Chapter 1

“I want you to live.”

So do I, Your Highness.

I want you to live, too.

So let’s—

“Marry me, Cassion.”

Hearing Diana’s words, the sickly Cassion looked as though he were about to collapse on the spot.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Diana Viola Irenber was the envy of every woman in the kingdom.

She was the only daughter of a ducal house whose ancestors had stood at the founding of the kingdom and, thanks to their sharp head for business, had amassed enough wealth to swallow a small country whole and still have room for dessert.

And on top of that, she was beautiful and clever!

Naturally, Diana had lived her whole life without a care.

Save for losing her parents to an accident when she was twelve.

As she grieved the loss of her parents, her uncle, Count Kolkos, comforted her and took on the role of her guardian.

Through Count Kolkos, Diana was introduced to the First Prince, Dayson, and fell in love with him at once.

The heiress of the foremost house in the kingdom and the Crown Prince Dayson had, quite naturally, promised to marry.

Apart from her parents’ absence, it was a life of perfect happiness.

A life of seeing only beautiful things, eating only fine food, wearing only luxurious clothes. Everyone was kind to her, and everyone envied what she had.

That was why Diana could never have imagined it.

That at twenty-one, she would be walking not toward a wedding hall, but toward a guillotine.

“Diana Viola Irenber, step forward and receive your sentence.”

The king’s proxy raised his voice.

Diana shuddered violently, as if she had been struck by lightning, and then staggered toward the guillotine.

Every time she passed, curses against her burst from the crowd.

“For deceiving the good royal family and the people of the kingdom, and for attempting to overthrow the state for your own selfish gain, you are hereby sentenced to execution!”

When she stood before the guillotine, the king’s proxy cried out again.

Roaaar—

A thunderous cheer rolled across the square.

“Wait! M-my lady would never do such a thing!”

Janice, Diana’s maid, had pushed her way through the crowd and was shouting.

At the sight of her, Dayson’s face twisted viciously. He had come to the execution ground to watch Diana’s sentence carried out.

“What are you doing? Why haven’t you carried out the sentence yet?”

He badgered the executioner to hurry.

At the Prince’s bellow, the city guard moved in perfect order.

Janice, who had been trying to reach Diana, was blocked by the guard, and the small procedures that came with an execution were boldly skipped.

Diana glared with wide-open eyes at the one who was hurrying her death. She stared at him for a long time.

Dayson, her fiancé and the Crown Prince of the kingdom, had done nothing to clear the false charges against her. He had been the first to push for her execution.

When Diana insisted it was all a misunderstanding and begged him to remember the love they had shared, he answered coldly.

“I never loved you. I only needed your money and your power.”

Trash.

Click. The executioner fastened Diana’s wrist to the guillotine. With her cheek pressed against the wooden board, Diana rolled her eyes sideways and glared at the woman beside Dayson.

Her cousin Bella was leaning against Dayson with a look of pity on her face. Nausea surged up from the pit of Diana’s stomach.

“Poor Diana. You should have just sat quietly and played the purse. Why did you suddenly try to act as Head of House, something you never did before? That’s why I took everything from you. Your money, your house, your fiancé.”

Not long ago, Bella had come to see Diana in the dungeon, mocked her, and told her that she and Dayson were in love.

“Since when? Since when have you and Dayson…?”

“From the very beginning. From the moment you first met Dayson.”

The instant she heard that, Diana felt the ground shatter beneath her feet. Her whole life was torn up by the roots.

Diana had gripped the iron bars and shaken them, screaming that she would never forgive her, but Bella had only snorted. Locked in a cell, Diana was as helpless as a newborn.

Remembering it, her anger flared up like fire. The eyes of a woman too worn down by harsh imprisonment to even stand on her own legs began to burn.

Every jeer, every scorn, every curse lodged in Diana’s chest like a dagger.

But it was too early to give up like this.

She thought of the legend that had been handed down in the kingdom.

“If three or more doubt a person’s death, that soul shall be saved.”

In truth, Diana had never believed in legends. She had loved fairy tales, but she was not so young as to mistake them for reality. More than fairy tales, she liked money, jewels, and the sweet words other people gave her.

But now she believed. She believed desperately. If she could build a castle out of faith, hers would be an impregnable fortress.

“Let anyone with doubts about the criminal’s death raise a hand.”

Most of the procedures had been skipped, but the one that called for doubts to be raised was something the executioner’s side could not dare to skip.

Diana waited desperately for someone, anyone, to step forward for her, clutching at straws.

But in mockery of her waiting, the square stayed silent on every side. Time, cruelly, passed steadily.

Nobody? Is there truly not one person who will cry for me?

Even her last hope seemed to have been nothing but a vain wish. Dejected, Diana let her head drop limply.

Then.

“My lady! Stop it! My lady would never be that kind of person!”

Janice shoved against the city guard and thrashed with all her might to push forward.

Her face was a wreck of tears and snot as she called desperately after Diana.

Diana’s heart began to pound hard again with expectation and hope.

Two more.

Perhaps her desperation had reached someone.

“I cannot accept Diana’s death!”

Next, a woman with flowing red hair appeared. It was Cho.

She was Diana’s aunt, the blood relative of the mother with whom she had never managed to share more than a few proper conversations.

Diana had lived believing that only Count Kolkos’s family was her kin. She had learned only recently that her mother’s younger sister was alive somewhere in the kingdom.

If she had known she would die like this, she would have talked with her aunt more. Bitter tears streamed from Diana’s eyes.

Clang, with the sound of iron striking iron, the king’s soldiers surrounded Cho and Janice. Blades were pressed beneath both their chins.

Diana clenched her jaw and opened her eyes wide.

Her fist trembled. She glared at the scene as though she meant to tattoo it onto her eyes, and shouted.

“Let them go!”

But the restraints on Janice and Cho only grew tighter instead of loosening.

Lamenting her own helplessness, Diana prayed with all her heart.

Please, just one more! Give me a chance!

The executioner curled the corner of his mouth into a slant, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking.

When he raised his lowered hand, the chain fixing Diana’s arm pulled taut. The executioner did not wait any longer and cried out once more.

“Not content with wallowing in luxury and debauchery and making a mockery of the lives of the people, you insulted the royal house of Petrora and threw the nation into chaos! Your crimes are most grave! Therefore, in the name of His Majesty Karman, King of Petrora, I pass judgment! Let the criminal receive her sentence!”

“Mmph, mmph!”

Diana shook her head frantically, trying to buy even a little time.

One person is still missing! Just one more! Even a false doubt will do! Please, please!

Unfortunately, her struggle was useless. The fierce roar of the crowd wanting her dead grew thicker.

Tears ran down Diana’s cheeks without end.

They were not tears of sorrow, nor of fear of death, but tears of rage.

Ah… if there is a hell, I’ll be waiting for them there!

Boom—

The drum announcing the execution sounded across the square. When it had sounded five times, the blade aimed at Diana’s neck would fall.

Boom, boom—

The drumming went on.

The drummer raised his drumstick high to strike the fourth beat.

Then, from somewhere, a fierce wind blew in.

And a heavy voice that overwhelmed the crowd rang out across the square.

“Wait. You’re all so impatient, aren’t you?”

“Who is that? Once an execution has begun, it cannot be stopped!”

The executioner bellowed at the sudden voice and looked around for its owner.

But he could not find the culprit. Irritated, he snatched the drumstick from the drummer, who had frozen in place, and struck the drum himself.

Boom.

The fourth beat sounded from the executioner’s hand.

And just as the fifth was about to follow.

“Cassion Lichte Petrora!”

The same voice rang out loudly again from above.

“I may be considered dead, but I am a prince of this country. A mere executioner has no right to stop my words, does he?”

“What?”

Now that he knew where the voice was coming from, the executioner threw his head back.

Astonishingly, high above the execution ground, a man could be seen flying on a wyvern.

Despite the distance, the color of the man’s eyes was as clear as if seen up close.

His eyes were gold, the symbol of the royal family.

And in his hand was a treasure of the royal house that had vanished long ago.

The man brought the wyvern lower and leapt down onto the execution ground.

Once he stood on the ground, no one could doubt who he was.

Even without the golden eyes or the royal treasure, his face still held, unchanged, the features of the prince who had vanished years ago.

“Y-Your Highness?”

Diana’s eyes flew open.

Cassion, whom she had believed dead, stood before her fully grown.

And so beautiful and healthy that she could not look away.

“It’s been a long time, Diana.”

Broad shoulders, the curve of muscle that showed faintly with every movement, hair as black as if it swallowed the sunlight, and golden eyes of such depth that no emotion could be read in them, all of it caught her gaze.

Diana swallowed hard.

“Are you really Prince Cassion? You’re a-alive?”

“Thanks to you. More to the point, you’re in a sorry state. I came to repay a debt, and luckily it seems I’m not too late.”

Diana remembered at once what debt Cassion meant.

“The day I fled, you saw me and kept your mouth shut. Because of that, the pursuers were late catching up. And more than once I got through danger with the jewels you gave me. You saved my life.”

To her it had been nothing more than trivial pity, but Cassion seemed to have kept it in his heart all this time. Enough to appear at the execution ground to repay it.

Everything was too unreal. Diana could not believe what was happening.

When she was framed and thrown into prison, everyone who had showered her with sweet words turned their backs on her. Even those she had believed to be family.

And yet Cassion, whom she had helped just once, had stepped forward for her.

“You need help, don’t you?”

Cassion asked. When he winked and smiled, his cold impression turned as warm as the midday sun.

As if bewitched, Diana nodded.

The returned prince planted himself in front of Diana. The moment his deep shadow fell over her, she felt a profound sense of relief for no reason she could name.

“I, Cassion Lichte Petrora, cannot accept Diana’s death.”

A prince had stepped forward in the formal procedure created for the sake of the legend. And to shield Diana, who had been branded a traitor, no less.

A stir spread through the crowd. Diana’s face also flushed with expectation.

With this, the condition of the legend was fulfilled. Now something miraculous might happen to save her.

“…”

But no matter how long she waited, no dramatic change came.

Diana’s heart, which had held on to a sliver of hope, went hollow.

I knew it. A legend is only a legend after all.

Still, it did not feel as disappointing as she had expected. Three people had put themselves in danger for her.

“Your Highness, thank you. I won’t forget this, even in death.”

Diana whispered softly.

She intended to take her revenge even after death. Adding one more debt of gratitude to repay would hardly be any extra trouble.

Voices urging on Diana’s execution mingled in among the stirring crowd.

Cassion knelt on one knee and met Diana’s eyes.