Become The Duke’s Wife Or Die - Chapter 55

With puffy eyes Lyra came out of her room, wearing a beautiful white dress.  Her hair was tied tightly like a beautiful princess, wearing various kinds of beautiful and expensive jewelry.

But all that could not ease the sadness of her, who assumed that she would soon die.

Gena and Ella followed her sadly, staring at her beautiful back but shaking violently.  Her legs sometimes stumbled as if they had lost all their strength.  Again and again, they saw her mumbling something incoherent, as well as mentioning various names they did not recognize.

Mrs. Melisa led them at the front, walking upright even though she seemed hesitant and a little afraid. She carried an order that would decide one’s fate, just like the several times when the maids who touched Duke Kleo were executed.  All the images of those moments played back, like a cassette with sophisticated technology, making it even seem as if she could feel the smell as well as the weather of those days.

Now she will repeat the same moment, the moment when someone will be judged and punished.  Fatigue gripped her as if chaining her legs, making her steps feel very heavy. She wished she could get out of this kind of situation so that she wouldn’t panic at night when she heard the noise outside.

Lyra gasped when finding Duke Kleo standing in the distance, wearing his air force royal suit, with various striking gold embroidery details.  Beside his waist slipped a long, sharp sword, accompanying his admirable yet extremely deadly appearance.

Duke Kleo was standing in front of the palace, in the courtyard, with the servants, the guards, Stefanus, as well as Lord Bertus.  They gathered and formed a line, placing Duke Cleo and Stefanus in front of them, face to face.

All eyes turned to Lyra, who looked beautiful yet pitiful.  Even her skin was pale with her body shaking violently as well as a very chaotic look.  She was seen biting her lip several times, even so hard that it made her bleed a little.

Duke Kleo turned to her, looking at her with an even, expressionless look.  His lips plunged like a steep abyss, his eyes fierce but not aggressive.

‘So I’m going to be executed here?’ thought Lyra, advancing slowly on shaky legs.  Sometimes she stumbled and almost fell.  ‘I will be executed in front of the palace and seen by many people.  Great!’ Again she grimaced, shedding tears, feeling her heart being ripped apart, drew closer as Mr. Bertus invited her to come forward.

All of the air seemed to have lost its essence, time seemed to stop spinning, and she was in another world without existence.  Soon she would be dead before she even took her revenge on the one who ruined her life. She squeezed her gloved fingers, almost injuring herself.

In his position, Duke Kleo nodded after Mr. Bertus gave him the code.  Now his sturdy and manly body made small movements, lifting his chin to sweep his gaze at all the people gathered in front of him.

“I inquire that you all gather here to be witnesses,” he began to speak.  His voice boomed like thunder in the night, deafening and gripping.  “As you all know yesterday there was a commotion going on, involving Lyra.  Because of her mistake, I will give her the punishment today.”

Lyra’s throat was dry, making it hard to swallow. She had not eaten the breakfast menu, which now seemed unimportant, making her body a bit weak because of it.

“But before I sentence her, I will explain in detail all the mistakes she has made to me, to maintain justice in my system of government,” continued Duke Kleo, ignoring Lyra who didn’t stop shedding tears.  “Lyra has fucked me.”

Everyone didn’t seem surprised by his statement.

“She has done it by force,” he continued, just getting a flabbergasted response from everyone.  They all gaped, some of them covering their mouths in too much shock.  “When I was drunk she forced me to sleep with her in a hotel. She wouldn’t be able to deny it because she also remembered all those incidents.  Isn’t that right, Miss Lyra?”

Embarrassed, regretful, disgusted, angry, and helpless, Lyra nodded her head softly.  She was even publicly humiliated before execution.  Damn it!  Is she that low?

“You see?  I never pressured her to give false information, and she admitted what she did. She had forcefully fucked me when I was drunk, even though she was drunk at that time too.”

Everyone was getting more and more flabbergasted.  A few moments ago some of them had squinted and blamed Lyra for being considered a bad person who took advantage of Duke Kleo’s drunken state.  But after hearing another fact, they now know that Duke Kleo and Lyra are stuck in a difficult situation.

“I had promised my dearest mother, Lady Helen, that I would never have a relationship with a girl if I did not wish to marry her.  I also promised my dear mother that I would never stain or touch a girl if I didn’t want to marry her.  Then I also promised her to marry the girl I had touched or had slept with.”

Now they all gasped, even more, holding their breaths as they waited for the other statements.

“I know I wasn’t the first to touch Lyra, but we’ve slept together, one thing I will do with the girl I must marry.”  Duke Kleo locked his arms behind his back expressionlessly, something he often did when giving an experience or trial.  “So I was punishing her by marrying her.  But she refused.  Since I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, that’s why I took her to Wereal while making sure she never got lost or ran away.  I gave her two options, namely execution, and the choice to marry me.  To be honest I was tempted to go with the first option at first if I didn’t remember my promise to my mother.”

Ella and Gena listened to this death announcement with great sorrow.  They would almost faint if they didn’t brace themselves.

“Moreover, Lyra is not a good girl.  She had had countless men in the past, sleeping with them without wanting to marry them.  I don’t have a problem with her lifestyle, but after she fucked me then she shouldn’t continue to do that principle,” said Duke Kleo again, explaining.  “I’ve tried to give her a lot of chances.  I respect marriage.  I wanted to have a happy marriage once in my life, so I tried to understand her and bought some time until she was ready.  But you know what she did?”

Everyone turned their heads, holding their breath a little longer, waiting for their master to continue.

“She instead accepted Marquess Helmut’s offer to be his mistress.”

They all gasped even more excitedly as if this jolted and ripped their cores apart, casting their gazes on Lyra in droves, not believing that such a beautiful and sweet girl would do such a heinous thing.

“She refuses to be my wife and instead wants to be my cousin’s mistress.”  Now Duke Kleo shook his head, rubbing his forehead very angrily.  “I can’t hold myself back anymore, even if I want to. She has gone too far and crossed the line.  So I asked the guards to drag her to the prison and set her up as a prisoner.  Now, today, I’m going to announce to you the punishment she deserves: a girl who forced to fuck me when I was drunk, refused to be my wife, and at the same time refused to accept the legal and prescribed punishment, and instead accepted the offer of being the mistress of my cousin, who was my enemy.  .”

Lyra swallowed hard, suddenly feeling her body heat up with anxiety.  Her throat was constricted as if her airways were crushed and even blocked.

Duke Kleo took his eyes off Lyra, looked at his people again, continuing his announcement, “After careful consideration, and after evaluating all of her behavior, I have decided to sentence her.  Today, finally, she will be executed!”

Screaming, Lyra’s knees suddenly went limp with loss of strength, her body slumped to the floor as her cries broke out pitifully.

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