This is it.
The most dreaded, yet welcomed moment.
The trial of Katarina Claes. The sham trial, that never tilted its favor to her. Always her. Always Maria. Always Jeord. Always Keith. But never Katarina.
She relived this moment countless times until she became fed up with it. No matter how hard she tried, they always found her faults and blame her for them. She wonder, until when she was trapped in this loop?
She remembers vividly every detail of the trial. The tear-stained face of Maria Campbell, the hidden smug of Jeord Stuart's anger and accusations. The cold fury of Alan Stuart. Stoic, yet the most expression she ever sees from Nicol Ascart. The flinching of both Sophia Ascart and Mary Hunt (if they were present in the trial) when she is struck down by Jeord's sword and trampled down by Keith's Earth Golem. That little shit of her brother got so proficient in his control of Earth Golem. The first time she died of that, she was really angry with Keith. But as many times she died to the golem, she comes to appreciate his fine control of the Earth Golem.
(She also grudgingly acknowledged that Jeord's swordplay is really good and fitting of royalty.)
She tuned out every word that came from Jeord's mouth. Oh, it's Jeord's this time? How surprising. Lately, the one that killed her is Alan Stuart. With his ice. Sometimes she gets impaled. Sometimes, he used an icy sword to cut her head. But hey, at least it's a refreshing and cool way to die. She giggled softly. And it got noticed by Jeord. Ah, bother...
Not to worry, her ability to tune out the noises and voices she doesn't want to hear is on max level. Oh, finally he realized it. And boy, it's a reward in itself. The composed prince broke his composure. Not anymore will realize it though. Only a few realized it. Her smirking broke that composure further. Ah, how wonderful.
Hmm...how does she want to die this time? Starvation in exile? Killed by bandits after she got raped? She comes to enjoy that one. Hmm, what about Maria and her dueling to death? But that is taking way too long. And sneaking into Ministry to get Dark Covenant is hard.
Ah, fuck it, she'll just die here this time. She got no motivation for anything this time. She readied her knife and lunges towards Maria Campbell. At the corner of her eyes, she saw Jeord readying his sword stance and lunging towards her. The classic stab to the heart, eh? Sometimes instead of stabbing her, he just burned her alive. She never screams, of course. Her pain tolerance, her pride, and her hatred make it very easy to ignore the fire. Instead, when he lit her on fire, she just stared at everyone in the courtyard. And then, she will smile her most kind smile she could do and stare at both Jeord and Maria. Very satisfying when Maria vomited. She never smells burned flesh? And Jeord... well let's just say the one that wins is her.
(Liar. The pain is unbearable. Why there's so much blood? Why there's are ice sticking out of her chest? Why the usual gentle wind turns sharp? The pain...)
(No! She loved it! Give her more. More!)
One stab to the heart and she falls like a doll whose string has been cut. As her thoughts fade away, her last thought is...
Ahhh, it's kinda painful...