The villagers' faith in Harold began to dwindle as they continued to wonder if he was trying to protect her despite all that she had done.
With his pointed gaze on her, Harold continued. "Death is too easy for you." He added. "So you shall be alive. Everyone needs to remember you and what you have done. You... will remember what you have done."
"You will be alive and see how everyone recovers from what you have done except for you."
"You shall remain locked in the dungeon and never see the sun for as long... as you live."
"That... is what you deserve." He concluded.
His tone sounded pained. It was very clear that he was deeply hurt. They could all feel his pain. And as much as they wanted her to die, they felt that was even better.
Lady Victoria hugged Williams, both quietly sobbing. Was this going to make them feel better? No.
But they had no choice.
"I...would rather die," Tyra said, shaking her head. "I WOULD RATHER DIE!" She yelled. "You cannot do this to me. Everything I did was for you! I DID IT FOR YOU!" She continued to shake her head in refusal, crying. "I would rather die!"
"But you will live," Harold said before turning away from her.
according to the custom of the Moon Kingdom."
Both didn't react to the sentence, but the crowd cheered happily.
This time, it was Alvin who stepped up to read the remaining sentence.
"Sir Damon and Damian shall both be executed by the morrow according to the custom of the Moon Kingdom."
Both didn't react to the sentence, but the crowd cheered happily.
"Queen Arya shall be stripped of her Queenly title and all of its benefits. She shall bear no regal name. No title. No grace. She will never step foot in the Moon Kingdom for as long as she lives. In exile, she shall remain."
She shook her head. She refused. "You can't do this to me. I am the queen! I am the queen of this kingdom!" She cried. "I want the king. Get me the king..." She looked at Ivan, who was a few paces beside her and tried to reach for him.
"Ivan... save me. You... you are the King's heir. You will be the King. Save your mother."
He looked sorry for his mother, but at the same time, his eyes were filled with disgust. He was fed up.
"If you hadn't given birth to that disgusting thing... none of these would have happened. And... Luciana would... have—" He exhaled sharply and looked up to blink back tears.
The queen stared at him with teary eyes in disbelief, refusing to believe that he had chosen Luciana over her.
"Enough with the drama. Unless you desire to be executed publicly!" Alvin snapped at the queen coldly, who was interrupting his flow.
The crowd was relieved when her cries died down; they were already irritated by her antics. They could not believe that that woman had been occupying such a dignified position for so many years. It was a big disgrace to the Moon Kingdom's name.
Alvin's eyes moved to the maids, Katherine and Agnes before he looked at the scroll in his hands and continued reading.
"The maids shall... leave the palace at once and live freely wherever they choose with as much gold to sustain them for only a year."
Both ladies looked up at him at once, thinking they had heard wrong since they were both waiting to hear their execution dates. They then looked in Prince Harold's direction in disbelief.
Although people may think Katherine had done nothing wrong but only escaped to save her life after learning something she wasn't supposed to, she had kept the information to herself and even ran from her duty post. It was enough for her to be executed, as the issue wouldn't have escalated this much if she had reported it earlier.
So being pardoned was something that came as a shock.
Agnes, too, hadn't expected it. She hadn't expected to be forgiven for her deceit and the fact that her sister had aided and abetted Tyra in her actions.
The maids burst into tears, crying in gratitude with their heads down.
The crowd was, however, not impressed by this. As far as they were concerned, everyone kneeling there was supposed to be killed. They all deserved it.
They had lost their relatives and had their properties destroyed by wild men because all these people had contributed in one way or another.
None of them deserved to be pardoned.
"The strange woman will be properly cared for by the royal physician until she is sound and well." Alvin read out.
Nah. Not the witch too.
They didn't like that.
Why should the royal physician care for a witch? And she wasn't only a witch like Princess Amber kind of witch; she had also placed the curse on Harold.
"Do you have a problem with it?" Alvin asked the crowd in a dark tone that had them all shaking their heads at once.
He glared at them before he returned to reading.
"Prince Ivan..."
Everyone waited.
Some hoped he would face the same punishment as his mother, at least. First of all, he was not liked by anyone. Secondly, they all knew how he had tried to kill Prince Harold and also killed his wife in the process. Thirdly, they weren't even sure if he was a real Prince. What if he was also the son of Sir Damon?
"His punishment... will be determined by the King," Alvin announced, much to their disappointment.
"He is not to be imprisoned. However, every authority he has as a Prince shall no longer be effective until the King makes a decision and decides otherwise."
"That is impossible!" Ivan yelled in disbelief.
"You dare not do this to me!" He yelled at Harold in anger, and Harold, who had been quiet, said in a cold and determined voice,
"I can do that to you and even more. You should be grateful you can still talk." Harold answered him coldly, making him speechless as he looked around for someone to at least point out that this was nonsense. Harold didn't have any right to put a restriction on his authority.