The specific location of Legal Square is at the southeast corner of White Queen District and the intersection with Lloyd District. The "Prince Lloyd Avenue" connects the two areas.
Because a long, long time ago, this was the location of the Law Courts of the Kingdom of Avalon.
Even though the Attorney General's Office was later abolished and its functions were incorporated into the Courts of Justice, and the Attorney General became the manager of the Courts of Justice... this place is still called the Courts of Justice Square by the residents.
Aiwass did not walk to Legal Square, but took a carriage with "Anne Alexander" and his son.
"Let me test you, Annie."
Aiwass sat in the car, clasped his fingers and held Lulu's hand beside him.
In order to relieve her from boredom and also to relieve her stress, Aiwass asked casually, "Do you know which area Legal Square belongs to?"
"… Lloyd's Quarter."
Lulu was stunned for a moment before she realized that "Annie" was calling her name.
So she answered without hesitation: "After all, it is on the east side of Prince Lloyd Avenue."
"But in fact, from the perspective of Lloyd's residents, Legal Square has never belonged to Lloyd's."
"… Huh?"
Lulu was stunned for a moment: "Why?"
"Because it has large flat floors paved entirely with marble, and there are many pure white buildings as official symbols, it does not match the 'dockyard' style of Lloyd's Quarter, but is similar to the streets and architectural style of White Queens Quarter."
The biggest difference between the Red Queens and the White Queens is the color of the roads and buildings. The buildings in the White Queens are mostly white, and the roads are also white or off-white; while the Red Queens are more brown, dark brown, and brown-red.
“That seems to make sense.” Lulu nodded thoughtfully.
"However, from another perspective, residents of White Queens also disagree that Legal Square belongs to White Queens."
Aiwass raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a somewhat malicious smile: "Because this place is too dirty - the environment is dirty and smelly, and the public security is in chaos.
"Since the last King Tudor III, people prefer to call it Hanging Square—"
… Why
This doubt just emerged in Lulu's mind.
But the next moment, her pupils began to vibrate violently!
Soon after Mr. Fox finished speaking, she saw two rows of full gallows on the marble square.
Two rows of corpses hung quietly above.
No more, no less, exactly forty.
About six or seven of them had obvious signs of decay, with flies flying around them. The remaining hanged bodies were still relatively fresh, no more than two days old.
Most of the clothes on the bodies were incomplete, and many people had obvious bloodstains and mutilations on their faces and bodies. Some bodies had hollowed-out abdomens, and some were missing limbs. It was unknown whether these were left before death or after the violence.
Although hanging was a more civilized form of execution than beheading, there was a faint, lingering smell of blood in the square that seeped in through the carriage.
Lulu subconsciously wanted to break free from Aiwass's hand and put it in front of her mouth, because she was worried that she would vomit and appear rude.
—but Aiwass's grip was so tight that she couldn't break free.
Instead, he held Lulu's hand even tighter, until she felt a little pain.
But because of this, Lulu's distraction was able to slightly dispel the strong feeling of discomfort in her heart.
"Are you all right, Annie?"
Aiwass asked with "somewhat puzzled" concern: "Haven't you been to Legal Square before?"
“… This is the first time I’ve seen so many dead bodies.”
She murmured in a low voice: "I have seen many dead people. I have long been accustomed to contact with death..."
However, this was the first time she had seen such a "cruel death".
She thought she would vomit it out, but she didn't. Now Lulu only felt a speechless visual shock.
"The execution takes place every Sunday. We didn't make it to the execution day... On Sundays, many people who have time off come to watch the execution. That's also the day when pickpockets are most active."
As Aiwass spoke, the carriage passed by a body that was hung high.
Lulu looked at his hideous face with a look of astonishment and fear, which had one eye missing and half of its face covered in blood.
Leaning close to her ear, Aiwas pointed at the corpse and whispered maliciously, "Look, this body is still very fresh, only two days old. Otherwise, there would be maggots in his eye sockets... His eyeballs must have been stolen and sold on the black market. Some demonologists' rituals use a man's left eye - look at the rip in his crotch, the things in there must have been stolen as well.
"It seems that thirty-three people were executed this week. There are seven bodies left over from last week."
“…Is this a lot or a little?”
"It's normal in this day and age."
Aiwass only gave half of the answer.
Fourteen years later, the death penalty rate on Glass Island has dropped significantly.
But that was not because of the improvement in public security... but because of the mining area collapse incident seven or eight years later, which required more workers.
"Fifty years ago... oh, thirty years ago, that was the heyday of the death penalty. Minor crimes like theft were punishable by death, and death was not the end, nor the harshest punishment - there were many cruel tortures before death, and some after death.
"Queen Sophia abolished thirteen cruel death penalty methods, including beheading, and only retained hanging. She also greatly reduced the severity of punishment for other crimes... Many crimes that were previously sentenced to death are now only punished by exile, imprisonment, and labor. In times of war, there is also a chance to make meritorious contributions while serving one's sentence..."
As Aiwass was speaking, the carriage suddenly stopped.
"gentlemen."
The gruff driver asked, "How do I get to that bar you mentioned?"
"Oh, we're almost there," Aiwass said in a gentle and good-natured voice, "Just leave us here."
"Then you better be careful of the Strangler Party."
The driver kindly reminded him, "Besides, it's only five copper coins up to here - that's half a copper coin cheaper for you."
The smallest denomination of the copper hourglass in Avalon is not "1". Below that, there are half copper coins and quarter copper coins, which are two-thirds and half the size of a copper coin respectively.
This is a less commonly used subsidiary coin. The issuance of the quarter copper coin was discontinued 20 years ago. The issuance of the half copper coin was also discontinued five years ago, and only the stock is left in circulation in the market.
But now, fourteen years ago, half a copper coin was still a relatively common unit.
Hearing this, Aiwass looked at Lulu.
Lulu was stunned for a moment before she realized that the money might be in her hand. She searched for a while, then picked out a red coin and walked up to the driver and handed it to him politely with both hands.
This red coin is equal to ten copper coins, which is twice the price.
"No need to look for it, sir."
She said seriously: "You have worked hard."
"You are so beautiful and generous, ma'am."
The coachman praised him, took the money and left happily.
After he left, Aiwass came over with a smile.
"You should remember that everything here is fake, right?"
He said softly.
“I remember,” Lulu nodded, with a complicated expression, “I just felt that… even if they were fake, my feelings at the moment were real. I didn’t know what I could do… so I could only give him some money.”
"This is rather devout, my dear Anne?"
Aiwass said calmly.
“I don’t care,” she said without hesitation. “Like other children born on Glass Island, I was educated in the authoritarian way since I was a child, but I still walked on the path of beauty. Because I just want to do what I want to do… what I think I should do.
"I just like the principles of this path and its mysterious skills. It's not for the extraordinary abilities it brings me, nor do I intend to tie my own personality and life to it."
Lulu, who always seemed to have no opinions and no confidence, seemed to have touched upon something sensitive when discussing this topic, and she said a lot of things that Aiwass didn't mention.
“… That’s not easy.”
At this moment, a cold, childish, and deliberately suppressed voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
A young newspaper boy who had been staring at them since they got off the bus suddenly came over and said sarcastically, "You are walking on an innocent and extremely dangerous road.
"The path to transcendence is destined to abandon humanity... Madam Lulu."