The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1313 199 - The Fall Of Milham Kingdom - Part 5 (4)

"Now then, shall we introduce the one who will be punished by the Wrath of God?" the Prince continued, turning his attention back to the crowd. "I'm sure most of you already know her. The wife of the previous King."

He paused, letting his gaze sweep across everyone.

It felt like he was looking at each person individually, even though that wasn't possible.

"You could say she's still the current Queen," he went on, his tone almost mocking. "But tell me… have any of you actually felt the presence of a monarch while she's been ruling?"

His eyes glowed.

A deep, unnatural red.

It was so intense that it almost didn't look real, like something out of a nightmare.

"I don't think so," he said with a small chuckle. "Because even though she holds the title, she hasn't done anything worthy of it."

A few murmurs spread through the crowd.

Those murmurs could only be described as uneasy and uncertain.

"But then again… that alone isn't enough to justify a judgement, is it?"

A smirk slowly formed on his face.

It was the kind that made your skin crawl.

"What truly warrants judgement isn't just her failure to lead… but the reason behind it," he continued, his voice lowering slightly. "That's right. The reason she even ended up in that position to begin with… was because of the death of the King."

The air grew heavier.

It felt harder to breathe.

"My beloved father."

His eyes sharpened as he said that.

There was something burning behind them now.

And it was something dangerous.

"Now then…" he said, letting the silence stretch just enough to make everyone uneasy.

His gaze swept over the crowd one more time.

"Who do you think is responsible for that death?"

A strange thing happened.

Without anyone saying it out loud, without anyone giving a signal, the attention of the crowd shifted.

Eyes began turning.

One after another.

Until they all settled on the Queen.

There was only one implication here.

Was it really possible?

Could she have been the one who killed the King?

Up until now, no one had ever been officially named as the one responsible. People knew it had been an assassination, sure, but that was where the certainty ended.

The King wasn't just anyone.

He was the most protected person in the entire kingdom.

Layers of guards, security, and precautions surrounded him at all times. The idea that someone could get close enough to kill him felt almost ridiculous.

And yet here they were.

Looking at the Queen.

Right now, she was the most suspicious person in everyone's eyes.

If memory served right, anyone caught attempting to assassinate the reigning monarch, or worse, actually succeeding, would face public execution.

There would be no exceptions.

"That's right!" the Prince suddenly declared, his voice rising with sharp conviction. "It was my own mother! My father was killed by my own mother!"

"You might think that's impossible," he continued without missing a beat, "but you don't know what happens inside the castle! All my life, I've seen them never even share the same bed. They always slept in separate rooms. While my mother slept alone, my father spent his nights with his concubines."

He spoke without hesitation, without any visible restraint.

"I think she feared losing her position as Queen," he added. "So she went too far… and killed him with her own hands. Which is why, as painful as it is for me to admit this… my mother must die. If not, then you people will keep suffering under an incompetent ruler like her."

Hearing that felt surreal.

Prince Julius was talking about his own mother.

His own blood.

And yet there wasn't even a trace of hesitation in how he spoke, like he was describing a stranger instead of someone who raised him.

"Right now, she will be subjected to justice," he continued. "She is at fault for the King's death. Even if she sits on the throne now, that power was gained through usurpation. Which is why she must face judgement."

He didn't stop there.

"This kingdom is suffering because of her," he said. "If not for her, it would still be standing strong, held together by the King's efforts. But now, it's falling apart. As much as it pains me to execute my own mother… this is the truth. Justice must be served."

After that, something shifted.

The atmosphere of the crowd changed in a way that was hard to ignore.

It wasn't immediate shouting.

It wasn't chaos right away.

It felt like something boiling under the surface.

Anger, maybe.

Frustration, definitely.

A kind of bitterness that had been building up for a long time, finally finding a direction.

Personally, I didn't have a strong opinion about the Queen's rule.

Still, it wasn't great either.

There had been decisions that didn't sit well with people, policies that made things harder than they needed to be. Enough to put a lot of people in difficult situations. Enough to leave a bad taste that never really went away.

That kind of thing doesn't just disappear.

It waits.

And now, it had something to latch onto.

Before I even fully realized what was happening, people had started speaking up.

"Is it really true…?"

"She killed the King?"

"No way… but…"

Then the tone shifted.

"Then she deserves it!"

"She must die!"

"It's her fault we're suffering like this!"

"Kill her! End it already!"

"Traitor!"

"Execution! Execution!"

Then louder.

Then louder still.

And just like that, it escalated.

Stones were thrown.

At first, only a few.

Then more.

Then a lot more.

They struck her.

Each impact was clear, visible, and painful.

There was no way she didn't feel it.

Her body reacted to every hit, flinching slightly, unable to fully avoid them. Blood began to show where the stones struck, small at first, then more noticeable. Bruises started forming, dark patches spreading across her skin.

It wasn't clean.

It wasn't controlled.

It was messy and very ugly.

The kind of thing people would regret later, but not right now.

Right now, they were too caught up in it.

Watching it all unfold, a thought crossed my mind.

This felt like the climax of the vision I had seen.

Everything building up to this exact moment.