The Tyrant Wants To Live Honestly

At Ethan’s words, the nobles laughed. It was clear that they did not believe his words.

Ethan was always shrewd in his political calculations, and they assumed that this “humility” would be part of it.

Ethan didn’t want to associate with them anymore.

“It hasn’t even been a few months since her husband’s death, and isn’t it impolite to have this discussion over a grieving Emperor?”

Ethan said that and left his seat.

‘Damn it.’

His white fists were curled up tightly.

If the aristocrats say that, the situation has already reached its limit. And Ethan was also feeling the limit.

‘I just need to find the Spirit Stone.’

After killing Julia, he was looking for the Spirit Stone based on the information Julia found.

With that, Dorothea would be able to regain her authority. Because all this downfall was due to the Spirit of Light.

* * *

However, the people’s uprising quickly reached the palace like wildfire in a dry wind.

It was no longer something that could be silenced.

The emperor’s luxury had long been a rotten matter, and the new palace she had been building for Theon had been suspended from construction because it has not been paid for long.

In addition, famine and plague that arrived just in time drove Ubera to death.

“Looking at the condition of Her Majesty now, she will not live long anyway.”

“If she is a tyrant who’s going to die anyway, we might as well execute her to keep the people quiet.”

The nobles looked at Ethan as they said that.

As they said, Dorothea was already advancing to death every day.

Even when he brought her favorite food, flowers, and jewels, she never smiled.

He whispered sweet words every day to give her a little will to live and praised her for her beauty and great talent, but she didn’t listen.

Day after day he bumped into an unbreakable wall and hurt him.

And in the end, Ethan had no choice but to accept the end.

Theon Fried won.

He could no longer stop the huge wave coming from all directions.

“This is urgent, prime minister!”

Dorothea’s downfall was imminent.

‘People said they would appoint me as the next emperor, but what could I be after Dorothea was gone?’

Ethan became agitated as if he was about to die.

* * *

The last night before the tyrant’s execution.

Finally, he went to Dorothea to hold on to a mirage-like hope.

“Tomorrow, people will come to execute you.”

He exposed the plans of the nobles to Dorothea.

But Dorothea shut her mouth and stared at him quietly. Her clouded eyes reflected nothing.

‘Did you hear me?’

“Aren’t you angry?”

he asked in a trembling voice.

If it was Dorothea, she would have been angry and would go out with a sword and decapitate the nobles who dreamed of treason.

But she sat helplessly like a doll with a broken thread.

“Aren’t you going to run away?”

Ethan was angry.

He wanted to grab Dorothea, shake her, scream at her to wake up and tell her she is going to die.

He wanted to threaten her, drag her out, and tell her to run away secretly.

But as Dorothea quietly shook her head, he barely let out a piercing breath.

“Give me the position of head of state. Then I will do anything.”

He didn’t know what he’d do or how he’d do it, but if she’d give him that position, he would give everything he had to protect Dorothea. If she let him stand by her side.

‘If she would allow me to hold her hand at the end.’

But Dorothea remained silent like a rock.

“If you don’t give me the position of head of state, I will become the emperor.”

Ethan threatened Dorothea with evil.

‘If you don’t accept me until the end, I’ll turn against you, too…’

‘So… accept me if I’m truly valuable to you.’

Then Dorothea’s tightly closed mouth slowly opened.

“Do whatever you like… I can’t give you that position.”

As if Ethan Bronte meant nothing to Dorothea, she completely rejected even his last plea.

Ethan bit his lips. He felt his lips tremble.

“What… the hell is that guy doing to you?”

He shouted at Dorothea. He couldn’t hide her anger and despair.

But Dorothea, faced with his emotions, could only stare at him, and then she spoke.

“Theon is…”

She paused for a moment and went back into her thoughts.

It wasn’t her concern how much Ethan’s insides were boiling or how much he looked like he wanted to cry.

And she, who had been lost in thought for a while, opened her mouth again.

“Theon is myself.”

Her words shook his world.

‘Killed Theon means I killed you too?’

It wasn’t wrong. He was the murderer of Theon and the murderer of Dorothea.

“ha ha ha ha!”

Ethan couldn’t cry, so he burst out laughing as if he had lost his mind.

‘For you whom I gave my whole life, I was a murderer.’

“Okay. If this is your choice…I will follow it.”

“….”

“Don’t regret it.”

Ethan knew as he left Dorothea with those words. The one who will regret the most is not Dorothea, but himself.

* * *

What happened next was predictable.

Dorothea’s execution was carried out as scheduled.

The nobles gladly captured the emperor they were serving and took her out of the palace to quell the resentment of the people.

Dorothea was thrown like prey to the people by the hands of the nobles.

She was clearly guilty, but on the other hand, she was a victim of other sinners.

The blood of the sinner Dorothea will paradoxically become purified water. The blood relieves people’s anger and resentment and cleans up all the sins of the remaining sinners.

Ethan mocked them, who think that Dorothea’s blood might accomplish something more sacred than that of a martyred saint.

People would mistake Dorothea’s execution for rooting out the source of sin.

They will cheer that they have done a great thing that will go down in history.

Cutting down a large, dying tree in a forest full of diseased trees doesn’t change anything.

Unless all forests are burned, the diseases that kill forests will not go away.

As Dorothea was dragged from the palace and walked among the people toward the miserable place, Ethan was waiting under the execution table for the climax of the beautiful deception.

hiding his trembling legs under the hem of his long robes.

And then.

“Lord Bronte!”

While he was waiting for Dorothea to get to the place of execution, a henchman of the Duke of Bronte came to visit him.

And Ethan had a hunch.

“I found the Spirit Stone.”

His henchman handed him a beautiful piece. A strange jewel that is transparent and shiny as if it were shining on its own.

The treasures of Milanaire, which had been missing for over a hundred years, have now arrived in his hands. Ethan held the spirit stone in his hands and stared at it for a long, long time.

Fate ridiculed him to the end. At the time Dorothea Milanaire headed for the execution table, the Spirit of Light Stone had now been obtained.

‘If I had gotten it a year earlier, or, if I had found it a few months sooner, it wouldn’t have been this far.’

The futile hope that came at the last moment only glistened alone and mocked him.

“The prime minister, a sinner, will arrive soon.”

Then a high official called him back to reality.

Holding the Spirit of Light stone, he had to watch the execution of the sinner Dorothea Milanaire.

Feeling like he had the world at his feet, he made his way to the execution table.

In the distance, Dorothea walked through the crowd.

Bare feet, covered in blood. Her steps are so weak that it wouldn’t be surprising if she collapsed at any moment.

Ethan bit his lower lip hard, as if every step of that precarious step seemed to crush his heart.

‘I had to suppress the urge to run to her.’

He wanted to cover her torn clothes and the bare skin underneath, with his outerwear.

‘I wanted to take her to a safe, warm place right away, wash her in clean water, give her a warm soup, lay her on a comfy bed, and whisper that I love her.’

But he learned through so many wounds that it was all a dream.

Dorothea Milanaire will strike out his outstretched hand. And she will follow in Theon’s footsteps.

He knew Dorothea’s heart better than anyone.

Because he, who resembles her terribly, also wanted to follow her to the execution table.

Dorothea limped to the bottom of the execution table, had blood on her forehead, and a stench.

When she saw him, she paused for a moment.

‘I didn’t know if she stopped because of that or because it was hard to take a step.’

Just before she ascended to the execution table, he had one last time alone with her, citing his petty authority.

Facing her up close, she looked more relaxed than ever.

If someone had only looked at their faces, they would probably have changed the situation of the two.

It was Ethan Bronte who had the face of a man who was about to be executed, and Dorothea Milanaire who had a comfortable and happy face as if she were about to rise to the throne.

“It’s the last chance.”

Therefore, Ethan’s words were wrong.

It was Dorothea, not Ethan, who decided whether or not to give her one last chance.

“I… I don’t want to become a head of state.”

Ethan even let go of his last greed.

Neither the scepter in his hand nor the spirit stone was useless.

“ ‘Please help me’… Just say that one word.”

‘Please allow me to help you.’

“If you just say that one word, I’ll take care of the arrangements so far and save you somehow… Please speak.”

‘Please live for the sake of the past. Even for the time I devoted to you.’

He approached Dorothea pleadingly 

The stench from her didn’t matter. He may embrace her dirty body and taste her lips full of blood.

He reached out to Dorothea which might be the last time.

But.

“I’m sorry, Ethan…”

Dorothea turned her head away from him, refusing to allow even his smallest touch.

Ethan closed his eyes tightly, trying to hide his uncontrollable emotions.

* * *