Chapter 1
Prologue
“I’m going to cut off your head and offer it to the tyrant of Calande.”
Ioreth looked up at her only sister with blank eyes.
What did she just hear?
The place where Ioreth lay was a dark and damp prison.
Standing outside the iron bars was her half-sister, Catherine.
The Queen, who was the first daughter of King Elobis and had ascended to the throne at a young age as the Crown Princess, was beautiful.
She radiated the grace and dignity suited for her position. However, the words flowing from her lovely lips were not nearly as beautiful.
“You know who the King of the Calande Kingdom is, the one who was crowned last month, don’t you? Kailon Winterbark—the man who might have once become your husband. Do you remember him?”
Of course, Ioreth knew.
It would be strange not to know. In the current state of the continent, how many people didn’t know the name of the tyrant of Calande?
Fifteen years ago, the disgrace of the Calande royal family, who had been exiled to a northern fortress, started a rebellion.
The illegitimate son, born to a maid, slaughtered all of his half-brothers and eventually cut off the head of his father, the King.
Not satisfied with taking the throne through such an unholy act, he invaded the neighboring kingdom of Levia and even brought the King of Levia to his knees.
Rumors were rampant that Elobis would be next after Levia.
“He is quite an extraordinary man. How fortunate it is that I didn’t marry you off to him back then!”
Even though the dark clouds of war hung over the country, Catherine’s cheeks flushed red as if she were reminiscing about something. She looked exactly like a young girl in love.
“I needed a peace offering to send to him, and he happened to demand you—one who carries the blood of the Levia royal family.”
“What?”
“So, the Royal Council has concluded that we must inevitably cut off your head.”
Catherine reached her hand through the bars, grabbed Ioreth’s chin, and whispered playfully.
“It is also the King’s duty to reassure the citizens who are trembling in fear. Just as I was wondering how to deal with you, who dared to aim for my throne, the King of Calande pointed you out. Wouldn’t giving him your head be like catching three birds with one stone?”
Ioreth was stunned. She couldn’t believe the words pouring out of the mouth of her once gentle and kind sister.
‘I thought I could leave this place if I cleared my name.’
Two weeks ago, Ioreth had been dragged to the capital on charges of murdering her husband and trying to steal his fortune.
Naturally, it was not something she had done.
But no one listened to Ioreth’s plea.
She was imprisoned without even being able to hold her husband’s funeral.
That wasn’t all. By the time she arrived in the capital, she had become a traitor who not only killed her husband but also conspired to usurp the throne using her husband’s estate as a base.
“Did you not try to start a rebellion by inciting rebels from Levia? Are the letters sent to the capital not proof of that?”
“I know nothing about that! I didn’t write those!”
Ioreth truly had done nothing.
She grew up imprisoned in the tower of the royal castle until she was eighteen, and after that, she was kicked out of the capital under the guise of marriage.
Since then, it had been a series of painful endurances.
She endured when she suffered from the vulgar hands of her elderly husband, when she noticed the eyes of the maid spying on her from nearby, and even when all news from the capital was cut off.
It was because she believed her sister’s promise to call her back to the capital if she survived for five years.
“The people in the Royal Council are spreading rumors that you are after the throne. So, I think you should hide away from the capital for a while. Five years—just hold on for five years. Can you do that for me?”
Where did that day’s kind smile and gentle voice go?
Ioreth looked around frantically.
There was only one witness who could prove her innocence.
“Duke, are you there? Come out!”
As Ioreth screamed, someone emerged from the dark shadows of the prison.
It was Duke Benedix Valere.
He was a childhood friend who grew up with Ioreth and was her former fiancé.
“You know I never plotted treason! You saw all the letters I sent!”
Even though their engagement was broken, Benedix was still her only friend.
He was the one who told her to send a letter whenever things got too hard.
“Quickly, say it, Benedix! The letters I sent you were only—”
“Are these the letters you are talking about?”
Benedix pulled a bundle of letters from his coat.
Ioreth stared blankly at the pieces of paper fluttering past the iron bars.
The pages were filled with her handwriting, containing things she had never written.
[The Castlein estate is small and insignificant, but it is an official Earldom.If I remove my stupid husband and manage the estate myself, I can grow enough power. Then I can return to the capital within a few years.My rebellion starts now, Benedix. Quietly, secretly. But surely.]
Benedix glared at Ioreth with contempt.
“How shameless. Your double-sidedness makes me shudder, Princess Ioreth. Or should I say, Countess Castlein?”
“Ha…!”
“No. Are you just a mere criminal now?”
Tears welled up in Ioreth’s wide eyes.
That despicable man was her childhood friend?
But that was nothing compared to the shock that followed.
Catherine leaned her body against Benedix’s chest as if to show off.
“Oh dear, you shouldn’t make her cry already, Archduke. That role is mine.”
An archduke is the title granted to the King’s consort.
They looked like a perfect pair of lovers in every way.
Benedix kissed Catherine’s hair tenderly.
“Ah, ah…”
Emptiness and anger covered her mind at the same time.
Benedix had become the Queen’s husband.
‘There was no one on my side from the start.’
Since when had this trap been set?
It became increasingly difficult for Ioreth to breathe.
“Was it you, Sister, who killed Earl Castlein and framed me?”
“What a pity. I hoped you were stupid enough not to know that.”
“Then, did you kill my mother too?”
Ioreth’s mother was the King’s second Queen.
After rumors spread that her mother was having an affair with a royal guard, the King’s love was cut off.
And her mother committed suicide not long after.
It was a suspicious death, but no one questioned it.
Afterward, Ioreth was isolated and imprisoned in a remote tower of the castle, and her engagement to Benedix was broken.
A fire ignited in Ioreth’s eyes.
“I’m asking if you are the one who killed my mother!”
“Didn’t you kill your mother? Ioreth.”
“What are you talking about…!”
“If you hadn’t been born, would I have had to kill your mother?”
Catherine used her booted foot to push Ioreth, who was clinging to the bars.
Ioreth, who had lost her strength after starving for days, tumbled onto the prison floor.
“The one I wanted to get rid of from the start was you. But as long as your mother was holding on, I had no way to touch you. Hmph, her acting all high and mighty just because she was Levia royalty was so annoying.”
“Why did you do it?!”
Ioreth screamed from her very soul.
“I wasn’t even interested in the throne. Neither was my mother! But why…!”
“Why should I care?”
Catherine snorted.
“You should have at least carried Earl Castlein’s child, little sister. I told you so many times to sleep with him regularly. If you had, I might have felt satisfied enough to forgive you!”
In the face of the cackling Catherine, there was no longer any trace of a King’s dignity.
“Then again, even for me, it would be hard to sleep with a smelly old man!”
Ioreth trembled with humiliation.
The past five years spent with an old and debauched husband were embedded in her body like shards of glass.
Insults poured down like a rainstorm.
“Being born is your sin. Your very existence gets in my way. Despite having nothing better than me, you are easily loved just because of your bloodline and a pretty face. Without any effort.”
A flash of jealousy crossed Catherine’s sneering face.
“And yet, your self-pity is so extreme… Well, at least your pretty neck will serve as a foundation for Elobis’s peace.”
After triumphantly admiring her sister, who was messy with sweat and dried blood, Catherine turned away.
As if he had been waiting, Benedix took off his uniform jacket and wrapped it around the Queen’s shoulders.
Glancing at Ioreth, Benedix curled his lips up.
“Give the command, Your Majesty.”
Catherine, who had suddenly regained her royal poise, wore an elegant smile.
“Execute the criminal’s sentence as planned. The execution is at noon tomorrow.”
Behead the princess who killed her husband and plotted treason!
An execution platform was placed on the highest hill in the capital. Tens of thousands of people gathered to watch the prisoner whose head would be cut off today.
A very fragile woman stumbled up the steps of the guillotine.
Her long blonde hair was miserably tangled, and her shoulders were as thin as dry branches.
The Princess’s head to the tyrant!
The crowd, terrified of war, screamed for Ioreth’s head to be cut off quickly to appease the tyrant.
Ioreth clutched the ruby necklace in her hand. It was a memento left by her mother.
“Survive, Ioreth. As long as you live in my place, even death will not dare to harm you.”
‘I tried, Mother. But my methods were wrong.’
This was the price for a life spent submitting while throwing away her dignity and pride.
Everything was wrong from the start.
“Execute the sentence!”
The knights forced Ioreth to her knees and pressed down on her back.
The executioner with a dull axe stood near Ioreth.
Catherine would definitely be watching this moment from somewhere. Benedix would be by her side.
Ioreth gritted her teeth, relying on the warmth of the ruby piece.
“If you thought this was the end, you were wrong, Sister.”
Blood pooled on her cracked lips, and her wide eyes were bloodshot.
She would definitely return.
No one knew, but Ioreth had the power to do so.
‘Even if I have to throw my whole body into the fires of hell, I will return and destroy all the glory you have enjoyed!’
The axe swung by the executioner rushed toward Ioreth’s white neck. Ioreth’s eyes, which did not close until the end, burned with rage.
God, receive my soul.
And return me to this terrible place once again!
At that moment, a strange light leaked from the ruby piece. But no one noticed.
The witch is dead! Peace to Elobis!
Soon, the world was submerged in darkness.
