Ellena's body trembled when she felt the cold wind brush her skinny body. Only the thin dress and scarf covered her up. They barely gave protection.

If it was up to Kira, this convicted felon would be paraded naked in the town center. That's how much she hated Ellena. However, when Mars heard about this, the king strictly told her not to follow through with it.

He didn't want such punishment to be made an example and become a tradition for the future. He thought it was barbaric and Mars didn't want his country to move backward in civilization.

"Right. So, you don't agree with my suggested punishment to parade her naked in the public, but you are okay with selling her as a sex slave to the pirates?" Kira scoffed when she heard Mars's order. 

The king shook his head. He had to keep telling himself that this Kira was on their side and she cared a lot about Emmelyn, so Mars had to treat her well.

That way, he could be patient and reply calmly to Kira's mocking statements. He cleared his throat.

"That's different. Nobody will know that you will sell Ellena to a brothel to pay for her crimes. The people only know that she is sentenced to forty years of forced labor. They just don't know what kind of labor she would do," Mars replied. "However, if you paraded her naked in public, the people will think such punishment is acceptable and will demand as such for the future."

Mars furrowed his brows. "Imagine if an innocent woman was given such punishment, imagine if this punishment was in place when my wife, Emmelyn, was framed and punished for a crime she didn't commit?"

He added with a hoarse voice. "Such humiliation is too much for even a strong woman. I don't know what would happen and how scarred my wife would have been if she had to go through something like what you suggested."

"But we know Ellena is guilty," Kira argued.

"Ellena is guilty, but I don't want such punishment in my country. Ever," Mars snapped.

He couldn't imagine if Emmelyn was paraded naked when she was accused of a crime she didn't commit.

The humiliation might have become the final straw and she could kill herself. Or, if Emmelyn didn't take her own life, she would never forgive Mars and his family for what happened, ever.

Thinking about it was enough to send shivers down his spine. For Mars, it was better to let go of a guilty person, than to punish the innocent. The same logic applied to punishment.

It was better to be more lenient in punishment than to be too harsh with the risk of punishing innocent people like Emmelyn.

Kira rolled her eyes. She didn't like this order, but she had no choice but to agree. That was the reason why Ellena got to keep her clothes during the trip to the town center.

After half an hour, they arrived in the town center to a gathering crowd. Even though the temperature was quite low, many people came to witness the woman who was convicted for treason and attempted murder humiliated.

They considered this a spectacle and a chance to get back at those arrogant nobles who always looked down on peasants like them.

"Look at the traitor!!" Someone shouted when the wagon drove closer toward them.

The hundreds of people who gathered in the market immediately ran and crowded the wagon. The coachman stopped his wagon and went to help Ellena down.

She would walk the remaining distance, passing through the market to go to the plaza in the center. 

"Miss, please get down," the coachman said to Ellena. The woman who shrank in the corner of the wagon pretended not to hear him. She suddenly lost all her courage and willpower when she caught sight of the crowd.

Gosh... this was so humiliating. Those people knew who she was. She was the 'niece' of the former prime minister who was surrounded by wealth and power. Now, she was reduced to... this.

Tears streamed down hard on her face when Ellena heard the people around her start shouting insults and harassment. 

"Look at that ugly wench! She thought she could frame our queen for a crime that she herself committed!" An older woman approached the wagon at Ellena and spat on her.

"You are so ugly, even peasants wouldn't want to marry you. Yet, you think you are worthy of our king? Delusional!"

"She is so wicked! This is the woman who tried to kill our old queen," another voice was heard among the crowd.

"Crazy bitch! She must be messed up in the head."

"She should be hanged to death!"

"She should be beheaded after being paraded like this!"

"No, death is too easy a punishment for her. She has to pay for her crime..."

Kira became impatient when she saw Ellena hugged her knees and refused to get down from the wagon. She jumped down from her horse and went up to the wagon.

"Don't waste my time, you wench," she chided Ellena as she grabbed her arms and dragged her to the ground without mercy.

"Aaaww...!!" Ellena couldn't help but scream when her frail body touched the hard ground. "That hurts..."

She cried despondently.

"Well, being stabbed by a knife hurt more," Kira scoffed. "Yet, you did that to the old queen. I can stab you with my sword so you can know what it feels like to be stabbed. Should I do just that???"

The crowds murmured in agreement and some people hurled more insults toward Ellena. The disgraced woman could only bite her already bleeding lip. She clenched her fists to the sides and looked up at Kira with a glare. 

If she didn't need Kira to get her free, Ellena would have charged at that woman and hit her. Well... she might not be able to hurt Kira from the looks of it, but at least she could vent her anger and frustration.

The people would think she had gone mad, but at this point, Ellena's position couldn't be any lower than where she was now.

She couldn't be shamed more than this. 

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