Chapter 184…………………………………………………
After returning to the prison, the executioner came to inform us that the death penalty would be carried out three times in total.
The first sacrifice would be Count Inferna. After him, Elforten—and then it would be my turn.
It was only natural, perhaps, but the House of Inferna had now been completely ruined.
“So the mercy granted amounted to nothing more than allowing him to keep the title of noble while being executed. How laughable.”
But I didn’t dwell on that thought for long. Soon, news that Count Inferna—the villain of this world—had died spread throughout the imperial palace, throwing it into an uproar.
Even the soldiers, who had remained quiet until now, grew excited and raised their voices once the execution was carried out.
“His Majesty must have truly intended to draw his blade this time. To think that the head of the noble faction—Count Inferna himself—would fall so futilely.”
“Since he was used as an offering to the Guardian Deity, it wasn’t exactly a beheading, was it?”
“‘Offering’ is just a nice way to put it. It’s no different from being torn apart and eaten alive by a beast.”
Count Inferna had always seemed like a towering mountain to me. I simply couldn’t believe he had died without being able to resist at all.
If it were Count Inferna, couldn’t he have created a substitute form and fled somewhere else?
“They must have even shaved his head to prevent him from using black magic.”
Come to think of it, the imperial family had been strangely uninvolved.
Though they showed fear of black magic, they never stepped forward to stop it.
As if they wanted all eyes to remain fixed on the House of Inferna.
“Ah… perhaps this was what the Emperor had wanted all along?”
They say politics is the same everywhere.
When internal conflict arises, you create a common enemy and start a war to redirect attention and consolidate power.
“Why did I only realize it now?”
The imperial family must have gathered information all along about the conditions required for the black magic used by the House of Inferna.
They endured for years without showing even a claw, all so they wouldn’t miss an opportunity like today.
“Then why discard the shield they had been using all this time?”
The question soon felt pointless, and I let out a hollow laugh.
Today it was Count Inferna. Tomorrow it would be Elforten. And then, me.
“The world really does go on just fine without me.”
I collapsed onto the floor and looked around the narrow cell. The underground floor was damp and cold, reeking of mold.
The ground was so uneven that even lying down, I couldn’t fall asleep.
It was such a miserable prison. Yet I wanted to live just one more day. No—one year, ten years.
“…I don’t want to die like this.”
* * *
As if to prove that nobles were afforded their dignity even in death, I was taken from the prison and allowed to bathe properly for the first time.
There was no one in the palace who didn’t know me, and the young maid who brought the bathwater burst into tears.
“Waaah… I don’t believe you would have done such a thing, Lady Ellupe.”
I was too exhausted to run away—but truthfully, I wanted to.
Even as I held back my own tears, someone else cried for me.
“Poor Lady Ellupe… When Her Highness the Princess finds out about this, how heartbroken she’ll be… sob…”
Now that my life was on the line, I realized how arrogant I had been.
In my previous life and in this one, I had avoided facing my problems until the very end.
If I had decided from the moment I possessed this body to live solely for myself, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out like this.
“You’re too loud.”
“Pardon?”
“Your crying is loud. Let’s bathe quietly.”
“…Yes.”
The gentle splash of water. The warm steam rising softly.
The sound of condensed droplets hitting the floor from the ceiling.
When the crying stopped, the world I hadn’t seen or heard before began to reveal itself.
If you looked closely, you could feel how cozy and peaceful everyday life truly was.
“What was I chasing all this time?”
In my previous life, I had been obsessed with games because I was ashamed of my ordinary life.
Predictable, boring days had felt like disappointment rather than something to be grateful for.
There had been a time when I believed I was a little more special than others.
But now I had to accept that I needed to struggle just to live an ordinary life like everyone else.
“And yet now… I want to go back to that ordinary time.”
I regretted stubbornly staying here just to see Roelin’s wedding.
Thinking about it, maybe I never wanted to try for myself from the beginning.
No matter how hard I tried, as someone who wasn’t the protagonist, my life would never yield grand results.
“Thank you, Lady Ellupe.”
When the bath ended, the maid who had cried for me looked at me clearly and bowed.
As I tilted my head, she wrapped her arms tightly around me.
“I know you were worried my sobbing would reach the soldiers’ ears. You always put others first, Lady Ellupe.”
“You speak as if you know me well.”
“Of course. You saved me from Young Master Elforten.”
At that moment, I saw her face clearly.
I had once brought a maid suffering from Elforten’s torment into the palace. She had been among them.
“I never paid much attention. Don’t you resent me for bringing you here?”
“Thank you. If you hadn’t saved me that day, I would have died under his abuse. You’re my benefactor. I’m sorry this is all I can do for you as you take your final path.”
Simply tending to a condemned prisoner’s bath was already more than enough.
“Thanks to you, it was a pleasant time. The most meaningful time I’ve had in days.”
“…Actually, there’s something about the secret I couldn’t tell you before.”
“Ah. Right. You said you knew something about my mother.”
It seemed pointless to hear such things when I was about to die—but perhaps because I regretted not living this life more sincerely, I couldn’t help but listen.
“She carried the blood of spirits. That’s why she opposed you learning black magic… and then met with misfortune.”
“May I ask why you’re telling me this now, when I’m facing death?”
“Because Count Inferna was far too powerful for you to face.”
I knew it had been a choice made for my sake—but anger still rose within me.
He was already dead. A man not even worth hating—yet I felt fury toward him.
“They say he was torn apart alive by beasts. A fitting death. Now I have not even a shred of pity left. Thank you.”
“…I’m sorry.”
I gently patted her slumped shoulders and opened the door.
I was essentially walking to my execution, yet my steps felt light. It felt as though I were walking out into the world, my mind strangely clear.
“You devilish woman! Go die!”
“Disgrace of the Empire! Disgrace of the nobility! It’s a waste even to offer you to the Guardian Deity!”
Just before dying, I witnessed a sight I had never seen before.
Armored soldiers held their shields tightly, blocking the raging crowd. Imperial citizens hurled objects and insults at me in frenzy.
“The Prince truly has a heart as vast as the sea. I’ve never seen such a noble execution in my life.”
A noblewoman’s mocking laughter rang out.
Below, furious commoners seethed. From within the castle, nobles gazed down at me with cold eyes that seemed to pierce my entire body.
“Right. What’s the point of living? Everyone hates me anyway.”
The reason I hadn’t fled until now was because I couldn’t use powerful black magic.
I wanted help from Lisma, the spirit—but for some reason, he hadn’t appeared.
“The real culprit, Elforten, is dead. Roelin still hasn’t awakened. And if the god obsessed with the original story wants me dead…”
When no one cared about me, I had planned to quietly disappear.
Without deviating from the original storyline, I intended to exit this wretched narrative quietly.
The only thing that troubled me was Kyle, who still didn’t know what had happened to me.
“I hope he won’t suffer too much after I’m gone…”
Even if we were only contract fiancés, Kyle and I had been close friends who shared deep affection.
Thinking of him suffering because of me made my chest ache and my eyes burn.
“Ah. I really…”
I still want to stay here a little longer.
