Ch.14The Virgin of the Execution Ground

As dawn approached, with night giving way to the coming day, Sylvia still couldn’t fall asleep.

Restlessly tossing in bed, she noticed her vision brightening with the gradually bluing light of dawn and lifted her arm to cover her cursed red eyes.

I wish the day wouldn’t break.

That’s what Sylvia was thinking.

In a world already broken, a world without the light of hope, what use was the sun in the sky?

Wouldn’t it be better without that spiteful light source that only served to illuminate this miserable world?

If it were night instead, if we remained forever in the shadow of darkness.

Then perhaps this lamentable world and I, a terrible failure, could hide our forms eternally.

Sylvia exhaled a sigh mixed with lamentation.

“Ash…”

Though tormented by Ash’s revelation of her failure, Sylvia didn’t hate or resent him.

He too was a man thrown bodily into the misfortune born of her failure.

The reason he had dragged his dying body to find her, and the grave of Laila that was arguably the most important part of his daily routine.

Sylvia was overwhelmed with uncontrollable guilt knowing that the little girl’s death stemmed from her own failure.

Moreover, immediately after telling her about the state of the world, Ash’s face had contorted.

It was an expression mixing regret that he shouldn’t have spoken, reflection on the rashness he had unwittingly shown,

And doubt and self-reproach that his revelation might have been nothing more than venting his anger.

“Such a foolishly kind person.”

No matter how Sylvia looked at it, he was simply a victim who had directly suffered from the world’s corruption due to her failure.

She couldn’t even begin to measure the sorrow Ash must have buried in his heart, shedding tears of blood and biting his gall in anguish.

Yet, she could clearly see that despite this, he worried about her and was concerned that he might have hurt her.

Sylvia was incredibly grateful to him for that.

Among the countless people living in this world like stars, she was deeply thankful that of all people, it was Ash who had come to find her while she lived in hiding, isolated from everything.

When she faced Ash and her curse transferred to him that day, the words she spoke weren’t empty—they were sincere.

“…Perhaps you are a reward bestowed upon me by the Goddess?”

Sylvia deliberately spoke those words aloud once more.

Suddenly, she wanted to see Ash’s face.

It was an impulse too powerful to resist.

After all, there was no need to cover her face anymore.

Sylvia carefully rose and opened the door, cutting through the still-dark dawn air.

“…Ash.”

She quietly moved toward the bed where Ash would be sleeping.

Creak, creak.

Though normally she wouldn’t have paid attention, for some reason the sound of the wooden floor creaking seemed unusually loud now.

Sylvia approached Ash, holding even her breath.

“…”

Ash was still asleep.

A slow, rhythmic breathing softly escaped from his nose.

Well, even normally he would barely open his eyes until lunchtime approached.

With a faint smile, Sylvia relaxed and sat on the floor beside Ash’s bed, moving closer to his face.

Then she quietly gazed at his sleeping face, dimly visible through the bluish dawn air.

‘He looks so young like this.’

How old was Ash anyway?

Thinking about it again, they hadn’t even shared basic information like age or family name.

Though living together out of necessity, they knew very little about each other.

Ash seemed to know about the existence of Sylvia the Hero, but she knew nothing about him.

Of course, she had deliberately avoided asking, not wanting to appear as though she was digging into his wounds after losing his family.

Sylvia quietly brushed his hair aside.

His defenseless face became more visible.

‘…Is he even of age?’

Neat black hair with a blue-ash tint and red eyes that were once emerald green.

Judging by his mature demeanor, always trying to be kind and attentive to others’ feelings, he seemed to be an adult, but his appearance still retained some youthfulness.

He was clearly younger than herself, which was why she had naturally spoken informally to him from their first conversation.

Could he possibly not be of age yet?

No, he doesn’t look that young.

Though his face still retained some baby fat, his surprisingly solid frame, the scholarly tone in his speech, and the calluses on his fingers suggested he had at least reached adulthood.

The mental fortitude that allowed him to walk such a long distance with a body that couldn’t walk, all to save his sister, also seemed beyond what a minor would possess.

Sylvia slowly lowered her face next to his.

As she felt the slightly firm mattress against her cheek, she soon felt his faint breath brushing against the tip of her nose.

They were close enough that their noses would touch if either moved slightly.

‘…I’m not embarrassed at this point, but.’

From the day he arrived at this cabin until ten days after he woke up.

She had fed him medications and meals she had chewed herself, as he couldn’t eat on his own.

Since that act was clearly for medical purposes, she wasn’t going to act shy like a maiden now.

Rather, she could even kiss Ash several times if it were him.

Cleaning the cabin, delicious meals, pleasant conversation,

And above all, being there so I wouldn’t be lonely…

She felt more gratitude toward Ash than she could express in words.

Having believed she would never have relationships with people again, she had actually found some joy in caring for him even while he was unconscious.

She was so relieved that when he finally woke up, he turned out to be such a kind person.

Although they were bound together by the curse, the fact that he remained by her side even in that way was blissfully moving enough to bring tears to her eyes.

And honestly, though she hadn’t expected much, she found herself repeatedly amazed by his ability to create eye-widening, wonderful dishes.

‘…’

That’s why when she thought of Ash, she felt nothing but remorse.

For causing his family’s death,

For binding him here,

For feeling as though she was taking advantage of his innocence in feeling indebted to her, despite everything being her fault.

At that moment, a sweet scent cut through her guilt and entered her brain through her nostrils.

A gentle sweetness that wasn’t overpowering, along with a slightly unique faint saltiness.

She could immediately identify this scent.

It was the smell she had been desperately searching for a few days ago, burying her nose in the blanket and sniffing.

Ah, and she had been caught by Ash doing that, of all things.

Sylvia felt her face suddenly flush.

A memory far more embarrassing than a kiss, one she would cut out of her mind if possible.

That ticklish scent filled her nostrils.

Ash’s body scent penetrated deep into her heart.

“Haah… Ash…”

“Uh, mmm…”

“Ah!”

When Sylvia called his name, Ash frowned in his sleep and stirred.

She instinctively pulled her face back in surprise, holding her breath.

Ash smacked his lips a few times and shifted his body, then

“…Uwuh, sis…”

He began to mumble in his sleep.

“…come back…”

“…”

“Mom… Laila…”

“…!”

“…Father…”

And soon Ash began to breathe evenly again.

In an instant, dawn had rapidly brightened.

Ash’s face, which had appeared whitish in the dark blue darkness, began to look clearer in the brightening blue air.

“…Ah,”

Sylvia noticed tears clinging to Ash’s eyes and the white tear tracks beneath them.

“…”

A gift from the Goddess?

He is not an object.

He is a person. A young, tender person suffering from the wounds inflicted by the claws of misfortune.

Sylvia carefully pulled Ash’s blanket up to cover his shoulders.

The thin blanket that had been used as a tablecloth wouldn’t be too warm.

She was surprised at how firm Ash’s bed had felt when she had briefly laid her face against it.

If conditions allowed, she wanted to get him a soft bed and quality blankets.

But she had no way to obtain manufactured goods that had been touched by human hands.

Nor did she, a swordswoman, have any talent for knitting or sewing.

Perhaps Ash was even more skilled with his hands than she was.

Sylvia slowly returned to her room, contemplating whether she should give him her bed.

＊

In this chaotic era where most heroes and outstanding warriors had been lost.

Among the powerful, anxiety and helplessness spread with the belief that the world would not improve, and in this period where hope seemed absent, there was always the scheming of those who tried to exploit such gaps.

But what both the powerful and those who coveted their power forgot was one thing:

The lives of the common people were also continuously crumbling.

All power comes from the people.

This is not simply sweet talk to appease the common folk.

Even the most power-addicted noble,

Even the most privileged king,

If all the angered commoners rose up together, they would be driven out or beheaded before the violence of their numbers.

However, there were also powers that grew stronger as the people suffered more.

Religion was a prime example.

The last hope visited by those who had lost everything else, seeking salvation.

Their movements to save people in despair, rebuke silent authorities, and look after the welfare of the powerless people attracted the hearts of many.

Thus, in the kingdom, the influence of the Goddess Church grew day by day.

They executed corrupt nobles who were eating away at the royal palace in the name of the Goddess.

They went to territories filled with desperate despair where people wept and even boiled their own children to fill their hungry stomachs, and executed lords for neglecting their responsibilities.

They found and beheaded vicious groups trying to overturn the existing order and hierarchy during this chaotic period.

They looked after the stability of people’s livelihoods on behalf of the kingdom, which was preoccupied with defending against neighboring countries’ invasions.

“I remember how beautiful the territory of Goldfield once was.”

A female knight wearing white armor marked with the symbol of the Goddess Church murmured toward a man sitting at the table.

Though the female knight’s voice sounded calm at first listen, it flowed from her mouth like acrid smoke, barely concealing the anger burning deep in her throat.

“I remember how you forcibly usurped the territory and family name from its rightful owner through vicious schemes.”

“Ugh, huk, huuk,”

The man sitting at the table was trembling violently with his eyes tightly shut as he listened to the female knight’s voice.

He flinched violently whenever she emphasized certain syllables in her sentences.

The man’s body was tied to the chair, and his eyes were wrapped twice with rough rope.

Perhaps because the rope was so rough, blood flowed down his face as it tore whenever he flinched.

“I clearly remember the humiliation my friend, my family, and my friend’s family had to endure because of that.”

“Hib, heuk…”

Through his terrified breathing, the man heard the sound of wheels being pulled.

Following that sound, the Goddess Church’s female knight was approaching him, pushing a tray with a covered dish.

She approached the man’s side, placed the dish in front of him, and continued speaking.

“I clearly saw yesterday how you were filling your stomach with luxurious food while the people of the territory you usurped were starving to death.”

The woman roughly cut the rope covering the man’s eyes with a dagger as she spoke.

The man felt the back of his head being slightly cut and blood trickling down, but he couldn’t utter a single complaint.

He could barely even breathe properly to begin with.

The man painfully opened his eyes, straining the skin around them that had been stripped raw.

The female knight opened the lid of the dish placed before him.

“…What, what is this…?”

“Hamburg steak.”

On the plate was a neatly arranged dish of finely ground meat formed into a patty and grilled to a golden brown.

It was topped elegantly with a red raspberry sauce and a fresh asparagus spear.

“…”

“This is your last supper, since you loved meat so much.”

“…Ha, hah, heuk,”

The man wept at the woman’s words.

Though the tears stung his raw skin, he couldn’t stop them by his own will.

He was to be executed.

The charges: rebellion, territory usurpation, defamation, instigation of murder, and neglect of territorial management.

The man, who had seized this territory through cowardly methods to cooperate with the Third Prince who coveted the throne, could only weep in despair.

He had never expected that she, known as “the Goddess Church’s Heaviest Sword,” would come all the way to this territory so far from the capital.

“Once you finish your meal, the sentence will be carried out.”

The female knight spoke in a resolute voice as she sat across from the man.

The man finally looked at her face.

In that moment, he inhaled sharply, feeling a shock that seemed to squeeze his heart.

“Yes, you remember me too.”

“It can’t be… impossible… nonsense…”

The Goddess Church’s Heaviest Sword.

The reason she, who held the highest level of judgment and execution authority granted by the Pope, had personally come all this way.

“A-Alice, Alice Goldfield…”

“…Yes, the daughter of this land’s rightful owner whom you drove out, and the daughter of my mother who committed suicide after being thrown to soldiers and raped on your orders.”

“Ah, p-please forgive me.”

“Alice has come to take revenge upon you in the name of the Goddess.”

“I-I was wrong. Please… please… I’ll beg the Goddess, forgiveness…”

The man bowed his head and begged, trembling violently.

But the female knight urged him firmly.

“Hurry, enjoy your last meal. If you don’t want your head cut off right now.”

The man barely managed to grasp the knife and fork, moving his trembling fingers slowly.

As long as she was watching him with those piercing eyes, resistance wasn’t even a dream he could have.

The reason wasn’t simply the difference in combat ability.

The difference in fighting power, the difference in justification, the difference in the size of the power they were backed by, the difference in the people’s support.

And above all, the difference in regret and guilt weighing heavily on the man’s chest.

The man stuffed the meat down his throat, barely tasting it as he wept.

Perhaps due to the fear of execution approaching as the meat diminished?

It was an excruciatingly slow pace that was frustrating to watch, but the female knight observed the man with patience.

As if watching him tremble in fear was quite interesting to her.

And well it might be.

Though she had now taken refuge in the Goddess Church and abandoned her castle, this was the moment of revenge she had dreamed of.

The man’s meal progressed slowly for over three hours.

But no matter how much time he tried to stretch it out, the inevitable end loomed before the man with its huge maw wide open, foretelling a brutal future.

Alice, looking at the man who had frozen like a frog before a snake, smiled cruelly and said:

“…You’ve finished. Was it tasty?”

“…Ugh, uk… huk,”

Despite the meal taking place slowly over a long time, the man felt choked and bloated.

He had been so out of his mind that he barely knew whether the food was going into his mouth or his nose.

Now I die.

The man was helplessly dragged by her, his hands tied with that rough rope.

Since his eyes were open, he could tell they were heading to the execution ground.

After forcing him to kneel, she would personally cut off his head.

Then his severed head would fall before the crowd screaming with fierce eyes below the execution platform.

The man’s head would rot, covered in the curses, spit, and filth of countless people.

The man finally accepted this fact.

During the long mealtime of almost three hours, he had calmed down somewhat and made peace with his mind.

Therefore, he wanted to face his final moment with dignity befitting a nobleman.

As they arrived at the execution ground and he slowly began to kneel,

Alice spoke to the man.

“Come to think of it, you had a four-year-old daughter.”

“…Y-yes, that’s right…”

The man answered her sudden question while breaking into a cold sweat again.

From the beginning, he hadn’t brought his daughter and wife to this cursed territory.

The plan was to bring his family only after the Third Prince staged a coup and everything was settled, to live together in this territory famous for its fertility.

“What’s her name?”

Why was she suddenly asking about his daughter’s name?

The man closed his mouth at the sudden chill he felt.

Surely, no matter how strong her grudge and desire for revenge might be, she—now a symbol of the Goddess Church—wouldn’t harm his daughter who was only four years old?

The man begged, slamming his knees against the ground hard enough to crack them.

“You mustn’t… Please, spare my family. It’s my fault… only my fault! Please, that child has nothing to do with this…”

“Enough, I don’t need to know. Only you need to know.”

Alice cut off the man’s plea with indifference and slowly lifted the large axe that had been leaning against the execution platform’s post.

“…What do you mean?”

The man asked, looking at her as she raised the huge axe.

Her words and attitude were so puzzling that even the fear of imminent death seemed to fade slightly.

Alice smiled.

It was a chilling smile.

“You should at least know the name of the dish you ate last.”

“…What?”

The man’s head was severed.

His face, colored with horror more terrible than death itself, rolled down among the angry crowd.

People stepped on his face, spat on it, and hurled insults and curses.

The commoners positioned too far back to vent their grudge on the man’s face began to shout.

“Long live the Goddess Church’s Holy Virgin, Lady Alice!”

“Long live!”

“The light of the Goddess shall illuminate justice!”

“Long live!!”

Alice quietly caught her breath and dropped the axe on the execution ground floor.

With this, she had both upheld the justice of the Goddess Church and exacted revenge on the vile person who had targeted her family.

Indeed, this revenge was not hers alone.

It was also revenge for the Staff family, a subordinate house to the Goldfield family and the family of her friend.

It was her atonement and revenge for failing to protect the family of her friend, Maria Staff, who had died participating in the Hero’s party.

Although the one who had taken over as head of the Staff family had escaped,

“I will definitely catch him.”

Alice firmly vowed, thinking of her already dead friend and her friend’s parents.

And her friend’s two younger siblings who used to follow her around.

“Maria. Ash. Laila. I will definitely avenge you.”

Alice, the eldest daughter of the Goldfield Count family that the Staff family served, and a friend of Maria Staff, Ash Staff’s older sister.

Alice waved her hand to the crowd cheering for her.