The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1314 - 199 - The Fall Of Milham Kingdom - Part 5 (5)

The Queen stood there without shedding a single tear, even as the stones kept striking her one after another.

Each hit landed with a dull, ugly thud, some bouncing off, others hitting hard enough to leave marks. What started as blunt impacts slowly turned worse. The stones had become sharp, jagged enough to break skin, and little by little, they began cutting into her. Thin lines of red appeared, then more, until blood started to run down her arms and face in uneven streaks.

Still, she didn’t cry.

She didn’t scream. She didn’t even flinch the way anyone else would have.

She just stood there and took everything.

It almost felt like she had already come to terms with this ending long before any of this began. Like she had already accepted that this was where her path would lead, and there was nothing left to resist.

That thought alone made it hard to watch.

I couldn’t believe it.

So this was really happening?

Leon talked like he had everything under control, like he had already rewritten what was supposed to happen. He made it sound so certain too. Confident enough that you would actually believe him if you didn’t think too hard about it.

And yet, the future I had seen... it was unfolding right in front of me, almost exactly the same.

While that thought kept circling in my head, the Prince’s body suddenly began to glow.

It wasn’t a gentle glow either. It was intense and unnatural, like something was forcing its way out from inside him.

"After the execution of the Queen, this kingdom will be reborn," he declared, his voice echoing with this strange mix of excitement and authority. "I will become the new King, and I will surpass every ruler that has ever existed in this world."

He raised his head slightly, almost like he was already looking down on everyone else.

"That’s right. I will be the King of a New Era. The King of this world itself. Which is why all of you will follow me... into this New World and into this New Era."

Right after that, his body started to change.

The shift wasn’t smooth. It twisted, reshaped, almost like something underneath his skin was rearranging itself in real time. It reminded me immediately of the vision I had before, that same distorted form I couldn’t fully comprehend back then.

Now it was right in front of me.

It looked wrong in a way that was hard to explain. Not just scary, but out of place, like it didn’t belong anywhere near this world.

Red scales spread across his body, catching the light in a way that made them look almost wet. Golden horns curved upward from his head. His teeth had turned yellow and jagged, clearly not meant for anything human anymore. His eyes, already unsettling before, were now a deeper, more intense red that seemed to burn from within. Even his hair had changed, shifting from its original golden blonde into a rough reddish-orange that matched the rest of his new appearance.

"Right now, I am a king," he said, his voice rising. "No... I am a god."

That statement might have sounded ridiculous under normal circumstances.

Right now, it didn’t.

As the Queen was led onto the execution trapdoor, he began to laugh.

It wasn’t a normal laugh. It was loud, uneven, almost breaking at certain points, like he couldn’t hold it in even if he tried. There was something unhinged about it, something that crawled under your skin the longer you listened.

It sent a chill down my spine, and not the kind you shake off easily.

The rope was brought forward, the noose carefully placed around the Queen’s neck. It tightened just enough to stay in place, waiting.

At that moment, the only thing keeping her from dropping was the lever.

I glanced over at Charlotte.

Was she really okay with this?

The Queen was about to die right in front of us, surrounded by people whose faces were filled with judgment, anger, and something close to satisfaction. It wasn’t just an execution. It felt like a public release for everyone watching.

Charlotte, though, didn’t look shaken at all.

She had complete faith in Leon, that much was obvious. Still, I couldn’t wrap my head around how that trust was enough for her to stay this calm, like none of this was out of place.

"Now then," Prince Julius said, his tone shifting slightly into something more formal, "so that all the people of your kingdom may hear you... confess your sins before you fall through that trapdoor, Mother."

Executions like this always followed that same ritual.

The condemned would be asked to confess everything, so they could ascend to a higher plane. According to belief, that was where peace existed, where the Goddess Jeanne would cleanse them of their sins and guide them somewhere free from suffering.

That was the idea, at least.

Reality was different.

Most people never confessed anything. They denied everything until the very end, shouting, crying, blaming others, or anything to avoid accepting what was about to happen.

The Queen was different.

She slowly opened her eyes.

Even with the blood, the bruises, and everything she had just gone through, she didn’t look like someone in pain. There was a calmness there that didn’t match the situation at all.

"I killed the King," she said, her voice steady and clear. "And I have no regrets."

That single sentence was enough.

The crowd erupted immediately, louder than before, as if they had been waiting for that exact moment. Stones started flying again, faster this time, and much more aggressive.

Someone really put some effort into those throws too, which would have been almost impressive if the situation wasn’t this messed up.

Then the executioner stepped forward.

He didn’t hesitate.

His hand reached for the lever, and with one firm pull, he brought it down.

The trapdoor opened instantly.

Her body dropped, the rope snapping tight as it caught her weight, leaving her suspended in the air.

There was no struggle.

There was no kicking, nor any desperate movements. Not even a scream tearing through the silence.

Nothing.

She simply accepted it.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, more out of instinct than anything else. Watching that felt like something I wasn’t supposed to see, even though I was already standing there.

When I opened them again, her body was completely still.

"I’m sorry, Mother... please forgive me for what I’ve done," the Prince said, his voice quieter now. "But I couldn’t bring justice to these people if I didn’t do this."

He looked at her with a sorrowful expression.

It almost looked genuine.

"Wait..." I muttered under my breath. "This is..."

Something felt off.

Everything up to this point had been almost identical to what I saw in my dream. The sequence, the timing, even the details lined up way too well.

But something was missing.

There was no smoke rising in the distance. There was no signs of fires spreading across the kingdom. There was no chaos breaking out among the people. And no one was rushing in to attack or raid anything.

All of those things were supposed to happen.

Yet none of them were happening now.

For some reason, those parts of my vision didn’t match reality anymore.

While I was still trying to make sense of it, Charlotte suddenly let out a small smirk.

"I told you, Hertrude," she said. "I’ll change the future."