Chapter 133
Cressida looked at Aria as if she were about to devour her. Aria, who had confessed under the Crown Prince’s pressure, swallowed hard. She shifted her eyes left and right in panic, not knowing what to do.
“T-That was just a slip of the tongue. Actually, that wasn’t what I meant!”
Sylaria clicked her tongue. She cut Aria off before she could start spinning another pathetic lie. She didn’t want to waste any more time on useless back-and-forth.
“Enough. I’ll ask just one thing. Why did Her Majesty the Empress lure me here? Answer only that.”
“T-That…”
Cornered, Aria began to cry. Tears welled up as she looked toward the person backing her.
“Your Majesty…”
“When did it start?”
“…Pardon?”
Cressida, who had been staring at Aria with cold eyes, suddenly asked a question that made no sense to her. When Aria blinked and asked again, Cressida spoke with a weary expression.
“I asked when you started working with Grizelle Willoughby, Aria.”
“I would never do such a thing! I am loyal only to Your Majesty the Empress…!”
Aria didn’t even finish her sentence before she collapsed. Arendtert had cut her down with the sword at his waist. Sylaria gasped at the tragedy unfolding before her eyes.
He killed a person.
It had been shocking enough to see him beat Grizelle, but Arendtert killed Aria, the Empress’s own lady-in-waiting, without the slightest hesitation. He swung his sword through the air to shake the red blood off the blade, then calmly sheathed it again as if nothing had happened.
“I apologize for startling you, Mother. I simply couldn’t listen to the words of a turncoat any longer. She has paid with her life for the crime of insulting the Imperial Family.”
“A-Aria…!”
Cressida cried out as if struck by shock and collapsed to her knees. She looked at Aria’s corpse and shook her head.
“How dearly I cherished you…”
Sylaria watched Cressida’s performance with a blank expression. Now that evidence was surfacing one after another, the sight of her cutting off her own tail was sickening.
So she hadn’t cared for Aria at all. She hadn’t valued her enough to risk her own safety to protect her.
Or perhaps to Cressida, every other person was nothing but a tool.
“It was my failure not to manage those under me properly. I’m sorry, Sylaria. Instead, I’ll make sure that Grizelle Willoughby is punished severely.”
Supported by Arendtert, Cressida rose and spoke. As Sylaria listened, she looked toward Grizelle. Ever since being beaten by Arendtert, Grizelle seemed half out of her senses, crying silently without a sound.
Cressida steadied herself and spoke with stern authority.
“As Empress of the Davoud Empire, I decree this. The crime of Grizelle Willoughby fabricating the lie that she carried imperial blood, the crime of releasing a criminal without the Imperial Family’s permission and bringing him into the palace, and the crime of attempting to kill a member of the Imperial Family are grave.”
At the Empress’s proclamation, Grizelle flinched and slowly lifted her head. Her eyes, fixed on Cressida, burned with resentment and fury.
“I didn’t do it! You set all of this up! I’m innocent!”
Grizelle lunged toward Cressida, panting with rage. But before she even reached her, Arendtert seized her. As she struggled in his grasp, Cressida continued speaking calmly.
“Hang Grizelle Willoughby in front of the palace for three days and let the people stone her. After that, she will spend the rest of her life in the underground prison and never see the light again.”
“No!”
Grizelle let out a scream that tore at the air. Crying, she looked to Arendtert. Her expression trembled with longing as she spoke.
“Aren, are you really going to let them take me like this? I’m your Purifier!”
“Puhahahaha! Purifier? You?”
Arendtert burst into loud, incredulous laughter. He released Grizelle and shook with amusement.
“Tsk, Grizelle. Your already low matching rate has dropped even further, and it’s been getting harder and harder for you to purify me. How long were you planning to hide it?”
Sylaria’s pupils widened as she watched him. In her ears, it felt as if she could hear the words he had whispered to her in her previous life all over again.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.