.
“Hey… What happens to me now? Hey….”
Someone gave a short, nervous answer to the question that was barely uttered in a cracking sound like sand on the ground.
“I’ll let you know when the date is set.”
Loriell stared blankly, then realized what he meant.
Date. The day of her execution.
‘I can’t die like this.’
Loriel cried and laughed like a madman.
‘It’s all because of that crazy princess. I will never die alone.’
* * *
Herhan did not regain his composure for some time, even after they had moved to the barracks’ conference room, which was quite a distance away from the prison.
As they watched Herhan burn himself to the point of exhaustion, Asion and Jess were reminded of just how rough and dangerous a man their lord truly was.
Jess had no choice but to give Herhan a sedative because he had to hear the truth from Loriell’s memories.
Herhan couldn’t come to his senses after that and only opened his mouth after a long time.
“As expected, It’s is a princess….”
“I wonder if she’s ready to destroy the whole country….”
Then Herhan says,
“We have to turn it all upside down. Send an army to the kingdom.”
Although his voice was lowered by the sedative, Herhan’s eyes still looked deadly.
“Your Majesty. Are you even thinking of war….?”
“Your Majesty, as you know, the justification is insufficient. The princess did not directly instigate Loriell to commit murder, did she? The princess only asked her to ‘dispose of the love potion on her behalf.’ That alone is difficult to prove the charge.”
Asion and Jess desperately clung to him, Herhan was now in a state where he could not be persuaded by reason.
There were no arguments, no counterarguments about the evidence, the charges, international law, or diplomacy.
Herhan had simply lost his temper.
“Asion. I’ll give you another order. Send troops to the kingdom. Also, issue a wanted notice throughout the empire and seal the borders. If the princess remains in the empire, I will capture her and kill her. If she escapes to the kingdom, I will fight to get her back.”
“Your Majesty, please think again— ”
“If you don’t want to go, I’ll go myself.”
Jess reached out and stopped Asion, who was about to speak to Herhan again.
There was no need to verbally challenge his lord now.
‘His Majesty may need some time now.…’
Jess, who exchanged a glance with Asion, stood up from his seat.
“I will prepare as you have said. I will bring the ordinance and the seal.”
After the two people left, Herhan sat down and slumped down, burying his face on the table.
As he inhaled the musty smell of the old wooden table, Herhan was sucked into a feeling of endless helplessness.
‘Loriell was a mud puddle. It didn’t matter how much truth and how much lies were mixed in that mud puddle. She had only ever intended to harm Riella, and she did it. She deserved to die.’
‘The same was true for Princess Greta. Even though Riella forgave her several times, she continued to cast a trap on Riella until the end.’
‘After all, she was someone who had to be killed even if it meant starting a war.’
‘Then what about me? How could I, who had seen Loriell’s face countless times, not have noticed her greed in advance?’
He had so much time to deal with the princess, yet he let her leisurely slip out of his castle gates.
‘l’m the one who deserves to die the most…’
Just then the conference room door opened again.
Herhan opened his mouth while still lying face down on the table.
“Asion. Prepare another execution table. I guess I’ll be the first one to go out and die.”
“You left me alone, and now you want to die alone. Your Majesty. I hate you.”
Herhan was startled by the voice coming from above and immediately sat up.
“Now, here it is. Your Majesty’s execution.”
There was no time to look back.
Riella, standing behind Herhan, bent down, wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned against him.
“…..”
Herhan was speechless.
It felt like the wall that had been tightly blocking his chest came crashing down in an instant.
‘How great is the power of Ann? Or is it just that Riella is so great?’
“See? I told you you’d need me.”
Even though Riella’s voice was arrogant, Herhan just nodded quietly and took a deep breath.
* * *
