Chapter 87

Episode 87: Strike that Witch on the Neck!

— It’s a problem because we don’t know when she’ll wake up one day.

After the dark-haired high priest had finished saying that, he added something more, he said that it was unfair to impose the death penalty on Eris Misérian. The tone that secretly defended Eris somehow caught his heart. Were the two of them familiar?

“Please make a decision, Your Majesty!”

At that cry, Alecto awoke from his thoughts.

……Wait. Alecto clenched and opened his fist a few times. He could somehow revive her with divine powers.… What? Did the high priest have a way to bring the dead back to life?

Alecto stared blankly at the noise in front of him. The humble faces were urging him to make a decision.

“……Do that. According to national law, it is known that public execution is the principle for those related to witches.”

“Oh…! Hymn to bravery!”

The crowd scattered like clouds. Each of them was discussing when to execute the death penalty, how to inform people of the death penalty and instill fear and awareness to everyone.

Alecto was the last to stand up. He called the loyal henchman who was already approaching.

“Call the high priest secretly. And maybe I can save her. If I can save her and get her somewhere…!”

“…….”

“As expected of Jason Kazar.”

* * *

Black-haired, green-eyed witch lady〜

You’ll be in big trouble if you’re deceived because she is pretty〜!

She is carrying a knife inside and leaving again〜!

Eventually, she got caught and got arrested!

Children ran around and sang songs in every alley. The song, which first started in the back alley, spread through the children’s mouths, and eventually became a popular song that everyone in the capital humed unconsciously.

However, unlike children who sang along without knowing anything, adults were accurately aware of who the ‘witch lady’ in the song was.

Those who laughed at Lady Misérian, saying, “Is she really a witch?” began to whisper, saying, “Will there be smoke in the chimney?”

When suspicions arose that the crown prince, who had now become emperor, was delaying the disposition of the Misérian family because he was implicated with the witch, the imperial family permitted the public execution of the Misérian family, as if to escape.

Unless the person was a serious criminal, it was unusual for the empire to carry out a public execution when the system had virtually disappeared.

Strangely enough, it snowed on the day of the execution, even though it was the season when green leaves sprouted. People were bewildered by the untimely snow, but they began to rave it was proof that Lady Misérian was really a witch.

The weather was quite cold due to the snow, but the largest square in the capital was crowded with people to see the execution of Lady Misérian and Marquis Misérian.

Due to the sudden deaths of the former emperor and empress, as well as the beautiful crown princess, people lived breathlessly without properly enjoying the grand enthronement ceremony and the festive atmosphere for the first time in a long time.

The suppressed grievances erupted as soon as the execution date was set, making people enjoy the execution as a festival.

As if it was an interesting spectacle like the ancient Colosseum, people were holding their food next and staring intently at the entrance to the Imperial Palace where Lady Misérian would get on a carriage. At last the gates opened and two black carriages emerged.

It was not a carriage that the imperial family would ride, but it was too luxurious for a sinner to ride, and everyone cursed and spit, saying that everything was divided according to the nobles.

Violent people threw the food they were eating. The first one that came out of the carriage was the Marquis of Misérian.

Marquis Miserian, who came out with his body completely skin and bones, resisted to the very end with his thin body, and was dragged away by the executioner.

The first one to come out of the next carriage was an old woman who once was the late crown prince’s nanny. She leaned on the executioner due to her limp and headed for the death penalty.

And finally Lady Misérian came out of the carriage.

When Lady Misérian stepped on her feet, everyone stopped breathing and looked at her as if possessed. Not like the rare villain who killed her childhood friend on the first night of her honeymoon after losing her fiancée, she had a rather pitiful atmosphere.

Just like the lyrics of the song, black hair, green eyes. Her sloppy figure and messy attire only accentuated her decadent charm.

Even though she looked tired, she walked straight, not staggering out of the carriage unlike others. She did not allow her body to be touched, even the executioner took a step back from her and followed.

In the middle of the square was a guillotine. Although guns were developed in the country, people still prefered the guillotine because if the bullet missed, you might not die at once.

Due to the nature of the public execution, a podium was installed for many people to see.

Lady Misérian climbed the stairs silently. Thousands of eyes were focused on her, but she didn’t seem to care at all.

Finally standing in front of the guillotine, Lady Misérian looked up at the sky silently and exhaled for a long time. White breath stretched out towards the sky.

The figure was so elegant and beautiful that people suddenly firmly believed that such a person couldn’t be a witch.

The witch they imagined wasn’t like that. Some thought the witch was a lustful widow, and others thought she was a cranky grandmother.

Even if they had drawn a really crazy woman, they had never imagined a girl who was barely an adult as a witch. Maybe there was a mistake. The voice of a young child broke the silence as only the silence weighed heavily on the people.

“Strike that witch on the neck!”

The child’s voice was mixed with a little weeping, close to her desperate scream. The child was buried in the crowd, so they didn’t know who first uttered it, but nothing incited people more effectively than the screams of a little child  One by one, they clenched their fists and began to shout the same slogan in solidarity.

“Strike that witch on the neck!”

The knights dispatched just in case came out to calm them down, but to no avail.  Thousands of voices echoed through the city.

Lady Misérian did not budge, instead embracing the united madness. It was said that someone saw it and was convinced that she was a witch.

If she were a really young girl, not a witch, she would have cried in that situation.

She was able to be so calm because she was a witch.

Lady Misérian must have been a witch.

* * *

I had done everything I could.

All I had left to do was wait. In my life, I never imagined that I would be cut off by a guillotine.…. It was something that people knew but didn’t know.

How much time would have passed when I went back? What kind of state would my body be in?

The last memory was my friend’s house. I was not in a coma because of an accident, right?

No, in the first place, the friend might have called 119 and taken me to the hospital.

Then what happened to my job?

I wonder if I got fired. As I was sick, I would not have been fired immediately, but when I returned to work, I might be under subtle pressure to resign.

If I retired like that…… I thought it wouldn’t be bad to rest for a while.

I felt I had been too busy so far. I heard that the average life expectancy had been extended, but why did I live so hastily?

I wanted to graduate quickly and get a job, but I never took a common leave of absence in college because I was afraid that my scholarship would be cut off.

Not only was I busy preparing for a job during the vacation, but after I got a job, there was no vacation at all.

I didn’t regret my hard-working life, but I had lived hard so far, so I wanted to live less hard in the future.

Should I go on a trip abroad for the first time? It wouldn’t be too far away, but I didn’t think it would be bad to visit China, Japan, and Southeast Asia somehow.

Several footsteps were heard through the door. I thought that the time had come. The executioner opened the door and tried to help me.

I said, “I will shake off those people’s hands and walk by myself.” I don’t know if it was because I was determined or if it was my last consideration before I died, but the executioner let go of my hand and backed away from me.

I wondered if my clothes were a little dirty, but I thought it would be useless to willingly change since I was going to die anyway. In addition, they were clothes that would get dirty because of the blood if the neck was cut off.

We went down the tower. The carriage standing to take me to the prison was always black like a funeral carriage.

The carriage door opened. There, the appearance from when we first met was nowhere to be found, and only an elderly woman who looked old and tired was waiting for me.

“Did you plan to stop here?””

“This was my purpose.”

“To be executed with the Marquis?””

“Yes.”

When I said that, she tilted her head and burst into laughter.

“I have lived believing that I was unlucky all my life, but this was how I saw all the blessings of my disciples in my later years. Both of them were too many for me.”

“Did you plan to be like this when you came to my house?””

“I didn’t even imagine it was this big. I was just hoping that I could dig up a small corruption. But when I got a letter from an old student after a long time, something more thrilling was waiting for me. What?”

The nanny, who saw my expression after saying that, shook her head and said.

“Don’t make that face…… I’ve lived too long. I’ve lived so long that I’ve seen things that I didn’t want to see.….”

There was no guilt or fear on her face. Only refreshingness remained like the face of a person who had finally done her job. We looked at each other silently until the carriage stopped.

As we approached the square, the disturbance began to grow. I heard a lot of swearing. Sometimes there was a sound of objects thrown by people hitting each other. But when I finally got off the carriage, no one made a sound.

They just looked through me, stopping. However, while living as ‘Eris Miserian,’ I received so much similar attention that I couldn’t get used to it so I didn’t even have any appreciation. Without a word, I walked to the guillotine in front of me.

Looking up at the untimely snowy sky in front of the guillotine, I suddenly thought of Anakin. The last conversation we had inside Kynthia’s house.