Finishing (3)

Inside the Imperial dungeon, a broken man gazed at the faint rays of light driving the darkness away.

In this dark and solitary cell, the man lost his sense of time.

But he could still faintly remember when a cloaked man came to his cell and offered to help him.

— Ciel Midford, your confession will not prove Prince Inas' innocence. The Ernes Empire will not even give you such an opportunity.

The broken man couldn't even muster a response to the stranger's words, as he was engulfed in despair.

—Therefore, unless you want Inas Del Prussian Roverium to join you in the underworld, you will need to commit perjury. Also plead for Alfred's intervention, so that they can examine your corpse.

The cloaked stranger stayed with him for 5 minutes before disappearing like a mirage.

But thanks to his words, the broken man found a way to escape his despair.

The cloaked man's words were plausible because the Ernes Empire would never let Prince Inas go.

If Prince Inas survived, then the Elmark Empire would gain a powerful pawn, but if he perished... Then the Roverium Kingdom would remain under the control of the Ernes Empire.

So the broken man would need to mix his truths with lies in order to achieve his goal.

Thus, Ciel Midford pleaded for Alfred's intervention against the influence of Brutein.

This was the only move the treacherous knight had.

With this, the broken man thought he would at least have paid his debt to the kingdom that took him as their own.

And now...

As he saw the Imperial Knights lined up outside of his cell, the broken man, no, Ciel Midford realized something.

'Ah...'

His end was near.

– Creak!

The doors of his cell were open, as he was dragged somewhere by the Imperial Knights.

– Squeak...!

The moment he left the Imperial Dungeon, he was nearly blinded by the brightness of the sun.

When Ciel Midford managed to open his eyes clearly again, he was standing in front of the nearest place to the underworld as one could be...

The execution grounds.

A place that reeked of death and despair.

"Move scum. There will be plenty of time for you to think when you travel to the underworld."

"..."

As the Imperial Knights dragged Ciel Midford to his final place, he watched as numerous people entered the execution grounds one by one.

The Emperor of Ernes.

The King of Roverium.

The Elder of the Alfred Family.

The Head of Brutein.

Ferzen Von Schweig Brutein.

And...

Euphemia El Lauren Louerg.

And he gazed towards her, Ciel Midford lay down on his resting place — A black coffin made of steel.

Then the Imperial Knights restrained his body.

At the same time, the executioner slowly walked toward Ciel and looked for a vein.

Because his whole body was burned and hastily reconstructed with mana, the executioner had a little difficulty finding a vein, but as soon as he found a suitable one, he gazed toward the Emperor of Ernes and opened his mouth.

"The execution of Ciel Midford, who tried to assassinate the Lord of Louerg... Begins now."

At this moment a man would lose his life, but no one would ever grieve him.

No, there was someone who would miss him.

The winds carried a faint cry...

Although the sound disappeared as quickly as it came, Ciel Midford knew the owner of the sound.

So even if his chains dug into his skin, he turned his neck and looked at her, at Euphemia El Lauren Louerg.

'Was I too greedy...?'

No...

n𝓸𝗏𝑬)𝓵𝒷-In 

'Was it so wrong for me to follow my dream...?'

There is no greater teacher in life than failure.

If that's true...

Why this teacher, even in the last moments of one his students...

Won't teach them happiness, but only failure and despair?

It didn't take long for the executioner to inject the poison into his vein.

At first, he didn't feel anything, but as the poison spread throughout his body, Ciel Midford had a seizure, and everything he could feel was pain.

"Cough—-!"

Black filthy blood flowed out of his mouth.

But even through all, Ciel Midford never once looked away from Euphemia.

And as she looked at him Euphemia covered her mouth with both of her hands.

'My Lady...'

Before meeting you, my life was always smeared with misfortune...

But the time we spent together was the single most beautiful winter of my life.

'Maybe...'

That was why.

The path we walked, the friendship and bond we cultivated...

Was akin to footsteps engraved on the snow.

But as the spring and summer come...

Slowly but surely, our traces will disappear like melting snow.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump...

His heartbeat was getting slower.

Ciel Midford knew that his death was near.

'My Lady...'

"..."

One day...

After the uncountable cycles of rebirth happen, if we meet again...

We could plant those seeds you always wanted to, in the spring.

We would watch them bud in the summer.

We would be there when they bloomed in the autumn.

We would be there for the inevitable winter, as the seeds we once planted would remain strong.

You and I would remain together through all....

I would have loved that...

Would you as well?

Ciel Midford closed his eyes.

Yes, the Protagonist of this novel, no, of this world — Died.

On this beautiful sunny day, the warm rays of sunlight graced the execution grounds with their warmth

* * * * *

"The Execution of the treacherous Knight, Ciel Midford, is complete this May 23rd at 11:45 A.M."

The executioner's words rang indifferently.

Euphemia looked away.

There were no more tears left.

In truth, she wanted to cry, but she also knew this was not the place to do so.

But no matter how much she wanted to cry...

When Ciel Midford brought the Alfreds in, under the gaze of perjury, he confessed the relationship he had with Ferzen and the motives that led to his murder attempt.

Because of this, everyone present knew the reason why she – Ferzen's wife, was here.

But Euphemia tried to ignore their looks.

The weight of Brutein...

Made them cover their eyes and ears.

"Now... We shall proceed with the examination of Ciel Midford's corpse."

A Warlock from the Imperial Family.

A Warlock from the Roverium Kingdom.

A Warlock from the Alfred Family.

And...Ferzen Von Schweig Louerg, walked out.

In turn, each Warlock ministered to Ciel Midford's corpse, verifying the received feedback based on his testimony...

"It's perjury."

"Perjury."

"It was Perjury."

The three of them gave the same verdict.

Finally, Ferzen mustered his mana and controlled Ciel's corpse.

Of course, since his testimony was perjury, he also received no feedback.

But Ferzen didn't stop there as he also slowly moved his hand to touch Ciel's forehead.

'If he had intended to testify like this from the start...'

He would have acted towards this goal since our first confrontation.

If that was not the case why did he change his mind?

He could have reached a conclusion while he was locked up.

If one had enough understanding of the current political scenario, it wouldn't be hard to realize that the Ernes Empire would want to kill Prince Inas, rather than handing him to the Elmark Empire.

But Ferzen felt a strange sense of dread.

'I still don't know how one can enter the state of stasis, but...'

If it was by the means of a specific drug.

A man who had received the blessing of the God of Protection.

And that in just a few months had achieved the rate of an Auror Knight...

Isn't this the perfect tool to stab the heart of the Villain Who Robbed The Heroine?

Tuk.

So, as Ferzen's hand touched Ciel's forehead.

With his talent, Ferzen can read the core memories of a corpse.

'...'

But his talent didn't activate.

Because he was not dead.

With this Ferzen was convinced.

Ciel Midford...Was still alive.

"Lord Louerg."

The Emperor of Ernes called for Ferzen, as he had been silent for a long time.

Only then Ferzen came to his senses and opened his mouth.

"The verdict...It's Perjury."

Be it his testimony.

And...

His death.