"Just die quietly," he spat with disgust.
At that moment, I think I felt sadness.
But now, an intense anger burns within me.
Ah, how foolish.
—
Grabbing the arm that peeked from the ragged prison clothes with all his strength, the executioner, a man with a muscular build, dragged her toward the guillotine.
The sharpened blade reflected the sunlight, piercing her purple eyes sharply.
Gloria was about to be executed.
For the crime of harming Melody von Salisbury, the daughter of Baron Salisbury, who was the true love of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Edward.
As the Crown Prince's fiancée, Gloria certainly did not have good feelings toward Melody.
It was absurd for a mere baron's daughter to aspire to the position of the first wife, bypassing the noble Gloria of the Caldwell family.
Even if that daughter was recognized by the Church as the Saintess with unique healing powers, it was unforgivable for the blood of a lower noble to mix with the royal family.
However, she thought that if a man who couldn't bear the weight of the country on his own became king, a woman would be needed to heal him.
If he wished, she would become the first wife, bear his heir, and take over the politics. Melody, after being rendered unable to bear children, could serve as his mistress and take care of him.
As a Saintess, she should be able to heal a man with ease.
How kind of me to spare her life. Gloria thought so.
It was only when her engagement was unilaterally broken at the graduation party, when she was condemned for abusing the Saintess, and when the crime of her father's embezzlement was pinned on her, that she realized how naive her thinking had been.
The humiliation came rushing back, and Gloria bit her lip.
Even as her head was forcibly pressed into the guillotine's notch, the depths of her purple eyes were filled with hatred.
Standing in a position where the guillotine was clearly visible, the man who had once been her fiancé pointed a finger at her and read out the fabricated charges.
He scorned her for allegedly slashing Melody's face out of jealousy, and Gloria trembled with anger.
She hadn't done such a thing.
All she had done was throw a glass at Melody's face in warning when the baron's daughter had danced with the prince without her permission.
And the fragile, thin glass had only cut her face.
Such things were common in high society. To inflate them and claim she had slashed her was absurd.
But even if she had truly done that, what was wrong with it?
It was common for a noble of the baron's rank to be punished for offending a higher family like the duke's. And anyway, Melody would heal the injury with her supposed healing powers.
Indeed, there wasn't a single trace of the glass cuts on Melody's face as Gloria looked down at her.
A man stepped forward to shield the Saintess from Gloria's sharp gaze.
Her half-brother, Alan. The shame of the Caldwell family, born from her father's affair with a commoner woman.
Had he not been taken in by their family, he would have likely turned to crime due to his lack of money. Yet, here he stood, looking down on Gloria with the face of someone nobler than her.
How foolish of him to claim he had been mistreated by Gloria in their childhood, along with his mother.
A commoner should never have expected the same treatment as Gloria's mother, who had been a foreign princess.
Even the food, the room, and the servants—these were more than enough for him. What could he possibly be dissatisfied with?
The crowd of commoners, gathered to watch the execution, was growing excited as they watched the condemned woman, the Crown Prince's fiancée.
The fools were elated to witness the execution of a villain who had embezzled tax money from the people, living in luxury.
I will never forgive them.
I won't forgive the man who blamed his daughter for the embezzlement and still clung to the title of head of the Duke's family.
I won't forgive the commoners who treated the execution of a high noble as entertainment without even knowing the truth.
I won't forgive the maid who was the only one who could have testified to my innocence, yet lied and sided with them, looking down on me.
A commoner maid who should never have even touched a hair on my head. I had taken her in, given her special care, and made her my personal maid.
I will never forgive them.
I won't forgive the woman who trembled like a victim, despite stealing my future as the Crown Prince's fiancée and Queen.
I won't forgive the man who threw me onto the execution platform, just like discarding a broken doll, even though he was still my fiancé.
I will never forgive them.
And by his side, with a face of justice, standing there without stopping the prince's infidelity or aiding in the false charges, the prince's aide candidate, Cedric.
I will never forgive the man who, pretending to be a knight, pressed me down so hard that my body bruised, another aide candidate, Brian.
I will forgive nothing. I will never forgive.
If you wish to make me the villain so badly, very well. I will become the vengeful spirit haunting this land and lead this country to death and ruin.
Even if my body decays, no matter how long it takes.
...
...
...
The head of the condemned criminal, tied to the guillotine, was bleeding.
Flies, attracted by the scent of blood, began to swarm, eager to lay their eggs.
The head, lying on the ground, stared up at the sky, its golden hair dyed dark with blood.
Yet those purple eyes still shone.
Even as it was exposed to the wind and rain, becoming a desiccated head, it remained dazzling, shining brilliantly.