Chapter 17

Julius came to the main door of Arthur's room as if everything were normal. He calculated the time with which the drug would lose effect and came near the two maids who were working near Arthur's room.After making sure that the drug would lose effect, he asked the maids, "What's happening? Did the young master call or request anything?"Hearing him, the two maids blushed a little and said, "No, sir Julius. After the previous maid went inside, we didn't hear the young master calling us, but we did hear some sounds coming from inside."Seeing that they were going to continue, Julius raised his hand, stopping them. "Alright, I can understand what you are saying. It's time for the young master's training session. Go and open the door."Hearing his orders, the two maids went to open the doors.Meanwhile, Arthur just woke up from the drug's effect. After a few seconds, when he got his bearings, he saw the dead maid beside him, and his hands were around her neck.The drug still has pertaining effects; that's why he still hasn't understood his surrounding circumstances. Just as he was going to try to get up, the doors opened, and the two maids entered the room.As soon as they entered the room, the first thing they saw was Arthur strangling the neck of the maid, and the maid had all her clothes torn apart and her eyes wide open, full of fear and pleading.Registering this, they felt their minds go blank, and the next moment they shouted at the top of their voices, "AHHH."Hearing this sudden shout forced Arthur's sluggish state to awaken, and looking around, he saw a dead maid with torn clothes near him with his hands around her neck.Immediately, he checked the pulse and realized that the maid had already died.Julius, as soon as he heard the shout, cheered a little in his mind and came running to Arthur's room with an anxious and worry-filled face."What happened? Why are you shouting?"As soon as he saw the inside of Arthur's room, he acted as if he were shocked. "Young master. What did you do?"In a grand hall, massive stone columns and huge chandeliers adorned the room. On both sides of the room, the clan elders sat with their mighty presence in their respective chairs. Each chair was arranged in a way clearly showing the hierarchy, with the clan head's chair being at the forefront of all commanding respect and authority.Reynolds sat on the chair, looking at the center with a cold look on his face.In front of him stood Arthur, surrounded by all the elders glaring at him.This is the grand assembly of the Ashborn clan; it is usually called only when one of the clan members commits a grave crime, and this meeting is called to investigate and decide the punishment for the crime.Arthur, not caring about the looks the elders were giving him, started observing the grand hall. This is the same hall where he was tied to the crime he never committed in his previous life, where the clan head himself stripped him of his surname, thereby expelling him from the clan.As Arthur was lost in thoughts, one elder stood up and started speaking. "Everyone, as you may have already heard, we gathered here to decide the punishment of Arthur Ashborn. His sin being raping and killing a maid of the Ashborn clan.""This guy here asked a maid to come to his room and tried to force himself on her, and when she tried to refuse, he raped her, and after he had his way with the maid, he even killed her. This was personally attested to by the maids around his room, and most importantly, his own butler also stepped up to provide the truth.""Now we need to decide a suitable punishment for this beast in human clothing."As Arthur listened to all this speech, even he was tempted to agree with this elder. As he looked at the elder, he remembered him as the same person who tried to congratulate him at the gate and was further embarrassed by Arthur.'He must have formed a grudge against me. It seems like I embarrassed him quite heavily; he is even adding his own words to make it worse for me.'After finishing his speech, the elder went back to his seat with a slight smile on his face.Slowly, another elder stood up and addressed the clan head, "Master Reynolds, how should we punish this sinner?"Arthur looked at the elder. He is one of the senior elders in the Ashborn clan, and most importantly, he is the most trusted person and quite loyal to Sabrina.Reynolds just looked at Arthur and said, "What do you say for yourself, Arthur Ashborn?"Arthur looked him in the eyes. "I deny all these accusations."As soon as Arthur said this, the elder, who first spoke, stood up again and said, "How dare you deny all these accusations? My lord, such a person has no humanity in him, and he should be expelled from the clan."The other elders also chimed in, "This person has no loyalty to the clan. He will bring disaster to the clan if he is allowed to stay.We ask the clan head to expel him from the clan."Reynolds raised his hand to stop the increasing noises and spoke to Arthur: "You say you deny all these accusations. There is solid evidence against you, with many maids as eyewitnesses. Even your own butler is speaking against you. You better have substantial evidence proving you are not the perpetrator of this crime."Hearing this, Arthur smiled a little. If Arthur was the same as last life, without awakening any element and a problematic mana core, he would have already been thrown out of the clan, but since he awakened a violet affinity with two elements to boot, he was given a chance to say his side of the story.Arthur was even sure that even if he really did do the crime, he would at most have been locked in the clan's jail and not be expelled.Slowly, Arthur pulled out a small device from his spatial ring and raised it to the air. "This is the proof of my innocence."