Chapter 001
Prologue
“I intend to cut off your head and offer it to the tyrant of Calande.”
Ioret looked up at her only sister with dazed eyes.
What did I just hear?
The place where Ioret was held was a dark and damp prison.
Outside the iron bars stood her half-sister, Catherine.
The first daughter of King Elovis and the Crown Princess who had ascended to the throne at a young age, the Queen was beautiful.
She exuded an elegance and dignity befitting her position. However, the words flowing from her lovely lips were not nearly as beautiful.
“You know who became the King of the Calande Kingdom last month, don’t you? Kylon Winterbark, the man who might have once been your husband. Do you remember?”
Of course, Ioret knew.
It would be strange not to know. In the current state of the continent, how many people would not know the name of Calande’s tyrant?
Fifteen years ago, the disgrace of the Calande royal family, who had been exiled to the northern fortress, led a rebellion.
The illegitimate son born of a maid slaughtered all of his half-brothers and eventually beheaded his own father, the King.
Not content with seizing the throne through such an immoral act, he invaded the neighboring kingdom of Levia and even brought the King of Levia to his knees.
Rumors were rife that after Levia, Elovis would be next.
“He is truly an extraordinary man. How fortunate it is that I did not marry you off to him back then!”
Despite the dark clouds of war looming over the country, Catherine’s cheeks flushed as if she were reminiscing about something. Her face looked exactly like that of a girl in love.
“I needed a peace offering to send to him, and it turns out he demanded you, someone of the Levia royal bloodline.”
“What?”
“Therefore, the Royal Council has inevitably concluded that your head must be cut off.”
Catherine, who reached her hand through the iron bars to grab Ioret’s chin, whispered playfully.
“It is also the King’s duty to reassure the frightened subjects. Just as I was wondering how to deal with you, who was bold enough to aim for the throne, the King of Calande singled you out. So, wouldn’t offering your head to him be like killing three birds with one stone?”
Ioret was struck dumb. She could not believe the words pouring out of her gentle and kind sister’s mouth.
‘I thought I could leave this place once my name was cleared?’
Two weeks ago, Ioret had been dragged to the capital on charges of murdering her husband and attempting to seize his assets.
Naturally, it was not her doing.
However, no one listened to Ioret’s plea.
Ioret was imprisoned without even being able to hold a funeral for her husband.
It didn’t end there. By the time she was brought to the capital, Ioret had been branded a traitor who had not only murdered her husband but had also conspired to usurp the throne using her husband’s estate as a support base.
“Did you not try to incite a rebellion by instigating dissidents from Levia! Are the letters you sent to the capital in the meantime not proof of that?”
“I know nothing of this. I didn’t write those!”
Ioret truly had done nothing.
Until the age of eighteen, she had grown up confined in the tower of the royal castle, and after that, she was driven away from the capital under the guise of marriage.
Since then, it had been a continuous struggle of painful endurance.
Even when she suffered from her elderly husband’s vulgar hands, even when she noticed the eyes of the maid spying on her from close range, and even when all news from the capital was cut off, Ioret endured and persevered.
It was because she believed in her sister’s promise to call her back to the capital if she could just endure for five years.
“The people of the Royal Council are spreading false rumors that you are aiming for the throne. So, it seems better to stay away from the capital for a while. Five years—just endure for five years. Can you do that for your sister?”
Where did that day’s warm smile and kind tone go?
Ioret looked around frantically.
There was only one witness who could prove her innocence.
“Duke, are you there? Come out!”
As Ioret screamed like a cry for help, someone emerged from the dark shadows of the prison.
It was Duke Benedix Valere.
He was a childhood friend who grew up with Ioret from a very young age, and he was her former fiancé.
“You know I never plotted treason, don’t you? You saw all the letters I sent during that time!”
Even though their engagement had been broken, Benedix was still her only friend.
He was also the one who told her to send a letter whenever she was struggling.
“Speak up, Benedix! The letters I sent to you were only—”
“Are these the letters you are talking about?”
Benedix pulled a bundle of letters from his coat.
Ioret stared blankly at the pieces of paper fluttering down past the iron bars.
Content she had never written was packed onto the pages in her own handwriting.
[The Castelane estate is small and insignificant, but it is a legitimate countship.
If I get rid of my stupid husband and manage the estate myself, I can grow enough power. Then I will be able to return to the capital within a few years.
My rebellion starts now, Benedix. Quietly, secretly. But surely.]
Benedix glared at Ioret as if he despised her.
“How utterly shameless. I am appalled by your duplicity, Princess Ioret. No, Countess Castelane.”
“Ha…!”
“Wait. Are you just a mere criminal now?”
Tears welled up in Ioret’s wide-open eyes.
That despicable man was her childhood friend?
However, that was nothing compared to the shock that followed.
Catherine leaned against Benedix’s chest as if to show off.
“Oh dear, Archduke, what should we do if you make her cry already? That role is mine.”
Archduke is the title granted to the Queen’s husband.
In every respect, they looked like a perfect pair of lovers.
Benedix kissed Catherine’s hair tenderly.
“Ah, ah…”
A sense of futility and anger washed over her mind simultaneously.
Benedix had become the Queen’s husband.
‘From the very beginning, there was no one on my side.’
Just how long had this scheme been in the works?
Ioret gradually found it difficult to breathe.
“Was it you, sister, who killed Count Castelane and framed me?”
“What a pity. I hoped you would be stupid enough not to even know that.”
“Then, did you kill my mother too, sister?”
Ioret’s mother was the King’s second Queen.
After rumors spread that her mother had an affair with a royal guard, the King’s love for her ceased.
And not long after, her mother committed suicide.
It was a suspicious death, but no one questioned the incident.
Afterward, Ioret was isolated as if confined in a remote tower of the royal castle and was dumped by Benedix.
A fire ignited in Ioret’s eyes.
“I’m asking if it was you who killed my mother!”
“Didn’t you kill your mother? Ioret.”
“What does that mean…!”
“If you hadn’t been born, would I have even had to kill your mother?”
Catherine pushed Ioret, who was hanging onto the iron bars, with her booted foot.
Ioret, who had lost her strength after starving for several days, tumbled loudly across the prison floor.
“The one I wanted to get rid of from the start was you. But as long as your mother was holding out, there was no way to touch you. Hmph, it was so annoying how she acted all high and mighty just because she was royalty from Levia.”
“Why did you do it?!”
Ioret shouted with a heart that felt like it was vomiting blood.
“I wasn’t even interested in the throne. My mother was the same! So why…!”
“Why should I care?”
Catherine scoffed.
“You should have at least conceived Count Castelane’s child, sister. I told you so many times to have regular conjugal visits. If you had, I might have felt a bit refreshed and forgiven you!”
As Catherine laughed mockingly, there was no longer any trace of royal dignity left on her face.
“Well, I suppose even I would find it difficult to sleep with a smelly old man!”
Ioret trembled with humiliation.
The last five years spent with her old and debauched husband were embedded in her entire body like shards of glass.
A barrage of verbal abuse poured down like a rainstorm.
“Being born is your sin. Your very existence hinders me. You, who are no better than me, are easily loved just because of your bloodline and a pretty face. Without any effort at all.”
A moment of jealousy flashed across Catherine’s face as she spoke sarcastically.
“And yet, your self-pity is so extreme… Well, at least your pretty neck will serve as a foundation for the peace of Elovis.”
Catherine, who triumphantly admired her younger sister, who was messy with sweat and blood scabs, turned away abruptly.
Benedix, as if he had been waiting, took off his uniform jacket and wrapped it around the Queen’s shoulders.
Benedix, who glanced sideways at Ioret, raised the corners of his mouth.
“Give the order, Your Majesty.”
Catherine, who had regained her regal composure in an instant, wore an elegant smile.
“Execute the criminal’s sentence as planned. The execution is at noon tomorrow.”
* * *
Behead the princess who murdered her husband and plotted treason!
An execution platform was placed on the highest hill in the capital. Tens of thousands of people flocked to watch the prisoner who would be beheaded there today.
A very fragile woman staggered up the steps of the guillotine.
Her long blonde hair was miserably tangled, and her shoulders were as thin and gaunt as dry branches.
The princess’s head to the tyrant!
The crowd, terrified of war, screamed for Ioret’s head to be cut off immediately to appease the tyrant.
Ioret clutched the ruby necklace in her hand. It was a relic left by her mother.
“Survive, Ioret. As long as you live out your mother’s life in her stead, even death will not dare to harm you.”
‘I tried, Mother. But my methods were wrong.’
This was the price of a life lived by surrendering dignity and pride.
Everything had been wrong from the beginning.
“Execute the sentence!”
The knights forced Ioret to her knees and pressed down on her back.
The executioner, holding a blunt axe, stood close to Ioret.
Catherine must be watching this moment from somewhere. Benedix would be guarding her side.
Ioret gritted her teeth, relying on the warmth of the ruby fragment.
“If you thought this was the end, you were mistaken, sister.”
Blood pooled on her cracked lips, and her wide-open eyes were bloodshot.
I will surely return.
No one knew, but Ioret had the power to do so.
‘Even if I have to throw my entire body into the fires of hell, I will surely return and tear down all the glory you have enjoyed until now!’
The axe swung by the executioner rushed toward Ioret’s ivory neck. Ioret’s eyes, which she did not close until the end, burned with rage.
O God, receive my soul.
And please send me back to this terrible place once more!
At that moment, a strange light leaked from the ruby fragment. However, no one noticed.
The witch is dead! Peace to Elovis!
Before long, the world was submerged in darkness.
