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IBP 179
Finally, the day of the former Imperial Concubine Hervezette's execution arrived.
While she was imprisoned, the series of crimes she had committed were revealed one by one.
In particular, the House of Duke Ardos and the House of Grand Duke Rivera earned merit by accurately counting the number of spirit beasts the Imperial Concubine had hunted up until now.
After every family involved in the hunting of spirit beasts and the killing of the divine beast had ascended the scaffold.
Finally, the former Imperial Concubine Hervezette ascended the scaffold.
As a final courtesy, the Emperor did not attend the execution, but the Margrave presided over the ceremony on his behalf.
An execution ground was prepared to punish the grave criminal.
Dozens of observers were positioned near the guillotine, and numerous nobles gathered.
Those who knew the preciousness of spirit beasts and the priests who relied on the gods rose up like a swarm of bees, demanding that the Imperial Concubine be executed immediately.
However, even though she was in a state just moments away from having her neck placed on the guillotine, Hervezette was smiling.
It was a smile so vivid yet eerie that it startled even the other citizens of the Empire who were about to throw stones at the scaffold.
“What's wrong with her? Is she a witch?”
“...How dare she hold her head up so brazenly after killing the divine beast?”
“Look at those eyes. The way she's staring... it's so creepy, she looks like a mad witch.”
“Ha, hahaha...!”
It didn't matter what the citizens said.
The moment her head dropped to the ground with a thud.
Both Grand Duke Rivera and the piece of trash who had handed her the fake divine beast as a decoy would die as well.
“Ke, kekeke... Yes, I am ready to die with you all. Right?”
It was just as the executioner was about to place her neck into the hole beneath the guillotine's blade.
“Wait.”
Grand Prince Caligo Rivera appeared and halted the execution. When he announced that he had received permission from the Emperor, the executioner stepped back for a moment.
“Hello, Hervezette.”
“You...”
Hervezette distorted her face in loathing toward Caligo.
However, it was also true that a question mark popped up in her mind.
“You probably can't even fathom why I've come to see you, can you?”
“...”
As if reading Hervezette's mind, Caligo looked at her with a smirk.
“So, I'm here to let you know.”
A brief halo of light shimmered around Caligo's body.
In an instant, his face changed and his body size gradually grew. And what appeared before her eyes was a familiar silhouette.
Brown hair, brown eyes.
It was a face that looked ordinary at a glance, but it was a face Hervezette knew well.
“How is it? Do you recognize me now?”
The one who gave her the sable, the target of the curse, wasn't it?
That bastard who dared to deceive me...!
To think that the person who had handed her the fake divine beast and ruined everything was Caligo.
Upon learning the truth, the Imperial Concubine's eyes were stained with rage. She could not contain her fury to the point that tears of blood flowed from her eyes.
'No, wait. If that bastard is Caligo Rivera, I don't need to be this angry.'
Hervezette's expression shifted as she suddenly wore a fishy smile.
“As I thought, I'm lucky, aren't I?”
“I wonder what you mean by that.”
In one minute from now, her head would be severed.
Countless subjects would pelt her with stones for killing the divine beast. But it didn't matter.
'Instead of some unknown, pathetic man, I get to die together with you, Caligo Rivera!'
...What an honor!
Her eyes gleamed wildly.
“Hervezette, I know exactly what you're thinking right now. You're happy to die with me, aren't you?”
At those words, Hervezette felt a chilling sense of foreboding.
'Come to think of it, why did he bother coming in front of me?'
Just then, a rustling sound came from the arms of the man with brown hair and brown eyes—no, Caligo.
Suddenly, a pure white halo of light spread from his embrace.
It wasn't the light from when he had changed his appearance earlier.
The light leaking from Caligo was so large and intense that it was visible to all the citizens watching the execution.
Furthermore, the power of that light was so reverent that the numerous people gathered at the execution ground could not help but wear expressions of awe.
But Hervezette was different.
Even with her hair completely disheveled and wearing worn-out burial clothes, she had something to rely on.
'Is he trying to break the curse with the power of a magic tool? My curse cannot be dismantled by a mere, trivial magic tool...!'
So, she intended to simply giggle and mock him.
But then, a tiny puppy divine beast popped out from Caligo's arms and leaped down to the ground.
'...Wait.'
That was the 'puppy divine beast.'
If so, could it be that the divine beast knows about the curse?
By the time Hervezette's eyes were clouded with confusion.
The pure white puppy smiled brightly, rubbed its black nose against the toe of Caligo's shoe, and let out a small bark.
“Woof!”
Immediately after, a pure white halo of light enveloped the entire execution ground.
A divine light suddenly poured down brilliantly, centered around Caligo.
Witnessing this, the numerous people murmured in bewildered voices.
“What on earth is this?”
“Isn't that the light of the divine beast? Is the divine beast trying to do something?”
“Could it be that a powerful divine grace is being bestowed, just like when it first descended?”
Among the many theories, if there was one truth the Imperial Concubine could not deny... it was the fact that a divine power could be felt from Coco, and from Grand Prince Caligo Rivera.
“The curse you cast, Hervezette, Coco has fixed it all.”
At those words, the smile vanished from Hervezette's face in an instant. It was the expression of someone whose only remaining hope had been shattered.
“Ah, and of course, my brother's too.”
Caligo whispered, tenderly embracing Coco.
“So, Hervezette. Goodbye.”
“...”
“Unfortunately, there will be no comrades to accompany you in your death.”
It was a simple and brief farewell.
But with that one sentence, the former Imperial Concubine, Hervezette, felt as if she had lost everything.
The realization that there was no one to fall into hell with her brought a crushing sense of despair.
Caligo and Coco left her side.
Around her were only those who wished to pelt her with stones; neither her kin nor those who had been her subordinates were there.
She was truly left alone.
Finally, the sound of the knight presiding over the execution moving the guillotine was heard.
Just as her eyes distorted with despair, Prince Gaisa appeared.
“...I wish to say one last word to the former Imperial Concubine.”
When the Prince spoke to the executioner, the execution ceremony that was about to resume was halted.
Hervezette looked at her son emotionlessly and sneered.
“Why, is the defective Prince planning to rescue me?”
“How insolent. How dare you speak to His Highness the Prince.”
“Shut up. He is a defective product I created.”
Just as voices were about to rise, Prince Gaisa raised his hand to stop the executioner. The executioner bowed and said,
“The time His Majesty mentioned is approaching. I apologize, but I cannot give you much time.”
“I do not intend to speak for long.”
As Prince Gaisa handled the subordinate with a rare, skillful tone, a flicker of surprise appeared in Hervezette's eyes.
“...Mother.”
And when that thing looked straight at her and called her 'Mother.'
Hervezette's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“I will say this one last time. I...”
“...”
“I still loved you, Mother. Please do not forget this much. And...”
A voice that sounded as if it were vomiting a scream for the first time.
He loved her.
The son she had thought of as nothing more than a defective product possessed such a useless emotion.
She curled her lips to mock him cuttingly.
But the moment she met the boy's sincere eyes, her breath grew shallow.
It somehow became difficult to look at the face of the boy she had only ever brainwashed and treated like an object.
Hervezette closed her eyes. Then, the boy whispered softly.
“The maids who were your hands and feet, the Head Maid, and the Margrave—all have already been beheaded by His Majesty's order.”
“...”
Was Prince Gaisa a child who knew how to speak so intelligently?
Closing her eyes only brought more stray thoughts.
Imperial Concubine Hervezette bit her lip so hard she could taste blood.
“And... I am not a defective product.”
The boy uttered his final words in a trembling voice. The Imperial Concubine instinctively opened her eyes.
“What...”
“I... will live while atoning. I will absolutely, absolutely never live like you, Mother.”
“...”
“...Then, farewell.”
At the final words the boy spoke, as if delivering a death sentence, Hervezette suddenly felt a sharp pain.
Hervezette stared blankly at the back of Prince Gaisa as he walked away with difficulty.
'When... did he grow like that?'
She hadn't known because she always thought of him as a defective product.
Suddenly, she recalled the day she first held her son's hand.
That very moment when her newborn son's green eyes gazed at her.
“...Mya?”
“My son... his name shall be Gaisa.”
The time before she ever called Prince Gaisa a defective product.
The sensation of holding the small hand of the son born from her own womb for the first time—she recalled it after a very long time.
In that moment, she realized.
'This is the greatest punishment the world has bestowed upon me.'
However, some regrets are too late, no matter how fast they come.
The executioner standing on the scaffold shouted loudly.
“The sentence will now be carried out!”
Soon, the sharp blade would slice through her neck.
And...
Hervezette felt a chilly sensation approach her neck.
Finally, she tumbled into the abyss along with endless regret.
That was the miserable end of the woman who had once dominated an era.
...And so, the former Imperial Concubine Hervezette vanished like dew on the execution ground.
Everything had ended.
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