First Arc: The Doomed Wagtail Priestess Is Snatched Away by the Golden Eagle Emperor
Chapter One: Please Don’t Build My Gallows on My Farm, Which You Burned Down
ABOVE was the sky dusted with a springtime haze. Below was a forest of lush green. And there was my house burning in a towering column of azure flames.
It’s almost beautiful. That is, if it weren’t my house burning down.
With thunderous cracks, the fire consumed everything: the mementos of my dead parents and grandmother, as well as all the assets that I had inherited as the priestess. I watched as I thought back on my memories of my previous life.
Yes, I possessed memories from a past life. They had come rushing back to me, gushing forth from the depths of my mind when my abilities as the Wagtail Priestess awakened like a bud in early spring.
“I’m the NPC fated to be condemned as the ‘Evil Priestess,’ Sai Cutrettola…” Saying the sentence out loud made it sound oddly silly, and a wry laugh nearly crept out of my throat. Despite my awareness that I was the priestess whose tale concluded with an execution at the age of sixteen, in reality, no matter how much I resisted, my circumstances were comparable to sinking in inescapable quicksand.
Since I couldn’t break free of the destiny hanging over me like a guillotine’s blade, I had done what I could to live nobly as the Wagtail Priestess, armed with the powerful magic that came with the title. Even if nobody believed in me or acknowledged me, I would lead a life that I thought was right. I used my magic to save every single person I could. I studied everything potentially beneficial to learn. And in the end, I was going to be the scapegoat for crimes committed without my knowledge or consent, had witnessed the razing of my home, and would be hanged right on schedule.
Holy Knights sowed ruin with every step as they trampled all over my precious farm. They had already constructed their tasteless gallows.
And the one who would bring down the curtain on my life of sixteen years was…
“Hahahahaha! Take a good look, you vile woman! Look at the color of those flames, for that is the color of your sin!”
A lone man stood cackling in front of the blazing column, his fit of laughter ecstatic and unending. With locks of gold and eyes of cerulean, he was Holy Knight Commander Alexei. A grin distorted his face, drunken with self-righteousness, for he was the hero who had inflicted divine punishment on evil.
He was also one of the main characters dictated by the “plot,” or fate of the world, and my former fiancé who hadn’t paused even a moment to consider the possibility that I was wrongly accused.
“I won’t be tricked by your lies anymore!” He gritted his teeth. “You act all goody-goody, yet you dared to exploit us Holy Knights as if we’re your slaves! I should turn you into ash like this house and scatter you into the river at the first available opportunity, how does that sound?! Hah hah hah!”
Why is he having so much fun? I wondered. He was once my fiancé, the person I thought I would be with until death did us part, and to hear such words spewing from his mouth would make anyone in my shoes lament their pitiful, miserable life.
I sighed, feeling apologetic toward the tenants of my land, who were probably cowering in fear amid the ruckus. All because I ended up like this… I’m going to cause so much trouble for everyone on the Cutrettola estate. I’m a failure…
At least there was one silver lining: the populace hadn’t been accused of collective responsibility, for which I was so glad.
A voice filled with scorn tore me out of my thoughts. “What is it, Sai? Is there something you want to say?”
With a start, I looked up to find Alexei glaring down at me, fury sharpening his gaze. His voice was low and overbearing, the tone that he always used whenever he punched me.
“Remember this, Sai. No matter what happens to you, whether death or something else, I will never forget your betrayal!” He spat every single word as if each syllable were a vessel he was eager to fill with hatred. “I will never forgive you. You betrayed me, the Order, your country! You didn’t stop at that either; you didn’t even spare the ancient blood of the priestess that runs in your veins! Repent! Repent as you are executed, as you are reduced into ashes, scattered in the river and turned into gravel!”
It seemed that earning my fiancé’s loathing of a lifetime was going to be my biggest vindication. Overall, he used to place a tremendous amount of faith in me of a magnitude equal to his current hatred. And although a somewhat boorish man, he was pure at his core. That exact trait had led him to blindly trust what other people said, withering his confidence in me piece by piece. The change was especially prominent after his heart was stolen by the girl known as the “Saint,” almost as if a delirious fever had overtaken him.
I let out a long, long sigh.
Alexei responded with a sharp inhale, irked by my attitude. His handsome face warped further in displeasure. “Hey! You clearly sighed just now, didn’t you?!” he yelled accusingly.
“Like I have told you many times, I am innocent. Nothing you say will affect me.”
“You still claim that?! Even after all that evidence thrown at your feet, even as your home burns?!”
“Even if I become gravel on the riverbed or mix with the mud clogging the gutter, my innocence will not change, because there is only one truth.”
He forced his next words through clenched teeth. “You…little…!” Red slowly stained Alexei’s pale skin as he flushed.
I felt a little exasperated at myself for wasting time on worthless protests. Goading him doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to die soon. But here at the very end, at least, I want to rebel a little.
I stared into his eyes that burned bright with indignation and justice, and in them found a battered girl bearing a wooden expression. Her raven hair was disheveled from a detention that had robbed her of half a year of her life, and despair darkened her weary black eyes. The girl in the reflection, clad in a shabby, sable dress, was the Evil Priestess, a wretched creature who had only her execution to look forward to.
It was me, Sai Cutrettola, in my last moments.
I bowed deeply toward my erstwhile fiancé. “Thank you for looking after me for such a long time. You have my deepest apologies—I was an incompetent woman unworthy of being your betrothed.”
The locks of hair tucked behind my ears spilled forward like silk, brushing against my cheeks. On the day of our engagement, I had dedicated my hair, and from that day onward it was always trimmed into a short bob.
“I wish that only happiness awaits you in your future with the great Saint.”
“Hey,” Alexei began.
When I raised my head again, Alexei wore a face void of all emotion. He said, “Lilly…doesn’t have anything to do with this, remember?” He swung his right fist.
Instinctually, I realized that he was holding nothing back—it was a blow with all his might. He’s going to kill me…! Though I had braced myself for my impending death, pathetically, an irrational fear of his violence gripped my heart. I shrunk into myself.
Then the unexpected happened.
A shadow much larger than the man before me formed at my feet. A bird…? No, this is… It’s a person…!