THM 02

Chapter 2

Looking back now, it didn’t take a strangely long time from the moment I first met my husband to the moment we married.

Dochilia had been defeated.

It was early in the morning of a winter day when I had finally fallen asleep after worrying about my father, who had gone to war, upon hearing that dreadful news.

Knock, knock.

I woke at the sound of someone knocking on the door and, still disheveled, went to greet the unexpected visitor.

“Who…?”

A pure white uniform.
Golden buttons.
A stiff collar fastened up to the neck.

It was a naval uniform.

The moment I saw the sight filling my view, I broke into a bright smile.

“Father?”

I hurriedly lifted my head. But before I could fully welcome the joy, my face darkened in an instant.

The man standing in front of me was not my father.

Under the navy cap was a stiff expression and a rigid posture.

I had a bad feeling. My sleepiness vanished at once, and instinctively I knew.

The soldier before me had clearly come to deliver bad news.

The man soon removed his hat. The features that had been hidden in shadow slowly revealed themselves. His blue eyes, reflecting the breaking sunlight, shone like the sea.

His tightly closed lips slowly parted.

“Edith Prim, the only daughter of Isaac Prim. Is that correct?”

“…Yes.”

My eyelids trembled. Unconsciously, I clutched my clothes together, trying not to show my emotions.

After confirming my identity, the man continued calmly.

“I have come to deliver news of a death. Naval Petty Officer Isaac Prim of Dochilia passed away at approximately 2:15 p.m. on December 18th, 1824, while fighting illness on the battlefield.”

It was cruel news that suited the man’s dry and indifferent voice all too well.

I blinked slowly.

What had I just heard?

Everything before my eyes except the man faded into darkness, and the noisy sounds of the street gradually died away.

“What did you just say…?”

It had to be a mistake. It had to be. Otherwise, perhaps I had misheard it in my sleep.

I steadied my breathing and asked again.

“I think I must have heard you wrong. Could you please say it again?”

“I am sorry to deliver such news.”

Hope did not return.

“That… that can’t be true. How could Father…?”

My father always wrote to me.

He told me he was safe. That although Dochilia seemed likely to lose the war, he thought he might be able to come see me soon.

So how could this…?

My vision turned white. Just as my legs gave out and I was about to collapse—

“Careful.”

The man grabbed my arm with strong force and pulled me upright.

Only after I could stand on my own two feet did he release me.

“…Thank you.”

I wasn’t even sure what I was saying. The words came out of habit.

When I slowly lifted my head, the man was quietly observing my face. He spoke in a flat tone.

“The body has been placed at the Naval Headquarters. You must confirm the identity and apply for the death insurance payment, so you will need to report to the Naval Headquarters at Muisen Port within a week.”

I forced strength into myself and nodded. It was the best I could manage at the moment.

My vision darkened. With a blank expression, I closed the door.

“This can’t be real…”

Finally alone, I slowly sank down onto the floor.

That was my unforgettable first meeting with my husband, Johannes Schultz.

After hearing the news of my father’s death, I had not been in my right mind.

Part of me knew I had to go confirm the body.
Another part knew that if I confirmed it, I would truly have to accept my father’s death.

So I stayed shut inside my house, enduring it as long as I could.

But mercilessly, the one-week deadline the man had mentioned arrived in the blink of an eye.

It was both long and short.

I didn’t even have the energy to check my appearance. I barely gathered my resolve, prepared roughly, and left the house.

The streets were quieter than usual. Normally I might have found that strange, but I didn’t have the presence of mind to notice.

“The Naval Headquarters…”

Following the simple map the man had given me, I walked forward. As I approached the destination, noisy chatter began ringing painfully in my ears.

“How disgraceful. In this day and age…”

“He got what he deserved.”

People muttered things I couldn’t understand.

As I moved forward, I saw a dense crowd gathered at the front of the harbor.

Surely they weren’t all gathered to confirm the identities of the deceased…?

Since the war had been lost, it was natural there would be many casualties.

While looking around, I noticed naval soldiers lined up along the road. Among them, one man stood out, and my gaze stopped on him.

He stared straight ahead with an indifferent expression. Just as I was quietly watching him, he turned his head.

The golden navy badge on his hat flashed brightly in the sunlight.

Squinting slightly, I lowered my gaze—and met his vivid blue eyes.

It was him.

The naval officer who had come to inform me of my father’s death.

Now that I had found the person I was looking for, there was no need to hesitate. I quickly approached him.

“Excuse me, where is the Naval Head—”

Before I could finish speaking—

“Ah…!”

The rushing crowd made me lose my balance. Just as I was about to be swept away—

The man grabbed me and pulled me toward him.

I ended up pressed against him, but with so many people pushing around us, I couldn’t move and simply said,

“Th-thank you.”

“The Naval Headquarters are on the opposite side. But the situation isn’t good right now, so it would be better to move later.”

“…What?”

When I looked up at him blankly, the man turned his gaze toward the harbor.

Following his gaze, my eyes widened.

‘A public execution…?’

Beneath an old guillotine, rusted from long disuse, stood a middle-aged man.

He wore simple yet expensive clothes. His hair was neatly arranged, and the exposed parts of his skin were clean, without a single wound.

Public executions were an unethical punishment that had been abolished long ago, dismissed as relics of a past era.

Then why…?

Too shocked even to feel embarrassed about being held by a stranger, I blinked blankly.

Then the low voice above my head made me even more confused.

“That is Duke Schultz.”

“What? Why would the duke—”

I didn’t even need to hear the man’s explanation. The noisy spectators around us provided it instead.

“A public execution just for embezzlement? Isn’t that too harsh?”

“Ha! Just embezzlement? He stole an amount equal to the entire national budget for a year! And no one even knows where the money went.”

I swallowed involuntarily.

A year’s national budget was an enormous amount.

And it had disappeared.

Duke Schultz was known to have a good reputation not only in Muisen but even in the capital, Baden.

Yet such a man had committed wrongdoing behind the scenes. And since the war had been lost, the royal family probably chose a public execution out of spite.

But…

“There’s no way the duke would do something like that…”

“That’s the official announcement from the royal family. Everyone believes it.”

When I muttered to myself, the man replied dryly.

Meanwhile, the spectators continued talking.

“I just feel sorry for the young duke. They say he achieved many victories in the war, so it seems they won’t touch him. He’s probably returning from the battlefield about now. I wonder if he’s heard about his father yet.”

“Why are we worrying about others? They say the war reparations are huge. If they can’t find the embezzled money, they might force us to pay it all through taxes!”

The noisy arguments continued. Some defended Duke Schultz, while others tore him apart with sharp words.

One thing was clear.

Most of the spectators gathered at the harbor held negative feelings toward the duke.

I looked over the massive crowd blankly.

In front of the guillotine stretched the deep blue sea. The cloudless sky was annoyingly beautiful.

It was far too sentimental and picturesque for a place where someone would lose their life.

Perhaps the intention was to make him regret his crimes even more, knowing he would never see such things again.

Did Duke Schultz really embezzle the money?

If he did, what must he be feeling standing at death’s door?

Regret for being caught?
Bitterness?
Or perhaps remorse?

But contrary to my expectations, there was no emotion in his eyes.

He did not look resentful, nor regretful.

He simply looked as though he had accepted everything.

My fingertips curled, and my face turned pale.

If he had truly committed a crime, he wouldn’t have such eyes. Such an expression.

Instinctively, I realized it.

‘That man is innocent…’

But no one would believe it. Or perhaps he was simply an exceptional actor, pretending to be innocent until the end.

But even if he were innocent—so what?

Even if Duke Schultz was innocent, there was nothing I could do to help him. There were surely complicated political reasons involved.

Still, there was one thing I could do for him right now.

‘Let’s leave.’

I wasn’t heartless enough to watch the death of a possibly innocent man as entertainment.

“I should go now. You said the Naval Headquarters are on the opposite side, right…?”

Just as I awkwardly turned to leave—

The man holding me tightened his grip.

“It’s dangerous to leave right now with the crowd pushing like this.”

“But—”

At that moment, the loud blast of a trumpet cut off my words.

The spectators gradually fell silent.

Soldiers began climbing onto the execution platform one by one. The sound of their perfectly aligned boots filled the harbor.

“Looks like they’re about to carry out the execution.”

Even as someone said that, the man was still holding me firmly.

He spoke calmly.

“You shouldn’t watch.”

When I looked up at him, his large hand covered my eyes.

Then—

Crunch.

A brutal sound echoed across the harbor, followed by gasps of shock everywhere.

The man did not take his eyes off the execution platform until the end.

It was an unexpected public execution.