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IBP 175
The tip of a sharply flashing blade pierced deep into Grand Duke Rivera's heart.
Since it wasn't a real blade, it vanished after striking his heart, but...
"Ha, hahaha, hahahaha...!"
The Imperial Concubine smiled thinly, recalling the act of aiming for Grand Duke Rivera's heart.
The target was not a divine beast's imprinter, but the curse worked regardless.
She glared at Grand Duke Rivera with eyes stained red.
"Fool. When I die, you will fall into this hell with me...!"
"Ah, really?"
It was surely excruciating.
He must be feeling a sensation akin to an executioner dancing with a blade atop sizzling flames.
"I'm not sorry, but I've always been good at slicing up magical beasts. So my pain receptors are numb; I can't feel it."
He grinned, fiddling with the binding ropes.
However, Empress Hervezette could tell. She knew he was feeling a considerable amount of pain. For instance, the tips of his fingers, which were escorting her, were trembling slightly.
"Stop bluffing, you idiot."
"I think the one bluffing is the Imperial Concubine, who's about to be shoved into a cell."
Before the rusted cell door.
The Imperial Concubine did not forget to mock the Grand Duke until the very end.
"Ah, you won't be able to tell anyone about the curse. Not even to that magnificent divine beast."
Regardless, Grand Duke Rivera shrugged and locked the prison door.
* * *
That day, the Emperor proclaimed the Divine Beast Anniversary.
With a declaration that a festival would be held for the divine beast and words of commendation for Duke Ardos's house, the family of the divine beast, he brought the chaotic ball to a close.
On that night, while everyone else revered the divine beast and enjoyed the evening as if it were a holiday.
Prince Gaisa and the Emperor descended into the underground dungeon.
"...Hervezette."
The Emperor looked expressionlessly at the woman he had once loved.
"Public opinion is unfavorable since you touched the divine beast. Your execution is only a matter of time."
"Ha, hahaha...!"
"However, if you repent for your wrongs, I can help you at least save your life."
Though she had been subject to an immediate trial for the crime of harming the divine beast, the opponent was Prince Gaisa's mother.
Unless the houses of Grand Duke Rivera and Duke Ardos personally insisted on it, execution would be difficult.
The Emperor offered a final lifeline. However, the Imperial Concubine's expression was almost sinister.
"Execute me immediately."
There was no hope of a miraculous recovery anyway.
Therefore, dying now was better than prolonging a wretched existence. Her reason for wanting to be executed was simple.
The curse had worked.
And that curse was not merely about pain.
'When I die, those I cursed die with me.'
That was why she could giggle even while being thrown into the underground dungeon.
'I'll be able to drag Grand Duke Rivera and that suspicious fellow who gave me the sable down to hell with me.'
It was a pity that the target of the curse had changed at the last moment, but considering the pain Chloe would suffer after her fiancé, the Grand Duke, died, it wasn't much of a loss.
...Of course, there was one variable remaining: the treatment of the divine beast.
In the first place, Hervezette was not granted enough time for the divine beast to discover the curse.
Only her giggling laughter echoed within the gloomy underground dungeon.
The only emotion the Emperor had left for the woman he once loved was contempt.
"...How can you be the embodiment of evil itself. Truly repulsive."
After the Emperor clicked his tongue and departed.
The timid prince was staring straight at the Imperial Concubine. It was the first time his son had ever looked him in the eye. He had always been manipulated like a puppet...
"Why that look?"
Hervezette glared venomously at her son until the end.
"...Mother, you lived your life very wrongly. Although I am... a, a flawed, defective product..."
"I did not live wrongly!"
"...I never want to be like you. I will live my own path, making atonement."
"..."
"Instead of cl, classifying people into high-grade products and defective products."
Empress Hervezette narrowed her eyes at the unexpected side of the son she had classified as defective and ignored.
She and her son had made different choices.
That was why she was locked in a cell, and her son was stepping into the light.
But even now, as death approached, Empress Hervezette did not realize that fact. She simply curled the corners of her mouth upward inside the dim underground dungeon.
"I have no intention of dying alone..."
The Imperial Concubine's charges were classified as 'killing a spirit beast, killing a divine beast, impersonating a divine beast, and using black magic.'
Through additional interrogation and the investigation of the royal guard, the Imperial Concubine's crimes were laid bare.
These were grave crimes that no one, not even a member of the Imperial family, could avoid the death penalty for.
There was one week left until the day of her execution.
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