The soldiers finally caught Mrs Yorkshire's attention. Upon seeing them, she let go of her husband and went to the soldiers. "Good morning to you sire. Please I need help with my husband, I don't know what's going on with him. He woke up and suddenly started acting strange". She frantically complained without even wondering what the soldiers were doing at her house in the first place. "Don't worry ma'am. We are here just for him" One of the soldiers said and her brows twisted in confusion. "I do not quite understand milord. Here for my husband why?" She asked as she looked back at the entrance to find her husband hiding behind the door acting like one who was being haunted. "You would understand soon ma'am. But your husband has committed a crime and needs to be taken to the scaffold for his punishment" the other soldiers said and Mrs Yorkshire's face held a confused expression. "If I may ask milord, what crime has he committed?". "You're allowed to come to the square to watch ma'am. We do not have time to talk about the things he did. At the square, you'd know" the soldier who talked previously said again as he walked towards Mr Yorkshire and bound him with chains. The man didn't complain or jolt. He allowed them take him away. His calmness surprised his wife because usually, being calm wasn't exactly his nature. She was panicking and didn't know what to do next as she watched the soldiers take him away. With trembling hands, she grabbed her son and decided to follow them to the square. She knew her husband played some people dirty in his business and she knew he acted strange towards her sometimes but she never knew he could ever commit a crime so serious that would lead him to being punished at the scaffold. But deep down, she knew that whatever the crime the executioner was going to say he committed, it was true because her husband wasn't exactly the best man.
She inwardly pitied herself and her son as they got closer to the square. If his punishment was death, she'd be without a husband and her son without a father. His business would crumble and everything in their life would change. Regret started overshadowing her as she thought about her life. She wouldn't have gotten married to this man on her own will, her marriage to him was an arranged marriage organized by her parents.
When they got to the square, she noticed two other men who was being dragged up the scaffold also. She took a closer look and realized it was the friends of her husband and one of them acted like he had gone mad, shouting and crying and saying repeatedly "It's evil, it's evil all around". "What is really going on?" She asked herself inwardly as she joined the crowd to watch whatever was going to happen. Her husband who was dressed in his expensive night wear was stripped and left in his undergarments, the same was done to the other men.
After some minutes of waiting, the king arrived and as usual, the people had their eyes on him. Without wasting much time, the executioner mounted the scaffold and there was dead silence in the square as the onlookers quieted down to listen to the executioner.
Following the usual process, the executioner acknowledged the presence of the king before he shifted his focus to the three men. After announcing that they were allies of the late Irvington, he also announced the little little crimes these men committed in closed doors. How they swindled and defrauded people. With the executioner's words, gasps were heard from the crowd. "Get to the good part!" An old wretchedly looking man shouted as he referred to them being punished. Sebastian lazily took his eyes off the executioner and glanced at the man. He scoffed after hearing the man's words. "People forget that when it gets to their turn they won't be so vocal anymore". Sebastian said to himself. "Aldes, that man is right. Get to the good part" Sebastian said to the executioner with a smile, not because he was getting impatient just like the old man but he remembered he had some things to handle that required his time. Aldes pressed his lips together before bowing slightly at the king.
Aldes gestured the soldiers to bring the men who were chained at a corner to come closer to him and be more visible to everyone. "Out of the mercy of the king and also the decision of Father Roberts, these men would not be killed immediately but they would be hanged. But not in the usual way, the offenders would be hanged upside down and would be given the opportunity to be set free by any one after the king has left the square. So if you're that kind hearted enough to feel pity for these offenders, you can set them free" Aldes said and the people exchanged glances among themselves as this had never been done before. The king was really going to allow any one of them free the men after they've being hanged? The king was really being merciful.
The executioner and two other soldiers took the men one by one and tied their legs, the rope which was used to tie their legs was tied to a tall wooden structure, putting them in an upside down position. Making the blood in their body flow to their head. If the men stayed in that position for long, they'd eventually die but if someone frees them before it's too late, they'd live.
The men had their mouth gagged and also their hands tied behind their back as they dangled from the wooden structure like swines ready for butcher.