Chapter 15: The Second Female Lead(3)

Irene became the saint of the empire at the age of 13. For a saintess capable of using the goddess magic, a person like her appeared once in a few hundred years.

Her strong point was her judgement and her weak point was that judgement was her strongest point.

In many major trials of the empire, she worked as a judge. She was called the law of the empire. And to go on a trial against her was considered to be suicide.

"Is this how the rule works in our empire?"

I would never poison Diana if I didn't have any backup plan in the first place. Although the duchess's case was an exception, I had to apply that plan.

"Do you think I would sit and wait for the execution when I did nothing wrong?"

"There is no way for you to get out of this when the evidence is clear."

The saintess stood up and walked toward me with the thorn rose in her right hand. 

"And there is also no evidence that Marinette is a culprit."

Irene looked at the person who appeared behind me. She bowed down to show her respect toward the royalty.

I didn't need to turn back to know the speaker.

"Indeed, I agree with your opinion, Your Highness. But I studied this person from the incident many years ago. From my knowledge--"

"I'll hear your statement in the court, Saintess. This trial will be held in the court of god."

The duke and Tristan who listened to the conversation the whole time stood up behind the saintess. The saintess didn't have the most pleasant expression on her face.

You could only see half her eyeball as she pointed at the royalty. Her eyes turned crimson red while the veil covering her long hair started to float.

"Are you doubting my judgement, Prince Philip?"

The prince did not hold back either, his voice was a declaration of war to the church's organization under the rule of Irene.

"This is the empire led by Anastasia, saintess. The royalty makes the rule."

"It still needs my permission to use the court of god. Are you willing to risk for you to request such a thing, prince?"

She dropped her finger pointing at Prince Philip and used magic to seal the thorned rose.

"He doesn't need to risk anything. It is my case. I shall place my life on the scale."

"Your life isn't equal to the reputation of the church."

The rain started pouring outside. Some of the rain came inside the room. With curtains blowing all over the place and the sky turned grey, the victim joined in the prequel to the trial.

"Will the life of another Mortel do then?"

"Diana!!!"

Tristan rushed to Diana and tried to take back her words. However, she remained firm with her sentence.

"I don't think Marinette is the culprit. It isn't right to punish her for a sin she didn't commit."

The duke finally moved from where he stood and headed to the doorway.

"We'll bet the entire Mortel in this trial." he patted Diana's head and left the room.

Tristan became pale from the risk the head of the family made, he might not have become the next heir if the trial were to turn to the church's side.

He had no other choice but to run after his father and tried to convince him to reconsider.

"The trial will begin tomorrow."

With her position as the saintess, glaring at the first prince wasn't considered to be a crime. She left the room.

"We'll discuss about the trial tonight, Marinette. Come to my room at 9."

I nodded to Diana, the one I poisoned earlier. For her to put her life on the line, she must love the duchess so much.

However, when she sat down and looked at her mother, I just couldn't see the love between them. Diana only sat down and stared while her mother was coughing black blood out of her lip.

"Marinette."

That man hadn't left yet. He pulled my blood-soaked sleeve to catch my attention.

I followed him to the front of the goddess's statue to hear his side of the story. I didn't need him to do all that just to request a trial. I would have been able to handle it just fine since it was part of the story anyway.

In the original story, a trial took place to defend Marinette's innocence. Although all the evidence pointed toward her, the judge system inside the court of god had a different thing in mind. 

The court of god declared Marinette to be innocent.

Even if the duchess was the one who got poisoned, that wouldn't change the fact that I was innocent. The only risk in this plan was that I poisoned Diana.

From my analysis, if in the original story, Marinette wasn't the one who poisoned Diana, then the court of god must be judging fair and square.

On the contrary, if Marinette did poison Diana, then there might be something wrong with the court of god.

As long as the trial tomorrow only included the case with the duchess, then I would be innocent. The other requirement I needed would be the accuracy of the court of god.

"Even if you are innocent, you're still an accomplice, lady Mortel."

"Then why do you stand on the losing side, Your Highness?"

"I know you'll win and that's enough reason from me."

It was such a strange feeling when I talked to him. His smile, his gentle voice, and how he stood on his belief reminded me of Ji-hoon.

How could you say that to someone you just know with a smile like that?

The rain droplets hit the roof continuously with each drop letting out a loud sound. I raised my voice so that he could hear me.

"What do you gain from me winning?"

"A thank you?" he giggled.

Ji-hoon once said that to me. The same word. He stood on my side just to hear the word thank you.

I watched his back as he was leaving the church under the rain. His servant was holding the umbrella from his right and left side.

Only after he entered the carriage that I turn to look at the goddess whom I just noticed even though the goddess was five meters tall.

'What's he doing now?'

If I knew that day would be our last walk together, then I would say thank you to him a million times. I had a lot of reasons to thank him.

After I died, he would never know how much he meant to me when I was with him.

'I miss him.'

I sat on the wooden chair in the first row with my hand praying to the goddess.

Oh goddess, how I wish to see him one last time.

"This is exactly how I prayed that night."

"You prayed that she wouldn't choose me over you?"

"You're smart."

That person sat beside me and stared at the goddess.

"The goddess never answered my prayer. I doubt if she is even real. If she didn't ignore my prayer, then would my life be different?"

His tone changed. His voice sounded more calm and gentler, unlike the way he talked to me before.

It seemed he didn't even talk to me right now. He was defining the god's existence inside a church.

"You're right, Marinette. You never asked to be born. That's what makes it even worse."

"..."

I remained silent while Tristan vented his feelings to the Goddess. The statue of the goddess with the scale on her hand.

Although there was nothing on the lower scale, the scale still tile to that side. Even if a person didn't make a mistake, a god would find a way to punish them for a sin of living.

A book wouldn't be interesting without a conflict. And that might be how the god made a path for each person.

For the duke, it was losing his wife. For Tristan, it was losing his mother.

Their life was perfect living as a family of three. But God gave Marinette to them to make their story more interesting.

"The Goddess would never answer your prayer. We Mortel gave up our faith of god long ago...on the day you were born."

"If blaming me was a way to make you feel better about not being chosen, then keep blaming me till the end of your life."

You're the last person I cared about, Tristan. You were the only character that even if you die, the story would progress normally.

To be continued...!