Executing Traitors, and Other Fun Activities

“Mother, tell me about the execution of Princess Aurelia!”

“Again? I’ve told you this story so many times! And don’t you have some work to do?”

“Lady Graves doesn’t need me today! Come on, mother! Please!”

“Well, fine. As you know, I was Princess Aurelia’s servant...”

The princess died on a sunny day, outside in the town square, watched by thousands of her own people. She wore a black dress of woven silk, and no jewelry. Her long brown hair was in a simple braid and her head was devoid of her royal crown. Her face was pale, her eyes rimmed red from weeping. It was a sad day for our kingdom.

Everyone was confused as to why they were called to the town square. Why was the princess there, looking so pitiful? What was the royal executioner doing with his silver axe, newly polished and sharpened? What was the king doing there? What was going on? So many questions.

The king made an announcement to his subjects, stating that the princess was to be executed for high treason against the crown. There was screaming, sobbing, people were losing their minds. Princess Aurelia was, well, she wasn’t beloved on the level that Queen Sophia or Princess Reyna were, but the people still liked her. She was a good woman, kind, polite, intelligent, the epitome of a princess. It was quite a shock for the citizens to hear that she had committed treason. The king had to wait for a few minutes and even send some of his knights through the crowd to make everyone be quiet again.

When asked if she had any last words, the princess responded that she had already said everything that she wanted, and that she was glad to have done what she did, even if she died for it. She then knelt on the ground, and her head was chopped off.

“Mother, that can’t be all that happened!”

“That’s what occurred, my dear daughter. That’s the end of the story, you know that!”

“But what did she do? You never told me, no matter how many times I’ve asked!”

“What makes you think there’s more to the story?”

“It can’t end like that! You said that everyone liked her, that they were sad about her death. Well, I don’t understand what caused her to die, it doesn’t make sense. There’s got to be something else.”

“If there was something else - ”

“I knew it! You were her servant, you’ve got to know! Please, mother, tell me what the princess did.”

The day the princess disappeared was dark and cloudy. There was a scent of rain in the air and a feeling of gloom that was uncharacteristic of the kingdom. When I saw that she wasn’t in her bed, I immediately alerted a guard, as was my responsibility. I was then questioned extensively by the king, but it was clear that I knew nothing.

For weeks, there was no trace of the princess. The knights searched the whole castle, as well as the town, but they couldn’t even find one piece of evidence to point them to her. The king grew belligerent, often throwing things, doling out harsh punsihments, and screaming at everyone, even his wife. The reason for his anger wasn’t solely worry for his daughter. It was worry for the kingdom itself.

The princess was set to marry Lord Ingleden, who held the Northern Mountain Lands. With this marriage, the kingdom would expand its territory and become stronger through the alliance. It was a good deal for the kingdom and would lead to increased prosperity. The unfortunate thing was that Princess Aurelia absolutely despised Lord Ingledon. How could she not? He was a crass, uneducated, disgusting man who was older than her father, by quite a few years. Aurelia did not fancy being tethered to this man for the rest of her life, and so she ran away.

When she returned to the castle, before she went to the king, she told me what she did. Aurelia stole a ship from the castle port and sailed around the world for weeks. She saw beautiful islands, met exotic people, and just generally enjoyed herself. Nobody knew that she was the princess of a distant kingdom, so she finally got to experience life the way she wanted to. She described it as freeing, like a bird flying above the world for the first time in its life. I believe that she was the happiest she had ever been, and the happiest she would ever be, during those weeks away from the castle.

The unfortunate thing is that she purposefully came back after her wedding date, so the proposed alliance between the king and Lord Ingledon was broken. This is why the king sentenced her to death for treason.

“Mother, that’s so unfair!”

“He had to punish her, dear. She understood that. She just wanted to be make her own decisions and be free. She knew what she was getting into, and she knew the consequences of her actions, but she didn’t regret it.”

“But why? She was executed for it!”

“Yes, but she finally got to live her life the way she wanted to. To her, that was worth dying for.”