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Chapter 120

-Chapter 120-

"Killian may have feelings for that woman, and the punishment our family decides should not be swayed by such things!"

"Killian may be softer than he seems, but he's not the kind of man to ruin a major family affair over petty feelings."

"But......!" Cliff protested, but the Duke interrupts him.

"You're the one who seems a bit emotional right now. Lizé is back safely, so don't get worked up. You're only going to irritate Killian more."

Cliff stepped back, unable to push the argument further.

As the Rigelhoffs and their entourage knelt in the center of the execution ground, Killian entered the execution ground and approached the Duke and Cliff.

"Killian," the Duke greeted Killian with a heavy voice.

At first glance, Killian didn't look much better after being away for a few days.

He had dark circles under his eyes and a scruffy beard, and his cheekbones and jawline were more prominent, as if he had lost weight in the interim.

"Where's Edith?"

"She should be in any minute."

Just then, one of the doors to the execution ground opened and Edith walked in, followed by the knights.

At the same moment, Killian's shoulders tensed as he spotted her.

'Edith!'

He couldn't get a good look at her condition from the distance, but the way she was shaking as if she was struggling to walk, it was clear she was badly injured.

Edith must have been beaten and tortured from the moment she arrived at Wellesley's villa, so it's a wonder she's standing at all.

Killian wanted to say something right away about Edith's assault at the hands of Rigelhoff's men, but the atmosphere in the execution ground was too heavy for him to dare.

The Duke turned to the kneeling Rigelhoffs and their entourage and said, "If it had ended with a territory war, I would not have bothered to kill you with my own hands."

If so, the Duke would not have been given the right to execute the Rigelhoffs. It was the Emperor's authority to deal with families involved in treason.

But they had kidnapped vulnerable women and tried to use them as hostages.

And for that very reason, the Emperor had unusually given the power of execution to House Ludwig.

"You, who claim to know the honor of nobility, cowardly kidnap women, and then complain that the dukedom has been taken away from you?"

With a snap, a sword was drawn from the Duke's scabbard.

"I will decapitate all those who bear Rigelhoff's name! I will send the severed heads to the palace to hang on the walls alongside those of the other traitors, and throw the bodies on the mountain to be torn apart by the beasts!"

As the thunderous order fell, the executioners on one side of the dais gripped their sharpened axes anew, and screams and cries erupted from the kneeling prisoners.

The Duke, who was looking down at it, turned his gaze to Killian and made one exception.

"However, I will leave the execution of Edith to you, Killian. For while it is true that she is guilty, she is also your wife."

At that, Cliff called out again in a low voice, "Father!"

The Duke looked back and forth between Cliff, who looked displeased, and the cold-faced Killian.