I wonder what kind of man that boy’s become... Westalia thought, lost in her nostalgia.
“Now commences the execution of the criminal Westalia Lejainne!” The executioner’s words jolted her back to reality. Westalia, the daughter of a duke, had been sentenced to death by poison for the attempted assassination of Princess Lily. The attempt had occurred but three days ago, yet in the blink of an eye she was on the gallows. In truth, she’d been falsely accused, but her proclamations of innocence were ignored.
Our executioner is rather impatient, isn’t he? Seems like he really doesn’t like me...
The event was taking place in the royal city’s central square. Westalia was being marched toward a raised cobblestone platform by a pair of knights, her hands bound. Even though it was a weekday afternoon, the square was packed with onlookers all eager to witness the public execution of the villainess who had tried to kill the princess. Curses and stones flew at her all along the path to the executioner.
“Wretched woman!”
“Kill her quickly!”
From a passing glance at the crowd, Westalia could tell that they were truly disgusted with her and reveling at the chance to abuse and humiliate her.
I was only trying to be a queen worthy of you...
Among the assembled, only Felix, the crown prince and her former fiancé, looked at her with a sympathetic expression. Westalia opened and closed her mouth as she walked past him, but no words came out. Felix was the crown prince in name only, a man weak in political power and lacking initiative. Upon Westalia’s conviction, their engagement had been dissolved.
The streets around them were festive, lined with stalls selling alcohol. People were pushing and shoving each other to witness the moment of execution. One curious onlooker, who had waded through the crowd right to the very front, saw Westalia and let out a shocked gasp. Westalia was dressed simply in white with silk socks, but that didn’t lessen her imposing aura even slightly. Her hair was long, wavy, and bright red, and she had narrow purple eyes that turned up sharply at the outer corners. Her lips were full and shiny, giving her an air of glamor.
Westalia Lejainne was what some called a “hidden daughter.” She had been confined to the royal palace since she was a child, isolated from the outside world and educated to be a queen. In the Kingdom of Lhumzia, the king was allowed to marry more than one person at a time. A king’s first wife was given the title of queen, but if the king took another wife, the new wife’s title would become queen consort.
As of late, Delphine, former consort and the last king’s second wife, opposed the idea of Westalia assuming the title. Using her immense power, Delphine wanted to slot Lily, her own daughter, into the position. It wasn’t impossible, despite Lily being the daughter of the former king. In aristocratic society, consanguineous relationships were very common, and a niece-uncle marriage was no exception.
However, in order to prevent Delphine and her family, the ducal family of Wynd, from expanding their power, the royal family had selected Westalia, who hailed from a duchy with little power or influence over the crown, to be the next queen. If the king took another bride after making Westalia his queen, every subsequent wife would be known as queen consort number one, number two, and so on.
In other words, as long as Westalia was around, Lily would never be number one. Delphine found that unacceptable, and she had used her power to imprison Westalia in that isolated villa. She’d assumed the girl would soon give up and withdraw her candidacy, but Westalia had shown unexpected persistence. Westalia’s first public appearance was scheduled for when she came of age, but no one but the royal court officials had seen her. Because her true nature was a mystery, rumors and speculation spread like wildfire among the public.
Her personality was the worst, the people said. They whispered that she was a flamboyant, man-crazy, pleasure-seeking woman who spent the people’s hard-earned money on frivolous luxuries and countless male prostitutes. In addition, she was said to throw temper tantrums, yelling at her servants whenever something didn’t go her way, and even resorting to violence on occasion. And now she had been sentenced to death for attempting to assassinate the princess.
All of those horrible rumors are lies. They’re all made-up. I was set up by that woman...
All the scandals they spoke of had been of Princess Lily’s making, and she’d used the former queen to spread the word around. Westalia, meanwhile, had sacrificed much to become queen. She had endured the previous queen’s punishment of isolation and had worked hard to become fit to one day rule the kingdom. Lily had been her only friend. Westalia had trusted her. However, Lily hadn’t felt the same way, because she was in fact aiming for the queen’s throne herself. All this time, she had been scheming—and acting on those schemes—to steal the position of the crown prince’s fiancée.
Westalia, who had trusted Lily, had soon become the most hated person in the country without even realizing that she had been betrayed. Lily had pretended to be the only one on Westalia’s side, but she had relied on her mother to sully Westalia’s name. Lily herself had raised the poisoned cup to her lips right in front of Westalia to frame her for the poisoning. And after drinking the poison, Lily had told her smugly that it was all part of the plan.
As the daughter of the former queen, a woman of great power and reputation, Lily’s testimony was enough to convict Westalia. The poison Lily had ingested was so minimal that she had only fallen asleep for a few days, but Westalia had been convicted of the crime of high treason.
Now, a cup of poison was placed in front of Westalia. It was the same poison that Lily herself had drunk, but this was a lethal dose. To imbibe the same poison as her victim—this was to be her final punishment.
Judging by this color and appearance...there’s no doubt, it’s agisakuragi. After ingesting a certain amount of the seeds, one develops cramps, abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, numbness throughout the body...and finally death due to organ failure.
Agisakuragi were rare in this country. They were tall, evergreen trees found in the eastern part of the continent, with seeds containing a toxin that impaired organ function.
Where did Lily even get this poison...?
Westalia calmly observed the poison. The former queen saw her as an enemy and could have threatened her life at any moment, so Westalia had acquired knowledge of poisons to use as a weapon of her own, just in case. The idea had come from that boy who had once wandered into the palace.
The crowd swelled with excitement. Behind the deafening cheers, the sound of heels clicking on cobblestones could be heard.
“Princess! You must not approach! Purge that criminal from your thoughts!”
“No! Westalia is my dear friend! It hurts that she betrayed me, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about her. Let me talk to her one last time!” Lily rushed up to Westalia, ignoring the pleas of her attendants and escorting knights. The people around her were moved, murmuring about how kind she was to take pity on the person who had tried to kill her and to even be present at her execution.
What a terrible farce, Westalia thought with a snort as Lily stood in front of her, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re a good actress.”
“Thank you for that,” Lily said, wiping the expression off her face. She picked up the cup of poison that Westalia was about to drink from, gazed down at Westalia with a chilling gaze, and then drew close to her ear.
“I’m so glad to finally be rid of you.”
So she’s finally shown her true colors, Westalia thought, remaining silent. Lily drew back and narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t her usual flowery smile but a grin that sent a chill creeping down Westalia’s spine. In that moment, she was reminded—whether she wanted to be or not—that the kind, pure woman she’d thought she’d known was nothing more than an illusion.
“You’ve always been such an eyesore with that stoic look on your face. But you’re getting what you deserve. How I’ve waited to see you in such a miserable state. So, how does it feel? To fall from the lap of luxury straight to the depths of hell?” Lily’s lips curled into an icy sneer. Westalia, her hands now unbound, was unfazed, and with a graceful gesture, as if she were drinking liquor, she took the poisoned cup and brought it to her lips.
“It feels wonderful.”
“What?!” Lily was taken aback by her response.
Westalia continued to smile as she drank down every drop of the poisoned liquid. The poison soon took effect, and Westalia’s consciousness faded along with her pain. Blood trickled from her mouth, and the last thing she saw in her blurry vision was Lily’s face. Betrayed by her best friend, she had lost her position and her honor. Everything she had worked so hard for had gone up in smoke. On top of all that, she was being executed as a villainess. She could only thank Lily for giving her such a rare experience. She was happy that her sarcastic remark at the end had caused such an amusing expression to appear on the other woman’s face.
If you fall so far that you can fall no farther, your only choice left is to crawl upward from the depths. Oh, Lily, that face... I’ll burn it into my memory.
And after a few agonizing moments, Westalia let go of her consciousness. The crowd roared at the spectacular end of the most evil woman of the century. However, Lily was the only one who felt that something was off about Westalia—and the strange calm she retained in the face of her imminent death.