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Chapter 2 - A GRAND DEATH

How stupid of me.

The pitiful girl then used her body language. She asked for her stepsister's hand. Raire hesitated to give her hand to her stepsister.

For a moment, she contemplated. Raire finally decided to let her stepsister "borrow" her hand. She put her hand through the gap of the cell bars.

The pitiful girl contemplated whether she should tell her stepsister an unbelievable secret of hers. She stared at the dirty cobblestone once again.

[Should I tell her?]

[...]

[There is no merit in doing so. However, there's also no loss in doing it.]

[After all, I am going to die soon…]

She shook her head violently to stop herself from thinking too far from the scope.

She concluded.

[I will tell her.]

[After all, I need to tell someone to maintain my sanity.]

[She has a low rate of remembering things.]

The pitiful girl dragged her body towards Raire's hand.

She started to write on her stepsister's hand.

The contents of her written message were:

Raire, even if I never sided with Mirabelle, I will still die. After all, you, the king, the magicians, and the rest would kill me. My fate is to die at the hands of my family and my enemies. I will never regret this choice of mine…

Even the fact that I backstabbed you, after gaining your superficial trust.

Is what she didn't write on her stepsister's hand.

After all, no one would want to add fuel to the fire. Instead, they would pour water to reduce the fire or even shut the fire off.

Processing her stepsister's written words, Raire felt stupid. She looked as if she had eaten a fly.

Is she delusional?

Raire was about to refute her stepsister's statement out of habit. The moment she looked at the pitiful girl's sincere eyes, she stopped in her tracks. She couldn't do anything but accept the unbelievable truth given by her stepsister.

While Raire was stumped and speechless, the pitiful girl felt relieved. She started to feel that the world was boring, dull. She had seen enough of the ugly world in her perspective. From the good to the bad, from the beautiful to the ugly, from the clean to the filthy, from the wealthy to the poor, and from the powerful to the powerless.

She had seen everything.

The light, and the shadow.

To her, they are all the same.

Yet, .....at the same time.... they are all different.

***

Hours had passed by.

The flow of time felt slow, slower than a snail. Soon, the hour of execution had arrived. The pitiful girl was brought into a grand hall with two guards holding her arms side-by-side. In her vision, the pitiful girl saw a guillotine in the middle of the center stage.

What a grand execution.

Mixed feelings swept over the pitiful girl.

Bitter yet happy.

Out of every death she experienced, this one is the grandest one of them all.

In the corner of the stage, two people stood side-by-side. It was none other than Mirabelle and her "puppy". Mirabelle, adorned with elegant jewels, hugged her "puppy's" left arm. She looked at her "puppy" with cute eyes.

"Fred, can we at least let them live?"

Yes, her "puppy's" name is Fred Nelson. He was the pitiful girl's ex-fiance and Mirabelle's loyal puppy. He was also Count Nelson's first son. Fred, who was considering things, was stumped in his deep thoughts.

Cleverly, Mirabelle continued, "I felt that it is a pity to execute them."

Fred finished contemplating and had come to his decision.

"Mirabelle, we can let Raire live as a maid. But...."

"We cannot let "that" live as she had attempted to steal your powers and kill you."

He was very frontal about letting the pitiful girl die. Which is quite expected and unexpected at the same time. Mirabelle wanted the pitiful girl to die. However, she thought that she should suffer longer.

So that she could die as a crazy villainess.

That is the reason why she was half-content and half-pissed looking at the result of her actions.

The pitiful girl arrived at the center of the stage. She looked haggard and her dirty appearance was captured in the shiny sunlight. Her handcuffs were released, and she stood in front of the guillotine observing the intricate details in the guillotine.

What a beautiful guillotine…

***

A guard who stood beside the guillotine asked the pitiful girl with a dark glare.

"Seira de Eaux. Former princess of the Eaux Kingdom. A sinner who attempted murder on the saint, Mirabelle de Cliotte. On the attempt to murder the saint, I hereby declare guilty and will be executed by guillotine."

The whole crowd in the hall heard the guard's clear and loud voice. Everyone started to make assumptions regarding the sinner's attempted murder. Whispers engulfed the wide and grand hall.

A clear and cold sound was heard, "Any last words?"

"..."

The pitiful girl, Seira de Eaux, closed her eyes. She reminisced about her past. From the bad to the good and from the good to the bad. She was once a prestigious princess with an infamous reputation. She helped Mirabelle reclaim her throne and did all her dirty work. Not even Mirabelle's loyal puppy knew Mirabelle's dark side.

Seira opened her eyes.

I'm stupid.

I make stupid decisions.

...

Look where it got me…

...

Do I regret it?

.

.

.

No, I don't.

***

As the guard was about to proceed with Seira's execution, Mirabelle intercepted. She raised her hand. "Wait!"

"Sir, I'd like to speak with her."

Mirabelle walked to the stage and arrived in front of Seira. Seira was curious about what Mirabelle's parting words would be, so she stayed still with no sign of resistance.

Mirabelle whispered to Seira's ear with a playful tone, "Seira, Seira, Seira, do you regret it?"

(Regret? What to regret about?)

"If you want to survive, you shouldn't have taken my hand in the first place."

(What a snake.)

Mirabelle gave Seira her sweet and innocent signature smile.

(So, that's your true nature. It became so easy to read you at a glance.)

"Maybe, if you loved Fred, I would have spared you..."

(What a bullcrap.)

"Or maybe if you are still useful to me, things could be different."

(Let's see, the next thing you are going to say is...)

"I don't want any secrets to be spilled." (I don't want any secrets to be spilled.)

(As I expected.)

Mirabelle cutely formed a gesture of "shh" in front of her mouth. To end the dramatic talk, she acted as a perfect "saint". She folded her hands into one and prayed for the evil sinner.

"I thank you for all your hard work. Seira!"

People in the crowd saw a bright halo behind Mirabelle's head. They immediately put their faith in Mirabelle the saint. Grateful tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.

They cheered happily, "Praise the saintess!"

"Praise the saintess!"

"The kind and benevolent saintess is praying for the sinner!"

"I love you, my saintess."

All sorts of praise were heard amid the crowds.

Mirabelle looked straight into Seira's eyes with a smile.

"I bid you adieu."

In Seira's last moments, she saw the beautiful blue sky and a bird flying in the blue sky. Her beautiful blue sapphire eyes reflected the blue sky. The once pale eyes became energetic again.

One day, I will live under the blue sky.

Happily.

***

Sring—

Tak!

The guillotine's knife fell down and split Seira's neck. The whole audience cheered for the sinner's death and the saintess' glory. No one, not a single person knew the actual hidden truth. Mirabelle wasn't as content as she thought she would. She felt something sharp stabbing her heart.

But, she didn't know what or why.

She pretended to not notice the weird feeling she had and pardoned Raire's crimes. Raire was allowed to live as a slave for the rest of her life.

***

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