The Obsession of a Fallen Paladin

2. The Fallen Paladin and Gullible Villainess (2)

Pfft.

Simon, standing in front of Kasha, made a sound as if forcibly suppressing his laughter.

“Do you really believe that, by any chance? That we got married? You silly thing. Did we stand before a priest and exchange vows, or did we fill out a marriage certificate?”

“……”

“Sigh. This is exactly why you’re a problem. You thought you could make magical weapons, yet you know nothing about the ways of the world, do you? Can’t even communicate properly.”

He raised his voice in genuine frustration. Kasha’s face slowly contorted.

Am I stupid?

You were like that. Kasha, you were always so shy that I had to go to the temple alone to register our marriage. I told you to focus on your work. Let’s go greet Father and Brother soon.

And then you even put a ring on your finger. That ring they threw away because it bothered them when the guards were pulling out my nails. That guards said because the ring was cheap.

But she couldn’t say anything despite feeling her throat constricting to the point of suffocation.

Whenever she got tense or angry, she always ended up like this. Stumbling over words like an idiot or shutting her mouth like a mute. Perhaps it all started when Simon threw those words out of anger.

“You, when you get all flustered and ramble like that… it’s annoying. It would be better if you just shut your mouth altogether.”

She already knew everyone found her ridiculous. But Simon’s words were a tremendous shock. Since then, she reduced her already limited speech even further.

She did only what she could do. The only things Simon acknowledged. Locked away in the isolated laboratory at the top of the tower, she researched and created magical weapons as Simon directed.

‘You’re truly the best, Kasha. You’re a genius. I love you!’

At that moment, she believed that what twinkled in his eyes was love.

That’s why, when she was suddenly labeled as a villainess and chased by the imperial army, rather than blaming Simon, she just ran away as he commanded.

“Kasha. Today’s the day. Your execution.”

Simon said coolly. Kasha lifted her weary eyes to look directly at his face. It was futile.

In fact, she had already understood the situation long ago. Since the day he didn’t bother to bring her any news while she was imprisoned and tortured for months.

She had been thoroughly exploited by him, and finally, she realized she had been betrayed. It came slowly but painfully.

But to die? Now he wanted her dead?

Believing that there must have been some misunderstanding, some reason behind it, she had endured this situation just to keep her faith. And he was so casually discussing her death.

As she brooded over this, a sharp winter wind suddenly blew through the gaps in the window bars. At the same time, a strange scent carried by the wind stimulated her nose.

Flowers?

A languid yet intense fragrance. Like something that would emanate from a poisonous flower.

Swish.

She heard the sound of a fan being unfolded from somewhere. Simon wouldn’t be carrying around a fan used by women.

‘What’s this? Is there someone else in this cell right now?’

“Oh. Is the smell too unbearable? Then why did you bother to come down here? Such a distinguished person. I’ll take care of everything and finish the confirmation.”

At Simon’s sudden words, Kasha hesitated and reacted.

“Who…?”

But no one answered her question. Simon was talking to someone in a sneaky tone that Kasha had never heard before.

“After this woman is executed, there will be no evidence left. The secret of the mana stones will be buried forever with this woman’s death.”

Before Kasha could fully realize the horrifying truth behind Simon’s words, the prison door opened again, and the guards called Kasha’s name.

“Katiana Ruschino. Come out.”

“Where to…?”

“Where else? To the gallows.”

For the past few months, the guards who had toyed with her body like a plaything chuckled as they replied.

“Farewell, Kasha. You’ve been through a lot. I’ll make sure to build your tomb, thinking of all the things you’ve done for me.”

Simon’s farewell, as if using all his compassion, finally loosened her tightly sealed throat.

“No! It wasn’t me! It was all him! He ordered everything! I really didn’t know anything. Simon Blancsh, that man ordered everything!!”

Thud.

With a moment of tremendous pain, her barely summoned courage to expose the truth was shattered. Simon kicked her in the face.

Hot blood instantly covered her face. Merciless violence followed upon her thoroughly battered body.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you just went to your death gracefully? All this time, you’ve been pandering to your vile taste, pretending to have a heart! How much effort did I put into it! Do you even realize how embarrassing it was for me?”

And finally, as Simon’s kick struck her temple, the world turned completely dark.

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself already with her neck on the gallows.

Rotten eggs, fish, excrement, and the like were flying around, leaving splotchy stains on her body.

Thousands of people gathered in the square shouted in unison.

“Die! Die! Die!”

Her vision was almost completely gone. She lifted her head from the crowd swaying in her blurry view and looked up at the sky. A cloudless sky. The outside world she longed for so much.

The white object flying through the sky might be a bird. Strangely, only the shape of that white bird was clear.

Trying to forget her fear and focusing only on that, an unexpected voice reached her ears.

“…I’m sorry, Kasha.”

The voice of a middle-aged man, filled with despair. Kasha was taken aback.

“Father?”

Her adoptive father. Was he here?

“Father, please come to your senses!”

The next voice that came through was clear.

“Daryl?”

The eldest son of the Ruschino family. Her stepbrother. Always disdainful of Kasha.

The wealthy men of the family had come to witness Kasha’s execution… to witness the disgrace of the Ruschino family.

Then Daryl’s voice followed.

“…I’ve asked the executioner to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible. That’s… all we can do for you now, Kasha Ruschino.”

Daryl’s melancholic voice, always so blunt.

“I really don’t understand you until the end. Did we… make you like this?”

“Please come down. The execution is about to begin.”

The executioner’s blunt voice was heard, followed by the sound of Daryl supporting her father and moving away.

“Fa…ther… Broth…er….”

She couldn’t even properly call them until the end.

A single tear streamed down her dirty cheek, flowing down the groove of the gallows.

“No. I didn’t… I really…”

She murmured in a fading voice. But no one paid attention to her words anymore. Just like her life had always been.

A life where no one welcomed her. She survived by crouching down and hiding her body. To avoid becoming an unwelcome guest.

But was that enough?

Was life like that?

Now, she was paying the full price for her innocence and foolishness.

Kasha muttered words that no one would hear.

“Just one more time… Can’t you give me a chance?”

Just one more time.

Just once, she wanted to live properly.

She hadn’t crouched down and lived like this just for this.

She hadn’t endured all that loneliness just to die like this.

Give me one more chance.

Rather than living as a fool, she’d rather become a real villain.

In the moment when a tear fell and she looked up at the sky, she had a strange illusion of meeting the white bird flying through the sky.

And then, in the next instant,

Thunk.

The blade of the gallows severed her neck.

Her eyes lost their light.

That’s how Kasha died on her twenty-first birthday.

* * *

It was certain.

“Cough!”

The next moment, Kasha gasped with a strange sound.

“…?”

Every time she took a breath, something entered her nose and mouth.

‘What’s this?’

A strange yet familiar smell. The fresh and fragrant smell of soil.

‘…Is it soil?’

She looked up abruptly. And she immediately met the gaze of someone.

A maid dressed in a familiar maid’s outfit, staring at her with a shocked expression.

“Oh… Miss? Why are you lying down here like this?”

The name of that maid, that is.

“Sena?”

The name blurted out reflexively from Kasha’s lips, causing Sena’s brown eyes to widen.

“Oh my… Miss. You knew my name?”

“….”

Looking at her surprised face, Kasha became even more bewildered.

Sena was a maid of the Count Ruschino. Why on earth was she here? Did she come to watch the execution with the Count?

No, more importantly.

‘I can see.’

Sena’s round face with freckles on her nose and cheeks, smiling at her in front of her eyes, was clearly visible.

‘And this place is….’

She looked around.

This place where she was lying down was not on the gallows. This place was…

‘The Count Ruschino’s garden?’

The mansion owned by the Count Ruschino, who took her in as his daughter after her mother’s death, where she lived from the age of twelve to nineteen.

‘What on earth happened?’

She slowly got up. Then she hesitated.

Parts of her body had lost sensation or fallen off due to frostbite. Every finger, every toe, every part of her body returned to feeling.

She immediately took off her shoes and counted her ten toes one by one.

“They’re fine…!”

As she muttered in a dazed face, she noticed Sena’s astonished gaze at her strange behavior.

To Kasha, it was actually a familiar gaze.

Discomfort. Disappointment. Pity or disgust.

People always looked at her with a mixture of these emotions. And she repeated the process of crouching down each time.

But now, she surprisingly felt more clear-headed. Kasha asked Sena,

“How old am I… right now?”

It was an awkward tone, but Sena was familiar with such a young lady.

Kasha, the troublemaker of the Count Ruschino, was originally such a person. She only chose actions that were gloomy and incomprehensible.

‘But really, you can’t even remember my age now?’

Unable to hide her stiff face, Sena barely answered.

“You turned nineteen just six months ago.”

Hah. Kasha closed her soil-filled mouth. The earthy smell tickled her nose.

Nineteen. The beginning of nineteen.

She had gone back to the past.

A shiver ran down her spine.

She sprang up from the dirt floor.