But today was different from usual. There was no one at the morning market except for a few homeless people sitting at the entrance of the alley, fast asleep, with wine bottles they had picked up from the trash can last night in their arms.
Cecil's eyes shifted slightly as he straightened up and looked outside.
Some shops still had steaming pots and ladles idly stirring the soup, indicating they had left in a hurry. Sehir tried looking into the distance but didn't get the result he wanted, so he had no choice but to continue leaning against the door.
After the carriage had traveled some distance, Isri gently knocked on the window, and Ceshir looked over.
"Young Master, there's some commotion in the central square ahead. Shall we go check it out?"
Hearing Isri's words, Philip, who was sitting next to him, immediately became unhappy and looked at Isri and said, "Weren't you going to help me?"
A cold glint flashed in Islam's eyes, and Philip felt a cold sweat break out on his back from being stared at, so he shut his mouth and stopped talking.
Sehir glanced at the two men in front of him and nodded slightly, tacitly approving Isri's actions.
The central square wasn't large, but it was just big enough to accommodate the people in the city. Isri parked the carriage to the side and repeated the action that he knew by heart.
To Sehir's surprise, none of the people around him paid attention to Isri; they were all standing on tiptoe, looking at something in the distance.
Because Sehir was still not tall enough, he couldn't see anything in front of him, so he had to move closer and ask Isri for help.
"Shall we go?" Cecil smiled and looked at Philip.
Philip was captivated by Cecil's eyes. After a long while, his face flushed slightly, and he stammered, "I'm not going. I'll wait for you here."
Saisil didn't say much, turned around, and walked into the crowd.
He walked to the back of the crowd and looked up at Isri: "Pick me up."
Isri glanced at Ceshir, then his gaze returned to the front platform.
That was an execution platform!
Islam could see clearly that the platform had only been built a short time ago, and some of the wood still had splinters. What was even more puzzling was that two young men were kneeling on it.
Their pure white prison uniforms were stained with blood, some of which had turned dark brown. Their hair was stuck to their foreheads, and they had their heads down. If you looked closely, you would see that their knees had been smashed, and they were forced to kneel.
"Isri, what are you doing!" Sehir tried to stand on tiptoe to look, but he couldn't see anything.
Isri snapped out of his daze, lowered his head, and said with no change in expression, "The young master won't like executing criminals. Let's go."
Yes, Cecil's greatest fear in life was death; even the sight of a butterfly dying before his eyes would send him into a frenzy.
Isri lifted Sehir up by the knees and prepared to return to the carriage, but unfortunately, a sound came from the execution platform in the distance.
"You shameless bastards! Let everyone see what will happen to you!"
In an instant, people started shouting, some even screaming.
"Yes! Kill them!"
"They are not worthy to be on the continent of West Asia! They have defiled our goddess Greenland!"
Burn them!
A series of thunderous voices reached Isri and Sehir's ears. Isri stopped in his tracks as he turned back to the carriage, his gaze once again fixed on the two people on the execution platform.
The person standing on the stage continued to speak, his voice passionate and stirring, as if he were enveloped by a god.
"Those two shameless monsters! They actually had an affair under the protection of the goddess!"
Instantly, the people in the arena emitted a series of nauseating sounds, their eyes filled with contempt, mockery, and disbelief as they stared intently at the person kneeling on the execution platform.
"They are monsters! Burn them! They don't deserve the goddess's protection!"
A sound came from somewhere and instantly ignited everyone present. Everyone started shouting and cheering, telling the person on the stage to burn those two shameless monsters to death.
Isri's eyes were terrifyingly cold. His originally light amber eyes turned dark from the force he exerted, and his grip on Cesil became so tight that it hurt.
"Isri! Let go!" Sehir called out to stop him, but Isri seemed not to hear him and continued to stare ahead.
Following Isri's gaze, Sehir's curiosity was also piqued, and he turned his head away.
The two people on the execution platform finally raised their faces, stiffly turning their heads to look at each other. Although their faces were covered in blood, their outlines showed that they were not bad-looking.
“Isri, let’s go.” Ceshir glanced at it and didn’t dare look any further; he couldn’t stand this kind of thing.
As for what those people said earlier, without exception, they all revealed the twisted nature of their minds.
But Isri remained standing still, like a statue, impossible to move.
Just as Sehir was about to reprimand him, his gaze swept over Isri's eyes, which were like the deepest black holes in the universe, so cold that they could freeze a person in place instantly. Sehir swallowed back the words he was about to say.
In the end, I had no choice but to bite the bullet, turn around, and look at the two people above.
He didn't know why Islam was reacting so strongly. He had never seen the people on the execution platform, and Islam had never mentioned having any relatives.
The two people on the stage remained kneeling together. Taking advantage of the inattention of those around them, they moved their bodies with difficulty, clasped their hands together, and murmured something, but the movement was too small for Cecil to see clearly.
"Shameless!" A furious shout rang out, followed by muffled groans from the two men. The executioner standing behind them kicked them away.
"Burn them alive!" the crowd shouted.
The atmosphere gradually heated up, the shouts grew louder and louder, and even the nearby glass began to tremble slightly.
The executioner's lips curled into a sinister smile, his eyes filled with disdain and disgust. He stepped forward, grabbed the two men by the hair, and pulled them to the middle.
"In the name of the goddess Greenlanda, I hereby execute these two monsters today!"
"I will receive the goddess's highest blessing!"
A heavy voice echoed in the empty central square, where two people kneeling below were tightly embracing each other.
He kept murmuring to the other person.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Chapter Twelve
Just as everyone was cheering, a discordant voice rang out in the central square, immediately arousing public outrage.
"Don't you feel ashamed? You are the ones who have disgraced the goddess!"
The sudden sound caught everyone off guard, leaving them stunned. They stood there, staring wide-eyed at the person shouting at the top of their lungs. Even the people embracing each other on the stage looked up.
The people around him stared at him as if he were a heinous criminal on death row, their eyes filled with hatred, disgust, and contempt.
Seeing that something was wrong, Isri quickly took Sehir to a less crowded place and covered Sehir's ears.
But the noise was still very loud, and Cecil could still hear intermittent sounds of one-sided fighting; the scene was chaotic and in complete disarray.
Then the executioner on the platform spoke again.
"Noon! The execution begins!"
Suddenly, the people in the central square stopped. The man who had been brutally beaten was dragged into the alley. Perhaps he would die there, perhaps he would survive, or perhaps he would be eaten by wild dogs.
Nobody cares.
——
The executioner took the sparkler from the side and stepped down from the execution platform. The two men on the platform, dressed in blood-red white clothes, hugged each other even tighter. They knew they couldn't escape, so they might as well just stay together like this.
The executioner spat on the ground and threw the torch up. It was clear that oil had been poured onto the execution platform, and the flames instantly engulfed the two men together.
The crowd stared wide-eyed at the scene, cheering, whistling, and making all sorts of offensive gestures to disgust the two people on stage.
Sehir was stunned by the scene, his eyes not blinking for a long time. The anger in Isri's eyes turned into red blood vessels, and he was a second late in reacting.
Isri quickly covered Cesil's eyes, speaking as softly as possible: "I'm sorry, young master, we've frightened you. We'll leave now."
Sehir was also stunned by what he had just seen and could not say anything. He could only let Isri lead him toward the carriage.
He could feel that Islam was trembling.
Through the glimmer of light between his fingers, Cecil still caught a glimpse of what was happening on stage.
Flames shot into the sky, glowing with an orange-red light, like a streak of blood on the horizon. The two people on the stage embraced each other tightly, neither wanting to let go.
Clad in pure white, they embraced each other in the flames, enduring the scorn of the world. Their bodies were baptized by the fire, and their souls' love endures forever.
As the last glimmer of fire consumed everything, Cecil saw clearly that their mouths opened and closed, speaking slowly but clearly.
They are saying
"I love you."
——
Sehir was gently placed in the carriage, and Isri took a blanket from the back of the carriage and covered Sehir with it.
"Young Master, I apologize for my behavior today. Please punish me."
Seeing Isri's actions, Sehir suddenly remembered Isri's earlier trembling. Was it from fear? Or from anger?
Sehir couldn't fathom Isri's thoughts, nor could he predict what Isri would say next. Sehir felt a throbbing pain in his temples, turned his head to the side, and sighed softly.
"Be more careful next time."
Isri paused for a moment, then smiled and bowed slightly: "Thank you, young master."
Philip looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression. When Isri came over, Philip quickly made room for Isri and hid far away to the side.
The bustling city in front of them finally returned to normal, and everyone was still looking glamorous, with smiles even brighter than before. Sesil propped his head up, looking at these people with low IQs with indifference.
A moment later, Philip suddenly spoke again, banging on the back window, his face anxious and tears welling in his eyes. Cecil frowned slightly, opened his eyes, glanced at Philip, and opened the window.
"What's up?"
Philip looked like he was about to cry: "I...I forgot to take something. If I don't take it back, my father will kill me."
Sehir's eyes flickered, and he glanced at Isri beside him: "What is it?"
Philip's eyes lit up as he excitedly said, "My necklace, that necklace belongs to my mother."
“Isri, go back and get it.” Sehir said calmly, looking at Isri.
Philip kept his head down, his expression unreadable, but a strange, cold light flashed in his eerie pupils.
Isri met Cesil's gaze and nodded slightly: "I understand, young master. I'll go right away."
After saying that, Isri jumped off the carriage and disappeared into the crowd, while Sehir leaned against the door with an indifferent expression, watching the people flowing outside.
After a while, Philip finally made a move; he continued to open the window and look at Cecil.