I stepped out of the morgue, fixing the clasp of my cloak as I made my way out of the building. I made sure that the head of the morgue didn't suspect anything as I made my exit. The moment I left the morgue, I immediately hurried away from the building, heading back to my house as soon as possible. I made sure to make that no one would notice that my back was bigger than usual.

"We're safe now..." I said, and Aura unwrapped her arms from my neck. I made sure to unclasp the cloak and wrap it around her to protect her decency. After all, she was wearing nothing at all to, not even a single thread. "I hope he doesn't suspect anything..." I said, locking the door after making sure that no one was following us.

"Don't worry..." Aura said, adjusting the cloak that I just put on her. "The illusion that I left there should last at least a day, and the head of the morgue is inebriated that he won't remember much of things that happened there." She placed her hand on her neck. "You are a skilled executioner. Your cut was so clean that I had little trouble regenerating my head. A messy stump would result in a painful regeneration..."

"About that..." I looked at her. "You promised to me that you'll explain everything, right? We're in my house, and there's no one here at the moment..."

"That was what I said, yes," Aura nodded.

Aura was a witch whom I executed this noon, and her head was shipped to the palace to be displayed on a pike. But, when I came to visit, her headless corpse suddenly regrew a head, and she was alive again. It was too much I didn't know where to begin.

"Well... let's begin about what happened a while ago," I said. "You were dead, right?"

"Until a while ago, yes," Aura nodded again. "You're right. It was quick and painless. When you swung down your sword, I didn't even feel a thing. I felt like falling asleep..." she said, smiling as she looked at me. I had to avert my eyes, somehow feeling ashamed.

"H-how did you do that?" I asked. It had to be some kind of magic that she used to revive herself from death. It had to be.

Aura thought about it for a while. "Let's just say... it's a curse of mine..."

"A curse?" I parroted her word.

Aura nodded. "This is an obscure knowledge, but each witch has a curse inflicted upon her, and the curse is tied to how we use our magic. In my case, my curse is the Curse of Immortality."

"The Curse of Immortality?" I parroted her again, giving her a confused look. "So... in other words, you are immortal?"

"One way or another, yes," Aura nodded nonchalantly. "Though it still hurts to be fatally wounded, but my curse prevents me from actually dying. For me, dying is just a mild inconvenience, because I will revive soon after being killed." She looked at me with her bright purple eyes. "Still, I didn't want my cover to be blown, so I set the time for my revival the moment you came to visit me. So, it's actually a gamble too, because if you didn't visit me, I might stay dead."

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"S-so... that's why you're unconcerned when you were sentenced to death..." I said.

"Well, unconcerned might be a little bit strong word to describe it, but... let's just say I don't mind dying because I'll just revive again," Aura shrugged. "Also, like I said before, dying hurts quite a lot. Thankfully, the way you executed me made it more painless. In fact," she smiled at me. "It was the most painless death I ever experienced..."

"I-I... see..." I had no idea what to say. This whole thing was just too much for me to handle. "S-so... what are you going to do now?"

"About that..." Aura thought to herself for a while. "Maybe I'll keep hiding. Other witches might be alerted by my execution, so they might probably go into hiding as well. I'm sure there will be a mass witch-hunt in the future..."

"A mass witch-hunt?" I inquire.

"Yes, those who are suspected to be witches will be arrested and put on trials. If found guilty, they will be executed, just like me..." Aura said. "Perhaps some innocents may get themselves involved as well" She looked at me. "And being the Queen's Blade, you will be the one to take their lives..."

"...Damn it," I cursed under my breath. As the royal executioner, I would be tasked to execute the condemned, and the trials would decide whether they were really guilty or not. My duty was to swing down the blade, not to question the outcomes of the trials. "Why does this have to happen?"

"Perhaps someone in the court is aware of my presence here in the kingdom..." Aura suggested. "Anyone would kill for immortality, you know?"

"Huh?" I gave the witch a strange look.

"Sometimes, a witch's curse can be passed to others, and my Curse of Immortality can technically be passed as well..." Aura explained. "So, perhaps there's someone who's looking for a witch with this specific curse. They'll have any witches they managed to get their hands on and have them executed to see if they can find one with the Curse of Immortality."

"But... you're the one with the curse, so..." I said before I realized the implication behind that. "Oh no..."

"So you finally understand..." Aura noted. "Since I somehow controlled the time of my revival instead of reviving right away, they decided that I'm not the one with the curse, and they will continue looking for any witches they can find here in the kingdom. More witches will be executed in the future, and some unlucky innocents may get themselves brought to you as well..."

I gritted my teeth. I might be the royal executioner who would serve loyally to the crown, delivering justice with a swift beheading, but after knowing that I would inevitably have to murder some innocent people, I felt like I wanted to puke.

"This is wrong..." I muttered. "There's no way I can do this..." I looked on my palms before I clenched them into fists. "I serve the crown as the deliverer of justice, not a heartless butcher who slaughters anyone without remorse..."

"Sir Rodyle..."

"Damn it... if I know this is going to happen, I'd never accept this job..."

I felt like everything I had learned before was a lie. A royal executioner carried the will of the crown, delivering justice those who were deemed to be guilty in the eyes of the queen. If my blade was directed to take the lives of the innocents, then there was no justice delivered; it was just mindless murder.

"Also... there's something else I want you to know, Sir Rodyle..." Aura said. "The royal family, especially the Queen, Asharea Makelty..." She paused, as if waiting for me to focus my attention on her.

"The Queen? What about her?" Somehow, I was afraid of learning what she was going to tell me.

"The Queen, as well as the rest of her family... they are witches."