❅❅❅
THREE days until the execution.
I’m not giving up yet, Tia thought while nibbling on a cold, stale piece of bread. According to the guard, he’d delivered the message to Rizel. She only needed to wait for her son. Yet time stretched into eternity. For days on end, she’d look up at the door each time she heard a sound, only to be disappointed.
Tia finished her breakfast all too quickly and set down the plate. She would spend the rest of the day as she did every other day—staring through the window at her scant view of the outside.
Finally, the moment she’d been waiting for arrived. The door leading aboveground opened, letting in the faint light, and the man she’d been longing to see appeared in the entryway. The guard bowed his head to King Rizel. Though Tia couldn’t hear her son clearly, he spoke a word of thanks to the guard. He then cast his gaze towards her prison cell.
“Rizel!” Tia cried, approaching the bars and extending a hand toward her son. All the while, she put on a show of trembling like a mother overcome with emotion. “How I’ve longed to see you!”
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She chanced a look at her son, wondering how he would react to his mother’s passionate crying. His response contradicted her expectations. She thought to elicit his sympathy and earn salvation, but his eyes held not a trace of compassion. Instead, he silently regarded her as if she were some wretch.
“Rizel?” Tia asked. His expression made her anxious, but she couldn’t give up. “I know you might have a hard time forgiving me. Even I’m not sure how things turned out this way. Surely, there must have been some kind of mistake.”
She appealed to her son with emotion, but unfortunately, she’d never learned how to win her child’s sympathy. She only knew how to interact with romantic partners. Still, she had knowledge, if not practice.
“My mistakes might be unforgivable,” Tia continued, “but at the very least, I wanted you—my son—to understand.”
“Your son…?” Rizel repeated.
Until now, he’d remained silent, but when he spoke, he sounded more dispassionate than Tia could have ever imagined.
“I never expected to hear those words from you in a million years,” Rizel said. “After all, I don’t have a single memory of you ever offering me any motherly love.”
“Rizel…? D-Don’t be silly. I always wanted to be more loving, but you were to be the next king. Yes, I might have been cold, but I was taught that pushing you away was a form of love. Truthfully—”
“That’s enough, Mother.”
Rizel’s interruption panicked Tia. When she looked at him and saw his expression, she knew her plan had failed.
This isn’t going to work.
“Rizel, I’m begging you!” Tia cried, no longer caring about appearances. “Please! I’m not ready to die!”
“How many people have you falsely accused of crimes, placed in this exact prison cell, and watched die?” Rizel furrowed his brow as he glared at Tia, the corners of his eyes watering slightly. “Have you ever taken the slightest pity on anyone, Mother? How many people have lost their lives because of you? How many of my younger brothers and sisters did you poison in your womb?”
Tia couldn’t say anything, for Rizel had spoken the truth. Before she could think of an excuse, he spoke again.
“There was a time when I still called you Mom. Do you remember when I started addressing you as Mother? Speaking of which, do you even remember how old I was when I first succeeded on a hunt?”
Tia tried to think of how to respond to his rapid-fire questions but failed. She didn’t know the correct answers. Yes, she’d participated in events related to her son, but she couldn’t remember how old he’d been on those occasions.
Rizel learned everything he needed to know from Tia’s expression. On the other hand, she couldn’t even look at him. She had no strength left to consider the depth of sorrow in his voice.
“Do you know who I first fell in love with?” Rizel pressed. “It was Mary Edigma—the woman you attempted to kidnap and use for your nefarious purposes.”
As Tia recalled the woman from the fortress, Rosemary sprang to mind. “Rosemary…” she muttered under her breath. “That vile woman is always getting in my way. Yes, she even deceived you. Listen to me, Rizel—that woman is a villainess. She’s lying to you and Duke Reynaldo. She’s the one who set me up.”
Tia cursed the names of Mary and Rosemary, having gone mad.
“You brought this upon yourself!” Rizel shouted at his mother, the dam holding back his emotions bursting. “This is the result of your deceit and treating people’s lives like toys! How do you not understand that?!”
Rizel no longer felt anything for his mother. From childhood on, he’d never received parental love. He no longer desired his mother’s affection.
Furthermore, her crimes were too grave for him to show the slightest amount of pity. Not even royalty could be forgiven for selling out their kingdom to a foreign nation. If Rizel showed her any hint of mercy, faith in the royal family would waver. Did she not understand that?
As the new king, Rizel had to remain detached. At the same time, he couldn’t suppress his irritation. He couldn’t forgive her for kidnapping the only woman he’d ever loved. Though he was no longer in a position to express his feelings for Mary, they hadn’t changed at all. Even after becoming king, not a day passed in which he didn’t imagine a future with her.
If she hadn’t possessed Rosemary’s memories, perhaps her feelings towards the royal family would have been different. Rizel lacked the courage to continue professing his feelings to her, as his parents had caused her death in a past life. Consequently, the days he’d been able to love her with all his heart had been few. Immediately after their first meeting, he did his best to court her. That brief period had been incredibly precious to him.
“This is the last time I’ll speak to you directly, Mother,” Rizel said. “Please use the rest of your life to atone for those you killed.”
“How could you be so cruel, my son…?”