Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Warning: Gruesome scenes ahead, please read with caution.

Night after night, I suffered from nightmares and woke up in the middle of the night. I had nightmares almost every night, and even if I managed to fall asleep, I would soon be awoken again.

Due to the lack of sleep, I consequently lost my appetite and hardly ate. If I only did that, people wouldn’t talk about me that badly.

Even when someone called me, I just sat there with a blank expression at my designated seat. Sometimes, I screamed or muttered into the air.

Sitting next to the mansion’s cat, I wept and dwelled on my misfortune. On one particular rainy day, I stood in the garden, completely soaked in the downpour. Besides that, in the middle of the night, I wandered barefoot around the mansion…….

As I recalled my past actions one by one, I shivered as if I had been blown by a cold wind. Yeah, that’s right. Anyone who saw me in that state would call me a ‘crazy woman’.

“You seem a little different. The changes were a bit…”

“Yes.”

“You are absolutely not crazy, Dr. Raymond said that you are just a bit unwell.”

I felt sorry to see her trying so hard to explain it nicely. “It’s true that I went crazy.” I waved my hand.

“No, Milady is not crazy. Milady is just………”

“Yes, yes. Thank you. I won’t forget this gratitude when I manage to save my neck later.” (t/n: save her neck = escape from being hanged)

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. I’ll go back to my room and rest. I feel a little tired.”

“Pardon? Oh, yes. You haven’t been able to sleep lately, have you? Would you like a cup of tea? Dr. Raymond recommended a tea to help you sleep well.”

“Yes, I’d like that.” I grabbed Rona’s hand tightly as she was about to go to the kitchen. “Thank you so much, Rona.”

‘Yes……?” With her hand between my clasped hands, Rona looked at me hesitantly.

“I’m really glad that you’re here.”

“What does Milady mean? All of a sudden? Does Milady feel unwell?” Wondering if I was out of my mind, she examined me closely.

I turned my head away to avoid her eyes. “Go and get me the tea quickly.”

“Yes.” Rona turned around and walked away hurriedly.

As I watched her receding figure, I felt like my energy was completely drained and flopped down. ‘Selena’s’ reflection appeared on the glistening marble floor. Although she was a duchess, she looked sad and pitiful.

With the dark circles beneath her eyes, she looked as gaunt as the sickly Amoide. The sunken cheeks reflected the mental distress she endured the past two weeks. The reason why I couldn’t sleep in the last two weeks…was quite complicated, if I was to talk about it.

“Why am I ‘Selena’?”

My hair was all messed up. Certainly, I was the very image of a crazy woman. But I wasn’t crazy. Rather, I wish I could become crazy. In this situation, wouldn’t anyone be crazy?

If one day, someone suddenly said that she had regained the memory of her past life, who would believe her? What’s more, this is……the book I read because I was tricked.

Besides, my role………

‘The wicked lady who killed her husband, Selena, was hanged for poisoning her sick husband.’

*****

Selena, a supporting character in the novel “Lady Crown”, was the daughter of a very poor noble family. It was because her parents who gave birth to Selena and five younger siblings one after another when they were young…were dead.

Her father, who led a rather large business in the Empire, died in a shipwreck on his way back from abroad and her mother died while prematurely giving birth to her fifth younger sibling.

Everything happened so suddenly. The only things left were the creditor’s visit and the huge debt her father incurred while doing business. There was still a lot to pay off on the debt.

So, she worked in random jobs. Cleaner, cook, and seamstress by night. She even sold all of her household furniture, but the debts were still growing. Interests piled up and snowballed as time passed, and her younger siblings often cried because they were hungry.

Selena did everything she could. Cleaning, laundry, nursing, dishwashing, cooking, and other various jobs…….She also worked as a sales clerk at a shop as well as a bartender and cook in a bar. She accepted any jobs or errands without being selective.

Then one day, the Duchess of Efret came. Out of blue, a distinguished duchess dropped by, flustering Selena from the sudden visit. Then, she received an even more shocking offer.

The Duchess had a sickly son. The sickly duke, who may die at any time, sooner or later, was the only heir to the Efret dukedom. If he died without a successor, their noble bloodline would end.

However, no noble family was willing to marry their daughter to a sickly man who might die soon, even for the Efret dukedom, a wealthy and powerful family with the highest lineage in the Empire.

So, the Duchess chose the best alternative. She decided to look for a noble daughter of a poor noble family with a good reputation and social status in the society to be her daughter-in-law. The fecundity of her future daughter-in-law must be indisputable, which could be determined by looking at both of her paternal and maternal lineages.

Moreover, her future daughter-in-law must also have no parents and guardians, so there would be no familial opposition to her marrying a sickly man. Selena, the daughter of a noble family that suddenly collapsed, matched all of these criteria to be the duke’s ideal wife.

“If you give birth to my son’s successor, I will pay off your debts, and support the lives of your younger siblings.”

There was no reason to reject the offer. Selena immediately signed the marriage contract, packed her luggage, and moved to the dukedom. It would have become a happy ending if Selena, who got married just like that, became the Duchess, gave birth to a successor, and lived well.

Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out like that. She spent the last moments of her life as ‘the wicked lady who killed her husband’, standing on the gallows awaiting execution.

(It’s not me! Not me!)

‘The wicked lady’ Selena was said to have shouted those sentences repeatedly until the end. But all the evidence, which was revealed one after another, pointed directly at Selena, and eventually, her claims of innocence were brushed aside.

[Selena shouted with a wicked face at the execution site and claimed her innocence. And her look was very horrible……]

That was how, Veronica, the heroine of the novel ‘Lady Crown’, described Selena’s execution. Veronica was also at her execution.

[……the Duchess of Efret was beyond description. The sparsely decayed flesh and pus-flowing wounds…the duchess didn’t look like the noble lady I used to know.]

Selena and Veronica had met before. There was a scene where Selena visited her several times, as she admired Veronica, the crown princess. Veronica felt rather miserable because they had several amicable encounters, though they were not close.

[I prayed for her. Though she may have been wicked and did a terrible thing, I hope her soul will be saved.]

The memoirs, which she wrote so elegantly, vividly depicted the terrible events of the time.

The crown princess was only present at such an odious event because the deceased Amoide was from the dukedom which had mixed blood with the royal family. As the first Duke of Efret was the brother of the emperor who founded the empire, his family was as noble as the royal family.

Many royal families and nobles gathered for the execution of Selena, who killed her husband who had blood ties with the crown prince. The crown prince and his wife also watched the punishment of the wicked duchess who had killed the sickly duke. They chattered at the sight of Selena, who had turned ugly. They seemed to cover their eyes with fans and hats, but their eyes flashed with lunacy.

Selena’s body had become almost like a ghost while she was locked up during the investigative process. For a long time, she had been tortured to make her confess and detained in a prison without sunlight. The place to sleep was a hard floor contaminated with rat faeces and only spoiled food was provided for her.

All of that was directed by Camilla. Originally, nobles would be imprisoned in a relatively good facility, unlike commoners, until their sentences were executed. But Selena was given no such mercy. She was locked in the prison designated for the worst sinners in the Empire.

Of course, it all was due to Camilla. Camilla bribed the prison guard to make things worse for Selena. As a result, Selena’s skin became infected, full of ugly abscesses and swellings, and her body became as thin as a sheet.

The execution took place at the square in front of everyone. Selena was originally scheduled to be punished to death by burning, but legally, she was still the “Duchess of Efret” because she was a noblewoman and had not been divorced. The judges in charge of her trial ruled that her body should be left intact for only that reason.

“Let no part of the body be separated from the body so as to respect the dignity of the sinner.”

But for Selena, it was not a beautiful death. Camilla could not have watched her daughter-in-law, who killed her son, die easily. Camilla bribed the executioner to make Selena suffer as much as possible.

To torment Selena as long as possible, Camilla put all of her might at the last minute. She directed that Selena’s neck was to be tied tight enough not to die quickly, and consequently the execution lasted for three days and nights.

Even after finally losing her breath, Selena was hanged on the execution gallows for a long time. She struggled to stand at the end of the gallows platform to be executed. This was all due to the judges’ order to keep the body intact.

That was the end of the Selena I knew.