Chapter 1408: Intermission 4: The Judgement (7)

The day the announcement spread that Julius was going to be executed, the entire kingdom practically exploded with curiosity.

People talked about it everywhere.

Inside taverns, marketplaces, crowded streets, even outside random shops where people usually wasted time pretending they weren’t gossiping while very obviously gossiping. A lot of them looked genuinely shocked, while others acted like they already expected something insane to happen after everything Julius had done.

Still, one question kept coming up again and again.

Were they really going to execute someone from the royal family?

Honestly, it made sense why people reacted like that. A royal execution wasn’t something ordinary people got to see. Most people probably assumed members of the royal family would always find some way to avoid punishment, no matter how terrible their crimes were. That was just how kingdoms usually worked. Nobles protected nobles. Royals protected royals. People at the bottom suffered while people at the top acted untouchable. At most, Julius would have been served an exile.

This time, though, things were different.

The announcement itself already carried a heavy meaning behind it. It wasn’t just about Julius dying. It felt more like the kingdom was trying to make an example out of him. More specifically, it felt like the current King of Milham, Myrcella, wanted the entire country to understand one thing very clearly.

Treason would never be forgiven.

Didn’t matter if the person involved shared the same bloodline. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Didn’t matter if they were royalty.

A traitor was still a traitor.

Honestly, it was the kind of message that would make most nobles lose sleep for a few nights. Probably more than a few, actually. A lot of them liked acting confident when they gathered together, but deep down, most nobles were cowards when power started shifting around.

By the time the day of the execution finally arrived, the execution grounds were already overflowing with people.

The crowd was massive.

People packed together so tightly that it almost looked suffocating. Guards had to keep pushing people back because some were trying to move closer just to get a better look. There were whispers everywhere. Nervous ones. Excited ones. Curious ones. Some people even looked weirdly thrilled to be there, which honestly said a lot about how bored the average citizen probably was.

Public executions really did bring people together in the strangest way possible.

Then Julius was finally brought onto the platform.

The noise from the crowd immediately dropped.

His head was covered with a black cloth, completely hiding his face from everyone around him. Both of his hands were restrained together with heavy cuffs locked tightly around his wrists.

Those cuffs weren’t ordinary restraints either.

They were power dampeners. The same kind we had already been using on him before.

Actually, these ones were even stronger.

Enough to completely suppress his abilities so thoroughly that using even a fraction of his power would’ve been impossible. Considering who Julius was, nobody wanted to take risks. Letting him keep access to his strength while standing in the middle of a massive crowd would’ve been unbelievably stupid.

Even though he had already surrendered himself and accepted death, he was still unstable.

Mentally unstable, especially.

One bad moment. One sudden emotional breakdown. One reckless decision.

That would’ve been enough to turn the entire execution site into a bloodbath.

Honestly, imagining that kind of disaster made me appreciate the power dampeners more than I probably should. Those things deserved a raise. If magical restraints could receive salaries, anyway.

The cuffs stayed tightly secured around both of Julius’ wrists as he walked forward slowly.

He looked like someone who had completely accepted his fate.

There wasn’t any resistance.

He wasn’t fighting.

Didn’t struggle.

Didn’t shout.

Didn’t even try to look around.

It honestly felt strange seeing him like that after everything that had happened. A man who once carried himself with authority now looked empty enough that he barely seemed alive already.

Alongside him stood Myrcella herself.

In her hands was the Sword of Judgement.

The moment people saw it clearly, the atmosphere around the platform changed almost instantly.

That sword wasn’t just some ceremonial weapon.

It carried history behind it.

Back in earlier generations, the royal family used it for executions before hanging became the more common method. Julius, however, wasn’t exactly someone you could kill normally. His scales made his body absurdly durable to the point where a noose probably wouldn’t even make him struggle to breathe properly.

So the kingdom had no choice but to retrieve the Sword of Judgement from wherever it had been hidden all this time.

A sacred weapon for a sacred execution.

The sword itself once belonged to the Goddess Jeanne during the Hundred-Year War.

That alone made people stare at it with reverence.

Even from a distance, it carried this strange weight to it. The kind that made people instinctively quiet down. Myrcella held it carefully with both hands, almost like she was afraid to disrespect it somehow. Which was understandable, considering most people in this region practically worshipped Jeanne herself.

A holy relic like that wasn’t something people casually waved around.

Julius was eventually forced down toward the execution block.

Slowly, he lowered onto his knees.

The black cloth covering his head was removed shortly after.

The moment his face became visible, the crowd immediately focused on him.

Julius looked terrible.

His eyes were lifeless.

Actually, lifeless almost felt too generous.

There was nothing inside them anymore. No anger. No hatred. No fear. No pride. Just emptiness. He looked like someone whose soul had already disappeared long before his body finally caught up.

Living didn’t seem important to him anymore.

He looked like a hollow shell wearing the remains of a prince’s body.

People around the platform stared at him intensely. Some looked furious, which was understandable considering everything that had happened. Others looked conflicted instead, almost uncomfortable witnessing something like this.

A royal execution wasn’t exactly normal.

Still, regardless of how people felt, the execution was happening.

There was no stopping it anymore.

The Queen herself wasn’t present.

Honestly, that was understandable.

Watching your own son get publicly beheaded sounded like the kind of thing that permanently destroyed a person from the inside. Most mothers probably wouldn’t survive that emotionally.

Personally, though, I didn’t feel much while watching any of this.

I simply stood there quietly while Myrcella stepped forward.

Her voice rang out across the execution grounds as she formally announced Julius’ crimes and his punishment. Her words carried authority behind them. Enough authority that the crowd remained completely silent while listening to her speak.

Honestly, her voice was strong enough that it felt like the words were drilling directly into my skull.

Still, none of it really stayed in my head.

I heard her speaking, but my mind barely processed the contents.

Meanwhile, Julius stayed silent the entire time.

He didn’t say a single word.

He simply remained kneeling there quietly while waiting for the sentence to be carried out.

Then Myrcella finally raised the Sword of Judgement.

For a brief moment, everything felt still.

The crowd stopped moving.

Stopped whispering.

Stopped breathing.

Then the sword came down.

A single clean strike.

Thankfully, the blade was sharp enough to cut straight through Julius without resistance. His head separated cleanly before falling onto the wooden platform below.

The sound it made when it landed felt weirdly heavy.

Just like that, Julius was dead.

Officially.

Honestly, after everything surrounding him, it almost felt anticlimactic seeing it end so quickly. Human lives were strange like that. Someone could spend years building influence, power, reputation, fear, only for everything to disappear in a single second.

I watched quietly for a moment longer before eventually turning away from the execution grounds.

After that, I headed toward where the Former Queen currently was.

She sat quietly on the edge of her bed when I arrived.

The room itself felt calm. Too calm, honestly, considering what had just happened.

"Julius is dead," I told her.

"I see..." she replied softly.

The moment she answered, something immediately stood out to me.

There wasn’t sadness in her voice.

If anything, what I felt from her was relief.

Relief mixed with exhaustion.

Maybe even peace.

Either way, grief was noticeably absent.

"Thank you... for granting me this wish, Leon," she said quietly.

Then she looked at me and smiled.

It wasn’t forced.

Wasn’t fake either.

That smile genuinely looked like it came from the bottom of her heart.

Honestly, that expression felt stranger than the execution itself.

I had no idea what kind of future waited for the Kingdom of Milham after its citizens had just witnessed a royal being publicly executed by another member of the royal family.

Still, one thing was absolutely certain.

Myrcella was going to use this moment well.

Fear was powerful.

Fear kept people obedient.

After today, anyone even thinking about standing against her would remember exactly what happened here. She had shown the entire kingdom that she wasn’t above killing anyone who betrayed her authority.

Even her own brother.