Chapter 4
“What is the meaning of this…? Escape? What are you talking about?!”
“I told you already, didn’t I? There’s a riot. They’re coming for me, Lady Annerose. They’ll try to capture me. And if they do, I won’t survive. I might die a truly horrible death.”
“…”
Unfortunately, Annerose had spent far too long isolated from the world to fully grasp the gravity of the situation.
After listening to Lamia’s explanation, she reached out with hands still stained by the scent of freshly turned earth and clasped Lamia’s own.
“So you’re running away? Leaving your people behind?”
“Yes. Unlike me, you’re immortal. Even if they capture you, you won’t die, will you? Could you wear these clothes and pretend to be me until I manage to flee the country? You only need to buy me a little time!”
“…”
“You’re the only one who can do this, Lady Annerose. Please show mercy to this pitiful descendant of Lady Larre. For the sake of preserving her bloodline!”
At the mention of her younger sister’s name, Annerose’s eyes trembled. Perhaps her heart had softened at the sight of this descendant, who resembled her long-dead sister far more than she ever could have expected.
But even with an immortal body, she couldn’t help being afraid of what was happening.
Annerose thought of her younger sister, who had passed away so long ago. For the sake of preserving the royal bloodline, she decided that she had to protect this descendant at all costs.
“…All right. Hurry and run…! I’ll buy you some time!”
Frightened by the growing roar of the people outside, Annerose urged Lamia onward with a trembling voice.
At the sight of Annerose, Lamia smiled brightly as though she had been waiting for exactly this moment. With the help of the maids and guards, she quickly made her way out of the castle.
“Capture Queen Lamia, the woman who ruined the Kingdom of Parozera!”
After sending Lamia away, Annerose walked through the summer palace, making sure the revolutionaries would find her.
They had searched the castle from top to bottom and failed to find Lamia. Naturally, the summer palace would be their next destination.
The voices outside grew louder and closer.
“She must be here! She definitely fled this way!”
Then came a tremendous crash. The doors to the summer palace burst open.
With a thunderous rush of footsteps, the people poured inside and surrounded Annerose, who stood alone in the hall.
“Is this the tyrant queen?”
“If we’re going to save this country, we have to execute the queen!”
“Kill that devil of a woman, Lamia!”
Terrified by the voices brimming with hatred, Annerose staggered backward.
A cold pillar pressed against her back.
With nowhere left to run, Annerose trembled as a blade touched the underside of her chin. She stared at the revolutionaries who called her by the name “Lamia.”
The people who had stormed the castle with farm tools after being driven to the brink by years of tyranny looked utterly wretched. Their clothes were torn, their bodies covered in dust and grime.
By contrast, Annerose’s rose-colored dress, embroidered with elaborate designs, fluttered around her, only fueling the revolutionaries’ fury. Dressed in finery more extravagant than anything she would normally wear, Annerose bore the full weight of the crowd’s anger.
With trembling hands, Annerose touched the hem of her garment. How much had the people been squeezed dry to afford something like this?
She had long known, herself, that she was no longer fit to be queen. That was why she had abdicated the throne so many years ago.
But she couldn’t help feeling that she, too, bore some guilt for turning a blind eye while the people were driven to such misery.
“That b***h Lamia ruined our country! We can’t let her die an easy death!”
“Do you have any idea how much we had to pay in taxes to fund your extravagance?! Do you know what my daughter had to do just to earn enough money to pay them?!”
“Look at this! This dress is woven with gold thread! How many years’ worth of food could we buy with something like this?!”
“Rip it apart and divide it among ourselves! Maybe then we’ll be able to buy something!”
The farm tools were thrust threateningly into Annerose’s dress, tearing into the fabric. Lace was ripped apart, and jewels scattered across the floor.
Annerose squeezed her eyes shut, praying for the nightmare to end as quickly as possible.
“Something’s not right. Is this really Queen Lamia? Could she be someone else?”
“You’re right. Queen Lamia wouldn’t just stand there and take this kind of humiliation.”
“Long red hair and green eyes… she does have those. But what if the queen escaped and put someone who looks exactly like her in her place? Does anyone here actually know what the queen looks like?”
“I heard the queen’s face is engraved on the gold coins! Does anyone have one?”
“Of course not! I’ve never even seen a gold coin in my life!”
It only took one suspicious voice for the crowd to erupt into a jumble of questions and accusations, all of them turning toward Annerose.
Her hands trembled violently.
“But that rose-colored hair and those green eyes are the symbols of the royal women!”
There was no way ordinary commoners from farming villages would know what the queen actually looked like.
Hearing the people hesitate, Annerose swallowed hard. When death stood before her, she was just as frightened as anyone else.
Her body was certainly immortal. So long as her physical body did not perish, she could continue living indefinitely. And even if her body was destroyed, her soul was said to be capable of reincarnating into a new body and continuing her life.
But Annerose’s immortality was imperfect. Because it was imperfect, the way she died could determine whether her soul was extinguished entirely, leaving her unable to reincarnate.
If she died this time, it would be her first death.
And it would be a gruesome one.
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