Mad Rosetta - Chapter 110

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rosette Gone Mad
Chapter 110
Loyalty and Collapse (11)
“Ahem… Coco. The situation is grave, and I fear I must return to the Capital to address it.”
“Yes, Father, you should.”
“If you wish to accompany me, perhaps you should prepare yourself.”
I hesitated at Father’s question, but my decision came swiftly.
‘I need to meet with Sing and Sergio.’
The fact that I hadn’t received a letter from Sing suggested he was occupied with the Security Bureau’s investigation.
Since Odette was arrested before she could send her letter, Sing could easily clear his name with the right words.
Above all, the Empress Dowager would not let this rest.
“I’ll accompany you this time, Father. I’ll just write a letter to my Maternal Grandfather first.”
“Hmm?”
“…Actually, I sent a letter to Terkikan when Lawrence was arrested, but I still haven’t received a reply.”
I spoke with a note of concern in my voice.
It was also to prevent the blame from falling on Father once more.
I wanted him to know that I was steadily punishing those who had harmed my mother.
‘But the silence is so complete, it makes me anxious.’
It was strange. I had expected that upon learning the truth about my mother’s death, he would rise up in fury.
If he had communicated smoothly with the Imperial Court, he should have at least mentioned it to me, yet his silence was absolute and cold.
“There’s no need to wait.”
“Father?”
“The reply came to me, Coco. You need not wait any longer.”
What was he saying?
I stared at him in confusion, and Father opened his mouth without emotion.
“It seems he deliberately did not reply, likely out of concern for your well-being.”
“…My well-being? Father, if you received a reply, then what…?”
“You must have heard that Lawrence’s execution has been decided.”
Unlike me, who nodded reluctantly, Father’s eyes gleamed sharply for a moment as if recalling someone.
“He will be transported to Terkikan and displayed at the city gate. Though that will only be possible after he draws his last breath.”
“…Pardon?”
“That is why he deliberately did not send you a reply.”
My thoughts froze. I heard Father’s words but remained dumbfounded.
‘What do you mean? Displayed at the gate?’
Lawrence’s execution was certainly announced by the Arcanus Imperial Court.
That meant the Empire was passing judgment on the culprit… but according to Father, Lawrence’s fate fell to Terkikan.
Seeing that I still didn’t understand, Father set down his teacup quietly and spoke again.
“Do you remember when I set out for the Imperial Capital to see that man?”
“Yes… of course.”
How could I forget?
It wasn’t long ago that I felt anxious every time I saw Father withdrawn after Lawrence and Lianna were taken away.
I had never once thought him weak.
Yet the guilt of living with the murderer of his own wife by his side must be unbearable.
I had worried for some time that he might fall ill.
“The negotiations with Terkikan were unavoidable… So we proposed it first. A method by which both nations could punish the culprit.”
“…So it’s unofficial.”
“Don’t you see the image of that wretch’s final moments, pecked to death by birds?”
There was no laughter in his sardonic tone.
The Empire needed to judge the culprit who harmed the Duchess and demonstrate politically that it would not yield him to another nation.
Terkikan likely felt the same, though their fury at Lawrence for murdering the Princess probably burned far hotter than the Empire’s.
So on the surface, Lawrence would be executed in the Empire, but in reality, Terkikan would handle his disposal.
‘I thought the death sentence came down faster than expected. I never imagined negotiations would begin the moment Lawrence was captured…’
Wait.
Didn’t Father say he received a reply to the letter I sent?
“…Could it be… Father did this?”
I raised my voice in shock without thinking.
“What if I did?”
“…”
“Did you think I would let the one who made Ariel suffer die peacefully?”
Father’s eyes were chilling, far beyond mere composure.
“I will have him whipped and hung at the Terkican City Gate. If he dies being torn apart alive by birds, I will behead him and hang him again.”
“…”
“He will be buried nowhere… So perhaps he might never encounter Ariel wandering the Underworld?”
In Father’s eyes, anguish seemed to surge violently.
The murderous aura was menacing and chilling.
I had thought he was merely struggling to contain his grief over losing Mother… but it seemed what was visible was not everything.
“Perhaps he finds it awkward to explain the punishment to you in detail. So Coco, it would be better if you pretended not to know.”
This meant that because Lawrence’s punishment was rather cruel, Maternal Grandfather had refrained from answering.
Still, even so. I wish he’d told me something.
I pursed my lips before responding.
“Understood. Then Father, please convey the matters regarding Lianna and Odette well to Grandfather.”
“I shall. Now you should go prepare. What if we departed before dawn tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll have everything ready.”
At Father’s words telling me to rest, I left the Study.
Upon hearing we were going to the Imperial Capital, the children hurriedly began packing, and watching them, I felt my shoulders grow lighter.
The finish line was in sight.
That’s what I thought.
* * *
“You may enter.”
Creak…
As the guard opened the door, a stench that assaulted my nostrils made me grimace.
For commoners with confirmed charges, sentences were served not in the Imperial Palace Underground, but in detention facilities under the Security Bureau.
Death row inmates among them were managed in a separate section—this very place.
Since civilians rarely gained access inside the prison itself, it amounted to a special privilege, and the cautious demeanor of my guide was unmistakable.
‘A place I wouldn’t wish to linger in for even a moment.’
The moment I stepped inside, the gazes of those confined in solitary cells fixed upon me.
I encountered hollow eyes and vacant stares, heard vulgar jests mocking my womanhood.
Yet each time, the guards swiftly silenced them by striking the bars with rough clangs.
Father had gone to meet the Emperor the moment we arrived in Jedo—the very one he’d been rebuffed by before.
Thus, ignoring Father’s reluctant protests, I came to the detention facility alone.
“…How you look now, Butler.”
“….”
…No. Now you’re simply the culprit Lawrence.
I had come to see Lawrence.
Had he endured torture rather than mere interrogation?
His unkempt hair hung matted and greasy, tangled in every direction.
His complexion was so ashen it would be no exaggeration to call it earthen.
He had possessed a sturdy build once, but now his cheeks were hollow, his body slumped like a wet rag.
If I had to name one thing that remained unchanged from before…it would be his burgundy eyes.
Beneath Lawrence’s deeply sunken eyelids, eyes that seemed resigned to everything gazed upon me.
‘…Even now, holding his head high with such composure.’
Lawrence remained composed, as though untouched by fear.
In that moment, displeasure surged within me.
Originally, I had no intention of seeing Lawrence. Truly, I had no further curiosity about him.
It was simply that Lianna and Odette were likely still undergoing interrogation, so seeing him would yield little meaning.
Thus, having come to Jedo anyway, I visited to say what I had long wished to tell him.
“I heard your execution date has been set. You seem to be accepting it more calmly than I expected.”
“…So the only reason you came was to mock me. Your vulgarity remains unchanged, Lady.”
…Wow.
It was an aggressiveness so unfamiliar to me that I was momentarily taken aback.
So this was how he had been viewing me all along.
I thought I had seen his true nature from the moment he strangled my neck…yet he continues to surprise me with his audacity.
I glanced subtly at the guard, signaling him to leave.
He, accustomed to such situations, said he would wait outside and departed.
The door closed with an irritating sound, and I fixed my gaze upon the seated Lawrence once more.
“The vulgar ones are your masters. Those who would kill to seize the positions they desire.”
“A position reveals its true value only when occupied by one who deserves it.”
“Ah, much like the shackles you wear? I was just thinking how perfectly suited they are.”
As I spoke with full mockery, Lawrence gazed at me intently.
His eyes were vacant, as though regarding a worthless insect.
Realizing that such mockery only worked on certain people, I let out a final chuckle before speaking.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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