Chapter 1.3: Execution?

Leila had stopped laughing after the prince commanded her to be kneed in the stomach. Groaning, she vomited onto the floor and was screamed at by the people watching. The teenager had awoken in Cleo's body minutes before she was taken away to be executed. She was enraged, if she ever got her hands on that entity she would strangle it. Or if that wasn't possible she would find some way to find the author and strangle them.

Her mouth tasted sour as she was forced to stand, her arms straining under the chains holding her. Wide-eyed, she glared at the royal family with pure hatred. She knew what they did to the original Cleo and it made her enraged. They would embarrass her in court and force her to beg like a dog for her life. After she begged they'd laugh in her face and sentence her to a public beheading. And at said beheading, the prince would swear to go after any lovers she has as payback.

Leila wanted to spit on them as they called her a whore. It was funny, all of them had whores but when she was on trial suddenly that was bad. They accused her of being a greedy pig desperate for a spot in their family. At that comment, she rolled her eyes which earned her another slap. Her cheek throbbed as she licked her bloody lip again. They acted like she was poor and the prince saved her.

The book detailed that Cleo's family was middle class and comfortable. Yes, they were assassins but that was more of a tradition than a necessity. This of course wasn't known to the public so she gave them props for the propaganda. Her arms shook as she sneered openly at their attempts of beating her down. She was going to die if she begged. And she would die if she stayed silent. So who cared what happened next, death was her only option.

"I wasn't a whore when your pig of a son begged for my touch," The woman screamed with her voice breaking from lack of water. Still, it held power as silence followed her words. "When he whispered that he desired to fill my womb with his seed."

"Watch your tongue before I have it cut out!" The king yelled standing up as the prince paled.

Leila smirked, she knew every little desire the man had towards the body she now inhabited. Nothing could be withheld from her as she laughed at his cry. Everything he said would be shared and she'd go down laughing when they held her down. That bastard was described as feeling relief when Cleo's head rolled onto the ground. So, when her tongue was cut out with blood filling her mouth she'd stare him down. He'd have to watch it all.

"Oh? My king, did your son not tell you he slept with me just a week ago? He promised me that my tongue was the best he'd ever had in eons." She pouted with her tongue poking out playfully.

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This was scandalous as a week ago she had been imprisoned. The King looked over at his son who was shaking. She didn't know if he was about to attack her or devolve into tears. The pig had daddy issues from his traumatic backstory of being a disappointment. Only in the last two volumes had his father treated him as his rightful heir. Even then, their relationship was in poor standing.

"Master, truly you didn't?" The concubine who hid against him sounded close to tears. If this wasn't such a tense situation, Leila would pity her.

His older sister glared at him. "You idiot! You couldn't help but lay down with her one last time, could you?" Her fan shook as she aimed a look that screamed pure hatred at the bound woman.

"Yes, princess. Your brother willingly slept with a woman he claimed is a heartless assassin. If that's true, isn't that considered treason?" The last part Leila wasn't really sure of. She was just talking out of her ass at this point wearing a smug grin.

The audience was shocked that their prince had slept with such a devious woman. They whispered that he must be mad to get between her legs. Murmurs of possible disease and infection followed. Leila bristled but kept her cool, they were both getting insulted now. She'd take any lie thrown her way as long as it meant she survived this. She waited for the prince to say anything and snarled when the coward looked away.

If she had been Cleo that would've broken her down. She would've given up and collapsed into a mess of tears. But Leila didn't care about the prince as a person or a lover. He was a book character and a shitty one at that. She knew his inner thoughts and greatest fears from reading about them.

"We know you can use your words to manipulate men, whore. You've just confessed to doing so to the crown prince! Do you have any shame, woman?!" The King proclaimed with his veins bulging out.

'Shit.' Leila hadn't thought of that being used against her. But she could work with this, she still had information under her sleeve.

She laughed. "I didn't enthrall your son in any way. I was chained down to my bed when it happened. I had been fed meager scraps to deplete my energy and mind." She made sure to cough as she spoke to empathize with how weak she was.

"How could I, a frail prisoner who could barely speak, use my voice to seduce him?" Leila slipped a bit allowing her dress to lift. This showcased how thin her legs had gotten since her captivity.

For once in his life, the king was silent. She knew that what she said rang true to him. His son was a coward who willingly slept with the woman who tried to kill his concubine. Who's to say he wouldn't sleep with a woman who tried to kill his sisters? His king? The man's face was troubled as he clenched the podium the family sat at tightly.

The princesses both had disgust consuming them. It was clear that they were in disbelief that he slept with her. From what she was aware they loved their brother but still saw him as unfit. This just made that idea of him rot further, the prince was truly a selfish man at the end of the day.

"Court will be adjourned," the prince tried to speak up but his father silenced him with his booming yell. "Take this prisoner back to her cell. Give her ten lashes for her tongue towards me today."