Chapter 17: Execution(1)

Diana put the strand of hair that fell on her face behind her ear as she calmly made her argument stronger in court.

"You could check my sister, right now...your holiness. I didn't get to say this before, but Marinette couldn't possibly poison the duchess on her own since there is a binding on her."

"A binding?"

Diana let out a polite smile to the priest as she looked at him in the eyes. How scary Diana was for the priest to take many steps backwards?

"Yes! We Mortel won't go killing other people in such a lowly way...unlike someone...The binding was cast on my sister by the duke himself. With the binding, Marinette couldn't use the magic with poison in it."

The duke never put the binding on Marinette. If he was able to do that, then the late duchess wouldn't have died.

The binding was made by Marinette herself after many years in the basement.

You could tell that Diana made up such a white lie based on the duke's wide eyes.

The only one who knew about the binding was Diana since I revealed it to her last night.

The scale turned to their side once again as the high priest confirmed Diana's words. 

Many magic strings revolved around my body as it became visible to human eyes through the inspection.

Thousands of strings just to limit her dark energy.

It was true that Marinette wouldn't kill someone with the binding. But if Marinette wanted to kill someone, she still could because the binding only stopped indirect killing.

Nonetheless, the priest wouldn't know about that.

"If there was a binding from the start, then why did you bring the trial to the court of god? Unless...you Mortel are..."

"Don't change the topic. The only suspect here is the saintess. No one knew about Marinette's dark magic energy besides her. She's the only one--"

Diana stopped talking and slowly brought her finger that pointed at Irene down.

'This isn't good.'

Irene regained her sense and composure.

Without saying any word, the scale started shaking and turning toward us slowly as she made her presence in the middle of the stage.

"Yes, I studied about the magic."

When the high priest noticed the red pupil in Irene's eyes, he could finally take a break and return to his seat.

"It may be true that I could be the only suspect here, but I wouldn't be foolish enough to accuse someone without enough evidence."

She signalled the knight outside the barrier to bring in the evidence. Diana stared at it blankly when it was presented in front of her.

"I tried to use logic by accusing Marinette. It was my mistake. But I did that because I wouldn't think a human could do such a thing to their mother."

I tried to hold in my joy when I saw the broken teapot that the knight brought in.

I sighed out of relief and could finally lay back since it would no longer be my case from now on.

Diana's plan failed the moment Irene came to the stage with red eyes on. That was the unique eyes that made her a saintess. The eyes of judgement.

Diana would have a hard way to dig herself out of the hole she made.

"But I don't know anything about how to use Marinette's dark energy."

"Neither did I. I knew the magic to some extent, but to make a poison out of the energy that could kill anyone is quite easy. Diana, you live with Marinette. It wouldn't be hard for you to steal some of Marinette's energy secretly."

Diana's eyes only remained half closed. I was impressed by how calm she was to the situation.

Her hands remain holding each other at her waist.

"Are you saying I tried to kill my mother?"

"Don't ask me that question, Diana. You should ask yourself that. Are you trying to kill your mother?"

Diana laughed mocking Irene right in her face. Diana was slightly taller than her, which was why despite getting cornered by her opponent, she still had the high road.

"You could ask anyone here how much I cried that day!! And more than that, I was also poisoned. Do you think I poison myself and my mother?? What do I get from that??"

The spectator doubted Irene's judgement even if she tried to explain the function of the teapot she brought in as evidence.

'Ahh, she's good.'

I sipped my ginger tea from my seat witnessing the comedy in front of me.

"We shall let the god decide your sin, lady Diana. Whatever sin you commit, you won't avoid the eyes of god."

Irene finished her act and returned to her seat. Diana also came back to her seat leaving the judgement to the court of God.

The judge who remained as the third party from the start finally had his time to perform his job.

The court of god's mechanics was the judge itself. Whoever sat on the throne would be possessed by the spirit of the court and passed judgment.

The judge stood and walked down to the centre of the stage and summoned a sword out of thin air.

The sword that was crafted out of light shone all across the court. It emitted white light just like the color of the judge's illuminated eyes.

He walked slowly toward outside as the scale was a little bit tilted to ours. There were many types of weapons during the judgement, if it was a sword, we had nothing to worry about since it wasn't a death sentence.

But still, the Mortel duchy was on the line. The judge walking toward us was a problem.

He stopped before he moved his sword.

Within a split second, the sword moved along with the judge toward the neck of the saintess.

"Saintess Irene is guilty."

'What a joke.'

The court of god no longer worked.

"This got to be wrong!!!"

"The saintess shall be executed on the death of the duchess."

We won.

Ha...ahahaahaha....

'It isn't over.'

I glanced at Diana. She leaned in and whispered to me with her right hand on my shoulder.

I could feel her silky hair touching my face.

"Get ready, Marinette."

After the high priest escorted the distressed Irene out, another trial started as the hourglass flipped once again making all those people inside float for a split second and fall on top of each other.

The shovel they had also did some damage to them as well. Those are the light punishments for the people who lost the trial in the court of god. All of those people were prisoners.

By doing the work in the hourglass, they could reduce their time in prison.

I stared at them because I knew there would be a possibility of me being there. It all depended on the god of this court.

From sitting beside each other to sitting one side across each other, what a development of the day.

Due to Diana's request for her case, she put me as a suspect and commanded a second trial of the day.

The family members of the victim went to Diana's side and said something that made her smile while I stood there watching their back.

The duke and Tristan left the court and sat where all the spectators were.

The remaining people on the court came down to three.

The villainess, the female lead, and the new judge, the male lead.

"Let the second trial begin!" said, the male lead, Richard de Anastasia.

I could see Diana's victory face already. Since her plan with me already succeeded in act one, another victory for her at that time would just be a bonus, a cherry on top.

However, Diana overlooked a step from yesterday. It was true that I put up an alliance with her for the success of the first trial.

She wasn't the only one I talked with yesterday.

+++

"Are you worried about tomorrow's trial?"

A person walked toward the statue of the goddess and prayed. It was evening, and she no longer had the veil on her head. 

After finishing her prayer, she turned to me and had the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

Her hair was slightly stranded all over her eyes. Her hair was so soft and silky that it had a life on its own as she walked to me.

"You look so different without the veil."

She giggled. She had a cute dimple on her cheek. The saintess sat down beside me and looked upward at the goddess she devoted her life to.

"I'm usually like this off-work. Works these days are kinda tiring and boring. Staying in the church all day isn't the best kind of work people would enjoy, you know."

I laughed at her statement. That wasn't something a saintess like her should say.

"I'm going to lose at tomorrow's trial."

I wasn't the one who said it. Irene did.

Her expression differed from what she said though. If she knew she would lose, then why would she have a look of a winner?

"Do you see that in your vision?"

"Yes. The second trial is unexpected for me though. It's been a long time since I've been entertained that much, Marinette."

I sighed and smiled because I realized she already knew all the truth behind the case.

"You were just acting earlier, then?"

"Did I act well? I'm going to act tomorrow, too."

We both laughed. It's been a long time since I laughed that much. Her acting scared me a bit but knowing it was an act, I felt so stupid because I forgot the part about the saintess of the novel.

An ability to foresight the special event in her future was how she made the oracle of the empire in the future story.

I never knew such a trial would be considered to be a special event to her too.

"The court of god should never be used ever again. You will be the one who'll put an end to it tomorrow, Marinette."

"Why? Is something wrong with it?"

She nodded and looked a bit down avoiding eye contact with the statue of the goddess.

"One time that the court of god gave false order was the case of the goddess. The goddess wasn't supposed to be executed back then. After learning about the event after her death, it seemed like her death was a necessity for all of the events to occur."

"So, it is a chained event. Her death would be the start of it."

"Yes, and the authority behind the court of god knew about it. The goddess made it, but no one knew how did it work. All the cases to this day have been accurate, but in my vision, the court of god is acting up again."

"If you're going to lose tomorrow, then the court of god must've given false order in the first act. But what about the second act?"

"It's up to you, Marinette. You know, everything won't follow my vision entirely. But thanks to all of this, I should've learned more about the authority behind the court of god. Perhaps, one day, we can learn the truth of this world."

The truth of this world?

You would never learn it, pitiful saintess. You weren't a character who could live to see the day of the happy ending of this world.

A small bird with yellow feathers landed on the window. A feather dropped when it flew away.

The lullaby the saintess hummed as she controlled the wind to bring me that feather was so beautiful that it made my heart flutter.

"You have a pitiful soul, Marinette...a soul of bottomless misery...may the goddess bless your journey."

+++

Back to the present,

I turned to look at Irene who sat in the audience's section. I could see all the birds landing on her shoulder as she was in the first row.

For someone who lost, she was such a carefree spirit.

'Well then...'

I already achieved what I needed.

"Your honour, I shall confess my sin."

I walked to the centre of the stage and put my right hand on where my heart beat kneeling on one knee to his royal highness.

"I am indeed the one who poisoned Diana."

To be continued...!