Chapter 33
He then offers his help to bring Volya back to the camp, and in exchanges, she will follow him and orders the undead to go away from the camp. Gracia agrees with the condition and they go to the camp.
At the camp, there was a big commotion when the three of them arrived there. Especially Helena and Ludmila after seeing wounded Romain, injured Volya, and Gracia. They were even surprised to see Gracia could fend off all of the undead there.
When Romain explains who she is to Helena, Ludmila, and the camp leader tried to capture and kill her. But, Romain stands in front of Gracia after sending Volya to the physician. When the other people ask why he protects the murderer, he said,
"I made a vow to Volya that I will help him to protect her... Even if that means I must fight all of you, I will do it. And even if I must fight Sir Albert, Sir Villias, or even... Our King."
Most of them start to back down, even Ludmila stops after seeing Romain's resolution. Helena looks at Volya and then Gracia and orders them to return to Ironforge with Gracia under the watch of Romain. She also sends a messenger to Villias and Albert about their situation.
And now, Volya just wakes up from his bed with his ferret sleeping on his body. When he tried to stand up, he could feel a sharp pain on his body.
He then looks at the mirror near him. He could see his body full of bandage and then says,
"My~... My body really..."
Suddenly he hears someone open the door. There he could see two girls walking to his room with one of them bringing a wash bin. One of them is Lucia, while the other is a woman with long chocolate bisque hair and wearing a grey dress. That girl is Gracia.
When they notice Volya already awake, Lucia immediately dashed to Volya and hugs him. She bombarded Volya with many questions, and when she notices that Gracia stands there and looks apologetic.
Volya smiles at her and says,
"Why are you still standing there?"
"..."
"Are..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry... For what I have done... to you..."
Volya looks at Gracia that stands at the door near a candle. Lucia looks at them and then says,
"Because of me... You..."
"That's alright... I know that you are confused at that time..."
"But..."
"As I said, it's fine... I know how you feel though..."
"..."
"And I promise you to tell what your mother told me, right?"
"Huh?"
"Lucia... Could you leave us alone?" asks Volya
Lucia looks at Volya, and then at Gracia. She nods and leaves the room. After Lucia leaves, Volya makes a sign for Gracia to sit beside him. After she sits beside her, Volya pats her head and says,
"Your mother said... To find you and to help you grow to become a good girl."
"Eh..."
"And look at you... You have grown so much since I last met you. I still remember that you are crying in the garden."
"..."
"I will never forget about you... Never..."
"I..."
"Don't blame yourself... I should have found you sooner, but alas, fate says the other way."
Gracia starts to cry again with Volya weeping her tears. He then says,
"It's alright... I forgive you and will never blame you. So,
Gracia nods after hearing that and starts to smile and wipes her tears. They then chat a little bit until Lucia knocks on the door. She asks them to go down as the meal is ready. Lucia and Gracia helping Volya to stand up and help him go downstairs.
They start to eat with Volya and hear what Gracia has done for the last week until he notices the house is missing one person. He then asks Lucia,
"Where is Romain? Is he taking any mission?"
After hearing that question, Gracia and Lucia suddenly stop eating. Volya looks at them and asks the same question until Lucia says,
"Big brother is in the middle of hearing... For Gracia's trial case. Right now he is at Onryx for that."
"Eh?"
"You know... He does that to fulfil his promise to you, Volya."
"I... I'm sorry..."
Lucia looks at Volya and then chuckles a bit. She then says,
"It's not your fault. It's his choice after all..."
"..."
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"But, I believe today is the verdict day... The prosecutor should be here..."
After she said that they could hear a knock at the door. Volya's face changed as he worried with Gracia, while Gracia already resolved to accept any punishments for every of her wrongdoing.
Lucia looks at them, stands up, and opens the door. Volya suddenly tried to stand up to stop Lucia and fall to the ground. Gracia was surprised to see Volya's action and ran at him to help him.
When Lucia opens the door, the three of them could see a bunch of knights standing there. And they know some of them are Ludmila, Villias, Albert, and Phillip. And there stands another man behind those knights. An old man wearing a white robe and red cloak. His grey hair shows how old he is and the face showed the experience and wisdom that he has. On his hand, there are two parchments.
When Lucia sees them, she immediately kneels and looks down. Before Volya could say anything, Ludmila and Phillip already entered the house and stood between Volya and Gracia. The situation at the house is chaotic and the people at Ironforge are quite intrigued with the commotion.
The old man enters the house and says,
"Gracia Ravelli... Please come at me now."
Gracia looks at the old man and then looks at Volya. She smiles at him and she could see an overwhelming emotion from Volya's face. She then looks at the old man, walks towards the old man, and bow in front of him. She then continues,
"I'm Gracia Ravelli, the Smiling Angel of Death... The one that has been making havoc across Therious"
The old man looks at Gracia and then opens one of the parchment. He then continues,
"My name is Mikhail Firenze, the leader of the magistrate of Haegia. Under the order of King Paulo Estrudiantes, I will give you the verdict and punishment."
Mikhail then read every crime from the parchment. Every murder, every ransacking, and every action that Gracia has done, Mikhail reads it in front of Gracia and she didn't deny it at all.
After Mikhail reads all of Gracia's crime, he looks at Gracia and says,
"And the punishment that I gave to you is... Death penalty"
Volya heard that surprised and tried to pa.s.s through Phillip and Ludmila, but they stopped him. Meanwhile, Gracia isn't surprised to hear the verdict, looks at Volya, smiles at him, and says,
"Don't worry, Volya... I'm ready and I know... My crime is severe."
"Gracia..."
"With this... I could... meet my mother and apologize... To your father..." continues Gracia
Mikhail then orders Albert to execute the punishment. Gracia kneels in front of Albert, looks at him, and smiles. She then looks down and closes her eyes as she prepares for the punishments. Volya tried to stop them as Albert walks closer to Gracia and stands behind her.
The process is fast with Volya closing his eyes when Albert takes out his sword. After that, Mikhail says,
"Gracia Ravelli opens your eyes..."
Both Volya and Gracia were surprised to hear that and Volya could see that Gracia was still there. The difference is her hair is cut short. Mikhail then open the second parchment and says,
"But, most of the people that you murder are the scoundrel that making havoc around our territory. Even you exterminate one well-known group of scoundrels on this island."
"..."
"Not only those scoundrels, some villages that provide help for the scoundrels also destroyed thanks to you. With that in mind, we decide this is the punishment for you..."
Mikhail takes the hair that falls to the ground and says,
"This hair is the sin for every murder that you have done until now."
"Eh..."
"And with this, The Smiling Angel of Death is already dead. But, Gracia Ravelli stay alive as a new human"
Gracia start to cry and Mikhail says,
"Stand up, young child... And now you are already free..."
Volya starts to crawl to Gracia, with Phillip and Ludmila leaving him. As soon as he is near Gracia, he starts to hug her. They start to cry together with Volya says,
"Thank G.o.d... Gracia..."
Gracia nods at Volya and then she looks at Mikhail and says,
"Sir Mikhail... I, Gracia Ravelli, will always remember this event and will work hard... for this kingdom!"
Mikhail smiles at them and orders all of the knights to follow him and leave them be. But there is only one knight left. The knight walks at them, takes off the helmet, and there a tearful Lucia looks happy. That knight is Romain and he looks relieved.
He said,
"It's indeed a long battle... But, we are victorious now... Volya."
"Thank you... Romain" answer Volya as he looks at Romain
With that, it starts the end of The Smiling Angel of Death and the start of Gracia Ravelli in the world. The start of her happiness that has been missing for many years.