Chapter 1403: Intermission 4: The Judgement (2)

Julius was going to be executed. That part had already been decided long ago.

There wasn’t any debate left about it either. People already accepted it as fact, like the sun rising in the morning or nobles pretending they cared about commoners during speeches. Some things just became inevitable after enough blood was spilled.

Even though Julius was her brother, Myrcella believed there was no redemption left for him anymore. He had committed far too many crimes, crossed too many lines, ruined too many lives. At some point, punishment stopped being enough. Death was the only ending left that actually fit what he had done.

The biggest issue was that Julius couldn’t be killed through ordinary means.

His scales were monstrously durable. Swords shattered against them, powerful attacks barely scratched them, and even enchanted weapons struggled to leave marks. Cutting through his neck was basically impossible for most people. Trying to execute him normally would probably end with the executioner having a breakdown halfway through.

Of course, I could do it easily.

Ayuru had fully awakened, and because of that, I had become absurdly overpowered compared to before. Honestly, even I had trouble properly measuring where my limits were anymore. Cutting Julius’s head off through those scales would feel less like slicing armor and more like cutting soft butter left out in the sun too long.

Still, Myrcella didn’t want me to do it.

Actually, she didn’t want anyone else doing it either.

Julius had to die by her own hands.

And honestly, I understood why.

Myrcella and Julius were siblings.

Sure, they had fought against each other during the struggle for the throne. Their relationship had become twisted somewhere along the way, tangled up in politics, ambition, betrayal, and all the usual royal family nonsense that made regular families look surprisingly healthy by comparison.

Even so, they had once been close.

For most of their lives, they had grown up together. Shared memories. Shared blood. Shared experiences only siblings could really understand.

I didn’t think Myrcella truly hated Julius.

Resented him? Probably.

Felt disappointed in him? Definitely.

Wanted him stopped? Without question.

But hate?

That felt different.

At least, I didn’t think she hated him enough to completely erase the fact that he was still her brother.

This execution wasn’t just about punishment for her. It was closure. Resolve. A responsibility she believed belonged to nobody else.

Even the former Queen, their mother, had personally asked me to make sure Myrcella would be the one to execute Julius.

So if that was going to happen, there was a problem we needed to solve first.

Julius’s scales were tied directly to his resolve to live.

As long as his will remained strong, those scales would continue protecting him. They reflected his intent. His stubbornness. His refusal to die.

Which meant brute force alone wasn’t the real answer here.

We needed to break him mentally first.

If his resolve weakened enough, then his scales would weaken alongside it. Once that happened, Myrcella would finally be capable of killing him herself.

Simple in theory.

Pretty ugly in practice.

Because to crush someone like Julius, ordinary torture wouldn’t work.

Pain alone wouldn’t do anything meaningful to him.

We had to destroy him emotionally.

And for that...

We had to give him the worst torture imaginable.

"Is Charlotte really okay with this?" Myrcella asked quietly.

Her voice carried hesitation, though she already seemed to know the answer before asking.

"Well, she knows this is the only way," I replied. "So I guess she’s already resolved herself to it too."

Myrcella stayed silent for a moment after hearing that.

"How about you, Leon? Are you okay with this?"

"I’m pretty much the same as Charlotte," I said with a small shrug. "If this is what needs to be done, then this is what has to happen, right? You don’t need to worry. We want to grant your wish to end Julius by your own hand. And we’re going to do it in a way that lets you truly feel you made the right decision."

After hearing that, Myrcella looked at me quietly for a few seconds.

Then she smiled.

It wasn’t a huge smile. Honestly, it looked tired more than anything else. The kind of smile someone made after carrying something heavy for way too long.

"Thank you, Leon."

She stepped closer afterward, her eyes lingering on mine for a moment before she kissed me softly.

The room fell quiet after that.

There wasn’t much else left to say anyway.

The plan had already been decided.

Now all that remained was carrying it out.

***

Julius’s POV

I woke up to a thick musky smell clinging to the air.

The scent was strong enough that it dragged me out of unconsciousness slowly instead of all at once. My head felt heavy as I opened my eyes, blinking several times while my vision adjusted.

White.

The entire room was white.

White walls.

White floor.

White ceiling.

Everything looked unnaturally clean, so spotless that it almost felt irritating to stare at for too long. It didn’t even look like a real room. More like one of those weird spaces people in stories used for psychological torture. Which, considering my current situation, honestly wouldn’t have surprised me.

Why the hell am I here?

The last thing I remembered was my prison cell.

I had been restrained with power dampeners locked onto my body. Then smoke suddenly filled the room from nowhere. After that...

Nothing.

Complete blackness.

And now I was here.

I slowly pushed myself up and looked around again.

Strangely enough, I didn’t feel tired.

Actually, my body felt weirdly refreshed despite everything.

On the other side of the room sat a bed.

Near me was a chair.

That was it.

The place looked almost empty beyond those things, which somehow made it feel even more unsettling. Whoever designed this room clearly believed decoration was a waste of money. Honestly, even prison cells usually had more personality than this.

I started walking toward the bed.

Then my body slammed directly into something invisible.

Bang.

"What the hell?!"

Pain shot through my face as I staggered backward.

I reached forward immediately and felt it.

An invisible wall.

"You’ve got to be kidding me..."

I punched the barrier hard.

Nothing happened.

The impact barely even made a sound.

"What the fuck is going on?"

I punched it again out of pure irritation, but the result stayed the same.

At the same time, something felt wrong with my body.

My strength wasn’t fully there.

It felt like something was constantly draining my power away little by little. A slow pulling sensation spread beneath my feet, almost like the floor itself was sucking energy directly out of me.

Was this entire room some kind of massive power dampener?

Even I couldn’t properly use my abilities here.

Annoying.

Still, whatever.

Probably another one of Myrcella’s little tricks.

Did she seriously think gimmicks like this would actually be enough to kill me?

Pathetic.

While I was still thinking about it, someone suddenly appeared in front of me.

Charlotte.

The moment I saw her, irritation exploded into rage.

"What the hell?" I snapped. "What the fuck are you doing here, Charlotte?!"

My body moved before I even fully processed it.

I swung my fist toward her face.

The invisible barrier stopped me instantly.

Bang.

My fist slammed into it hard enough to sting.

Charlotte didn’t even flinch.

She just stood there calmly on the other side.

That only pissed me off more.

Then another person entered the room.

And the moment I saw him, my blood practically boiled.

That bastard.

The one who had ruined my life.

The one who kept standing in my way over and over again like some cockroach that refused to die.

He calmly walked toward Charlotte without even looking at me properly.

Then, right in front of me...

He kissed her.

My mind froze for a second.

And then rage exploded through my entire body so violently that it honestly felt like my veins were about to burst open.