Yes, Mylene Eltania had burned that orphanage to the ground. It happened six years after I left. She’d justified it by claiming the place was worshipping the cult that was spreading like weeds through the cities. Once someone pins something on you, it’s difficult to clear your name. The orphanage was run by a church with a longstanding history of supporting the national religion. It was a very fine establishment, but those bastards didn’t give a damn. They’d gotten it in their heads that the orphanage was evil. Nothing you could say would change their minds.
Mylene, with droves of the king’s men behind her, used Fire magic to douse the big church in flames. She declared it an act of mercy from Lord Eltania to the fanatics. Legend has it that everyone born with the Hair of Sulberia possesses the mightiest of magic powers. And whenever the mood struck her, Mylene never hesitated to flaunt and abuse her powers in the name of her status as a chosen one.
She wished to distract herself from her dull life of extreme comfort and luxury. That was why she’d chosen the orphanage—a refuge of magicless plebeian children abandoned by their parents—as her target. She probably figured nobody would complain if a bunch of lowborn kids and the weirdos who cared for them bit the dust. And judging by what else I’d heard about her evil deeds, that checked out.
Anyway, because one angry bitch needed somebody to blame, everyone in the church and all the kids at the orphanage were burned to death… The orphanage staff lost their lives, too.
I’d been fighting in another country as a mercenary when it happened. I came back because I started hearing rumors about the events. Revenge…wasn’t really my plan. What Mylene had done to the orphanage did piss me off, but at the end of the day, the people there weren’t really my family. But I did have an obligation to avenge them, and it didn’t feel right to sit back and let somebody else handle it.
…So anyway, that was the gist of it.
As the mercenaries and civilians celebrated their imminent victory, I felt like I was worlds apart from the clamor of it all. This kingdom was done. It didn’t matter which side won the civil war. Even if all the people in charge of Eltania had been slaughtered at the start, before all the rot set in, the pillars holding up this country would have collapsed, taking everyone down with it.
Even if the purest, most moral person in the world came to power after this, everybody had an idea of how that would work out. The next ruler wouldn’t have the capacity to do everything that needed to be done. And no such person existed in this shithole country anyway.
That was why I’d come back here. To take care of unfinished business and leave this country behind me when all was said and done. I wasn’t keen on staying behind and watching it burn.
“Hmph…” I frowned at the party scene before me, which had devolved into a sort of cult meeting.
Seriously… This booze is shit.
The civil war had been raging for many years now. Each passing year saw new mercenaries replace the old, until I was the only original member of our crew. And now here I was, taking in a sight that the fallen rebels had always dreamed of.
“Hey, Adan…are ya watching me?” I asked my absent friend as I stood beneath a sky of thick black clouds that seemed to determine the fate of this kingdom. The question I’d muttered went unanswered. A tsunami of cheering voices washed it into thin air. I know it’s in poor taste, but I wish I could have shown him the scene before me.
We were at an execution site near Eltania’s border. Even though it was in a remote area, it was teeming with people—more accurately, throngs of onlookers were spilling out all the way beyond the fortress walls.
This was the epic event everyone had been waiting for. People had journeyed from all over the kingdom to catch a glimpse of this moment. At a glance, all eyes in the crowd were glued to a hooded woman tied to a pillar.
This woman, her vermilion-streaked Hair of Sulberia flowing in the breeze, was named Mylene Eltania. She was dressed in the thin, shabby rags of the condemned. She was bound to the pillar with thick black leather straps that hugged and emphasized her ample curves. The sight was titillating in a way, but nobody here was looking upon her with lust. Her bindings were actually expensive magic inhibiters. If she were untied, powerful magic would burst out of her.
It was a fitting accessory for a woman who’d hoarded everyone’s money until the very end. I snorted, enjoying the irony.
As the throng of people beheld the condemned woman at the gallows, the cloth around her mouth was removed, and her face was laid bare. Impartially speaking, Mylene was a true beauty. She was blessed in status, looks, and in magic. When everyone around you sings your praises as a gift loved by god, it’s hard not to be aware of it.
“Bloody…hell! Impudent cretins! Do you have any idea who I am?! I am beloved by the Lord Eltania, I am God’s Gift, Queen Mylene Eltania! How dare you defile me like this!”
But her character had been corrupted. When she opened her mouth, Queen Mylene Eltania let her curses fly at will.
The sight of the evil queen, shamelessly spitting at her people even in her final moments, was not a joy to watch. Her soldiers, who granted her a showy veneer of protection, had been stripped of their armor. And her magic, the one thing she could truly rely upon, was sealed behind her leather bindings. She’d lost everything, and her cries of resentment were unbearable to listen to.
Yet to the mob who had been spurred here by their hatred of Mylene, the curses they heard from the gallows were but an appetizer to the main course.
But you know, the queen looked proud… Well, not proud, exactly… She looked like somebody who didn’t think she was about to die. Her sneering face, devoid of imagination, appeared no different from those of all the nobles I’d killed.
“The Lord Eltania’s divine judgment is nigh! If you do not wish to taste it, then end this farce of a rebellion at once!”
From the way Mylene spoke, it was clear she had lost the plot. The anger of the crowd was almost palpable. And as I stood among them, I sensed a stark contrast in enthusiasm between myself and the feverish mob. Would Adan have been raising his fist just like everyone else if he were here?
“Kill her!” someone yelled, lighting the fuse. And even though they were swallowed in the noise of the crowd, those words—the words everyone was surely thinking—melted into everyone’s ears in a hushed whisper.
“Kill her…kill her…”