The guards grabbed her by both arms at once, dragging her toward the massive golden gate.
"Wait! Let me explain my crime! There's no need to be this primitive!"
Wait a second… how the hell am I speaking their language?
As the grand golden doors opened in majestic glory, the noise of the central palace began to seep into where she was, within mere seconds.
"A cow gave birth to five kittens and that damned monkey- holy molly, I'm actually speaking!"
Muttering to confirm her own sanity, she froze when she saw the crowd gathered inside the vast hall. A deep tremor ran through her body. The door was now completely open, and before the nobles could see her face, the guards pulled the sack back over her head. She struggled and kicked, but it was useless. Even keeping her balance was impossible. Only muffled, desperate sounds escaped her.
The mighty king sat upon his throne, gripping and releasing his scepter repeatedly, a sign of his tension. The noise of the hall slowly died away. When the condemned man was thrown before the guillotine, a painful groan escaped her lips.
"Hear me, noble house of Olgard! As you all know by now, this slave, Gralik"
Gralik? What kind of garlic name is that?
"In our civilized kingdom, public execution may seem barbaric, yet his crime is beyond forgiveness, and as a warning to you all! This immoral, wayward slave failed his duties and instead brainwashed the fifth princess of Olgard, deceiving her in the name of so-called love!"
The king was trembling with fury, barely able to speak. Beneath the sack, her face wrinkled more and more as she listened.
Am I dreaming? No, it's all too real to be a dream. I've never realized I was dreaming before.
I'm the slave, inside the story itself. My heart is pounding so hard it's choking me, devouring what little air I have left.
"Now show this slave's face so that the entire palace may never forget it!"
The king's furious voice echoed through the central hall. The guards gasped in fear. Their plan was collapsing. They exchanged uneasy glances, as if making an unspoken agreement in that instant.
One guard adjusted the guillotine while the other fumbled with the sack on her head. The king's breathing grew heavier, impatient. The entire hall held its breath, waiting to see Gralik's execution.
I can't breathe. Everything feels like it's dying around me. Someone's squeezing my head. Is this going to be my second death? No, this is a dream, and when I die, I'll wake up and never listen to that old woman's story again. I won't even walk past her door. Maybe… maybe I don't want to die.
As light suddenly hit my eyes, air filled my lungs at last, but my vision was already blurred and I couldn't control my breathing.
"WHERE IS GRALIK!?"
The king's roar shook the entire hall. The guards' plan had fallen apart completely. They thought the king wouldn't notice, but he had hated Gralik so deeply that he had memorized every detail of his face, more vividly than he ever remembered his beloved queen. The guard tore the sack away and pushed her toward the guillotine.
"Your Majesty, we brought this man because he aided Gralik's escape, as you can see, he disguised himself as-"
The guardian trembled, unable to finish, swallowing hard before forcing the words out.
"-Gralik escaped."
The king's eye twitched with rage, foam forming at his mouth. His bloated face looked ready to explode. Both guards stood frozen in terror, staring at him.
"Anyone who helped Gralik, anyone who even knew him, will be executed here in this very hall!"
He shouted as though swearing to the gods themselves. The hall was filled with shock.
Everyone stood silent, petrified, not even daring to breathe. Only one person in the crowd began to move quietly forward, slipping through the people to get a closer look at the condemned woman.
My stomach turns. My body trembles, not from outside force but from my own hiccups.
Strange, I'm not even crying, yet I'm terrified more than ever. As they roughly press my neck onto the wooden board, I want to feel everything one last time. How can there be so many people here, yet no sound at all? My ears hear nothing, but my eyes can still see them, all these oddly dressed people staring. I've never been the center of attention like this. My nerves loosen, for reasons I don't understand.
A faint click echoed through the silence, followed by the metallic hiss of the falling blade.
Two seconds stretched into eternity, then the sound stopped.
What happened? Did I die? I didn't feel any pain. When I opened my eyes, I realized no one was looking at me anymore. My head wasn't on the ground. I was still alive.
Slowly, I looked up, and froze. The guillotine's blade had stopped halfway. Was it broken?
No… everyone was staring at something else.
A hand.
A hand was gripping the sharp edge of the blade.
A loud crash shook the hall, and I flinched. The blade was gone, sent flying away by sheer force. I must've blinked, because when I opened my eyes, the blade was gone, he freaking threw it with his bare hand!
As the hall erupted in chaos, the guards grabbed my arms again, pulling me back.
I don't know what's going on, but I just want these idiots off me. I yanked my arms hard to free myself, accidentally smashing them into each other.
I… I'm unbelievably strong.
"Hell yeah, I'M A MAN!"