1. I Will Refrain From the Death Penalty
Episode 1
“No, what is this….?”
As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the hideous bars. A vicious bed guard like this, I think it’s a prison cell…
While I was struggling for a long time because my body was heavy, my reason gradually returned. First of all, the biggest feeling was the dull stiffness.
My headache was so bad. My mouth was so dry and my whole body ached. Did I drink too much last night? No, I definitely worked overtime yesterday, so I stayed in the office until after midnight and left work.
After that, I came out to catch a taxi. At that time, I found a car going back and forth along the centerline from far away, and as soon as I was about to report it because I thought it was a drunk driver…
“I was in a car accident…!”
Surprised by the memory that finally came to mind, I jumped up and flinched with dizziness. Oh, my head is about to break.
“Tsk, she woke up again.”
“Huh? What?”
“Who said she’s not a witch? Is poison useless?”
“What?”
Even before I could properly check the other person’s appearance, an arm suddenly popped in through the bars. I was holding my forehead, and I couldn’t resist and was grabbed by the collar in an instant.
“Open your mouth.”
Someone grabbed my chin with their grasp and spread it out. Soon, some liquid poured into my mouth.
I was then pushed by a violent touch and swallowed a liquid that I didn’t even know. As soon as the force that was grabbing my collar disappeared, I fell on the floor and coughed.
“Cough, cough, cough!“
The tip of my nose tingled and it was spicy, so I teared up.
Did I take medicine? No, but how can a hospital treat a patient in a car accident like this?
“No, this is… Cough! What? Cough, cough!“
The strawberry taste filled in the mouth was just like syrup for children. I was coughing one after another, covering my mouth, and I heard a voice of embarrassment.
“Why aren’t you dying?”
Once I coughed, I couldn’t stop. I was worried that I might throw up at this rate. The loud cough that forced me to clench my teeth stopped, but my nose was still burning. I looked up, wiping away my tears.
In the meantime, I could see a man standing over the bars to see if his eyes were familiar in darkness. Wearing a costume I’ve never seen in my life, he was wearing a mask and only showing his eyes, but he seemed very embarrassed for some reason.
“What? Is she a real black wizard?”
“What are you talking about… But who is she?”
Pulling myself together, I realized that this was not a hospital. Rather, it’s appropriate to call it a prison.
I looked around because I couldn’t understand the scenery reminiscent of a movie set, but the man was angry and pressed me.
“Why was it not working when you took medicine? What are you trying to do?”
No, you can’t ask me that.
“I guess they brought something wrong.”
When I responded angrily, the man staggered backwards. Then he glanced down at the bottle he was holding.
“No way… Didn’t they say that even one drop would send someone to the next world?”
What did that man just say? Another world with one drop? You’re pouring that stuff down my throat now?
When I looked up at him with an absurd look, my eyes met the man who had looked at me in absurdity as well.
“Hey, what did you say? What is that world?”
“Did I really get it wrong?”
Mumbling in a bewildered voice, he brought his nose to the tip of the bottle he was holding and sniffed. As he tilted his head, he carefully tilted the bottle.
A drop of liquid that had remained at the mouth of the bottle formed into a circle, and the man, who had thought for a moment, tasted it with the tip of his tongue. Then…
“Ouch! Ugh!”
The bottle fell to the floor and rolled over. Black veins appeared on the man’s face as he wrapped his hands around his own neck.
“Ugh!”
The man’s face turned purple in an instant, and he collapsed.
Unable to close his bloodshot eyes, the man convulsed a few more times before drooping his limbs after a while.
“…Excuse me?”
I couldn’t breathe and looked at the man, I carefully reached out the bars. Unfortunately or fortunately, my fingertips did not touch the man’s body.
Grasping the iron bars with my trembling hands, I raised my voice a little louder.
“Excuse me!”
The man was motionless. Oh my gosh, that’s unbelievable. Is he really dead?
I slowly looked down and saw the bottle rolling on the floor. Not a single drop of liquid flowed from the spout of the bottle, which was completely lying on its side. The inside was empty.
As the man said, it seems that it was really the medicine of sending one to the other world with just a drop. Because the man died with just one drop.
But then, I drank almost all the liquid in that bottle, so why am I alive now?
“What?! Why is the door open?”
I was staring blankly at the corpse, and a long light came from the hallway. A couple of shadows flickered with a loud noise, then the sound of running was heard.
“It’s a corpse!”
“A man is dead!”
Soon after, new people found the corpse and shouted loudly. I, who had been dazed by the iron bars up to that point, only came to my senses when the light shone on me.
“To kill people even in prison!”
Yeah?
“Have you not given up on that viciousness until the end? Get this girl right now…!”
“No!”
The soldiers stopped when I shouted urgently. It didn’t immediately catch my eye that there were several soldiers who looked like people I had only seen in movies, or that they were illuminating me with objects I had never seen before.
Surprised that I had been mistaken for a murderer before the shock that a person had died in front of my eyes, I was just filled with thoughts of clearing up this misunderstanding right away.
“This man came here and all of a sudden he drank it!”
The soldiers still looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“I didn’t do it!”
The eyes of the soldiers, which were full of doubts, changed subtly.
“…It’s true.”
Soldiers with frowned faces murmured among themselves. Then, one person said something to me.
“You’re finally crazy, Giselle Roycevin.”
Giselle Roycevin? I’ve heard that name before.
“The Roycevin family is already doomed. Give up and get ready to be hanged.”
What do you mean hanging? Hey, soldier. What does that mean?
The soldiers, who were whining before I could say something, took the body and left.
I then belatedly realized why the name Giselle Roycevin was familiar.
Giselle Roycevin was a wicked woman who appeared in a novel I read. In the middle of the novel, she was desperately defeated by the main characters, her whole family was exterminated, and she was also hanged. However, while waiting for the hanging, she was poisoned by an assassin and ended her life…
Giselle Roycevin?
This.
This can’t be it.
~*~
There was a very devastating romance novel called 『Poison Apple』
The female supporting villain was the first to fail and be poisoned, the male protagonist was murdered by the villain, the female protagonist commits suicide because she was pessimistic about her situation, and the final villain was deceived at the end and dies from poison.
In a word, everyone dies. All of the important characters, regardless if they were good or bad.
I read this novel because I was about to explode due to work stress. I wanted to sweep everything away from my boss, co-worker, and client, but I couldn’t, so I was vicariously satisfied with this novel.
Thanks to this, when all other readers criticized the writer, I applauded and cheered for the writer’s bold decision alone. Furthermore, I left a long commentary. I think I was disappointed, saying it would have been better to be more devastated.
…Ha, why did I do that?
“Crazy, crazy. The villain was stupid and pitiful, so I asked to live.”
I regretted it belatedly after covering my head, but it was no use hitting the ground for a hundred days.
“No, did I know this would happen?”
Did you think I would be the first one to die?
“Giselle Roycevin, to punish the wicked witch…”
“Yes, yes. Did you bring poison? Hurry up and give it to me.”
When I reached out my other hand with my head still held with one hand, the assassin paused. Half of his face was covered with a black cloth, but I could see that he looked embarrassed in his eyes.
Does that person know what number of assassins he is?
I don’t care. I’ll drink it and send him away.
“Aren’t you going to give me poison?”
“Hey, here…”
This poison bottle looked pretty. What does this taste like?
Looking down at the poison bottle, the assassin came to his senses and narrowed his eyes again. It was obvious that I would make an ugly noise, so I quickly opened the lid and poured it into my mouth.
At first, I was scared and it took a long time, but after a few experiences, I realized that it was all useless. When I tried it, it was best to finish it quickly.
Oh, this tastes like light strawberry milk. It’s strawberry milk, but it has a strawberry scent only.
“What is it? Why isn’t it working?”
The assassin murmured embarrassingly as he looked at me again. I looked calm and shrugged.
“You must have brought the wrong one. Do you want to check?”
When I gave the medicine bottle that had about a sip left, the assassin quickly accepted it. As I continued to meet the assassins, I felt that the assassins here are a little lacking.
Why do they keep giving poison?
“Oh my.”
If I keep watching a person die bleeding in front of me, it will inevitably become dull.
It’s not that I’m not scared or surprised. However, it means that humans are animals in learning, and I am also an animal in learning, so I am less surprised and less embarrassed than before.
In addition, this was not the world I lived in and there was no sense of reality, so the death of a person did not come vividly. Honestly, I have in mind that this is the possibility of an overly vivid dream.
It’s weird to feel the taste, touch, and pain, but… How can I explain this situation unless it’s a dream?
“Ha, what am I, suddenly in a novel. Ridiculous.”
I muttered in a bluffing voice and gave up. This was because the smell of blood came out too thick in front of me.
How can the smell of blood be so vivid in my dreams? Is it really a dream?
I’m not really in 『Poison Apple』
Am I?