Shallen, who had escaped from the underground dungeon, took a deep breath of fresh air into his lungs.

After several deep breaths, he opened his eyes that had been closed, but could hardly shake off his troubled expression.

Thinking about how Rose and the child in her womb had almost been put in danger by this incident, he felt like strangling Kasallin right away wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him, but now that things had come to this, his mind was terribly complicated.

‘Must I really take her life with my own hands?’

It seemed as if cries that he should naturally do so and wails that he couldn’t possibly do such a thing were echoing from both sides of his temples.

‘No. I mustn’t waver. She tried to take my child’s life, to cut off this nation’s bloodline. It’s a grave sin that even death cannot repay.’

I wasn’t wrong.

I made the right decision.

As if constantly brainwashing himself that he would never regret Kasallin’s death, Shallen muttered and went to the Queen’s palace.

Thinking that staying by the side of the Queen, who must be suffering emotionally right now, was the duty of a faithful husband.

.

.

.

“My Queen. Was there any trouble while I was away?”

“What trouble could there be? I was waiting for Your Majesty to come, so I didn’t even notice time passing.”

As he entered the Queen’s bedchamber, the smell of disinfectant that could hardly be called pleasant stung his nose sharply.

She was leaning weakly against the bed with her hair loosely disheveled.

No matter that they were half-sisters, looking at her like this, it was strange how she had no resemblance to Kasallin whatsoever.

Except for those green eyes, it would be hard to find any trace of Kasallin in Rose – one could believe they were strangers.

“You were waiting for me?”

“I wait for Your Majesty every day. And our baby too. The baby said it wanted to see its father’s face.”

Rose playfully spoke while caressing her belly, which was still flat and showed no sign of rounding out yet.

Shallen made an expression where his satisfied feelings were clearly evident and clasped Rose’s hand over his own.

Yes. Even this was different.

Unlike Rose, who normally had a high body temperature, when you held Kasallin’s hand, an ice-cold chill would travel through the skin like touching an ice block.

Perhaps it was because her characteristically resolute and cold personality had seeped into her heart.

That distant sensation of those cold, slender hands like a winter witch sweeping over his body – he would never feel it again.

“Rose, you love me consistently.”

“You’re stating the obvious.”

“You can always remain the same Rose as now, can’t you?”

“Of course.”

Shallen kissed the hollow of Rose’s palm.

Yes. This is enough.

He had a wife who would always love and respect her husband unchanged, and there would soon be a lovely child born under blessings.

In this wide world, just because one woman named Kasallin disappeared wouldn’t make the sky fall or the earth cave in.

Rather, life would become stable and peaceful.

Hadn’t her very existence been a vicious temptation he couldn’t shake off all this time?

“Tomorrow, Kasallin’s punishment will be finally decided.”

Shallen continued speaking carefully while observing Rose’s complexion.

“The result will probably be… unanimous public execution. Since she attempted to assassinate a queen of a nation, it can’t be helped. I’m not sure if it’s right to tell you this, but it would be better to prepare your heart in advance.”

Public execution.

That one short phrase was threatening and futile to Rose, needing no complex explanation of emotions.

Her sister would die.

Like ash powder falling from burnt remaining firewood and being blown away by the wind.

She had known from the beginning that things would flow this way and it was a natural result, but now that the end was approaching, Rose couldn’t bring herself to smile.

But she also had no intention of pleading with Shallen to spare her sister’s life.

‘Sister is smart and beautiful. And she has great popularity too.’

If they didn’t cut out the roots completely here and now, someday she would be more than enough to threaten the Queen’s position.

Besides, when she first entered the palace as Queen, hadn’t her sister said with her own mouth?

That the royal family was originally a world of survival of the fittest.

‘I’m sorry, sister. From now on, I’ll do my best to be happy for your part too. Oh God, please bestow mercy and forgiveness upon sinful me…’

Rose closed her eyes and offered a prayer for Kasallin for the first and last time with all her heart.

Of course, that prayer was nothing more or less than rationalization to forget the guilt about stepping over her sister’s corpse to climb up.

The attempted queen assassination incident surrounding Kasallin and Rose caused tremendous waves throughout the Kan Kingdom.

The nation became chaotic, fierce debates broke out everywhere disrupting order, and all royal government affairs were temporarily suspended.

In the midst of this, a public trial was held to finally decide Kasallin’s punishment.

It was a rare spectacle you couldn’t see twice in a lifetime, with prominent nobles from each region of the country gathered in one place.

“Lady Kasallin of House Robepon. We will give you a final opportunity to seek forgiveness from God with courtesy.”

The cardinal opened his mouth in the frozen atmosphere.

“For the sake of your beloved neighbors and ancestors, confess and seek forgiveness. That is the only path toward peace and rest.”

“I swear to God and dare to speak with my soul at stake. I have never attempted to assassinate Her Majesty the Queen. No matter how many times you ask, my answer will be the same.”

Kasallin spoke clearly with a more resolute voice than ever.

Sighs flowed from here and there.

Shallen, sitting in the highest seat quietly looking down at Kasallin, shook his head as if incredulous.

What a stubborn woman.

He seemed to mutter like that.

“Cardinal. There’s nothing more to ask. Please bring down the hammer of justice on that wicked witch as quickly as possible.”

Count Hanson, a representative of the Queen’s faction, spoke while glaring fiercely at Kasallin.

Just then, a woman with a somewhat familiar face came into Kasallin’s view.

She was someone Kasallin knew well.

It was Loren Logia, who had once been Rose’s maid but had requested leave and disappeared after the funeral incident.

Naturally timid, she was extremely nervous yet her face was bright red, seemingly feeling great anger at Count Hanson’s words.

It was when she was about to stand up from her chair with a clatter to take Kasallin’s side.

“Shh.”

Aster, who had been standing quietly behind, pressed her shoulder firmly and sent a warning to stay still.

In fact, among the other nobles too, there seemed to be some who wanted to defend Kasallin, but no one could actively step forward.

The people were already outraged, saying Kasallin should be subjected to capital punishment.

It happened to be when the Queen was carrying her first child.

In this situation, it was safe to say there was almost no one who could risk their life to protect Kasallin.

In that sense, Kasallin was so grateful to Loren Logia for not forgetting her and running all the way here.

No matter how dirty the mud pit, there seemed to be one friend who wouldn’t abandon their friendship to the end.

She would definitely repay Loren Logia later.

“Miss…”

What should I do about this?

Loren Logia, who had lost the opportunity to speak after being caught by Aster, made a tearful face and mouthed words silently.

Kasallin sent her a faint smile.

Shallen’s half-drowsy voice was heard from the platform.

“Kasallin. No, Kasallin Robepon. All things considered, you were once a person who almost became the mistress of this nation. You should know well that even now we’re being very lenient. If you just say these two sentences: ‘What I did was right. I’m sorry,’ you can at least avoid the terrible dishonor of being publicly executed before all the people. Yet you still refuse to admit your guilt to the end?”

Kasallin let out a short but heavy sigh and looked at the people in the courtroom one by one.

And finally, looking straight at Shallen, she said:

“Your Majesty. If it’s proven that I’m innocent, how will you compensate for the mental damage I’ve suffered and my tarnished reputation?”

“I’ll grant all the demands you want. But it’s just an absurd hypothesis. There will never be a day when you’re proven innocent.”

“Good. You just made a promise in front of everyone. You must keep those words.”

With what confidence was she holding her head so high and refusing to bend?

Shallen tried hard to steady his strangely wavering heart like a bleak wind was blowing and spoke to the cardinal.

“Dragging this out any longer will only lead to meaningless arguments. Cardinal, proceed with the vote now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The cardinal continued speaking while calming the agitated atmosphere in the courtroom.

“Now we will proceed to voting. Ministers from each department, please use the wooden tablets placed in front of you to decide your approval or disapproval.”

The noble ministers picked up wooden tablets one by one and put them into the box.

After the voting ended, the cardinal took out the wooden tablets from the box one by one and announced the results.

They say reality is different from novels.

As expected, there was no reversal.

“It has been decided unanimously by all members for public execution. From this moment, all titles, citizenship, and private property of the criminal Kasallin Robepon are completely stripped, and her status is classified as a state traitor.”

The cardinal turned back and bowed his head toward Shallen.

“Your Majesty. Currently the people’s anger is piercing the sky and state affairs cannot proceed normally, so I believe it would be appropriate to move up the execution date as soon as possible.”

“……”

“……Your Majesty?”

When the cardinal called again, Shallen, who had been lost in deep thought alone, suddenly raised his head.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. When would be good?”

“I think the ninth day of this month would be suitable.”

“The ninth day…”

Only four days from now.

Shallen muttered in a tone tinged with strange lingering attachment.

After the royal trial ended and taking advantage of the surrounding commotion, Aster gestured with his finger for Loren Logia to quietly come to a deserted place below the stairs.

Loren Logia was bewildered on one hand, but on the other hand, as if this worked out well, she breathed roughly and went to where he had called her.

Before Aster could even open his mouth, Loren Logia, overwrought with grief and extremely excited, spoke accusingly.

“Why on earth did you do that? I was trying to speak to prove Miss Kasallin’s innocence! But because of you, I missed the opportunity!”

“Calm down. Miss Kasallin isn’t dead yet.”

“She’s not dead yet, but she’s about to die! Our Miss is really a good person, there’s no way she could have committed such evil acts, but everyone is driving Miss to her doom. What should we do…”

Loren Logia, who had been wailing loudly, took a step forward saying she couldn’t just stay like this, and Aster indifferently grabbed and pulled her arm.

“I respect the courage you showed in trying to defend Miss Kasallin even with the resolve to be abandoned by the Queen. But the royal court is different from ordinary civil society. If it were something that could be resolved by emotional appeals, the trial wouldn’t have been held in the first place.”

Loren Logia slowly caught her breath and listened to his continuing words.

“Royal trials are not so much places to determine whether the accused’s wrongdoing is true or false, but are essentially aimed at discussing how heavy a punishment to impose on the criminal. Especially with all the Queen’s faction nobles present today, no matter how much you with your desperately poor speaking skills had babbled, it wouldn’t have been very effective.”

Rather, the Queen, who is riding high with a child on the way, might have branded you as a traitor.

Aster muttered as if adding, and Loren Logia hesitated, thinking his words made sense after hearing them.

“In that sense, we need to ride the flow.”

“The flow?”

“Yes. The reliable flow called the name of the Empire’s Emperor, which won’t waver under any circumstances.”