Chapter 167: Justice

The circular street had filled long before sunrise.

Citizens stood shoulder to shoulder behind rows of city guards, all eager to witness the execution that had already become the biggest topic in the kingdom. Students from the academy occupied one side of the square, merchants had abandoned their stalls for the morning, and even people leaning from second-floor windows watched in silence.

At the center of it all stood the execution platform.

It had been built from thick oak beams, its surface raised high enough for everyone in the street to see. A short flight of wooden steps led to the top, where a single support beam rose overhead. From it hung a fresh hemp rope ending in a neatly tied noose that swayed gently whenever the morning breeze passed through the square. Two royal guards stood on the platform with spears in hand, while another waited beside the lever that would release the trapdoor beneath the condemned.

Several more guards formed a perimeter around the scaffold, keeping the increasingly restless crowd from pushing any closer.

Cadence remained inside the iron cage mounted on the back of a prison wagon. His wrists were chained in front of him, and the iron collar around his neck rattled whenever the wagon shifted. Bruises darkened his face, and dried blood still stained one side of his temple.

Someone from the crowd threw a tomato. It burst against the bars, spraying red pulp over his shoulder. Another followed. Then another.

"Murderer!"

"Justice for Jelda!"

"You deserve worse than a rope!"

"Gods take you!"

Cadence barely reacted anymore. He simply sat with his head lowered while insults rained over him from every direction. I watched everything from the far edge of the square.

Ken sat beside me on the bench while Mio balanced herself on the backrest behind us.

"I’ve never seen this many people in one place," Ken murmured.

"They’re angry," Mio replied quietly. "People always gather when justice is finally served."

Heads turned toward the side.

From the royal carriage, General Tornhawk stepped down first.

Even wearing ceremonial armor, he looked as imposing as ever. His hand rested naturally on the hilt of his sword while his sharp eyes swept across the crowd, judging every face before giving the slightest nod.

Only then did he turn and extend one hand toward the carriage.

The Queen stepped out.

Her crimson dress flowed around her boots as she descended with calm. Her long red hair had been tied neatly behind her, and despite the cloudy morning, she somehow carried herself as though sunlight followed wherever she walked.

The crowd erupted.

"Long live the Queen!"

"Your Majesty!"

People bowed.

Others dropped to one knee.

The Queen acknowledged them with a composed nod and raised one hand in greeting before taking her place beneath a decorated canopy near the rear of the square. Royal guards immediately surrounded the area, forming a protective ring while Tornhawk remained at her side.

Another guard climbed onto the execution platform and raised one arm.

The noise gradually faded.

Before he could begin speaking, another carriage entered the square.

It stopped beside the royal carriage.

Jack Merygold stepped down first.

He looked years older than he had at the wedding. Dark circles rested beneath his eyes, his shoulders sagged beneath the weight of exhaustion, and the proud confidence he once carried had vanished completely.

The bride followed him.

She wore a simple black mourning dress instead of the beautiful gown she’d worn only yesterday. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she kept one hand pressed tightly against her chest as though trying to hold herself together.

"Poor Jack," Ken said quietly.

"And that poor girl," Mio added. "Imagine thinking you’re about to spend your life with the man you love, only to find out he’s a monster."

Ken grimaced. "Talk about a kick in the nuts."

Mio nodded. "I know."

Silence settled over the square once more as the guard on the platform finally spoke.

"People of Toakwood!"

His voice carried across the entire street.

"By decree of Her Majesty, Queen Mia, and under the authority granted to the Royal Crown, this public execution is conducted in accordance with the laws of the kingdom."

He paused, allowing every word to settle.

"The condemned, Cadence Merygold, has been found guilty of the assault and murder of the citizen Jelda, the murder of Hatche, obstruction of a royal investigation, and the commissioning of unlawful violence against another citizen of this realm."

The crowd erupted.

"Justice for Jelda!"

"Hang him!"

"Death to the murderer!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The guard raised one hand again.

"He signed the papers? Bring forth the condemned."

The cage door creaked open. Royal guards unlocked Cadence’s chains from the wagon and guided him toward the platform. He stumbled several times before managing to climb the wooden stairs.

While everyone’s attention remained fixed on the scaffold, I reached into my inventory.

A faint golden glow shimmered across my lap. The torn ledger pages appeared first. Then the lock of blue hair. Finally, the folded letter. I quietly spread everything across my knees.

The signature was still there. The lock of hair still bore dried blood along one side. Every piece pointed toward the same conclusion. Cadence was a murderer. A rapist. A psychopath. A monster in the shadows, always on the hunt for his next prey.

I looked back toward the scaffold.

Jack hadn’t taken his eyes off his son for even a second.

He simply stood there, frozen, watching as a royal guard slipped the noose over Cadence’s neck and tightened it beneath his jaw.

The guard stepped back before addressing the crowd once more.

"Let all who witness today remember that no title, wealth, or noble blood stands above the law of this kingdom. The Crown protects the innocent, and those who prey upon them shall answer for their crimes."

The crowd answered with another roar.

I lowered my eyes again.

The letter. The ledger. The lock of hair. Hatche’s death...

Something about it still bothered me. If she had already been dead before I spoke to her that night, then who exactly had I been talking to?

I stared at the papers resting in my hands. A thought slowly began to form.

I frowned. "Wait."

Why had Cadence’s bedroom door been unlocked by someone who never even entered the room? Why had the assassination letter been signed with Cadence’s own name?

None of it matched.

The man I’d found inside the hidden passage had been terrified of whoever hired him. He would rather die than reveal that person’s identity. Yet somehow Cadence, a noble who had supposedly hidden murders well enough to fool everyone, had casually signed an assassination order with his full name.

That wasn’t careful. That wasn’t intelligent.

That wasn’t believable.

Hatche bothered me too.

She had pointed straight at Cadence, and from that moment onward everything had fallen into place almost too perfectly. I had been invited into the main building alongside the kingdom’s most important guests. The fifth floor had barely any guards despite belonging to the heir of House Merygold. Someone had unlocked Cadence’s bedroom for me without even checking whether I was nearby. The evidence had been sitting exactly where I would find it.

The more I thought about it, the less it felt like an investigation.

It felt like someone had been guiding me. Someone had wanted me to reach that room. Someone had wanted me to find those clues.

I lowered my eyes to the papers resting on my lap and compared the shower ledger with the assassination letter once again. "The handwriting..."

On the platform, the execution continued.

The guards guided Cadence up the wooden steps and positioned him beneath the rope. He climbed onto the stool without resisting, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion. His eyes wandered across the crowd before settling on me for a brief moment.

I looked back at him.

Then I looked toward the Queen. She was already watching me. Our eyes met, and the final piece slid into place so suddenly that my heart skipped a beat.

"Oh..."

I stood so quickly the papers slipped from my lap.

"No... no, no..."

The executioner adjusted the knot beneath Cadence’s jaw and raised his voice so everyone in the square could hear him.

"Cadence Merygold, by the authority of Her Majesty the Queen and the laws of this kingdom, you have been sentenced to death for your crimes. May the gods pass their judgment upon your soul."

He kicked the stool away.

At that exact moment I cast Shadow Leap.

Dark smoke swallowed my body for an instant before I appeared beneath Cadence. I threw both arms upward, grabbed his legs, and lifted with everything I had before the rope could tighten around his neck.

"Help me!" I shouted. "Get him down! He’s innocent! Help me get him down!"

The executioner froze in place, staring at me in complete confusion before looking toward the Queen for orders.

"What is he doing?"

"Has he lost his mind?"

"The Ambly-blessed is stopping the execution!"

Voices exploded throughout the square as people pushed against one another, trying to see what was happening.

Tornhawk had already taken a step forward, his hand resting on his sword, but even he hesitated.

Jack reacted first.

"What are you doing, you fool?" he shouted. "Finish the execution!"

His voice echoed across the square.

I stared at him, and so did the others.