Chapter 12
The day of the execution came quickly, Harumasa was escorted by the kingdom's most elite soldiers and high-ranking mages. The iron shackles were really heavy, and the magic used on him also caused him pain. But Harumasa had already accepted his fate. The mages dressed him in a black hooded cloak, completely covering his bruised and bloody face. The others rode horses, and he had to walk. If he walked too slowly, someone would pull the chain attached to the magic-controlling shackles on his neck, forcing him to walk faster.
Harumasa had to walk out of the palace and out of the city, exactly the same path he had taken when sending invitations to high-ranking nobles. The people on both sides of the road still avoided him as before, but the previous respectful and welcoming attitude was no longer there. The insults and curses rang out endlessly. He suddenly felt lucky that he couldn't hear those words anymore, because that would be too noisy.
Suddenly, he felt something hit his head. It was hard but not heavy, quite painful, probably a rock.
Oh, he stepped on one, it was indeed a rock, although not big but it hurt quite a bit when hit. Not to mention, he was seriously injured. Obviously, who would treat a prisoner who had committed the crime of assassinating the kingdom's only prince. His broken ribs were not properly treated and it hurt every time he walked. Since he couldn't see, he stepped on quite a few rocks. He felt the soles of his feet were a bit wet, maybe the rocks had torn the soles of his feet.
Something else seemed to have been thrown at Harumasa's head, and it broke, dripping onto his hood. Let him guess, maybe rotten eggs. Then there must have been rotten vegetables and the like. It was only natural that they would hate the person who had intentionally killed their prince, not to mention that he was a member of the Aku Empire.
No one would feel sorry for him when he died.
Unfortunately, Harumasa had not yet seen his 'family' for the last time. It must have been more than ten years since they had last said goodbye. He felt a little homesick for their voices and appearances.
What did Princess Miyabi look like? He only remembered that she had long black hair, and the long fox ears typical of the fox thiren. As for her eye color... he couldn't remember...
Knight Yanagi had pink hair, did her eyes have the same color? Perhaps she had grown up, most likely already becoming the knight captain leading the soldiers of the Aku Empire. I remember the day she and he secretly went to the kitchen to steal some cakes and were discovered by the head chef. Although they were both scolded, they were still given some cakes to eat.
Soukaku the Sorcerer, that little girl probably hadn't grown taller yet, after all, the oni race had a slower growth rate than normal people. But with her status, she was probably already an adult. And if we were to count them by normal people's age, she would have been an adult long ago.
Harumasa couldn't remember their voices or appearances anymore. When they stood together, he didn't know who was taller.
Since they were on foot, they had to leave two days in advance to arrive on time. As a prisoner who had committed a serious crime, Harumasa was obviously not treated like a normal person. He was always guarded by at least four people. Lycaon, Rina, and Ellen were naturally accompanying him, while Corin stayed by Wise's side to serve him.
Obviously, Wise did not know about their departure two days before the execution date.
Lycaon saw Harumasa leaning against a tree. Lycaon had called out to him earlier, but when he lifted his cloak's hood and saw that his eyes were closed, Lycaon thought that he was asleep, so he did not bother him anymore. After all, Harumasa was obviously exhausted after a whole day like this, not to mention that he was also seriously injured. A normal person would have collapsed long ago.
As soon as dawn came, they set off again, predicting that they would arrive in the afternoon and could carry out the hanging the next morning.
Harumasa's steps slowed down, probably due to the wounds on the soles of his feet, which were extremely painful every time he took a step. But the soldiers would not slow down, they kept pulling the chains, causing the shackles on Harumasa's neck to continuously collide with his neck. If the shackles were removed, it would be easy to see the horrible bruises on his smooth white neck. But no one would care about that. That's what Harumasa thought.
Because he had lost his sight, Harumasa did not notice that Lycaon, Rina, and Ellen would occasionally sneak glances at him as if to make sure he could continue walking. Ellen tightly gripped the horse's reins, she could not believe that Harumasa was a spy for the Aku Empire. She still remembered the days when they happily found ways to skip work together, found a quiet corner to rest, and occasionally chatted and ate together. With all that time together, she thought she understood Harumasa very well.
But it turned out she didn't understand him at all.
The whole life of a person named Harumasa was a lie.
.
The morning of the day of the punishment arrived, Wise had already prepared everything. But he had a bad feeling, why could he only see Corin by his side serving him. Normally it would be Rina if Lycaon was busy. But now he didn't see them, not even Ellen.
"Hey Corin, where are the Lycaon group?"
Corin heard Wise's question and raised his head to look at him, "Your Highness, they joined the escort team to Harumasa's hanging place two days ago... I heard it would start at eight o'clock this morning..."
Wise's face suddenly paled, he grabbed Corin's shoulder, asking once more, "They left?! Two days ago?!"
“Yes…! The prince doesn’t know…?, Corin was startled when Wise suddenly grabbed her shoulder. She thought the prince already knew, so she didn’t mention it anymore. Because she was worried that the prince would feel sad that Harumasa would soon be hanged. But it turned out, Wise didn’t know about it at all.
“Oh shit…! Tell my tutor that I won't be attending today's lecture, tell him to lecture Belle!"
Wise hurriedly gathered all his books into his magic bag, then quickly put on his cloak and ran to get his horse. Corin was flustered, not knowing what to do, so he hurriedly ran to find the other servants in the palace. Wise ran so fast that he didn't expect that one day he would be so hasty that he wouldn't care about his princely image anymore. He went down to the stables, got his horse, and quickly urged his horse out of the palace. The guards had just changed shifts, and before they could close the gate, Wise rode out on his horse, startling them.
Wise didn't have time to pay attention to the gazes of the people and everything around him anymore. The only thing he focused on now was to get there in time before Harumasa was hanged. He had to stop that right away.
.
Lycaon would be the one to lead Harumasa to the right place. The butler slowly removed Harumasa's robe. It was still the same shirt and trousers, but now they were soaked with dried blood. His face was now pale, covered with dirt, blood, and bruises. His bangs covered his golden eyes, which had lost their light, becoming darker than ever. Both his wrists and ankles were covered with heavy iron shackles connected by chains.
"Asaba Harumasa, do you have any last words before you die?"
Harumasa was completely silent to Lycaon's question, and Lycaon did not know that Harumasa could no longer hear or see. There was no answer for ten minutes, then a magician told Lycaon to lead Harumasa to the magic circle on the ground, below the pillar where the noose was already hung. Anyway, it was almost time, whether Harumasa left a last message or not was not important.
Lycaon had no other choice, he led Harumasa to the right position of the magic circle that was already on the ground. Then, he removed the shackles that controlled the magic power on Harumasa's neck. And surprisingly, Harumasa did not try to use magic to escape like he thought.
The magic circle was activated, Harumasa was lifted up and the noose was tightened around his neck. When the magic circle was deactivated, there was nothing holding him up anymore.
Wise was too late.
The thick, rough rope tightened around Harumasa's terribly bruised neck. He couldn't breathe. His legs struggled in the air for a while, the iron chains clanged loudly against each other. And after a while, he stopped struggling.
"Harumasa!"