Executioner!Simon Riley x Victim Reader
Warning: Dark themes, blood, death, gore, medieval torture, war, shaming, classisim, actually witchcraft, medieval history × fantasy, war
I got so many people who wanted to be tagged, therefore I had to make this longer and have a second part...
An executioner's life was the life of an outcast. They were shunned by society, and often lived isolated lives. Many doomsmen never found wives or had children, and their bloodlines died with them.
Simon Riley was a soldier in battle. He fought until his last breath, or so he thought so. His brethren buried him in a shallow grave to keep the body out of the battle, and he was declared legally dead. So when he miraculously crawled out of that grave days later, and hauled his own body miles away to the closest military base he could find. And what happened for all his? He gets labelled as a deserter. Gets told he was lying and running from the war. That he was a coward.
It was treason, and he was sentenced to death. By his luck he was additionally given the option to live his life in shame, and become the next executioner, as the current one was getting pretty old (about 31).
He had been doing the job for a year when she came around. He knew about the law, the one 'perk' granted to executioner's: he could choose to marry any prisoner on deathrow, that is, if she didnt choose death over him. Simon had never even thought about doing it, saving a criminals life and being stuck with her forever. He was happy in his new routine, he thought he was happy atleast, as close to that as he could've been.
But when she came along, a maiden accused of witchcraft, sentenced to the scolds bridle, flogging, and finally burning. Easy enough for him, sure, but the minute she was led in, he was stopped in his tracks.
It had to be there illusion of a witch. That was his first thought. He had heard the tales of she-devils seducing men, but this maiden seemed so kind. Her face was enchanting, her eyes like a galaxy he could get lost in. She could not be human.
He had other prisoners to attend to before her. She wasn't scheduled for torture or execution for atleast five days. So he threw her in a cell, locked it, and tried to forget about her. The problem was, she was incredibly talkative.
"So, how much do you get paid to do this? You think they'd let me stay my execution and become your replacement?"
"No. They did that for Lady Betty in Ireland, haven't 'ad a maid since."
She made pleasant conversation, and actually quite amused Simon. It was the most talking he had ever experienced in the dungeon, most prisoners being reasonably terrified for their demise.
The next day, she was sleeping when he came in the dungeon. She looked peaceful, calm, and pure. This wasn't the face of a witch, it was the face of an angel. He tried to keep quiet while getting set up for the day, atleast quieter than usual. Sleep was a luxury in these cells.
She was only awoken when the forst prisoner of the day was getting racked up, and let out a blood curdling scream before he was fully even strapped in. Her eyes shot open, looking straight ahead and seemingly fully aware.
They continued bantering through the day, mostly joking around which both amused Simon, and made him extremely uncomfortable given her precarious position.
It was only half way through the day when he finally felt like he could ask her the question that had been eating away at him.
"So, what did ye really do?"
Her face hardened ans she fully turned her body to look at him.
"We all know maids get called serfs of the devil for all kinds of mishap. What did you really do?"
She was quiet for a second, looking down as if she was contemplating how to word it.
"Someone, who? Helped, how?"
"Full of questions now aren't you Simon."
Maybe she let it slip on purpose, or maybe an accident, but thats what clued Simon in. He thought back to that wretched night, when he pulled himself out of that shallow grave. He always wondered how he got out of there.
He had been dead, and he felt it too. Crawling out took hours, and his body ached with every movement; but when she said his name, his real name, memories came floating back to him.
Images of a woman, singing out his name, and like a moth to a flame he was awoken.
The woman paused for a moment, before humming and smiling softly.
It kept him awake at night that evening. She didnt talk for the rest of the free time that day, hummed a bit to herself, and signaled that she was busy whenever he tried to make small talk. Busy with what? He didnt quite know.
She saved his life. Literally resurrected him. He wasnt sure how, but he did know he had never been a particularly religious man, and if succumbing to the devils charm meant he could keep her, then he was okay with that. He was already an outcast, lived on his own piece of land given to him by royal admission, had enough animals to keep him fed and the cycle going, and a quaint amount of money set aside.
He could marry her. It was better then death and he would repay his own debt. She wasn't completely terrible. She made good conversation, talked about how she was a good cook, mentioned she used to live on a farm, and seemed to like his company.
Yeah. He could marry her.
The next morning when he walked into the dungeon, she was awake, but didnt greet him. He was unsure how to approach the subject. He figured it was better to at least ask her, before he asked for royal pardon.
He stayed quiet and went amongst himself for about an hour, the only noise being the crying of one prisoner, and her, clicking her nails against the bars. When he finally spoke, he only realized it sounded strange after he said the words.
"Do you want to die here?"
He cursed himself for sounding stupid. Of course she didnt want to die here. She didnt want to die anywhere, let alone in this dirty dungeon. No one did.
"No- I mean, if I could do something to save your life, would you do it?"
She almost perked up a little, and then deflated again. She was looking at him incredulously.
"This isn't a fun game. Its a bit rude to make jokes like that when my execution is set for two days from now."
She looked up, eyes harsher then he had seen them before.
"And how in fathers hell would that happen?"
He paused what he was doing, and turned his full body to look at her.
Part two will be longer! Love youu
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