Carved Away, Stroke by Stroke
Because Evan Xiao had unsealed Sophie Sun's elixir bottle in front of the entire army, with so many eyes watching, any defense she offered was useless...
......
Grace stood by the street, watching Sophie Sun, her head covered in blood.
She was locked in an Adamantine Cage, chased and beaten by the families of the three hundred dead.
If not for the soldiers protecting her, afraid she'd die before reaching the execution grounds, she would have been beaten to death by those furious families.
Sophie Sun was motionless like a block of wood, only her eyes searching the crowd.
Suddenly, she spotted Chloe Zhu.
She still looked stunning, so dazzling she outshone the sun and moon. Standing in the crowd, she was like a crane among chickens—impossible to miss!
Sophie Sun instantly became like a trapped beast, struggling madly.
But... inside that incredibly sturdy Adamantine Cage, even though she was a Level Five Spiritualist, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree—there was no escape.
Grace smiled gently and slowly raised her hand, waving at her.
Farewell, Sophie Sun!
Enjoy the taste of what it means to reap what you sow!
Sophie Sun struggled even harder, causing the prison cart to shake.
"Behave!" A Spirit Cavalry soldier smacked her on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.
The blow was hard—she passed out instantly.
When she woke up again, she found herself tied to the Bronze Pillar.
Evan Xiao sat high on the judgment platform, while his deputy loudly read out the imperial decree.
Beside her stood a short executioner, his eyes cold and venomous like a snake.
"Evan Xiao! Evan Xiao!" Sophie Sun suddenly shouted. "I have something to tell you! I'm innocent!"
Her shouting interrupted the deputy's reading of the imperial decree, and he snapped angrily, "Stuff her mouth!"
"Isn't a death row prisoner allowed one last wish? Evan Xiao, I have something to say to you! I want to tell you... mmph mmph..." The executioner pulled out a wad of cloth from his coat and finally managed to gag her.
A death row prisoner is indeed allowed to have one last reasonable wish.
Evan Xiao stood up, walked over to Sophie Sun, and asked, "What do you want to say? Go ahead!"
The executioner removed the wad of cloth again.
"I didn't poison anyone! I didn't put poison in the medicine! I'm innocent!" Sophie Sun screamed.
"You're innocent?" Evan Xiao asked her.
"I really am innocent!"
The poison was clearly put in Chloe Zhu's medicine!
"Arsenic. You didn't do it?" Evan Xiao looked at her and asked softly.
Sophie Sun was stunned.
He seems to know!
How does he know?
"Anything else you want to say?" Evan Xiao asked.
Sophie Sun snapped back to reality, blurting out in panic, "Evan Xiao, do you know? The reason I ended up like this is all because of you! I did it because I loved you too much! Will you forgive me? Will you save me?"
Evan Xiao turned away, saying something that made Sophie Sun feel like she'd fallen into an icy abyss: "No need to read the imperial decree. Execute her immediately."
The executioner slowly took out a handkerchief bundle from his coat, carefully unfolded it, and produced a small slicing knife.
He smiled at Sophie Sun, grabbed her clothes, and tore them to shreds.
Then, holding the knife as if an artist sculpting a masterpiece, he carved her, stroke by stroke, each cut deliberate and precise.
......
Sophie Sun was executed by death by a thousand cuts.
Her family was implicated too—some died, some were exiled.
Yet, three days later, the three hundred soldiers who were supposed to be "dead" miraculously came back to life.