Episode 39: The other side of the mirror (7)
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The funeral was conducted in a grand manner.
It was held during the full moon, with all the formalities and tributes befitting a monarch’s firstborn.
Aristine stared at the exquisite coffin buried in pure white lilies.
Due to the severe damage to the body, the coffin remained entirely closed. Magic could only preserve the body in the coffin; it could not restore it to a presentable form.
Aristine closed her eyes and briefly offered a silent prayer.
Soon, she raised her head and gently lowered the black veil that obscured half of her vision.
The sound of shoe heels echoed heavily through the quiet ceremonial hall.
As she exited the funeral hall, she was greeted with noisy clicking, akin to the fluttering wings of a bird.
Reporters were taking photos of Aristine leaving after paying her respects, but her face remained hidden by the black veil.
With a click, the door to the funeral hall shut behind Aristine.
Now, Hamill’s coffin would be carried, circling the royal capital along the Panyu River, which was called the lifeline of Irugo.
And once his body reached the burial ground, it would mark the end of the month-long funeral rites.
‘…From today on, Hamill is truly dead.’
Aristine walked on silently.
A carriage was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.
As Aristine approached, someone stepped out from within and extended a hand to her.
“Khan, I thought you were at the burial ground?”
“I can’t possibly leave my wife behind.”
Hearing that, Aristine smiled faintly, took his hand and climbed onto the carriage.
She turned, watching people line the banks of the Panyu river, throwing flowers into its midst.
Lanterns drifted alongside the tiny boat carrying Hamill’s coffin.
Once the carriage was over the bridge, even that was no longer visible.
Instead of the royal burial ground, the carriage was heading to the palace.
“Are you sure you don’t want to watch till the end?”
“If I go, the queen will make a scene. I don’t want to cause a disturbance where the royal ancestral tablets are kept. Besides…”
Aristine laid her head on Tarkan’s shoulder.
“I have already offered all the condolences I can.”
Tarkan’s gaze sank at those words.
He placed his hand on Aristine’s stomach. That bastard wasn’t worth any condolences.
“But I owe him one in the end.”
Tarkan fell silent at Aristine’s words.
The sound of people crying penetrated the closed window.
Many people were fond of Hamill.
Although he didn’t have Tarkan’s spectacular military record and overwhelming power, he had a different type of charisma. The gentle, kind and skillful first prince was loved by the people.
They wanted Tarkan and Aristine as their king and queen, but they never wanted Hamill to die.
“I can’t believe our prince is leaving like this. At such a young age…”
“He still had so much life left…”
“If only the queen put aside her greed, he would still be here.”
“To think the queen would send assassins after the Princess Consort and His Highness Hamill died trying to stop it…”
“A mother devoured her own son.”
The regret and bitterness about Hamill’s short life soon turned into anger and resentment toward the queen who was the cause.
“As if the affair scandal wasn’t enough, now it’s an assassination….”
“I heard the real purpose of that affair scandal was to start a rumor that the royal grandson doesn’t belong to His Highness Tarkan?”
“What? I can’t believe her.”
“I don’t want to badmouth her because she’s His Highness Hamill’s mother, but she is seriously unbelievable.”
“Well, technically, His Highness Hamill died because of the queen, so I see no need to hold back.”
“I’m glad that the Princess Consort and the baby are safe despite all these terrible things happening.”
“If something happened to the royal grandchild because of this assassination attempt, I would have stormed the queen’s palace.”
“I’d have gone with you!”
“But you know, I heard rumors that it wasn’t just that.”
“Hm?”
“Wasn’t the subjugation in fall a little different from previous years?”
“I don’t know the details, but you’re right. His Highness Tarkan returned early… and Her Highness the Princess Consort even went out to the plains.”
“I heard that happened because the queen tried to make the subjugation fail.”
“Wh…what did you say?”
“If the subjugation fails, won’t it be people like us who die?”
“Is she saying common people like us can die so she can take the throne?”
The slowly unraveling truth was choking the necks of the Queen and Skiela Duchy.
* * *
About 2-weeks after Hamill’s funeral was completed, the queen’s public trial began.
Her crimes were clear.
Attempting to murder the Princess Consort.
Attempting to frame the Princess Consort.
Attempting to undermine the integrity of the Irugo royal family by tarnishing the origins of the royal grandchild.
Threatening national security by deliberately destroying military equipment.
Committing perjury and instigating perjury before the king.
Attempting to control the royal family by borrowing the power of her maternal family.
Threatening national security with the help of her maternal family.
The list went on and on, and the faces of those present at the trial trembled with anger.
As more evidence of her crimes was brought forth and more witnesses testified, criticism poured out against the queen.
“What’s left to hear!”
“Sentencing her to death immediately won’t even be enough!”
“Even if she’s the mother of the late Prince Hamill, this has gone beyond what’s pardonable!”
“This is someone who managed to hash such a sinister plot even while imprisoned in the Ice Shadow Tower! Who knows what else she might come up with!”
“Duke Skiela also conspired with her! He must face capital punishment too!”
“Now, now, quiet down!”
The agitated voices in the hall did not calm down easily.
Only after a few more calls for silence did they reluctantly go quiet.
Despite all the commotion, the person concerned, the Queen Mother, was rather quiet.
It was a far cry from her previous attitude of raging and scheming until the very end.
It was all over.
With Hamill’s death, everything she had hoped to obtain had crumbled into pieces.
At this point, it was impossible to put Yenikarina on the throne.
She had staked everything on one card.
Now that that card was gone, she had no motivation whatsoever.
The only thing driving her was her burning hatred for Aristine, who caused all of this.
Despite her gaunt complexion, her eyes burned brightly as she glared at Aristine, who was on the witness stand.
‘Everything was ruined after she came…!’
Up until the beginning of last year, Hamill had been the closest person to the throne.
But then Aristine came, and everything started going downhill.
Even if she lost everything, even at the cost of her life, she wanted to make that bitch suffer.
Aristine’s swollen belly caught her eye.
“Aaaah!”
The queen screamed madly and stretched her hand toward Aristine.
However, only the clanking of chains could be heard, and she could not even get closer to Aristine.
The soldiers pinned the Queen down.
“You, you…!”
“Until the end, you have no remorse!”
“Don’t you feel ashamed!”
“Princess Consort, are you okay?”
The courtroom, which had barely gotten silent, erupted with noise again.
“It seems there’s nothing more to hear as you’ve all said.”
Nephther muttered icily and pronounced his verdict without further ado.
“The criminal Roastel is hereby stripped of her position as queen and shall be publicly executed. Duke Skiela and his son, Marquis Tameron, who both played part in the matter, shall also be executed. The Skiela Duchy will be stripped of its nobility and all of its property will be confiscated.”
Duke Skiela turned white and pleaded.
“Y-Your Majesty! Allow me to pay for my crimes but my family….”
“Silence! You should be thankful you can preserve their lives. Because of Hamill, I am sparing the lives of your family.”
Deep down, he wanted to destroy all who bore the name of Skiela.
But because Hamill, one of their bloodlines, died while protecting the Princess Consort and the royal grandchild, he was showing them mercy.
“Drag them away.”
Nephther turned around coldly.
Translator’s Corner:
*I find it interesting that we do not find out the Queen’s name until the chapter. In many ways, it makes sense. Her identity has always been ‘the Queen’, even to herself.
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The Queen’s lack of name does help make an image of what she looks like and the kind of attitude she has.
Till the end she’s nothing but a queen. No more no less, and it’s quite pitiful in an ironic way.
How exciting. 🎉
I guess that answers my question about why the author denied her a name so far…but I disagree that “Queen” was the only identity she was capable of, I would argue that was the only identity she was allowed…after all, she was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a person in her own right, but all she was allowed by every man in her life was to be the Queen…after all, if she wasn’t the Queen, she would’ve been abandoned by Duke Skiela (father), Nepheter (husband), Hamill and Yenikarina (her children) because she was only of value to them for the position she held…
That being said, it makes me curious about what a rebirth novel would be like for Roastel…I’d like to think she’d abandon and ruin her father in revenge, then humiliate Nepheter, and never become Queen…unless she overthrew Nepheter and became Queen without marrying him…yeah, that would be interesting…maybe even make Tarkhan her follower and make him trust her instead of Nepheter…