From across the room, Kathrine could well place names to the faces seated around her in a half-moon shape. A great majority of them served as her late father's retainers, trusted allies, and trading partners. These men were the faces she had memorized to be polite during castle events, and their children, she had grown up with.
Yet, here they were, feasting their greedy orbs at Kathrine, like she were lamb brought to a slaughterhouse, and they were all too eager to have their share of her.
The stares on Kathrine made her nauseous, she could hear chattering and side comments from the spectators invited to act as witnesses, sitting all across what used to be the throne room. Her eyes instinctively searched for Dominic, only to find him seated next to the newly appointed general, General Schmidt.
The tension nearly swallowed her whole, thankfully, all the important faces were on seats and thus began the commencement of her trial.
"Order!" A ginger-haired woman in a white jumpsuit announced, drawing the attention of the spectators. The room fell silent, as the trial kicked off on a civil note.
"We shall now proceed with the public Trial of the convict, Kathrine Von Ashbourne, charged with the crimes of Treason, Sedition, and Contempt of the Crown. Her penalty is death by Gas Chamber." The woman read from the holographic text generated from her smart lenses.
A shiver ran down Katherine's spine when she recalled the method of her death. To be locked in a poisonous room filled with gas, broadcasted across the kingdom, for entertainment for the citizens who had turned their backs on the royal family.
"But, due to recent demand, this penalty has been revisited, in consideration of the convict's nine years of prison service. And as a result, an alternative penalty has been suggested."
Alternative? The spectators shared the same reaction as Kathrine, pure stun. It was very unlike the rigid Emperor to change his mind. It made her wonder if Fletcher had been influenced into changing her verdict.
Prince Dominic's words all of a sudden resounded in her head, 'To heaven or hell. Depending on what you say, you could either die now or die later.'
The woman looked over her shoulder at the Emperor seeking consent to give the new verdict. Leisurely, Fletcher waved his hand, giving her the go-ahead to announce the new decision.
Puffing her chest, she made the announcement "Pod testing and subconscious transmigration."
At the given verdict, the reaction of the room was mixed.
—"Is this a joke? She's getting a pod?"
—"It's already a royal honor to be one of the fortunate few chosen to test this tech."
—"In what way is this an alternative?"
Kathrine shared the same sentiments with the rest, she had heard of the perfection of the pods her late older brother Levi had begun developing.
In general, the pods were designed specifically to preserve a living human body, all while isolating said person's subconsciousness from their body and migrating it into simulations.
Currently, it had just been perfected and tested in a variety of programs, such as dating sims, 6D movie viewing which allows the viewers to feel physically present in the selected movie, and so much more. For a prisoner set to be executed through a Gas Chamber, having this sort of alternative was a major upgrade.
There had to be a catch.
And the King rightly cleared up the misunderstanding. Fletcher banged his fist against his throne, and in a loud, authoritative voice he announced.
"Do not be disheartened my subjects. This sentence is just as befitting a sentence as the Gas Chamber. If not worse." His fingers combed the white hairs sticking out from his chin.
'Worse?' As far as Kathrine knew, there hadn't been any report of a person getting hurt while using the pods.
Fletcher went on to explain. "I'm sure you're all aware, that the invention of pods has paved the way for a plethora of scientific breakthroughs for our beloved country of Nirvana."
Kathrine inwardly hissed, nine years ago, this country used to be the proud kingdom of Ashbourne, but Fletcher saw no need to save even its name, giving the kingdom no leeway to retain its former glory.
The Emperor lectured, "For the past three years, the pods have carried the task of preserving and isolating a human's body and subconsciousness with no record of any casualties. But now, with the aid of our scientists, a lowly criminal can die from using the pods."
The nobles in attendance gasped and made side comments, everyone's interest was stolen from Kathrine and projected to the possibility of a person dying from the pod.
Katherine's heart stopped beating when Fletcher got off his throne and marched over to her, with each footstep he took, the memories of the blood coup he led flashed before her eyes. The hatred she felt welled up in her heart, fuelling her anger.
The Emperor stopped when he stood in front of her, he caged her chin tightly and announced, "By transporting these criminals into survival programs, we need not carry out the barbaric act of murder ourselves."
Kathrine gritted her teeth and shook off his touch, the Emperor clicked his tongue and dug his fingers into her cheeks, forcefully keeping her head in place.
Facing the crowd he eccentrically announced, "This is a trial so, I of course have to be fair to the prisoner who played the role of my obedient little bitch." Fletcher told them, capturing the interest of everyone.
The Emperor was not one to be this generous, hence they wanted to hear the outcome of his decision.
Fletcher retracted his grip on her face and declared, "If the prisoner can complete the main task of the program her subconscious will be transported to…alive." He added, hitting on the newfound fact that Kathrine was now playing…gambling on her own life.
"If she can manage that, then I give my word, that all of her crimes and charges will be pardoned by me!" The announcement sent the room into chaos over the possibility of a summon.
But Kathrine had a different interpretation of this. 'My crimes will be pardoned? Then that means that I have a chance to rescue Theo from the royals.' she couldn't help but think, rubbing her thumb against where the spatial ring on her hand should've been.
After the declaration was made, an anonymous vote was called for, and when the results were announced, the majority were more intrigued with seeing how a person could die from using the pods, rather than ass-lick the Emperor.
Hence, as a result, Kathrine was taken to a room where the perfected pods were kept and made to lie down in one. It was her first time in such a highly advanced pod, and she had no idea what sort of life was waiting for her.
What sort of program would she be placed into? Considering that this was a punishment, it had to be violent and gruesome.
But what had changed the Emperor's mind so quickly?
What about the ring? She had lost it without giving it back to its rightful owner, to the man whom she had never met once, yet owed so much to.
As the pod began to boot, these thoughts consumed Kathrine, drawing her focus away from the startup screen performing a countdown from a hundred.
Katherine braced herself once there were only fifteen seconds left before she would pass out and wake up in another setting. She didn't know whether to feel scared or excited over this recent development.
But, just when there were ten seconds left in the countdown, the sound of a door busted open, and violent footsteps from outside stole her attention.
"What's going on?" Kathrine called out when she heard low grunts and what sounded to be a struggle. She tricked herself into believing she could ignore the outside commotion, but when a gunshot was fired, Kathrine froze up.
Frantically, she kicked and punched the covering over her body, but the pod had counted down to one and in the blink of an eye, she fell miserably unconscious.
"Haa! Ngh! Aaah!"
The sound of wild groans sounded in Katherine's ears, followed swiftly by the creaking sound of the bed underneath her.
Kathrine scrunched her brows, where was she? And why was she sweating? No, she wasn't the one doing the sweating, it was the other person in the room.
At the prospect that there was someone else around, Kathrine sharply jolted her eyes open, and found herself staring at a naked man towering over her flaccid body!