Trial

Chapter 9

No matter what fetish a man holds. Once in his entire lifetime, he imagines to be in chains and be surrounded by beautiful women. Just the excitement is too much to bear.

[Your luck must be dog shi*t then]

'Yes, it is!' I replied as I looked around and there was no female guard. They could have at least sent one. Yet all I had was men. Men with spears. Yeah, that came out wrong.

Anyway, I am currently being taken to the imperial court where the trial of what to do with me will be held. Apparently, Adrian had assaulted and tried to r*.pe Alicia. I had no such knowledge as Adrian was a pathetic character in the novel who was only there for four pages. Out of those four, in two he was shown how much of a scum he was and on the other two, was his horrible but pathetic death.

I didn't know what the backstory was. In the entire novel, it isn't mentioned that Alicia was a r*.pe victim even though she was a main character, and her past was discussed with great detail.

In the first place, the novel begins when the academy starts after six months from the current time, and mostly covered characters are the main characters with Eric being the most focused character. I had no idea of these events currently happening.

The big doors of the court opened, and I was led inside like a criminal.

[You are a criminal]

'Thanks for pointing that out.' I replied.

[Just trying to be helpful]

An imaginary line formed on my forehead, but I gulped really hard to swallow the curse that had surfaced on my tongue. The priority right now was to survive this. I know that Adrian will make it out alive since he was in the novel six months later.

The point is, what would be the punishment? While I was pondering, the court began to fill up. Slowly, all the seats were filled. There were only some people in the noble's stands. If I had to speculate, the news of my act wasn't spread very much right now.

The palace officials and some others knew. They weren't trying to cover it up, that much I knew. It's just that they can't tarnish the reputation of Alicia too much. If they try to do so, then they would have to deal with Alicia's grandfather, also known as the first elder of the Cortum empire. A divine grade existence. On par with the emperor in terms of strength.

Also not forgetting the fact that Alicia is the saint of light.

Still, all the family members of the Lux family were here. All the elders were here as well along with some nobles of important ranks. No one on my side of course.

Finally, the last one to make an entrance was the emperor. An old man with white hair. His gait and body showed that he wasn't older than sixty. A perfect example of looks can be quite deceiving since this man was at least a hundred and ten.

He took his seat, setting his luxurious robe aside. Although his hair had turned white due to old age, the symbolic golden eyes of the Lux family still burned with life.

"We shall now begin the trail of Adrian von Deus Lux who is accused of forcing himself on Alicia mon Grante, the saint of light." He began speaking after which he turned to me and asked, "Do you deny any of these claims?"

Seriously. This old man does know that I have lost my memory, right? Still, I had to act.

"Umm… No?" I replied while acting confused. He arched his eyebrow and said, "Very well. What do you think should be done first elder?"

He turned to ask another old man who sat by his left side. That old man harrumphed and turned his head away. As if his answer wasn't clear.

"Very well. What do you think should be done, Head Elder?" Getting no reply, he turned to ask another old man sitting by his right side. The old man also known as the first elder first stared at me for a few seconds and then said, "The fish I ate in the morning is rumbling in my stomach."

The seriousness in his voice was amazing. Everyone in the room was dumbfounded at his words. Everyone except for me of course. He was testing me. He must have received news about me curing people all over. This old man is smart.

"Do you also feel cramps in your stomach?" I asked to which he nodded while a smile turned on his face. "Then eat soft food such as rice and bananas for as long as you feel pain in your stomach vanish."

He nodded, turned to the emperor, and said, "I told you there was something fishy." The emperor nodded and even the sulking first elder turned to look at both of them. There was something going on.

Something external and these old men were using me as an excuse to figure it out. His question wasn't anything but a test to find out whether I was useful or not. Talk about cruelty.

[That's politics]

'Of course it is. This whole situation doesn't matter to them. They are trying to flush out any external forces who have more authority than them on their heirs. Only one organization matches the description.' I analyzed while they kept giving each other known looks.

A man in the room with similar golden hair and golden eyes like mine stood up and addressed the emperor, "Your Majesty, if I may?"

The emperor looked at both the other old men and nodded. The man began speaking, "I think the best course of action would be to deprive the fifth imperial prince of his right from the crown candidate."

In other words, take him out of the competition. Wise choice but not a vicious one so that guy, whoever he is, is not after my life.

"That is not possible. It is tradition." His suggestion was however shot down by the head elder. Twenty bucks that guy doesn't give a sh*t about tradition. It just doesn't match with their motive.

Another man, or should I say boy stood up. He couldn't have been more than twenty five. He also asked for permission to speak but was shot down right at that moment. "Shut up." I almost laughed when he sat down with red cheeks.

Another man, sitting in the Lux family section asked for permission to speak. The emperor again looked at both the old men and nodded. "Speak your mind, Crown Prince." The head elder said. So, he's my father. Funny. Never saw him the two weeks I was here.

"I suggest a punishment of dungeon clearance would suffice. The monthly Arachne dungeon has filled up once again in the northern region. I think it will be enough of punishment and hopefully Adrian will learn something from it." He gave his suggestion in a very gentle and warm wording. Anyone would think he is a gentle person. 

Yeah, right! The emperor and the old men looked at each other and nodded after a while. The funny thing about this trial is that the victim wasn't asked even once. Alicia stood in one corner quietly throughout the whole trial. She wasn't even once asked what she thought on the matter. Though I doubt that she would have said anything in the first place.

"This sounds like a reasonable punishment." The emperor stated. No it doesn't but as they say, you're the boss. With this, my punishment was decided and tomorrow morning, I would be led to the northern part of the empire which is about half a month away.

=====

"How did he get away with such a light punishment?" A golden-haired boy asked while gulping down his drink from a glass. Another older golden-haired man sitting near him replied, "It seems the rumors were true about him. As soon as the news of his trial came out, the palace was assaulted by all the people of the slums, demanding to let him go."

"Then are you saying that he really is a miracle doctor, brother?" The younger boy asked. The elder boy remained quiet. Even he was confused about how the whole of the slum had moved. The riots were something never seen before. The emperor had to himself appear and appease them by saying that he wouldn't be punished very harshly.

Even Alicia had pardoned him for his crimes. The trial was held in the first place to please her but when she asked for no trial, it ruined almost all of their plans. If the crown prince and the third prince hadn't been adamant on the trial, the trial wouldn't even have been held.

The whole palace was confused about what caused the entire slum to move like that. They hadn't seen such an overwhelming loyalty even for the emperor. Yet such a force had gathered to defend a boy who they only knew as a waste, was an unimaginable thing.

"It doesn't matter. Even though we can't bring Alicia to our side, we have succeeded in getting rid of him. With him dead, the next successor is rightfully father. All we have to be worried about is appeasing father to win his support." The elder brother replied while taking a sip of his own wine.

=========

"Why did you ask for the trial to be canceled?" The first elder of the Cortum empire, Raphael mon Grante asked his granddaughter very softly while she was reading a book.

Alicia didn't reply but instead pondered for a while. She thought back to the miracle she had witnessed yesterday. How a woman of broken insides gave birth and made it out alive. She should know better than anyone how many women die because of this problem. It is considered to be unsolvable yet the boy she saw yesterday did it.

Never she had seen before that a woman survived even after her insides were damaged along with the baby. In most cases, they both die while in some cases, one of them survives.

"Grandfather, have you ever been able to save a woman with a broken inside along with her child?" She asked after a while instead of answering his question.

Raphael was surprised that his granddaughter hadn't answered his question, but he still chose to answer. "No. It is impossible." Even to Rafael, it was impossible to collect such a scenario.

Alicia looked at him for a while before turning her attention back to the book in front of her, "Apparently it isn't."

Rafael received no answer from his granddaughter and was quite confused by her questions.

======

"So, I won't be going alone?" I asked the knight who came to my room to give me the details of my journey. The plans and all.

"Does Your Highness know of the path to your destination?" He mocked me very respectfully.

"No," I replied with a smile, and he smiled in return before leaving.

[Why do you think they are sending people with you?]

'Why do you think.' I replied to Allison while turning my attention to the pink-haired beauty who was worriedly telling me to apologize to Lady Alicia so she could pardon me.

If only somehow I could get it through her head that this trial was going to happen no matter what. Besides, for some reason, I am very uncomfortable with the idea of talking to her. Even though I wasn't the one who assaulted her, it was still very awkward for me.

Besides, I doubt she would like to discuss such a traumatic topic with me, and I doubt even more that she would forgive me.

"Rose," I addressed Rose and continued, "Get me these things." She checked the list and nodded and shortly returned with the items I required.

'When will the shop open?' I asked.

[At level ten]

'I see.' I replied as I sent Rose home and started using Magic Bullet at full capacity.

[Congratulations]

[Magic bullet has risen to level 2]

[Magic bullet LV: 2 (30\50)]

[MP completely depleted]

'How long will it fill again?' I asked.

[Depending on your INT stat, about an hour]

'I see.' I replied as I knew that there was a long night ahead of me.