Prologue
“...Therefore, Jeren Diya Aslan is sentenced to death.”
It hit like a bolt from a clear blue sky.
My entire past flashed before my eyes like a spinning lantern.
What the hell did I even do wrong?
“Your Majesty! This is unjust…! I cannot understand why I must die…!”
But the emperor stayed silent.
His eyes made it clear he didn’t give a damn whether I lived or died.
Instead, the elderly man standing off to one side bellowed at me.
“Jeren Diya Aslan. Do you truly refuse to acknowledge your crimes? Illicit relations with students, secret social gatherings of unknown purpose, accepting bribes, and colluding with enemy nations. All of it has been laid bare before us…!”
Hah? Hearing the charges listed again, the absurdity of it all made me laugh.
Fuck. No matter how hard they twist the truth, this is ridiculous.
There was a girl at the academy named Emily. She was endlessly curious and kept coming to me with questions about everything. That’s what they’re calling “illicit relations.”
The so-called “secret social gatherings of unknown purpose.”
Noble children all had private tutors, but commoners didn’t. I carved out what little free time I had to help fill that gap. That’s what they’re labeling a conspiracy.
And accepting bribes?
This one was the most laughable. Students would bring food out of simple gratitude. Eating together with them was bribery? The same food those nobles wouldn’t even touch with their tongues?
They just hate that I don’t fit into their little aristocratic world.
I turned my head. A group of students had gathered to watch my punishment. Some were sneering like they were enjoying the show, others looked indifferent, and a few were watching me with tears in their eyes.
The ones who had driven me into this trap were definitely the ones laughing and chattering over there.
Truthfully, the first three charges could have been brushed aside somehow. The empire’s laws weren’t so tyrannical that they’d execute someone over nonsense like that.
The real problem was the final accusation the old man had spat out—colluding with the enemy.
Well… I don’t have much of a defense there. I did spend time with that hostage from another country because I pitied her.
But still… to use something so petty as a reason to take my head? I genuinely never saw that coming.
When I remained silent, the emperor finally spoke again.
“Jeren Diya Aslan. Do you have any last words?”
Last words, huh.
I raised my head.
The emperor’s face was filled with nothing but boredom. He looked like he just wanted this whole affair over with. Those indifferent eyes that regarded fellow human beings like insects.
If you’d ruled properly, none of this would have happened in the first place.
Since I was going to die anyway, I might as well go out with a bang.
“You fucking pathetic excuse for an emperor. Don’t live like such a piece of shit.”
Then I tore my soul away from my body.
In my fading vision, I caught the nobles’ faces twisted in shock and the emperor furiously jabbing his finger toward me in rage.
Whew. That feels so much better.
My consciousness sank into darkness.