Chapter – 02
“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
“…The good news.”
“You don’t have to die immediately.”
Her eyes widened.
“And the bad news?”
“You’re going to the imperial capital.”
This time her mouth fell open. Duke Grixia looked at her with pity and clicked his tongue.
“That means…”
“It means good luck.”
After delivering those final words, he turned around. As she stared blankly at his retreating figure, a knight approached and pulled her up by the shoulder.
“Duke Grixia.”
Grixia turned his head at the voice of his adjutant calling him. The somewhat timid adjutant flinched the moment he saw the duke’s eyes but carefully handed him water.
“C-congratulations, my lord. A great victory. Now that you’ve captured Ferdia, the one they call the Demon’s Child, the Empire’s victory is only a matter of time.”
“The Demon’s Child…”
It was a phrase that clearly showed just how terrible her image had become within the Empire. His lips touched the water as his eyes narrowed slightly. Her image lingered in his mind.
“I should have just killed her…”
“…Pardon?”
No. The duke shook his head and looked up at the sky. The blue sky seemed strangely out of place above a battlefield. And that color reminded him very much of Ferdia’s hair.
As her image flickered in his thoughts again, Duke Grixia clicked his tongue.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Go convene the Senate. And find the records from after past wars—how the Empire absorbed other nations.”
“…The Senate? Records?”
“Hurry. I don’t have time to explain everything.”
At his irritated expression, the adjutant nodded with difficulty and hurried off. Watching his clumsy retreating figure, the duke let out a long sigh.
“Ha… what is this…”
The war ended in an overwhelming victory for the Empire.
At first, Ferdia’s main army crushed several imperial divisions one after another, and it seemed as if the goddess of victory might smile upon the Kingdom. But the moment Duke Grixia, known as the Empire’s problem solver, defeated Ferdia, the Kingdom collapsed.
A foolish king, provoked by the emperor, allowed a trivial dispute to escalate into a war that ultimately destroyed an entire nation. The royal family was executed. Others who participated in the war were either executed or stripped of their status and property depending on their involvement.
Ferdia listened to these facts while sitting blankly in an underground prison, bound in chains.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she had slept and awakened about ten times. She guessed about ten days had passed.
She had never once imagined she would end up like this, and the psychological pressure weighed heavily on her. On top of that, something a guard had said while bringing her food recently made things even worse.
“Pretty impressive how well you eat for someone who’ll soon be skewered and burned alive.”
The moment she heard that, her blood ran cold.
Burned alive? Skewered?
Wasn’t she just supposed to be beheaded?
Ferdia stared at the guard with wide eyes, but he said nothing more.
Three days passed after that.
Ferdia gave up any will to live and simply sat there blankly, no longer thinking about her future—just waiting for the day she would die.
With a creaking sound, the underground prison door opened. Soon three knights approached and opened the bars of her cell.
The moment she saw them, her expression hardened.
“Let’s go.”
Are they taking me to die?
She stared at them with her mouth slightly open. She wanted to struggle, but her tendons had already been cut. Without proper treatment, even standing on her own was nearly impossible.
When she didn’t react, one knight gestured for the others to lift her. They grabbed her by both shoulders, dragged her to her feet, and pulled her along.
Only then did she truly realize where this path might be leading.
Strangely, she found herself thinking the cold, damp underground prison had been a comfortable refuge. But that thought disappeared the moment bright sunlight blinded her.
As she was dragged through the corridor, she felt the stares of people watching her. She struggled to move her eyes toward them.
A maid spat on the floor and said:
“That woman killed my brother.”
“She doesn’t even look useful. What a worthless bitch.”
To them, Ferdia was a criminal. A villain. Someone who had killed their loved ones.
Her head lowered as her hair fell to cover her face. Her lips curled inward.
She was going to die anyway. She didn’t even have the energy to defend herself.
Soon they arrived at a large hall. The doors opened to reveal countless people seated inside. The knights led her to a chair placed in the center.
As she slightly raised her head under the weight of countless gazes, a loud voice echoed:
“From this moment, we will begin the military trial of Ferdia Arde Poeheim, Commander of the Knights of the Kingdom of Artia.”
From that solemn voice, she immediately understood where she was.
Four hundred eyes staring at her.
Two hundred mouths speaking.
Mocking gestures.
All of it would soon end with the word execution and a sentence of fire and a stake.
“Ha…”
A deep sigh escaped her.
Was this really how she would die after struggling so desperately to escape Duke Grixia on the battlefield?
She found herself thinking it might have been better to die by his hand.
Voices filled the hall. Each person listed her crimes, her actions, and argued what punishment she deserved.
Their words differed.
Their conclusion was the same.
Death.
Her eyes grew calm. Whether she died this way or that way, she thought it might be better to choose the least painful method. As that thought settled her trembling heart—
“Ferdia has slaughtered over a thousand soldiers in this war. Furthermore, her command ability is exceptional. Under her orders, one hundred thousand of our imperial troops were cut down. They were sons, fathers, brothers, and lovers of our citizens. She may have killed one hundred thousand, but the grief belongs to the entire Empire. Therefore, I believe Ferdia Arde Poeheim should be sentenced to flaying alive.”
Flaying alive?
Ferdia lifted her head in shock.
“Along with flaying, I also believe she should be burned at the stake before the citizens on the final day.”
Burned too?
Her heart began pounding again. Why flaying? Why burning? Why not just kill her?
She tried to speak, but her voice was drowned out by the shouting.
She desperately tried to open her lips, but her cracked throat could only produce dry coughs.
Cough.
She lowered her head, breathing roughly. Her body, weakened from lack of food and rest, began to spin.
Dizziness filled her with despair. She realized her fate was entirely in their hands.
Her trembling eyes slowly closed.
At that exact moment—
Silence fell over the hall.
Ferdia looked up in confusion. The presiding judge had received a letter and was making a troubled expression. After asking several questions and nodding, he spoke to the other council members.
They exchanged words filled with sighs and shook their heads.
What seemed like an endless discussion suddenly ended when the judge raised his hand.
Soon after, he and the other members stood and left.
The trial was abruptly declared finished.
The nobles stood in confusion.
“What?”
Ferdia looked around, unable to understand what had just happened. Moments ago they had been discussing burning and flaying her, and now they were just leaving.
“Let’s go.”
The knights approached again and lifted her.
“…Are you taking me to die?”
One knight glanced at her and shook his head.
That was all.
A careless answer. But even that was enough to make her feel relieved that she wasn’t dying immediately.
Leaving behind that hall of horrific punishments alone already made her feel slightly more alive.
Soon they entered another large room.
“We’ve brought her.”
“Good work.”
A familiar voice struck her ears. She lifted her head.
The first thing she saw was dull blond hair and black eyes.
Then the silver blade in his hand.
Her lips parted slightly.
“…Duke Grixia?”
“So you remembered.”
He approached with an amused expression—so different from the battlefield. He gently took her from the knights and lifted her himself.
The knights looked shocked.
Ferdia looked even more shocked.
As her eyes shook in confusion, his flat voice spoke:
“You can go. Why are you still standing there?”
Only then did she realize he was speaking to the knights. The door closed behind them.
He carefully set her down in a chair.
“Anywhere uncomfortable?”
“…How are you…”
She spoke blankly as she looked at him. His lips moved—lips that had never once smiled on the battlefield now carried a faint smile.
Grixia took a box from a nearby table, opened it, and handed her a small bottle.
Ferdia took it cautiously, watching him nervously.
“It’s not poison. Just drink it. It’s a wound treatment.”
“A wound treatment…?”
When she still hesitated, he sighed, took it back, and poured it onto her leg.
The blue liquid touched her torn and blood-crusted wounds. White vapor rose as the injuries healed and the scabs fell away.
Her mouth opened slightly in shock.
“First time seeing it? Don’t have these in the Kingdom?”
“N-no… that’s not it… but isn’t that extremely expensive?”
“It is. Could easily buy a house.”
“Th-then why give something like that… to me?”
