How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending - Chapter 104.2
“Why are you so surprised? It is not as if this is the first time I have heard such a thing.”
“I- I am deeply sorry, Your Highness. It is merely wild nonsense whispered by ignorant peasants who know no better.”
“Enough, that is not what is important right now.”
I replied calmly, having actually become quite composed.
A similar rumor had spread back when Constantine showed symptoms of mushak poisoning, around the time I was wandering around the graveyard looking for the corpse flower to create an antidote. Even back then, there was some basis for it. After all, there were people who had actually seen me, and the place where I happened to catch their eye was the graveyard of the Grand Ducal family.
However, the rumor back then had not been this detailed and vivid.
This time, for some reason, I could not understand the cause. Too many specific testimonies were pouring out, as if demons had truly appeared.
I slowly stood up from my seat. My fingertips had gone cold.
“I must check this myself. I will start by touring the areas where the rumors are most severe.”
“No, Your Highness. Walking out there yourself is dangerous.”
Wilhelm, who had been watching quietly, immediately stepped forward and opposed the idea. Following behind him, Mildred shook his head at the same time as well.
I paused for a moment and narrowed my eyes.
“Is the atmosphere so turbulent that you are worried something dangerous will happen to me if I go?”
“……I am deeply sorry.”
It seemed public sentiment had already been shaken as much as it could be. If that was the case, I could hold out and sit with my hands bound inside the Grand Ducal Castle even less.
“We will deploy a sufficient number of escort guards, and Lord Mildred shall accompany me. With that much, what could possibly happen?”
Wilhelm parted his lips as if to argue back with an unconvinced face. However, I raised a hand to cut off his words.
“If I do not check it with my own eyes, nothing will be resolved. Furthermore, time is of the essence right now. Are they not saying that the crops we took such pains to distribute are being thrown away? That means the number of starving people must have greatly increased.”
At this rate, it was bound to lead to a result where every single person of Hezekia would starve to death.
As if sensing the gravity of the situation, Wilhelm and Mildred also took a step back and bowed their waists. We had to cut off the malicious rumors somehow and increase the distribution of batatas.
❖ ❖ ❖
I hurriedly boarded a carriage and headed toward a village near the Grand Ducal Castle. Lord Mildred led the escort guards and followed the carriage.
The scenery visible outside the carriage window was endlessly gloomy. A thick fog blanketed the fields darkly. As we entered the village entrance, nothing but windows closed without a trace of presence and tightly bolted doors greeted us from house to house. An strangely heavy air hung over the entire village.
Right then, a harsh shout erupted from the direction of the plaza. The dismal silence was instantly shattered as a sense of tension blanketed the village.
“Burn that cursed bitch!”
“Throw the witch into the fire! We must destroy her soul!”
Through the chaotically tangled shouts, I could hear a crackling sound like wood burning down. An acrid smell created by the thick smoke billowed out and was spreading. Suddenly, my fingertips trembled of their own accord. The noise and the smell were not unfamiliar.
It was the exact atmosphere of the burning at the stake that I had encountered in the plaza of Port Kalhaven on the Northern Continent.
“We must go over there. Hurry!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lord Mildred replied briefly, and at the same time, the coachman drove the horses fiercely. In the plaza where we arrived shortly after, what we confronted was a total pandemonium.
It seemed as though not only the villagers but even the estate residents from the nearby regions had all swarmed to this place. A vast crowd packed the plaza to capacity. Faces distorted with anger and fear shouted clamorously from all over.
In the very center of it all, on top of a piled-up heap of firewood, an old woman whose entire body was wound tightly and bound with a coarse rope knelt with her head dropped low. A few pieces of the scattered firewood were already caught on fire.
“Light more fire! I said we must destroy that evil spirit, hurry!”
“I saw it with my own eyes, the demons flying through the sky and making bizarre noises. That old woman was definitely among them!”
“My child wakes up startled every night at the crying of the crows. The witch must be controlling the flock of crows. How horrifying!”
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