Chapter 81
<84화>
In truth, Calips had been worried about me ever since the date for the Duke of Pose’s execution was set.
He didn’t mind me being there, but he said something about not wanting me to see a person die.
“Tell me the moment you feel scared.”
Even after everything that had happened, Dad still treated me like an ordinary child.
Lucas, sitting to my left, was even more dramatic.
“Exactly. Dandelion, you’re so tiny. What if you get shocked seeing someone die and faint? I’m worried too!”
He was saying that while being a tiny eight-year-old himself.
‘I know I enjoy playing the role of the beloved, protected daughter, but…’
This was a bit much.
I’m technically a former spy, you know?
I picked at my ear with a blank expression.
Of course, I understood why Dad and Lucas were worried. They had just gone through a traumatic ordeal, after all. They probably didn’t want to show me anything else unpleasant.
However.
“I want to see the end with my own eyes.”
I looked straight at my father and brother, who were watching me with concerned gazes.
The Duke of Pose was a presence that had always held me back. No matter how much I tried to twist fate to live a normal life, he had blocked my path like an unbreakable glass wall.
Furthermore, he was the man who had exploited my very reason for existing—my identity as Calips’s daughter.
“…I feel like I can only truly move on after I see the end of the Duke of Pose today.”
At those words, red eyes—so much like my own—slowly widened.
“Truly, you… and at only five years old….”
Dad hesitated as if lost for words, then let out a sigh.
“Fine, I understand. As you said, it may be better for you to see it.”
He reached out and gave my head a rough, affectionate pat.
From the side, I heard a protest: “I’m telling you, Dandelion is still so innocent that she shouldn’t see someone die! What if our Dandelion gets shocked and goes limp and faints!?”
“Goes limp and faints? Remind me, who was it that saved you? I believe it was our little Dandelion.”
“…Ugh.”
His face turning bright red at his father’s casual mockery, Lucas let out a huff and shut his mouth.
It was then.
The Royal Palace knights, who had been guarding the stairs leading to the platform, suddenly saluted.
At the end of their gaze stood King Arzen and Queen Consort Grace.
“His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen Consort are entering!”
“The Sun of the world shines upon the Frozen Kingdom.”
Everyone stood as one and bowed toward the King. Dad, Lucas, and I did the same.
Once the grand greetings were finished, the King gestured for everyone to be seated.
“As you all know, an unthinkable incident occurred during the Frozen Kingdom’s Royal Palace banquet, an event held only once a year. And at the center of that incident…”
With a somber expression, the King began to speak, stroking his chin.
“Was the Duke of Pose. Driven by the ambition to unite the Frozen Kingdom and the Doctia Kingdom under the power of the House of Pose, he released a Giant Orc into our palace. He also cast Black Magic on Lady Aisha to alter her eye color.”
When he mentioned the Black Magic, King Arzen’s gaze lingered on me for about half a second before moving on.
Others might not have noticed, but I clearly understood the meaning behind that look.
Suspicion.
He was undoubtedly wondering if I knew that he was the one who had actually cast the Black Magic.
For now, I pretended not to know, nodding solemnly with a serious face.
Seemingly relieved, King Arzen continued.
“…He even planted spies from the House of Pose within the Royal Palace. Therefore, at this hour, I sentence Pose Cray to death!”
The nobles cheered at the King’s proclamation. Then, the summons followed.
“Bring forth the criminal!”
The Duke of Pose appeared from behind the platform, wearing a prisoner’s uniform.
Dressed in rags with handcuffs on both wrists, he looked filthy and was even limping.
“That’s him.”
“Because of that man, the Royal Banquet we waited a year for was ruined!”
A torrent of curses and insults rained down as the knights led the Duke of Pose forward.
Nevertheless, as a man who had been the head of a family of spies, he was adept at hiding his emotions. He remained stoic even as he stood on the platform and placed his head upon the guillotine.
“Duke Pose Cray of the Doctia Kingdom. You are hereby sentenced to death for the attempted assassination of the Frozen Kingdom’s royalty, for fraud, and for the use of Black Magic—a crime against all kingdoms. As of this moment, the prisoner’s title of Duke is stripped, and I declare that the King of the Doctia Kingdom has also consented to this!”
As an attendant read the royal decree in a loud voice, the executioners took their positions on either side of the guillotine.
“Do you have any final words?”
At the King’s question, the man who had been hanging his head slowly lifted his gaze.
And then.
“Duke of Crost.”
“…….”
“Pillar of the Frozen Kingdom. Ruler of the North.”
He smirked with a relaxed expression and called out to my father.
“Before I die, I shall leave you with one final prophecy.”
It sounded more like a curse.
“One day, you will suffer a great misfortune because of your fame and honor. The people facing you now may always be smiling, but…”
A chilling grin hooked the corners of his mouth.
“In secret, they envy you and plot to stab you in the back. Not just me—there are quite a few people who want you dead.”
At those words, I heard the sound of people behind us gasping.
King Arzen cleared his throat.
Calips, of course, didn’t even flinch.
“Is that so? Then it seems it will take quite a while for your prophecy to be proven…”
He even pulled a watch from inside his jacket and let out a smirk, looking genuinely disappointed.
“It’s a pity you won’t be able to see it because you’re dying today. Rest in peace, Duke.”
“…Y-You bastard….”
The Duke of Pose’s lips, which had remained calm until now, began to tremble.
Since it had come to this, it seemed he had wanted to maintain his pride until the very end. That was likely why he had put on such an act.
“You seem to think everything ends with my death, but you would be shocked to know who else is targeting you besides me. It is none other than Ar—”
“I am revoking the prisoner’s right to speak. Execute him!”
It happened then.
King Arzen, hurriedly cutting him off before his own name could be spoken, shouted the command, and the blade of the guillotine fell.
Or rather, I assume it fell.
I couldn’t see the final moment because a palm suddenly blocked my vision.
But I knew.
“Noisy until the very end…. I told him to say one word, and he went on a rant. Dispose of the body!”
The Duke of Pose was dead.
Once again, the original plot had shifted. And in a perfect, ideal direction.
However.
‘Is this really the end?’
* * *
The next day.
Once the execution of the Duke of Pose was over, the nobles began to leave the Center one by one.
Peaceful silence returned to the Royal Palace, which had finally regained its composure after a long time.
Or, to be more precise, it should have.
Bang—!
“Dammit, that moron!”
King Arzen, looking haggard after several sleepless days, breathed heavily.
He shouldn’t have trusted Pose Cray.
“I even used magic for the first time in ages because of him!”
The Duke of Pose, consumed by his obsession with Calips, had instead been swallowed by his own ambition.
If the King had known the Duke was such an irrational fool, he never would have used Black Magic on a brat like Aisha.
‘I certainly didn’t feel any trace of Black Magic from that child on the day of the execution.’
Unlike normal mana, Black Magic was so foul by nature that mages above a certain level could detect its aura by scent alone.
Controlling the mind, altering parts of the body—the Black Magic he had cast on Aisha was extremely complex and difficult.
The fact that it couldn’t be felt at all meant that someone had definitely broken the spell.
Most mages wouldn’t even be able to read the formula properly…
‘…Unless it was someone like Grace…’
“?”
Could it be? Grace?