Chapter 218: Live to Sienna Pt.218
At Carl’s words, Arya shrugged her shoulders with no sign of fear at all.
“It doesn’t suit me to die of old age as a waste in the corner of the imperial palace. I wanted to gamble on everything. If I win that gamble, I’ll have the world, so I have nothing to lose.”
Carl laughed at her words.
“So how do you feel now? You lost everything in gambling.”
But Arya smiled an unexpected smile. Carl, irritated by her smile, looked at her and said again.
“Do you feel terrible, or scared? As the winner of that gamble, I can’t imagine what kind of feeling that would be. What would be the feeling of a gambler who gained nothing, and lost everything?”
At Carl’s words, Arya burst into laughter. Those in the prison looked worried at her. He wondered if she had completely lost her mind. He couldn’t believe she was laughing like that in this situation…
“Are you crazy?”
Asked Carl, looking at her with a look of disgust.
Arya couldn’t stop laughing. Her laughter sounded like the cry of a beast on the verge of getting slaughtered.
*
When the rebellion was suppressed, knights were ordered by the emperor to the lands of the Panacio family and of the Ferrer family to capture the remaining members of the family. Not only their relatives in the city, but also the people of the merchant association, who had only made small transactions, were taken to the Imperial City and tortured.
The members of the Panacio family claimed that the work was done alone by the Empress Arya, but they could not avoid the fall because Arya testified that it was done under the leadership of her brother, Depine Panacio.
The terrible day killed more than four hundred people. It included more than a hundred citizens who were just spending their daily lives. The mournful cries of those who grieved for the loss of their loved ones continued throughout the city.
“Count Panacio was sentenced to death.”
Sienna nodded at Hain who just informed her. That was the next step.
“But it’s not by hanging, it’s by burning.”
“By burning?”
Those who participated in a rebellion cannot avoid a death sentence. Although the sentence varies depending on the seriousness of the crime, most of them were hangings. There were not many cases of death by burning.
Both were terrifying, but to a different extent. The hanging was terrible, but death came relatively quickly, but the burning was the cruelest punishment because the suffering lasted so much longer.
“That’s because it’s not just about this rebellion. He confessed that he was involved in the death of Emperor Rodbius during the interrogation. Not only that, but it turned out that he had given Empress Isabel, the mother of the current emperor, a drug that drives people crazy.”
Sienna thought for a moment in silence. What Hain said were facts that she already knew. But she was curious why all these testimonies came out of Arya’s mouth.
“What a strange thing. That she confessed…”
“I know. She didn’t need torture. I heard that she made a series of confessions without the interrogators lifting a finger. Not only the big crimes of the Panacio family, but also minor atrocities. So unlike the Ferrer family, who were all hanged, the Panacio family was sentenced to death by burning. The wickedness was so terrible that His Majesty was furious.”
‘But for what purpose?’
Sienna felt like now she had a question that could never be answered. Because only Arya would know the real answer, but when she would be executed in the plaza, it would remain a mystery forever.
Then, Hain rushed to the window and closed it, putting curtains over the windows after. Only after seeing what Hain was doing, Sienna smelled something faintly. It was a very sad and depressing smell.
“It must have been today.”
“It must be.”
“It’s horrifying.”
“Definitely… horrifying.”
The problem was handling the bodies of the dead. They couldn’t bury that large number of people, nor could it be just left to rot forever. Although it was winter, it was a big problem if the body rotted.
As a solution, joint funerals were held for ten days starting from today. Hence the smoke from burning the bodies came all the way up to Sienna’s palace.
Sienna stood up from her seat and opened one of the windows that had been closed by Hain and looked out. A large black smoke column gave off a strong presence from afar.
Even in Sienna’s past, black smoke columns have soared all over the city for a very long time. Except Sienna watched while being trapped in a tower higher than this castle now.
Smoke continued for a month and the blue sky was not seen for a long time. The acrid air filled the capital of the Leipsden Empire.
“When will we ever see blue sky again?”
Cough- Cough-
When Sienna coughed, Hain jumped up and poured water into a glass.
“We’d better keep the windows closed, even if you’re feeling stuffy. This bad air can’t be good for your health.”
She handed Sienna water and closed the window. The curtain was also drawn so that she could not look out at all.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. I just got something in my throat.”
Sienna took a sip of water and said, “You still have to be careful. You should think of the imperial heir. Since he’s such a precious person, I hope he’ll be born when this is settled and you’re living a normal life.”
Sienna stroked her stomach and nodded. As Hain said, Sienna hoped that this child would be born when he could feel the precious daily life of ordinariness. Not at a time when the air was full of death like now.
*
The Imperial Palace was as cold, as a prison, and as desolate and dreary.
Bluebell was still staying at her palace. Most of the maids working there were taken away for interrogation and only knights guarding the door were there.
The punishment has yet to be finalized, but it was only a matter of time before she was deposed. As the severity of the matter was great, it would be difficult for her to avoid being sentenced after being deposed. For Bluebell, this palace was the prison before being taken to the death row.
She lay in the bedroom with a somber face. There was no focus on her eyes. All she could see was the vivid image of her father crushed under Arya’s feet.
“Father.”
A thick stream of water fell over her cheek.
“What did my father do wrong?!”
She gnashed her teeth. If Arya had not been blinded by greed and killed her father, this would have been done successfully. An absolute, strong father would have never failed his work, and if it weren’t for Arya, she wouldn’t be here waiting to die so miserably.
It was a terrible thing to wait for the day to die. Bluebell shuddered at the thought that her entire family had already suffered this pain.
All her relatives have already been taken to prison and subjected to terrible torture. The prison and her palace were so far away that she did not literally hear their screams, but the sound seemed to ring vividly in her ears.
If a rebellion failed, the only end for the rebels was ruin. Even Bluebell, who was not familiar with imperial law, knew how traitors were handled.
He who was directly involved in treason was put to death. Depending on the severity of the rebellion, beheading, guillotine, dismemberment, and burning were performed. Even if they did not participate directly, all men of the rebel’s family, regardless of age, will be beheaded, their mansions burned down, leaving no foundation behind.
The workers of the family also become government slaves, and all the livestock in the land would be considered unclean and be burned alive. Above all, women in the family become state-controlled slaves.
Bluebell couldn’t stand it. She thought she would rather die than be enslaved.
“His Majesty the Emperor is here.”
A knight informed her that Carl had come.
Bluebell raised herself up. She used to only want to look beautiful for him, but now everything was bothering her. What’s the point when she was about to die?
She didn’t wash for days because she didn’t have a maid, and because she lay on the bed for days, her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was untouched, but she didn’t care.
She forced herself to sit up. She didn’t even stand up and say hello to Carl to be polite. Their relationship was already over. And it ended in a very ugly way.
Carl entered the room and looked at her. There was no feeling in his eyes. She couldn’t tell whether it was because he had cut off all his lingering feelings, as Bluebell did, or because he had never had feelings for her from the beginning.
She glared at Carl with a venomous face.
“Why are you here? Did you come here to laugh at me? To tell me to go wash my neck because it’s going to be beheaded in that plaza soon?”
“No way.”
Carl said indifferently. She would not have been so miserable if he had shown any mixed feelings of anger, ridicule, or compassion. He really looked like he didn’t care whether or not Bluebell was being put to death.
This might have been his original self from the beginning. Although she has been turning a blind eye to his feelings, Carl hasn’t had much emotional ups and downs. He was always cold and distant. Bluebell breathed out an empty breath.