Chapter 139
Sylaria silently nodded at Elenia’s decision. Then she called in Marin and Cora, who had been waiting outside.
With the maids’ help, Elenia carefully stepped down from her bed. Sylaria moved to her side and took her hand.
“There’s still time before the punishment begins. You should be able to talk with her, even if only for a little while.”
“Mm.”
“Let’s go.”
Sylaria held Elenia’s hand and guided her. They left the palace building and approached the platform where Grizelle would be displayed.
At the base of the platform stood the executioner, waiting for the time to carry out the punishment. And behind him stood Grizelle.
Her hands were bound with rope, and she looked completely different from the last time Sylaria saw her.
After becoming engaged to Arendtert, Grizelle had overdecorated herself as if desperately trying to shed her country-girl image.
Even as the official fiancée of the Second Prince, she wore scandalously revealing dresses. She always dressed as if she were on her way to a grand banquet.
But her appearance now was entirely different. She wore the flour-sack-like garment reserved for criminals, and she was barefoot.
Her hair, once tightly braided in an elaborate style, stuck out in wild strands, making her look as if she had straw thrown over her head.
“This is wrong… No… I’m innocent, I’m innocent…”
As Sylaria approached Grizelle, she frowned at the sight of her muttering blankly to herself.
It had not been long since Arendtert cast her aside. Could a person fall apart this much in just a few days?
“Excuse me. May we speak with the prisoner for a moment?”
Sylaria first requested permission from the executioner. As he examined her clothing to judge her status, Cora stepped in and whispered to him. Realizing who Sylaria was, the executioner bowed politely.
“Ah, yes. Of course. Please take your time.”
“Thank you.”
Sylaria smiled gently. With permission granted, she signaled to Elenia.
In truth, Sylaria had nothing she particularly wanted to say to Grizelle. They had already spoken far too much and endured far too many things between them. Sylaria came here solely for Elenia’s sake.
“Grizelle, it’s me. Ellie. Do you recognize me?”
Receiving Sylaria’s cue, Elenia carefully spoke to Grizelle. The moment Grizelle, who had been rambling as if half-out of her mind, heard her voice, she abruptly stopped.
Slowly, her crimson eyes turned toward Elenia. A spark of awareness flickered in eyes that had been unfocused, and she brightened.
“Ellie, you came!”
Grizelle beamed and greeted her with puffed cheeks and a wide smile.
“I knew you’d come, even if no one else did. Of course you forgave me, right? Thank you, Ellie.”
“Forgave…?”
“Yes! I asked you last time to forgive me, remember!”
Grizelle spoke with energy, her cheerful tone jarring against her ragged appearance.
“When you asked me to forgive you, were you talking about forgiving you for trying to kill my sister?”
“What else would it have been?”
“So from the beginning, you were planning to kill her?”
Elenia stared at her in shock. But Grizelle only responded with a confused expression, as if she did not understand the problem.
“You’re speaking so strangely. After everything I’ve suffered because of Sillie, why would I ever do anything good for her?”
“Was I not enough for you? Why did you have to go after my sister too…!”
“Don’t be dramatic. You shouldn’t talk to me like that. You lived peacefully, cared for by everyone like a hothouse flower. Do you even know how hard I’ve struggled just to endure? Take Aren, for example. Do you know how much work it took for me to get engaged to him?”
Elenia’s mouth fell open at the absurdity. What did her illness and confinement to bed have to do with Grizelle struggling to secure her engagement?
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