Duke's wife

Chapter 131

Arthur quickly followed, hugging her shoulder affectionately.

"...... Grace."

"...... It's not because I'm sad for him. ...... It's just, I'm just angry."

"I know. I understand."

"What is power, what is power. ...... I can't stand it because I'm ashamed of my childhood when I was born as the daughter of such a person and wanted to be accepted by that person. And I can't hold my head up because I'm sorry for you and the young people who have been victimized by him."

"Parents are everything in the world and are like gods to their children. Who could blame someone for wanting to be loved by such a being? You have nothing to be sorry for, nothing to be ashamed of."

Grace clung to Arthur's arms, hugging her shoulders tightly, muttering in a submerged voice.

"...... I want him to be punished for his sins. Never again will anyone be blinded by power and do something like that."

"Yes, it will."

Arthur hugged the raging Grace and comforted her quietly. Continue until my wife's mind, which is more complicated than anyone else, calms down.

* * *

After that, the trial continued.

In the meantime, the testimonies of the families of the fallen children arrived at the chapel one by one, and the knights and priests who examined the crypt of the Emperor's womb, where Grace was imprisoned, also took the witness stand to finish their testimonies.

After a full day, the trial was over, and the pope and the two viciaries present delivered their verdicts.

The former emperor, Alexendr Clive, and his wife, Empress Maria Clive, ordered their lifetime to be confined to the Imperial Tower, a prison dedicated to the imperial family at the western end of the imperial capital, until their deaths.

Originally, the crown prince was also to be exiled along with his parents, but it was decided to banish him from the empire on the grounds that he had only a short time left to live, and at the request of the former emperor and his wife, who begged him to let him live freely, as he would comply with all the dispositions of Duke Felix.

And the former Duke of Fitzgerald Alberton, who planned and carried it out, was sentenced to burn at the stake, the highest penalty in the empire. The Duchess of Regina Alberton was sentenced to death by poisoning because she had gone insane over the death of her eldest daughter, Marianne, and was judged to have had relatively little involvement.

When the royal family and nobles heard the news, they whispered that the punishment was appropriate given the crimes they had committed, while others speculated that the cruelty of the Vatican's verdict was attributed to the current head of the empire, Duke Arthur Felix.

In this way, the Clive Imperial Family, which had been in power since the beginning of the country, fell according to the will of the first god who cursed them.

In addition, the story of the "monster dukes" that had been circulating throughout the empire for decades disappeared, and the former power of the wizards gradually declined when Duke Arthur Felix, who succeeded the deposed emperor, issued an edict curtailing the power of the wizards.

Indeed, a new world had opened.

* * *

At the northern end of the palace, the dungeon where the convicts were held was so dark that not even a ray of light came through, even in broad daylight. Grace was led down the stairs leading to the prison by torch-bearers.