The King had summoned Crown Prince Elvis before him that night.
The King Of Valecrest, King Edward Crest, Sat on his throne. He wasn't young anymore and he knew it. With a frown on his face that seemed like a habit of his, he examined his son for a while.
"Tomorrow is the day of the public beheading, and many people will be present there. Including some important people. Nobles and all" He began. "So I want to remind you to make sure everything goes well"
"Don't worry about it, Your Majesty. I have everything under control. I'll make sure nothing goes wrong" Elvis assured him.
"I hope it happens as you say. Because if anything goes wrong, I can't assure you anything positive from my side" The King didn't sound friendly with Elvis who was supposedly his son and Crown prince.
And Elvis was already used to that "I understand Your Majesty. I won't disappoint you"
The King nodded "Sure. You didn't disappoint me when you managed to catch that wizard. At least you did something useful. The Emperor is impressed. So by the time we take the head of that bastard to the Emperor, we shall make our request for the reward to him"
The King sounded proud. Proud of himself rather. He couldn't wait to meet the king and make his long awaited request from him. He was excited about that.
Just then Elvis coughed. An abnormal cough that made the king stare at him.
"What's wrong with you? Are you sick or something?"
"I caught a cold, Your Majesty," Elvis explained.
"Then go get yourself treated. Stop trying to infect me" The King instructed coldly.
"Yes Your Majesty" Elvis bowed as he left the King's Presence. On getting to his room, he pulled up his sleeve.
Elvis stared at the red rashes that had appeared on his wrist. Something that wasn't there a while ago.
He coughed again wondering what was happening to him.
"Maybe it's a cold" He assumed as he went to his drawer and got out a cold pill he had left. He didn't have time to go to the physician for a detailed check up.
He had to make sure everything went smoothly for the beheading ceremony tomorrow. It was a grand one with many people attending - Noble people. And it was for the image of his father. He couldn't embarrass his Royal father. So he knew he had to make sure it went smoothly.
So Elvis overlooked the "cold" and did more important preparations for tomorrow.
*******
The next day arrived - The Palace Bells rang - It was the moment of the beheading of the great wizard of EL.
Eden couldn't sleep a wink. He couldn't sleep knowing that he could possibly get executed in a few hours.
Even though he had made a plan against it, he still couldn't be a hundred percent sure of its success. So he stayed up all night, anxious.
He was up till the moment the guards came to get him. Dragging him out of prison and leading him to the venue of his beheading.
Eden didn't protest. He was too powerless to even do that. He could only depend on his plan to escape.
They rode him through the carriage led by two horses. Eden quietly sat there looking through the window.
The setting was something he was yet to get used to. He couldn't believe that he had gone from looking out through car windows and admiring the tall buildings, streetlights and beautiful scenery of the city to looking through a carriage's window and looking at the natural scenery of the forest.
The rolling expanse of the ground, its trimmed fields like velvet, well shaped gardens embodied with pretty roses. A silver-like fountain with the statue of what seemed like cupid on top. It was indeed a nature's feast for the eyes.
But Eden didn't care. He could only think about his beheading ceremony.
*******
Eden had recalled watching some clips online a while back.Those POV clips which read like:
POV: The noble ladies in the 1800s era celebrating after their husbands got them a front roll seat to the beheading Ceremony.
Eden recalled laughing out loud and falling off his bed while reading those captions and watching the videos. He found them silly and hilarious.
But today there was no smile on his face. It was his beheading ceremony that those noble ladies were going to be fighting for a front roll seat to. He was the one getting beheaded so it wasn't funny anymore.
He arrived at the scene as he first caught sight of those noble ladies in the front roll seat. Sitting majestically while enjoying the view. He hated them. Hated the way they actually got the front roll seat. And hated their husband for getting them that front roll seat.
The place was filled. Filled with nobles seated at positions that were kept for them. Good positions where they could watch from. And behind were the commoners who obviously came to witness the end of the Wizard of EL that brought bad omen.
The royalty had their seat up high on an elevated spot. The king sat beside his Queens - He had two wives. And then Eden caught sight of The Crown Prince Elvis who was close to the King and Queens.
Eden stared at Elvis as they dragged him up to the scaffold to meet his fate. Elvis didn't look in his direction at all. It was as though he was avoiding him.
Eden was brought to his knee by the two hefty men who were the ones that were going to behead him with the huge swords in their hands.
Eden could feel his heart jumping off his heart. He was tense but struggled to keep his cool. He told himself that he would survive. He wouldn't end up like the pathetic villain who died at this scene.
In the original novel, the villain's head was cut off and it rolled down. Blood poured profusely as everyone cheered. It was the end of him. A pathetic death, Eden thought.
"Greetings My People" The King Greeted them all. He made his Grand speech.
He expressed his joy over finding and capturing the Wizard of EL. He didn't give direct or public credit to Eden.
He expressed how solemn and grand this event was. As it marks a great achievement of his reign. An achievement of capturing the Wizard that tortured the world. A Great feat for his reign.
After his long speech, he finally said "Now we watch the Wizard of EL meet his dreadful doom today!"
"Yayyyyy!" They all cheered.
Eden rolled his eyes at the noble ladies in front who cheered the most. He couldn't help but wish they were the ones up here to witness this themselves!
All eyes were now on Eden on the scaffold. The auspicious time had arrived as one of the hefty men walked up to him to push his head down to the wood's circular opening and also cuff both his arms.