Prologue

In a dungeon where even the sunlight barely reached, the stench from the mould-covered walls stung my nose, and the stone walls pierced my body with bone-chilling cold. 

My shackled ankles were so numb that I could barely feel them. 

And more than anything else, I was tormented by excruciating thirst and hunger. 

*CREAK* 

At that moment, I heard the sound of a door opening from beyond the corridor. 

I reflexively hunched my shoulders, but it was probably more out of fear than courage. 

'Damn it, what other nonsense are they going to do now?' 

The sound of footsteps echoed through the iron bars, getting closer and closer. 

I involuntarily swallowed my dry saliva, but the person who finally arrived at the cell where I was imprisoned was not a guard, contrary to my expectations. 

The basket that the person carefully set down contained bread. 

My hand reached out faster than I could comprehend the situation. 

The bread, rough and plain, wasn't something I'd ever touched before. But hunger gnawed at me, and I shoved it in my mouth without a thought. 

"Cough, cough" 

I devoured the bread, forgetting all manners. My throat burned, and just as I choked, a water bottle appeared through the bars. I grabbed it and gulped down the water, finally looking at the woman who offered it. 

Her face seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. Who was she? I wracked my brain, but her face remained a mystery. 

"Th-thanks. Who are you?" 

She hesitated, then spoke softly. 

"...I used to work at your manor, Marquis." 

"Ah, I see. Maybe when I get out, I can return the favour." 

Her cheeks flushed. Her eyes held pity, something I wouldn't have tolerated before. But now, I couldn't meet her gaze. I just focused on finishing the bread and water. 

Suddenly, the door creaked open again. The woman, startled, bowed quickly and left. 

"Wait!" 

But my words were lost. Instead, a guard I knew all too well entered, a nasty grin on his face. 

"Did you enjoy your last meal, My Lordship the Marquis?" 

*** 

The air reeked of blood, thick and heavy. 

A rotten egg exploded on my chest, the yolk and white spreading like goo. The stench, mixed with the hatred burning in the eyes of the city's crowd, made me gag. 

Lumiere, once the proud capital of Francia, now displayed only the flags of the 'revolutionaries.' Liberty, Equality, Fraternity —meaningless words on ragged banners waved by a crazed mob, a chilling contrast to the daily sound of the guillotine. 

*WHAM!* 

Suddenly, the world went white as my body shook. Pain bloomed on my forehead. A rock lay at my feet. I had been hit. 

How I got here, I can't remember. But when I came to, I found myself facing a makeshift court, hastily erected in the city square. My accuser, a fiery young man with a ragged scarf around his neck, pointed a finger at me. 

"...I, Maximillian L'Eguidor, representing the people, demand the death penalty for Pierre de Lafayette! He stands accused of hoarding wealth while the people starved, of collaborating with the old regime, of being an enemy of the revolution!" 

The crowd, now in a frenzy, roared their agreement. 

"Kill him!" 

"Death!" 

"Down with the corrupt nobility!" 

My gaze involuntarily fell on the guillotine standing right next to the courtroom. 

What's the point of this sham trial? 

"Defendant, Pierre de Lafayette." 

I raised my head at the call, and the judge looked down at me with an arrogant face. 

"I will give you a chance to defend yourself." 

He said it in a way that implied that nothing I said would make a difference, but that he would give me a chance out of courtesy. 

It was all meaningless. 

It was all meaningless, but I felt a surge of anger. 

The royalty had fought a civil war to claim the throne, shedding the blood of countless lives, and the nobles had squeezed the blood out of the commoners to prolong the civil war for years. 

I can understand that the revolution broke out because of this and that it led to the current situation. 

However, the trials they are conducting are neither fair nor just. 

They are killing innocent nobles, who were even loved by their subjects, by slapping numerous false charges against them. 

Even I haven't done anything that deserves to be treated like this and die a dog's death! 

"I did my best to protect my people as Marquis de Lafayette, and I served my country loyally as a general of the kingdom. The way you're treating me—" 

"Ha. Protecting your people." 

The rude words of the prosecutor Eguidor, who cut off my words unpleasantly, made my expression frown. 

"The Marquis personally led his troops to loot cities during the Civil War, and there is evidence. Three times, no less." 

...That was true. 

It was something I did on the orders of the previous Marquis, my father. 

"That was just a military action against the territory of the 2nd Prince's faction during the civil war—" 

"Oh, so you're saying that it's okay to attack your own people during a civil war? Tell me, Marquis. Did the people of that territory directly support the 2nd Prince and take up arms for him?" 

The taxes of those people became military funds, and they became the lord's army and fought against us. 

So attacking the enemy's territory was both a military action against the enemy and a way to procure the military funds that the previous Marquis demanded. 

I didn't like it, but it was necessary during the civil war. 

At least it was better than imposing additional taxes on the people of the Marquisate, who were already impoverished by the civil war, and adding to their burden. 

...That's what I thought. 

I clenched my teeth. 

"...At least I refrained from imposing additional taxes on the territory during the civil war and did everything I could to protect them! Your claim that I did nothing but slaughter and exploit the commoners is nothing more than a one-sided lie to deny the nobility." 

At least I was different from my father, the previous Marquis. 

As much as I despised the nobles who were obsessed with squeezing the people out to make a name for themselves in the civil war, I tried to be a different kind of lord. 

That was my pride, and I wouldn't allow them to tarnish it with such a humiliating accusation, even if it meant dying. 

I couldn't bear the thought of having all my efforts denied and being remembered as just another 'corrupt and decadent aristocrat' who was rightfully executed by the revolutionaries. 

"Oh, is that so? Then let me ask you, Marquis. Is there anyone among your people who has been protected by you, who is grateful for your 'generous' rule, and who will come forward to defend you?" 

At Eguidor's words, the crowd erupted in laughter and jeers. 

As if they had no intention of conducting a proper trial in the first place! 

I was about to yell at him in anger, but I froze at Eguidor's next words. 

"If so, please tell me their names. Perhaps one of them is here and can miraculously come forward and defend you." 

...I don't know. 

I don't know the names of my people. 

Eguidor smiled at me. 

"Of course, you can't say anything, Your Grace. Do you know any names of the people you so proudly protected and cared for?" 

Only now did I realize that I didn't even know the name of the woman who brought me bread and water, who said she worked in the Marquis' mansion. 

"Aren't you nobles the ones who are required to memorize a whole list of names and titles of nobles you might never even meet in your whole lives? 

If you didn't think of them as worthless to even know their names, then surely there must have been some among those you cherished so much whose names you knew. Marquis, do you get it now? That is why noble scum like you are called blue blood." 

I'm not like my father. 

I was going to be different from the other nobles. 

I despised them. 

I've been struggling to be different from them! 

But my faith and all my efforts were washed away to nothing by the laughter and jeers of the crowd. 

"Look at this hypocritical aristocrat! Isn't it clear that even those who claim to be uncorrupt think of us not as equals, but as cattle?" 

Eguidor seemed to smile triumphantly, along with the jeers of the crowd. 

No, no. 

Am I no different from the other nobles? 

No, it's simply impossible. 

Eguidor's voice shouting something at the courtroom rang hollow, and the same verdict that had been passed down to hundreds, thousands in this city was declared. 

"...In the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity. This court of the Republic sentences the defendant Pierre de Lafayette to death." 

As I was dragged away by the rough hands, I realized that I was crying. 

The bloody smell of the guillotine, where I would be hanged, felt thick in the air. 

All I could see was the jeers, hatred, and mockery of the crowd looking at me. 

I don't want to die. 

At least I don't want to die like this. 

If only I had another chance. 

The chilling sound of the guillotine blade falling pierced my ears, and a horrible sensation overwhelmed me. 

"Ahhhh!" 

I woke up with a shiver. 

"Huh?"

***

Show some support for my newly translated novel by donating some stones, everyone!!