TSMMT Ch 129

Herya the Enchantress (3)

[Herya] "You vile bastard!"

She shrieked in rage, her body trembling uncontrollably with fury. Gren seemed thoroughly satisfied by her reaction.

[Gren] "You deserve to die far more miserably and painfully than the agony you inflicted on me."

[Herya] "Hnnngh!"

[Gren] "Your loose, pathetic body deserves to be punished."

[Herya] "...AAAAH!"

[Gren] "Ah, Herya. Your screaming face is so hideously beautiful."

[Herya] "AAAAAAAH!"

She shrieked continuously. After Gren departed, she spent days writhing and screaming in agony.

[Herya] "Human men... all male bastards are the exact same!"

She had weaponized her beauty to seduce and captivate men at will, bending everything to her desires. Whenever she wished, men prostrated themselves at her feet.

Yet, the moment a man no longer desired her, her power evaporated into nothingness. When a powerful man changed his mind, her authority proved a mere illusion. She had failed to realize that truth.

When men lay beneath her, entranced by her body in bed, she believed their fleeting promises to grant her everything. She had mistaken that for absolute power. Born in the Abyssal Forest and its swamps, Herya had lacked the wisdom to know any better.

[Herya] "Mother, Mother, Motheeeer!"

For days, she cried out for her mother. Yet, no one came to her aid. Only Gren returned to observe her downfall with ravenous delight.

[Gren] "Do you want to save your child?"

He appeared once more, looking down at Guiscard's mother. Stepping inside the cell from beyond the iron bars, he wore a smirk. As if feeding on Herya's stolen smile, his face glowed with cruel satisfaction.

Herya no longer resisted. In truth, she lacked even the strength to fight back.

[Gren] "Herya, I asked if you want to save your child."

[Herya] "That brat isn't my child."

[Gren] "If you desire it, I am willing to grant that mercy."

He lifted her chin. Herya gazed at him with a dazed expression. Grimacing in disgust, he looked down at her filth-stained body.

[Gren] "You've grown so filthy you're unbearable to look at."

[Herya] "..."

[Gren] "Clean yourself first. I loathe filthy flesh."

[Herya] "..."

[Gren] "Satisfy me well."

He stroked her tear-stained cheek.

Glancing briefly toward Guiscard, Herya stepped out of the cell. He didn't want to know what they intended to do.

From the prison washroom echoed harrowing sounds. A woman's agonizing cries mingled with groans and shrieks. Guiscard covered his ears tightly, refusing to listen. Herya was violated to the very end before being hurled back into the cell.

[Gren] "Fine, I will let him live."

He sneered with a sinister smile. Herya sobbed softly.

[Gren] "Tomorrow is your execution day. I indulged myself out of fear I might miss out, but you've become pathetic now."

She flinched violently. Neither of them had known her execution date. Though she screamed in frantic rage, Gren simply turned and walked away.

Death. Execution.

The sheer terror consuming Herya was glaringly obvious to Guiscard. Suffocating beneath the weight of impending death, she eventually collapsed onto her back, staring blankly at the ceiling.

[Herya] "Guiscard."

Guiscard flinched in surprise. Her voice rang out as cold as reverberating iron.

[Herya] "You are the son of the King of Lodbrog."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "You aren't the son of that wretched maid. You are a prince."

Receiving no response from him, she continued.

[Herya] "And you possess dragon blood."

[Guiscard] "Are you saying my father was a dragon?"

She let out a dry, mocking chuckle.

[Herya] "How could that bastard ever be a noble dragon? The dragon lineage belongs to me, not your father."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "They say men who inherit dragon blood grow immensely powerful. That is why your father claimed me. He desperately wanted a powerful heir. Knowing I was the dragon's daughter, he wanted to sire you."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "Isn't such a bloodline inherently unfair? Women who inherit dragon blood are said to be strikingly beautiful, yet beauty is utterly useless. I possessed innate mana and tried to learn magic, but there was no useful magic I could wield. Though it proved useful for pretending to suffer miscarriages."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "You will become an extraordinarily powerful man."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "So survive, and exact my revenge."

She giggled erratically.

[Herya] "Hmm? Please."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "Plea-aaase."

She whined like a child. Guiscard remained silent.

Lacking even the strength to seek vengeance herself, she entrusted her revenge to her son.

What revenge? Guiscard was exhausted, utterly drained.

Dragon bloodline? What purpose did it serve when he, too, was bound to die?

So he ignored her. He didn't even rest a hand on the back of his weeping mother as she trembled in terror before death. He wished for this ordeal to end quickly.

When he ignored her whining, Herya snapped once more.

[Herya] "Ha! You useless piece of trash!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "I should have abandoned you in that forest!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "Do you have any idea what I did to keep you alive?! How much I had to satisfy that bastard...!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Herya] "You vile, heartless brat!"

She shrieked in rage, but Guiscard kept his eyes shut and tried to sleep. He was sick of it all. He wished today would pass, bringing an end to this nightmare. He longed for this dungeon, ringing with her agonizing screams, to finally fall silent.

On the night before her death, Herya vented her rage on someone even weaker than herself. Everything was horrific, absolutely everything.

[H. Priest] "For the crime of employing black magic to bewitch countless men! For the crime of seductive corruption, ensnaring the King—your half-brother—turning him into an incarnation of lust to undermine the realm! Herya of the Forest, Enchantress of Panborough: you shall be cleansed by fire and executed at the stake!"

High priests dispatched from the Holy See of the Pope read the sentence aloud.

Guiscard was dragged along to witness his mother's execution, courtesy of Gren's 'consideration.'

At first, Herya wept, pleading for her life. The Enchantress of extraordinary beauty and mysterious mana was nowhere to be found; only an ordinary human terrified of dying remained.

[Herya] "I don't want to die! No! I hate burning at the stake. It's too hot! Brother, save me!"

She fought to survive until the very last second.

[Herya] "Hmm? Please! Brother, please! You promised you'd protect me!"

She begged the King of Panborough. The tragic fall of a noble, gorgeous woman seemingly offered a twisted thrill, judging by the wide smirk spreading across the King's face.

[Herya] "Ah, no, no, I hate this!"

Even as she was bound to the stake, she struggled frantically to break free. But the ropes tightly constricted her body. She shrieked continuously, and though the noise was piercingly loud, no one bothered to gag her.

[Herya] "Ah, my husband! Call my husband! I have something to tell him!"

At last, she called out for the King of Lodbrog.

Observing her desperate calls, Gren sneered villainously.

[Gren] "Your husband knew long ago that you were a witch and granted permission for your execution."

[Herya] "What?"

[Gren] "How else do you think you arrived in Panborough without being pursued?"

In stark contrast to her face darkening with despair, Gren's expression overflowed with glee. Watching the woman crumble entirely, he smiled radiantly.

[King] "Therefore, witch, accept your execution quietly. Don't sully the name of Panborough further."

The King spoke while striving to maintain composure. Herya shook her head in refusal.

[Herya] "No, I won't die! I won't! Mother... Mother... Mother!"

She wept hysterically. At the King's wave, executioners poured oil over her, drenching her entirely.

[Herya] "Ah, save me, someone please! I'll give you everything, please!"

No one heeded her agony. Only Guiscard stared intently at the scene. Sparks ignited, and flames engulfed her body in an instant.

[Herya] "KYAAAAAH!"

Thus, the woman who had seemed like an absolute ruler vanished into flames. Her agonizing shrieks reverberated through the air.

[Herya] "Die, all of you! Die, die, die!"

Howling like a wounded beast, she cursed the world.

[Herya] "Mother! Motheeeer!"

Struggling frantically amidst the flames, she screamed until her voice turned hoarse.

[Herya] "Mother will never forgive you! She will destroy you all!"

She endured for an agonizingly long time. Until her flesh roasted, her tongue charred, and her lungs burned away. Her radiant white skin turned to black ash, and her magnificent hair melted into nothingness.

[Queen] "Fufu... Quite a spectacle."

[Noble] "Indeed, Your Majesty."

Guiscard watched the Queen of Lodbrog exchanging laughs with the nobles. It was a surreal sight. Not a single person felt distressed by her agonizing death. The aristocrats watched the execution as if it were entertainment. Their glinting eyes felt far more sickening than his burning mother.

[King] "Ah, come to think of it, who is that boy over there? He isn't listed in the records."

Covering his mouth with a handkerchief against the stench, the King pointed at Guiscard. Though he had asked about him in the past, he seemed to have forgotten entirely.

Guiscard bowed his head low.

Will I meet the same fate?

Terror overwhelmed him long before any grief for his mother could take root.

[Gren] "He is a child brought by that witch, the son of the maid she took with her. I confined him just in case."

[King] "Is that so? Since he stayed beside the witch, surely..."

[Gren] "Your Majesty, the investigation proved he is a completely ordinary child. You are well aware of that woman's whims. She merely kept him around as a toy out of boredom."

[King] "What a lunatic woman."

The King shook his head in disgust.

[King] "I have grown sick of that witch. Duke, handle the matter as you see fit."

[Gren] "Understood, Your Majesty."

The King's voice was dismissive, as though losing interest in a mere slave.

[Gren] "Lock him in the dungeon."

Gren locked him in the dungeon once again. Trapped in his cell, Guiscard stared blankly at the space enclosing him.

It was vast. The dungeon cell felt cavernous without Herya, eerie and quiet. Guiscard stared into the empty space, gazing on and on... until tears finally burst forth.

[Guiscard] "Ah... AAAAAAH!"

He couldn't save her. He was a coward. That was why he had ignored his mother's screams for help. She was dead. He had done nothing. He hadn't even patted her back at the end, nor promised to avenge her.

He knew his mother was no good person. Yet, despite everything, she had never once revealed to others that Guiscard was her biological son. Had it been known that he was her son, he too would have been burned at the stake. That secrecy had been her silent protection.

In the empty dungeon, he realized he was now completely alone, stripped even of that half-baked protection. Since his mother's cries no longer resonated in his ears, he filled the vacant space with his own wails.

[Guiscard] "AAAAGH! AAAAAAAAH!"

Tainted by rage, terror, helplessness, and agony, he howled like a beast. Herya's terrified face remained vivid in his mind. He wailed as if desperate to fill the quiet dungeon once more.

To recall what he had lost and to force himself to forget it all over again.

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