/
It was raining. It was so strong that she couldn’t help but think that it was the perfect weather for judging sinners.
She watched as her sister and Calix Hamel knelt in front of the crown prince in front of the surging crowd in front of the imperial palace.
“Your Highness”
Florencia’s voice calling for the crown prince was small and weak, unsuitable for her. Her sister had already given up since then. Maybe she had since a long time ago.
The prince laughed and shook his head as if mocking.
“You’ve been laughing at justice for so long, and now you’re looking like shit.”
The wicked woman bowed her head. Calix, the Grand Duke, who was kneeling next to her, seemed to be spitting out curses at the crown prince.
Her father clicked his tongue, and Beatrice Rosen was talking to the Emperor with a relieved look on her face.
Castiel, who stood behind them, seemed expressionless as usual. Taylor was already imprisoned in Alcatraz.
Everything flowed just like the original.
A weak laugh mixed with a sense of shame that did not match the situation flowed weakly.
She turned my attention to coughing a few times as usual. Those who knew her acting was a lie responded with a sneer at her. All right, all the supporting characters were like that. Rather, such reactions gave her a strange sense of relief.
If she was not even a target to be wary of, then I’ve really succeeded in ‘surviving’.
She heard Beatrice speak with a trembling voice to the Grand Duke who once loved her.
“You failed. Give it up now. You are…”
It’s so sad.
She rated it that way. The expression of the good heroine was really innocent, so it was absurd, but it looked like she was trying to save Calix.
She looked at how well the characters were made, contrasting the blurry original she remembered with the current present. Overall, they were behaving not very differently from what she remembered.
Except for one person.
She sighed when she saw Calix look back at her and widen his characteristic dark eyes. He soon began to giggle about what was so funny. Then he chewed it out.
“There was no other Prophet.”
It was roughly like that. She replied with a shrug of her shoulders while maintaining a cynical expression.
Time passed. The emperor, who had been sitting and contemplating the situation, rose to pronounce the sentence, and Florencia murmured just before her lips opened.
“It’s a wonderful ending.”
The reaction was instantaneous. Everyone started to laugh at Florencia’s brazenness. Except for Calix and Beatrice, almost everyone did.
The original story really mocked them for their crime.
Arbitrarily embezzling the estate’s taxes, threatening and insulting Beatrice, even planning a murder, contacting an illegal criminal organization, and insulting the imperial family…
“…boring.”
She muttered as she watched the nobles criticize her from behind the fan.
“And lastly.”
The emperor said.
“You dared to poison the cup of the Emperor’s son. You’ve sent a lot of assassins. This is absolute treason. Yes, I once thought of you as Damon’s mate.”
He added slowly. It’s something to regret. She bit her lips.
‘I didn’t do it, really. Trust me! I…! No, yes… ‘
She remembered the day her sister was arrested. Her older sister must have given up in the middle, but she did not admit her crime. Clearly.
Was it really just a plot?
“It’s coming to an end.”
The Emperor said. Florencia clenched her lips as if to say something to the prince standing next to her. The crown prince narrowed his brows toward her, changed his expression, and smiled brightly as always. Just like he used to do to Beatrice.
…Would anyone believe her if she told them that the crown prince’s gaze was on her older sister, not on the female lead?
When she took a closer look at them again, Florencia Eilish was still smiling with an empty expression.
The only difference was that when Beatrice showed her ‘mercy’, she arrogantly raised her head and spat.
Yes, Florencia was really arrogant like a villainess. She stopped reminiscing.
***
At some point in the climax, Beatrice said. Florencia was a fearless woman, but she couldn’t bear to see her burned alive at that moment.
If so, wouldn’t it be the same penalty in the end? Perhaps the option of being burned at the stake was too harsh to be forced simply because it scared people. Or so.
‘So I’m going to give her a chance. For if she begged her pardon, and under the tears of her goddess, swore penance for her whole life, she would be obliged to show her generosity as a fellow subject. So while she’s thinking, I don’t want the Eilish family to be harmed.’
To put it simply, she was told to be locked up in a convent and never to come out again.
“All the terrible things that have been done to me, I hope to forget. I believe that if you are a truly merciful subject living in the presence of a God, you will understand. I think forgiveness and consideration are exchanged.”
She tried to roughly interpret between the aristocratic language words where faith was the keyword.
“I forbid you to say any more about the tragic events that Lady Rosen suffered, and about the disgusting misdeeds I went through. Since Florencia’s depravity is obvious, statements defending it are regarded as deceiving the imperial family….”
“…indeed.”
You’re telling them to shut up and obey. Although, of course, it is not that her sister did not commit any misdeeds.
She shook her head as she pondered the discomfort she felt. Minor offenses were fine. The problem was the reason for the execution and the method.
The prince’s wound was really not too much to make a fuss about.
And poisoning.
In that world where only poison mixed with arsenic was produced besides the unknown natural poison, if the color of silverware had changed, a large-scale investigation should have been carried out immediately. However, since he never said anything like that, it was only natural to have doubts.
‘More than anything…’
Yeah, the burning judgment. It definitely had an emotional edge to it.
“I’m not even going to take my opinion in the first place.”
The imperial palace took Beatrice’s opinions straight and declared that they would postpone Florencia’s execution date under the pretext of giving the wicked woman a chance to reflect. In the original work, it was a blank space that could be thought of as a rest period to buy time for Beatrice and the crown prince to chat.
The Empire sang of her benevolence, and I relayed it to the condemned prisoners inside. Immediately after hearing the news, her older sister smiled very broadly and asked.
‘So they are gonna kill me a day later than the Grand Duke? The story of the wicked woman in prison is an anecdote of a comedy. The Empire’s talk is still banal. Not funny at all.’
“Well, if it’s a side story with a twist, it’s not bad.”
She muttered like that. It was consolation for the evil woman who was kind only to her.
***
‘Mel, my dear little sister’
‘Why’
‘Next time, I’d like you to bring medicine for when the backbone is pulled.’
‘No, that’s expensive…’
Wait, come to think of it, was there such a drug? Now that she thought about it, she didn’t even know there were blood pressure medications in that era.
‘Really, I’m the only one turned by affectionate words.’
She monologued briefly and then asked in a low voice.
‘But it doesn’t matter if it’s not me, does it? Lord Heizen will take care of that.’
‘Then just leave.’
‘Ah, you can bring it.’
In the entire meeting, Florencia did not show any emotional agitation at the news of her execution date. After all, she had already lost her life from torture and humiliation. At least her blue eyes, though dimly flickering, were not yet completely dead. What if it worked?
Of course, that didn’t mean the situation was particularly hopeful.
Florencia Eilish was falling into disrepair by anyone’s eyes, but her execution date had not changed.
She thought that if Beatrice Rosen was truly merciful, she would be able to postpone her execution for a few more weeks after seeing her sister’s appearance.
Honestly, it’s not like that.
The dictatorship and sentenced to be burned at the stake would be a painful death. What was the reason for holding an engagement ceremony on the day of a dying person’s execution?
‘…Of course, if you insist that it is necessary to strengthen imperial power, I have nothing to say, but ‘only if needed’ you know.’
If one thought of political reasons, there was only one reason why they insisted on enforcing the execution of the sentence at the engagement ceremony. That’s Beatrice Rosen.
She knew that the Crown Prince was putting a lot of effort into presenting his lover with an engagement ring. So, he also foresaw the fact that her sister’s end would be an absurdly futile collapse.
The burning of the villainess was a very simple event. As the schedule for her engagement ceremony was splendid and grand, they wanted her to be executed in no time.
And if you add the word witch, a thick and short ‘gift’ is completed. The original novel called that gift a perfect happy ending. The novel describes the death of Florencia very briefly.
The arrogant flower turned to ashes in a short time and crumbled for Beatrice’s happiness on the day of the engagement ceremony of the crown prince.
Was it because Florencia’s death was simply the exit of a consumable character, or is there a reason I don’t know about?
‘It’s like…’
It’s like you’re being chased by something.
“As if she must be killed.”
***
A few days after the probation was issued, she had to have a half-forced confrontation with her father, whom she had never even spoken to personally. And as expected, as soon as he made eye contact with her, he immediately shouted.
“You’re giving this father such a hard time. How dare you two girls ruin the family?!”
His voice was full of anger, and he seemed to want to somehow show off his resentment. Even so, it seemed that he couldn’t bear to break things belonging to the imperial family.
She snorted and leaned against the headboard.
It’s funny to hear a loud voice without violence. There’s no impact.
“That’s how it works.”
“Margaret Colin Eilish!!”
The middle-aged man, who was not sure whether he had silver or white hair, had night sky-blue eyes that looked exactly like her sister’s, shining with madness.
“I raised a poor sick person, and she became an arrogant child like her sister!”
“Oh, dear. You must be very angry because the two daughters didn’t sell it to you as you thought.”
The voice was small. However, the Marquis immediately stopped raging. Perhaps it should have been. She briefly enjoyed that situation, which proves how much influence her words exert on him.
Instead of persuading her, the prince had ordered the Marquis.
Convince Margaret to give up. Otherwise, he will ask the Marquis himself for the crime, saying that he participated in the treason.
She heard it was something like that. It’s a funny thing. The return situation was no different from when Beatrice crushed Florencia’s opinion and postponed the execution only with the consent of the marquis.