After death 1

Chapter 1

    ****

    With the dagger in hand, Lynette Diklahilt didn't hesitate for a moment.

    A frosty blade flashed in the darkness, and she flew stealthily toward the sleeping man.

    Swish.

    A hooded mass of black hair was cut off where the blade had passed.

    Lynette climbed out of bed, clutching the severed hair in her hands.

    It was a child’s play to get her hands on the crown prince's hair while he slept defenselessly.

    So was getting out. Months of planning for this day had been worth it.

    ‘Let's hurry.’

    The snow that had started falling in the early evening had turned into a blizzard.

    She was wearing only a robe over her chemise, and the wind was tearing at her skin.

    But it was a good thing, she thought. The thick flakes were doing a good job of covering her tracks.

    "Lily, did you make it?"

    Argos, who had been biting his nails like a child, stopped moving as the door opened.

    Lynette pulled a lock of hair from her pocket and held it out to the man.

    Argos's puzzled, nervous face instantly brightened.

    "There, that's it."

    He squeezed the crown prince's hair and laughed grotesquely.

    "Now my long-overdue revenge will be complete."

    Lynette laughed along with him, forgetting that her cheeks were burning from the cold wind.

    "I'm sorry, I didn't want to ask you to do this."

    Argos slowly swept a lock of hair that half-hid Lynette's face.

    Lynette turned her head to avoid his touch.

    Her right eye was missing. No, all of her skin on her right side had melted away.

    It was a scar from the fire that had broken out on the day of her mother's funeral when she was twelve.

    Argos Pad Pero was the only man who had ever cared for her, for her painful story and her ugly scars.

    "Don't say that. I did it because I wanted to."

    "I love you, Lily. I'm going to make you the most beautiful, happiest woman in the world."

    Argos hugged Lynette tightly.

    Lynette reflexively turned and embraced him.

    A new life was growing in her belly.

    Soon, her lower belly would bulge beyond the reach of her dress.

    "Lily, there is bad, dirty blood in my body, and only you can keep me alive."

    "That's not true, Ari."

    Lynette protested, pulling away from Argos' embrace.

    She knew it was his usual rant, but she couldn't listen anymore. If Argos's blood was tainted, then she would be admitting that the child in her womb was as well.

     "I want to get married before my belly gets bigger.”

    "Let's have the ceremony as soon as my brother is dead. It won't take long to put a curse on him."

    Lynette bit her lip and nodded heavily.

    ***

    It had been ten days since Argos's brother, Finberg Pad Pero, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Canturnis, had died of an unexplained illness.

    But the succession was not as immediate as Argos had hoped.

    The problem was that Argos was the child of a mistres, and the mistress was accused of being a witch and burned at the stake.

    Those who accused his mother of witchcraft were uneasy. But the unfortunate man had Lynette.

     "Ari, don't worry. Everything will be fine."

    To be fair, Lynette did have a grandfather behind her who was a vastly wealthy man, but it was still quite a while before her wedding to Argos, the new crown prince.

     "Lily, you look so pretty."

    Her older sister Kanna took care of all the wedding preparations.

    Her mother's absence wasn't felt in the slightest, and Kanna took great care of her.

    "I get angry at people who talk behind our back without knowing the circumstances."

    Kanna muttered, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.

    Lynette was already nearly full, and she knew that word had gotten around that she had backed Argos by taking her father's inheritance and dowry in advance.

    "It's okay, I don't care about those words."

    "Oh, my kind, pretty sister."

    Kanna took Lynette's hand in hers.

    "You must live happily ever after."

    "Thank you."

    Lynette always felt a pang of sadness when she thought of Kanna.

    Kanna had married a marquis a few years ago and left home.

    But soon afterward, the Marquis died.

    After her husband's death, she moved back into the manor, and while Lynette was happy to have her sister back and by her side, she was always uncomfortable.

    The Marquis was supposed to be her husband.

    She always felt that her sister had taken the blame for her misfortune.

    "Kanna should meet someone good soon."

    "It's okay, this is my destiny."

    She was a woman of advanced age and had already had one failed marriage, and yet Kanna was as beautiful as a freshly bloomed flower.

    Kanna had ivory hair and green eyes that exuded an air of mystery. She looked nothing like Lynette.

    Of course, they weren't blood sisters, so it was only natural that they shouldn't look alike.

    "Good Lily, you're the only one who thinks of me."

    She sat down on one knee and stroked Lynette's hair.

    Then her right eye, burned and distorted, was revealed.

    "Lily, has the crown prince ever seen your face properly?"

    It was a strange question, she thought, but Lynette nodded without comment.

    "I see."

    "He’s a genuine person, always make eye contact and  kind."

    "Who do you want your child to look like?"

    Lynette pressed her lips together.

    She wanted him to have the color of Argos's hair, shining like gold. She wanted him to look at the world with the same bold, proud, and always true eyes.

    It was while she was echoing the words in her mind that she was too embarrassed to say.

    Dull footsteps began to echo in the distance.

    Before she could question what was going on.

    BANG!

    The closed door flew open and soldiers rushed in.

    "What's going on?"

    Lynette turned her head to look at the soldiers.

    An embarrassing, terrible mistake, she thought.

    She resolved to tell Argos to punish every last one of those insolent men.

    "Bring out the witch!"

    A witch?

    Lynette rose from her seat and took a couple steps backward.

    The tips of the soldiers' swords were pointed at her.

    "How dare you, knowing who I am."

    She turned her head, and Kanna, who had fled to the doorway in the meantime, held her fingers in her mouth.

    In the meantime, soldiers swarmed in and grabbed Lynette.

    "Kanna, call for Ari, now!"

    She shouted, struggling against them.

    Argos stepped through the open door with a familiar voice.

    "You don't have to. I'm here."

    "Ari!"

    The sobs she had been holding back burst forth.

    As she faced Argos, her entire body went limp and she sank to the floor.

    The crown prince, Argos, could only stare at her, his eyes fixed on the cold floor.

    "I always knew you weren't clean, but I didn't realize you'd go to such lengths."

    "What?"

    "You think I don't know you crawled into my brother's bedroom?"

    Lynette, momentarily speechless, opened her eyes wide.

    It was Argos, and no one else, who had asked her to 

    crawl into Finberg's bedroom and cut his hair.

    "Disgusting, horrible bitch."

    But Lynette, unable to bear the thought of sharing her body with him while pregnant, drugged him, put him to sleep, and cut off his hair.

    "Ari, what are you talking about?"

    "You didn't just humiliate my brother, you killed him, and now you're carrying his child by your wicked ways."

    Lynette chewed her lip and looked up at Argos.

    "Ari, this child!"

    "You're a witch."

    Lynette howled and fell to the floor.

    She had been tricked.

    She had been lied to.

    The words that he said he loved her and only her were all lies.

    It didn't take her long to realize she had been betrayed.

    Lynette cried out, hugging her belly.

    "Ari, let me keep this child. It’s innocent!"

    "Oh, come on, Lynette."

    Argos moved slowly toward Lynette.

    As he neared her, the soldiers surrounding them all tensed and gripped their swords tighter.

    "How sad it is to live as the child of a witch."

    Argos whispered into Lynette's ear.

    "Just die together, it would be better for you and your offspring."

    He stood up, leaving Lynette's heart in pieces.

    "Get the witch out of here. She will be burned at the stake tomorrow morning."

    **

    The decision to burn her was made in an instant.

    There was no trial, no defense, just a summary judgment.

    She was thrown into a dank dungeon in her dress.

    Exhausted from crying, she could barely breathe, but she could still feel the kicking of her unborn child. She didn't care about her own life. All she could think about was protecting her baby. While she was clutching her head, crying, collapsing on the cold floor.

     "Lily.”

    Kanna called out to Lynette, who had no energy left to answer.

    ***

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