Mona heard the surroundings gradually becoming louder. Familiar words and shouts of the crowds entered her ear. She slowly opened her eyes and she was right, she was back to the place where she deemed was just her nightmare. The central plaza where rebellious shouts and scornful faces of the people greeted her.
Mona felt the coldness from a metal-like object on her neck was in fact coming from a sword, stopping the blade of the guillotine from snapping her head off. It was held by the nobleman she spotted in the crowd earlier.
"What is happening?"
"Why is the Grand Duke stopping the execution?"
Murmurs from the people surfaced and reached them. The nobles sitting in their designated positions, whom Mona only noticed by then, were filled with confusion. Some were even seen standing out of shock and some even gasped loudly. But the man holding the sword did not even pay them any mind.
"Pull out." A deep voice reached her from above.
Mona looked up and saw the Grand Duke looking down at her. He then shifted his gaze to the blade and slowly lifted it. She immediately pulled out her head and sat up straight.
When the blade was let go of, a heavy clanking sound was created which made Mona quiver. She can't grasp the thought of what it would have felt had she been beheaded.
"Grand Duke! What do you think you're doing?!", a man on the noble's side stood up. He looked furious as if an audience who got frustrated from a sudden cliffhanger.
"The king has given me an order to stop this execution."
With the answer of the Grand Duke, the nobles and even the commoners were shocked.
"Why would the king give such an order?"
"The king did what?! Can't believe it!"
"This got to be on the headlines tomorrow!"
But somehow, Mona was annoyed.
'If it's like that, why only come now?!' she thought and glared at the Grand Duke standing tall and calm amidst pandemonium.
She almost died! Yet the man did not even spare her another glance.
"I have no idea about the king's intention. I only received the news that envoys from the Holy Nation have come and asked His Majesty to postpone this. Something about a prophecy or such."
The word 'prophecy' made the people go silent. Even Mona was confused.
'A prophecy? So, such a thing exists here...', she wondered what kind of world had she been reincarnated to, or what kind of person her current body belonged to.
She recalled all the things she had seen. She remembered her mother and older sister. How they cried pitifully at her death. How she could not even say her last words or goodbyes to them. How everything was so sudden. She felt pain and heaviness in her heart. And before she knew it, she was crying.
The sorrowful sobs of a person considered an evil witch add silence to the crowd. Perhaps they were all bewildered how such a being is capable of crying so sadly.
The knights who guarded the famous criminal were astonished at the scene they witnessed. Through all the days they guard the dungeon, they never saw the lady shed even a single tear. Some noblemen wearing uniform clothing that seemed to belong to court officials were even greatly flabbergasted. Some audience snicker at the sight, thinking the woman has no right to cry like that.
But Mona did not care nor look up to them. She bowed even more lowly and clenched her fist. To those who witness her, she may be crying to plead for forgiveness and atone for her sins. But for her, those cries are cries of regret and longing. Regret for wasting away her life unable to help them even in the end.
'We're already poor. Now how would they even hold a funeral for me? I don't even have insurance!', she cried louder.
The Grand Duke, who snatched a knight's cape with his sword, walked up to Mona and threw the piece of cloth.
Mona thought it became darker so she tried to open her tear-filled eyes, but only got yanked after. Before she knew it, she was hanging upside down from someone's shoulder.
Then she heard that 'someone' speak, "I was told to bring this lady. If you have complaints, send them to the palace."
Before the crowd could even protest. The Grand Duke already disappeared. The movement was so quick that Mona even failed to catch up.
'Is this man a ninja?! Or an assassin...out to kill me privately...?'
Her thoughts were cut off when she was tossed inside a carriage.
"Ouch!", she cried. Her hips landed harshly on the carriage's floor. "So rude!"
But the man just went inside and sat elegantly. He even kicked the cape that sprawled on the floor to her side. Looking disgusted.
'Was the reason he threw me that cloth not to hide me but because he's reluctant to even touch me?', Mona thought looking at the face of her captor. And by the obvious smug on his face, she already knew the answer.
"Wow!", she exclaimed. It sounds so sarcastic. To think she almost considered this man so gentlemanly! How foolish of her!
"Shut up."
Look at him! Not even the slightest shame on his stony face.
"If I don't want to?! I wanted to talk!", she answered fiercely, as if pushing the man into annoyance.
The Grand Duke glared at her. "Talk as much as you want only after you've cleaned. Just so you know, you stink."
Mona's mouth went wide open. No other words were said after but it felt like the words 'you stink' echoed many times inside the carriage. She pinched the bridge of her nose, an act of her holding back herself from slapping someone.
She breathed in and slowly lifted the cape enveloping her body. She sniffed herself and it was true, she really does stink. It is a fact that she can't even argue.
Of course, why would she not smell? She was inside that dungeon for how many days? Without bathing! Only then did Mona realize that her stomach felt empty. She glanced at the Grand Duke whose eyes were already closed.
Hesitating, Mona asked, "Uhm. Do you have food with you?"
A long time had passed before she got a reply.
"None. You can't eat smelling like that anyway, so endure it for a bit longer."
'Can't this man answer without pointing my odor?!'
In the end, Mona just folded her arms and leaned her head on the carriage's window.
'How long could it be?'
Meanwhile, in the palace of the empire, two carriages adorned with white and gold plates carried by four white horses lined up at the entrance of the receiving hall of the main place.
Two men in loose white clothing overly draped around their shoulders emerged from the first carriage. On the second, another man with similar clothing only mixed with some blue on the linings stepped down, followed by a beautiful lady wearing similar to them, but decorated with gold instead.
The servants and ministers of the palace had come rushing to greet the visitors. One may think that these people held an equal footing with their king in the way they were being greeted. But it was not an exaggeration to think of that. Because the ones who came are the highest individuals of the Holy Nation.
The Holy Nation is a separate country not covered by any continent and is considered an independent and self-sufficient empire. Their land was surrounded by the seas and the only means of transport from other countries were through water.
They do not participate in trades or wars. But they give support to those who are in need. It was called a nation because it was the smallest empire only consisting of citizens of their own kin, those possessing divine power.
They have no king or emperor. What they have are the highest priests on which the hierarchy falls from one to seven, and their sole existence is akin to a goddess, a Saintess. The highest priests are the ones who rule the nation. They are one body and the brain, while the Saintess is their heart. The symbol of their kingdom, and the hope of their people.
And just then, two priests-in-training, one highest priest, and the Saintess have graced their empire. These beings deemed to be the closest to the heavens because of the power they possess have visited the Semaria Empire.
Although the Semaria Empire is the second largest country in the Western continent and is rich and abundant. They viewed the ones having divine energy as holy, so they showed them respect as a means to ask for blessings from the heavens.
"We greet the holy priests and the Great Saintess of the holy land."
The servants bowed with the ministers. The only person who did not is the man standing in front wearing expensive clothing adorned with stars on his shoulders and a red and gold sash on his torso.
The man, whose hair is as golden as the sun and eyes as blue as the sky, with a face filled with beauty, and elegance that carries an innate magnificence befitting of a true royal, smiled gently to his guests.
"Welcome to Semaria, dear friends."
The guests slightly bowed their heads.
"We greet the light of Semarian Empire, Your Majesty Renvillon Ignis Semaria."