The last luck given by God
Asion visited the Emperor’s inner room early the next morning.
“Your Majesty, I have found the item you instructed me to find. I searched the inside of the lake palace garden as Your Majesty instructed and found it.”
“The item His Majesty ordered?”
“Huh!”
As usual, Asion, who had gone inside without warning, was startled and took a step back.
It was not his master but Riella who answered as she left the bedroom.
‘Oops. I forgot again! That they two share a bedroom.’
Sweat ran down Asion’s nape.
It was partly because he was embarrassed to face Riella, who was naturally coming out of the Emperor’s bedroom, but more so because he was afraid he’d reveal something he shouldn’t.
Asion quickly put the item he was about to hand over to his master into his back pocket.
“His Majesty tossed and turned all night. I guess he finally fell asleep late and is having difficulty waking up.”
“Oh, I see….”
“What is the thing you brought him? I will give it to His Majesty when he wakes up.”
“No! It’s okay!”
Asion raised his voice without realizing it because he was panicked, but soon he looked at Riella’s expression and shrank down.
“It’s not urgent, so it’s okay. I’ll tell him later.”
“You rushed here so early in the morning and now you say it’s not urgent, hmm?”
Riella narrowed her eyes.
The sparkling red eyes glanced at Asion’s waist with a mischievous look today.
“Give it to me.”
“Ah, ah, no.”
“His Majesty and I have decided not to keep any secrets anymore. So please don’t worry and give it to me!”
“Ah, I can’t. This is—!”
“Captain Asion.”
“Even if you call me that scary…!”
Asion was as helpless as dust in front of Riella, who ran towards him with her arms outstretched.
Riella was not an opponent that could be subdued by force.
How could he dare lay a hand on Riella, who was treated so carefully that she seemed like a flower petal sitting on the back of his hand, as if she would fly away if his master blew his hand.
‘Ah. If this is taken away from me and I get caught, it’ll really be…!’
“Asion!”
At that moment, Herhan noticed the situation and quickly put on his robe and went outside.
For Asion, who was on the verge of tears after being caught by Riella, Herhan’s appearance was like a ray of light.
“Yeah. You brought Loriell’s vial?”
Even though he had just woken up, Herhan’s eyes were wide open with urgency.
Asion’s eyes also sparkled at Herhan’s wit.
“Yes, yes! That’s right. The vial. Yes. I brought that!”
“A vial of Loriell?”
“Yes. After Loriel poisoned me, she hid the vial. I instructed Asion to find it. It is very important evidence that will prove Loriell’s guilt.”
As if to prove Herhan’s words, Asion took a small glass bottle out of his back pocket and handed it to him.
Riella stepped back, embarrassed at the identity of the ‘smuggled goods’, which was completely different from what she had expected.
“ah…I see. You should have told me so. I wonder if you two are planning something behind my back.”
Riella was so busy offering her sincere apologies that she didn’t notice Herhan and Asion exchange glare.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Captain Asion.”
“Oh, no.”
Asion smiled awkwardly with a sense of guilt.
That was understandable. What Loriell had hidden in the lake palace garden. So it wasn’t just the vial that Asion retrieved.
Asion awkwardly pulled his butt out, trying to hide the fact that his back pockets were still bulging.
* * *
That afternoon, the imperial officials and noble representatives unanimously decided to formally punish Loriell Igdnis for attempting to poison the Emperor.
The Igdnis family was stripped of their noble titles.
The Igdnis family’s assets were confiscated. All of the family property will be taken over by the Imperial family.
And it was decided that the sinner who caused all that, Loriell Igdnis, would be publicly executed in the Imperial Plaza.
The guillotine was erected two days later.
A series of executions were to be carried out.
Her family, who had abandoned Loriell, attempted to escape with the hidden bundle of money, but were caught and brought back.
“Your Majesty! This is unfair. We are innocent! I never dreamed that that fool would do such a terrible thing. We have nothing to do with it. Please show mercy. Please save the name of Igdnis, who has worked for the imperial family all his life. Please.…please….”
The count and his wife knelt before the emperor and cried.
Begging not for their daughter’s life, but for the revival of the family.
Herhan approached them coldly.
“Aren’t you the one who fostered your daughter’s vanity and greed?”
“your majesty…No, I’m not…”
“I know that you took bribes while serving as an imperial official. I forgave you once, letting you retire for the sake of your family’s prestige, and I gave you a little more leeway because your daughter was willing to save it, but that was the problem. I should never have been so lenient in the first place.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Rotten sprouts should have been plucked out as soon as they were discovered.”
‘When I met Greta. And when I met El. If I had just struck them down, Riella wouldn’t have been put in danger.’
“Loriel Igdnis’ entire family, including her parents, siblings, and children, are to be demoted to commoners and sent to the northern labor camps.”
Herhan turned around, giving only a cold command.
* * *
Riella and Herhan sat back to back on the bench, enjoying the cool breeze.
Clear skies, moderate sunshine, and fragrant air. In the middle of a quiet garden, undisturbed by anyone.
It was a moment that seemed close to ‘peace’, but the hearts of the two people were not like that.
“Is this the end?”
Riella asked, leaning her round head against Herhan’s broad back.
Herhan simply held Riella’s hand without answering.
They both looked up at the high sky at the same time.
“Will it all be over if we execute Loriell?”
“Not to end it. It’s just a punishment for a sin. Why? Has your heart become weak?”
At Herhan’s question, Riella let out a small, meaningless laugh.
“No way. I still feel sick when I think of Loriell trying to seduce Your Majesty.”
This time Herhan chuckled.
“But, what about the princess?”
“…..”
“Loriel tried to seduce Your Majesty, but the princess tried to harm Your Majesty. The princess should be punished properly as well.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
After simply answering yes, Herhan continued with his worries.
‘How should we deal with Princess Greta?’
There was a lack of clues.
He really wanted to start a war, but the ‘justification’ was always the problem.
“Maybe we don’t need to step up ourselves.”
“Then? Is there another way?”
“I have an idea. It might be a bit of an adventure…”
Riella stared at Herhan.
Her red eyes trembled slightly, but then sparkled with determination.
“Your Majesty. Please leave Loriell to me according to my plan.”
* * *
The execution was tomorrow.
Only today did Loriell learn that a criminal facing execution is often shown a great deal of sympathy.
For example, a lavish ‘Last Supper’ on the plate in front of her, or allowing her to spend her last day in a room with plenty of sunlight.
That’s probably my execution table…’
But being transferred to a cell with windows may have been crueler.
Because she had to watch her execution platform take shape one by one in the empty barracks outside his window.
Now that the final blade had been fitted, the scaffold would be moved to the platform in the Imperial Plaza tomorrow.
‘In the end, all people came to look up to me.’
Loriell clenched her teeth.
Is it because the sunlight streaming in through the window is sparkling just like she always sees?
Even though it was the day before her death, Loriell could not give up on that ‘life’.
“The trading group will be leaving early tomorrow morning, so let’s move the execution table after that.”
It was then that Loriell began to hear the soldiers’ conversation through the crack in the door.
“Is the trade group really going to the Kingdom of Riota? In these times?”
“Yes. Aside from that maid’s claim, there is no evidence that the princess did so, so the imperial family can do nothing about it. The trade was planned, so there is no way to turn it down.”
“Tsk tsk. In the end, that maid ended up getting blamed for everything.”
“The execution is tomorrow. Who would believe that if the princess herself didn’t come forward and confess?”
Loriel jumped up from her seat again.
She craned his neck out the window and saw, indeed, dozens of carriages preparing to march beyond the barracks wall.
‘That’s a trade wagon heading to the Kingdom of Riota.…!’
That night. When everyone seemed to be asleep and it was quiet, Loriell quietly got up and walked over to the window.
When she looked out the window during the day, she saw that the iron on the window frame had rusted and loosened.
She grabbed that part and applied force a few times, and with a thud, the window frame came off.
‘That’s it!’
Her heart was pounding, anxious that the sound of iron would be heard.
After removing the window frame and looking outside, she saw a pile of straw right underneath.
Loriell took a deep breath and she threw herself out of the window on the second floor.
Loriell ran madly across the deserted and shadowy road until she reached the courtyard where the carriages waiting to depart for the Kingdom were waiting.
Shivering and shaking with the chains around her body, she searched the carriage until she found the carriage door of the far end open and slipped inside.
The carriage carrying Loriell departed for the Kingdom of Riota early the next morning, as scheduled.
“She really went.”
“Yeah. It really happened.”
Jess and Asion spoke in turn.
Riella shrugged, and Herhan pulled her closer to his side.
On top of the watchtower overlooking the entire palace grounds.
The shadows of the four people who had watched Loriell’s escape stretched out in the dawn light.
“I really didn’t know that maid would do what Miss Riella wanted. It’s really funny. What can she do if she goes to see the princess?”
“Whether she pleads or threatens, she will hang on. In any case, she will not die alone…”
Riella answered Jess’ question.
“Asion. Did you tell the soldiers well?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I told them to keep a close eye on the two of them and get conclusive evidence when they meet, and if things go wrong before then, get rid of Loriell Immediately.”
Riella watched the carriage drive away.
Loriell was cornered. She wasn’t the kind of woman to let go when there was still something to hold on to.
She could not have made any complex calculations other than the thought of having to survive.
So she didn’t realize why she’d been moved to a room with a window the day before her execution, or why there was a pile of fluffy straw under the window of her second-floor room, ready for her to jump through.
Nor did she notice the absence of the usual guards along the way to the carriage. Or that only one of the dozens of carriages was open.
Loriell must have thought that it was the last bit of luck that God had given her.
“She will need more luck to arrive safely at the kingdom.”
Herhan added as if reading Riella’s thoughts.
“More luck? What kind of luck?”
It was Asion who answered Riella’s question.
“I guess she will be lucky enough to survive in that carriage.”
“…..”
“The maid. I hope she has good taste.”
Riella opened her mouth wide.
“Your Majesty. What did you put in Lorielle’s carriage?”
“You’d better not imagine it, Riella.”
Herhan smiled at Riella once, and while Riella was distracted by the ‘what was filling the carriage space’, he nodded and called Asion over.
“Asion. Give it to me now.”
“Yes?”
“The ring. You carried it with you the whole time, didn’t you?”
“Ah. Yes!”
“I was busy too. I don’t think I’ll ever be separated from Riella again, so I’d rather accept it now.”
“Yes, I understand. The ring is here….”
“…..”
“uh…?”
* * *
