Gregory and Pedro rushed forward, each seizing one of Matthew Holton’s arms. With rough force, they dragged him across the ground and forced him to his knees in the execution ground.
Zester strode forward through the murmuring crowd until he stood tall before the kneeling man. Cassia watched it all, blinking calmly, betraying no surprise.
“Is this such a worthy sight that even the Baroness herself has come?”
Bertol, who had spotted Cassia from a distance, now approached with a smirk. Cassia spared him only a fleeting glance before returning her gaze to Zester, murmuring evenly.
“What could be more worth watching than a sinner paying the price for his crimes?”
“Hmm. What crime did the man commit to be dragged to the execution ground so urgently? At not just any time, but while I am staying at the castle. Considering the judgment is being rushed like this, he must have committed a fairly serious crime, no?”
“He assaulted his wife.”
“Oh? Is that a serious enough crime to merit such a rush to the execution grounds?”
“Well. The standards for judgment differ for every Lord. Tell me, Count, how do you punish someone who assaults their spouse in Axios?”
At Cassia’s question, Bertol narrowed his eyes, weighing his answer carefully before speaking.
“It’s not something that gets reported to me directly, but if a report came in, the imperial law would be applied.”
“In that case, no particularly useful punishment would be handed down.”
Bertol stared at Cassia as she replied calmly then he opened his mouth.
“What level of punishment does the Baroness have in mind?”
“Hm…”
Cassia said nothing, her eyes fixed on the proceedings.
Matthew, who was thrown to his knees before the large crowd, had regained his composure, unlike when he first met Zester in the prison.
Unless he committed a capital offense like murder, the punishment would be light. After being sentenced to pay a few coins in fines, he would return home and discipline the insolent Clara until she came to her senses. In any case, the fine would be paid with the money sent from Clara’s family and her salary from the castle anyway. Matthew couldn’t understand why she had done such a stupid thing.
This time, he would trample her properly so she wouldn’t dare open her mouth anywhere. Matthew spotted Clara shivering and sticking close to the Baroness in the distance, glared at her as if to kill, and swallowed his curses.
“I will now reveal the crimes committed by the accused, Matthew Holton, and render the judgement.”
Zester spoke with force in his voice. His authoritative tone dominated the crowd.
It was the first time a criminal had been publicly judged in the small territory of Greze. The expressions of the territory’s people, flickering in and out of the shadows cast by the torches, were dyed with tension and curiosity.
“Greg.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Even the usually playful Gregory looked quite tense. He took the report Zester held out and stepped forward before the crowd.
“The crimes committed by the accused Matthew Holton are as follows.”
Gregory began to slowly recite the contents written in the report.
“The crime of habitually inflicting verbal and physical abuse on his wife Clara Holton, the crime of forcing marital relations against his spouse’s will, the crime of squandering common property and delegating the duty of supporting the family solely to his spouse…”
As Gregory’s words continued, the expressions of the villagers gathered together grew increasingly astonished. While the assault and forced marital relations were understandable charges, many of the other charges were minor offences that wouldn’t even warrant punishment under Imperial Law.
When Gregory finished announcing the report, Matthew let out a bewildered laugh, his mouth open in disbelief.
“Does the accused, Matthew Holton admit to these charges?”
Zester, taking a large step towards Matthew, asked.
“Wait, my lord. What in the world…”
“Do you admit?”
“Is this a matter of admitting or not?! How is any of that a crime! Ask anyone gathered here!”
“That man has always been trouble!”
Right at that moment, a woman’s voice sliced through the silence. Everyone’s gaze turned to one place.
Fleurette Roseline.
Wrapped tightly in a thick wool coat, she snorted and continued.
“Every time I passed your house, the shattering plates, your wife screaming, your foul curses…I always wondered why the devils haven’t carried you off yet, but seeing you dragged here like this is quite a sight. There isn’t a single person here who doesn’t know you are the village’s worst scoundrel, so what makes you think you can ask us? My goodness, I’m speechless.”
“W-What did you say?!”
Matthew lurched as if he wanted to rush at Fleurette any moment with his face flushing red and blue but he was blocked by Pedro, who standing guard beside him.
“It seems there is nothing to refute. Then I shall proceed to sentencing as it is.”
“My lord! What have I done so wrong? I didn’t beat some stranger in the street, she’s my wife! My wife!”
Matthew shouted, spitting as he pleaded his innocence.
In the chilled atmosphere, the gathered people glanced at each other and then at Zester’s reaction. A hollow laugh escaped Cassia’s lips from afar.
Zester did not answer Matthew’s plea. He simply raised his gaze from looking down at him, scanned the starless evening sky, and sighed.
Once, when he said Greze was a lacking territory, Cassia told him not to say such things. That the snowy landscape was beautiful and the kind-hearted people made it a good place.
Right, that was the one thing to praise about Greze.
“Which territory’s law permits you to treat your wife as you please? Did you invent it yourself?”
“This isn’t someone else, it’s my wife! I’m doing what I want with my wife! Why should I be dragged all the way here for this?!”
“Look at this damn bastard, staring straight at the lord! I’ll…”
Gregory, who was extremely devoted to his wife, couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped forward as if to hit Matthew. Zester quietly raised a hand to stop him.
Zester took another step closer to Matthew, who was still huffing like a wild animal, and crouched down to meet his eyes, while Pedro held him down by the shoulders then quietly began to speak.
“It seems, to you, your wife is nothing more than a cow or a dog you raise at home. But unfortunately for you, I am the ruler of this land, and your beliefs about the treatment of your spouse don’t quite align with mine.”
“My lord, this bastard looks like the type that won’t understand even if you tell him for a hundred days. Shouldn’t we teach him with a beating? Huh?”
“Greg, calm down. He is still a subject of Greze; as the Lord, how can I treat him so carelessly?”
“Is being a subject that important? He’s beast wearing a human mask.”
Gregory didn’t seem to like Zester’s gentle attitude. He grumbled with a frown. Although his attitude was quite insolent, most of the people gathered at the execution ground nodded in agreement with his reaction.
That was the same for Cassia. She had been worried about Zester’s soft nature. She wouldn’t have known in her previous life, but the Zester she knew now would probably never be able to hand down a cold judgment.
She just hoped that he would at least get Matthew to agree to the divorce papers, just like she had separated Matthew from Clara before…
“I am an inexperienced Lord, so I have no confidence in persuading or reforming you. I don’t want to drag this out, so I’ll just quickly pass the sentence and execute the punishment… Ah, Greg. Once the execution is over, you personally take this man to his private residence and return.”
“…What? Leader, I mean, my Lord. Are you serious? You’re telling me to escort this trash who beat his wife like a dog back home?”
Gregory let out a bewildered laugh. Everyone in the audience held their breath.
“Yes. We should hang it up for everyone in the village to see. Otherwise, someone like him might appear again.”
“Huh? Hang it up? Hang what up?”
Gregory asked with a frown.
Zester shrugged, as if to say, ‘do you even need to ask?’, and straightened up from his crouched posture.
“His head.”
For a moment, silence fell.
“Hiek!”
“Gasp!”
Soon, gasps of shock erupted from everywhere. Clara, standing next to Cassia, covered her mouth in surprise, and Bertol burst into laughter as if intrigued.
Naturally, Cassia was surprised too. Blinking her wide eyes, she tried to understand Zester’s words.
To hang his head at home meant to cut off his head, and to cut off his head meant the punishment Zester was inflicting on Matthew was a staggering…
‘Death penalty?’
Of course, she was only surprised and bewildered; Cassia did not think Zester’s judgment was excessive or wrong. Once her bewilderment subsided, she even felt gratified. She really hadn’t expected this.
“Th-th-this, no, m-my Lord?! Did I hear that right?”
“You heard correctly. Matthew Holton. I don’t need filth like you in my territory. Greg, what are you doing? Not cutting it?”
Gregory, who had been staring blankly at Zester, laughed hollowly and drew the sword from his waist. The sharp blade made a chilling sound as it left the scabbard.
“My lord!” Matthew shrieked.
“I’m listening. Right, do you have any last words?”
“I-I was wrong. Th-this isn’t right. Please overlook it just this once. I-I won’t do anything that bothers you anymore, my Lord, I….”
“Really? But you haven’t done anything wrong to me.”
“Yes, yes, yes! C-Clara! Right! Wife! I-I’m sorry! Huh? Forgive me! I’ll do better now!”
Matthew reached out like a madman towards Clara standing in the distance, laughing frantically. Clara recoiled in fear, shrinking back and hiding behind Cassia.
“That seems pointless. The only way you can repent to your wife is to help her find a new life. Will you do that?”
Zester pulled out a new piece of parchment from his inner pocket. It was the divorce papers.
Cassia, who was watching the situation calmly from a distance, covered her rising corner of the mouth with her hand and smiled. He probably didn’t intend to cut off his head from the beginning; it seems Zester was just trying to scare him into agreeing to the divorce smoothly.
It was a rather clever choice. While lords had autonomy, they couldn’t be completely free from Imperial Law, so forcing a stamp on divorce papers would be problematic. Ironically, such coercion would be considered a deception of Imperial Law.
While lords had autonomy in punishing criminals, restrictions were placed on traditional Imperial laws that applied to all citizens. It was a blind spot of the current imperial law.
In any case, Zester quite cleverly obtained the thumbprint.
‘So you’re not killing me, right?’ Trembling and thinking that, Matthew eventually bit his own finger to stamp the divorce agreement.
“Hmm, a shame.”
Gregory shrugged and put the sword he had drawn back into its sheath.
Zester, who had now collected the stamped divorce papers, frowned at Gregory.
“Why sheath your sword? The judgment isn’t finished yet.”
“Huh? I thought you’re going to hit him with a fine or labor sentence or something like that?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
What? Don’t put the sword away?
The relaxed atmosphere tightened again.
The crowd held their breath and stared at Zester’s lips. Matthew, who had already put his thumbprint on the divorce papers, also looked at him with a surprised face.
Zester looked Matthew up and down as if viewing a trivial bug, then pointed at the man’s groin and gestured swiftly.
“Hu, huh?”
Gregory, realizing something, widened his eyes in surprise.
Zester commanded indifferently.
“Cut it off.”
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