The carriage ran smoothly toward the square. Amon said to Michonne, his friend next to him.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought today.”
Empress Arya sat among them with a serene face, and when she got off this carriage, she would cross the river of this world. There was no way that the conversation in this carriage would be revealed to anyone. So he thought it was okay to talk.
“Dumb guy.”
But Michonne disapproved that he had opened his mouth to talk. He tried not to provoke her as much as possible. Because he hoped to arrive at the square as peacefully as they did so far.
“Why? Better than the ones who were in charge of Count Panacio yesterday.”
Said Amon, checking Arya’s expressions. He thought she might change suddenly when she heard that her blood had died.
Michonne, who heard him, glanced at Arya. His eyes stayed on the expensive jewels.
“It might be harder than yesterday.”
Amon tried to ask why, but Arya opened her mouth first.
“Depine Panacio…”
Amon and Michonne looked back at Arya.
“Did he die brutally?”
Her question was one that they never expected. They exchanged looks and tried to think of what to say. Arya smiled at them and said.
“Don’t worry too much. Whatever you say, I won’t go crazy. I’m just curious. How the end of my brother went. Don’t try to gloss over what actually happened, in consideration for me.”
Arya plucked one of the necklaces off her neck and gave it to Amon. When Amon was aware that Michonne was watching and tried to reject it, Arya reassured him.
“I’m going to die anyway, so this is not something I need. It’s not like I need money to cross the Styx River.”
She also put her gold bracelet on his lap. Amon looked at Michonne with a stunned expression.
“Use it to have a drink after your day’s task today.”
When Michonne nodded at Arya’s words, Amon quickly packed them in his pocket. It wouldn’t just afford a drink, it was something that could let him drink for the rest of his life.
She was the one who used only the best things for even the smallest things. It was a pricey bracelet even when Amon, who doesn’t know how to measure the cost of jewelry, saw it. It seemed like a year’s salary if he only sold the gold plating part of the bracelet.
He swallowed a dry saliva and said, “I heard that Count Panacio was very afraid yesterday when he was taken to the square.”
“Tell me more details. What did he do out of fear?”
Arya went on to ask about Depine’s last moment. Amon answered Arya’s questions one by one, but he felt strange.
“Did he struggle with pain as he was burned? How was the end? Did he stick his dirty tongue out and die? Or did that ugly body burn away without a trace?”
It was because it was like contempt, not pity, she had for her brother, who died a day earlier. She seemed to want to know how miserable her brother had died.
She was told in detail that Depine had died in pain. Even though she knew she was destined the same today, she found his terrible end interesting.
“Yes. Has this event caused everyone in the Panacio family to die? Are all the men of the Panacio family dead?”
As Michonne was informed, Delly Panacio had survived this. There was much talk among the knights about how he, the son of Depine, could not be found in the death sentence. Most thought he fled to another country to avoid death.
As Amon tried to answer, Michonne said.
“There’s no one left with the last name Panacio. They were all executed.”
At his words, Arya filled her face with laughter. She couldn’t stand the joy, so she made a crackling sound.
Amon looked at Michonne with a confused face, and Michonne shook his head quickly and signaled him to ignore. Amon kept his mouth shut as Michonne gestured. Soon the carriage arrived at the square amid the sound of Arya’s laughter.
Many people gathered to see Empress Arya being burned. The crowd was so large that it was difficult for the carriage to enter the square. A knight came over to the carriage and told them through a crack in the window.
“It’s going to be hard for the carriage to get into the square, so get off now and drag her into the square.”
Michonne frowned at the knight’s words.
“How am I supposed to walk through that? Don’t you see them? It’ll be chaos!”
At Michonne’s words, the knight shrugged and said, “It’s the order of the Emperor.”
He couldn’t dispute an Emperor’s order. Michonne wanted to tear the knight’s face off. It seemed like he was saying, “My job is just to send the Emperor’s message, so I don’t care what situation you are in.”
Michonne shouted at the knight as he moved away from the carriage.
“Send me a few more knights! How can I get there like this?!”
“You know, all personnel were recruited to control the citizens today. You’d better not expect it.”
Michonne poured out curses and the knight said with a shrug.
“So who told you to pull out the long stick?”
All Michonne and Amon could do was blow a curse at him.
With no particular choice, they led Arya down from the carriage. Fortunately, other knights were holding hands and building a defensive wall, so there was a small way to walk to the square.
As soon as they got off the wagon, the citizens who recognized Arya were furious.
“Witch!”
“Devil b*tch!”
They spit toward Arya and threw stones at her.
Boom-!
The stones flew over and hit Arya’s forehead and fell. There was nothing Amon and Michonne could do. Far from protecting her, they couldn’t even guarantee their personal safety with stones flying from all sides.
“You’ve killed my husband! Kill that b*tch!”
“Give my child back!”
There was a voice of criticism against her from all quarters. Their voices were filled with sorrow.
There were many civilians killed by the revolt in the Imperial City. Moreover, when the Knights, who were guarding the Imperial City, came to help Carl, they fought with the enemies who were ambushed in every corner of the city. The number of people who died in the midst of it was not small.
The citizens who lost their families because of her threw stones at Arya. That was the only way they could vent their anger. They knew that anger and screaming won’t bring back the dead, but they couldn’t just watch her be executed.
“Hey! Block it!”
“Don’t push me!”
Thanks to this, not only Amon and Michonne, who led Arya to the plaza, but also the knights who were controlling the citizens had to be hit with stones and food waste.
In the midst of the ordeal, Arya did not erase a smile from her face. She smiled, even though the flying stone broke her forehead and her precious dress ripped off in the hands of the citizens.
Even the citizens who threw stones at her saw her grotesque laughter that did not match the situation looked disgusted.
“Is she actually a witch?”
“There’s no way she’ll show that kind of smile otherwise.”
“That’s right. It’s strange that a woman who is supposed to be the old emperor’s mother is so young.”
“Originally, witches have a beauty that attracts others.”
The murmur of the citizens spread out.
Arya stood at the stake. Tied to a post on a high wooden foundation, she kept smiling. The executor lit the firewood and her creepy laughter spread dreary even as she was surrounded by fire.
But the laughter didn’t last long. She screamed in pain as her body burned with high piles of firewood.
Her beautiful appearance quickly disappeared into flames, leaving her with nothing but terrible remains. Some of the citizens who lost their loved ones because of her and waited only for revenge turned their heads because they could not bear to watch it.