Chapter 5: The Baron's Wife (5)
"Baron Davis, you know who the murderer is, don't you?" Vincent asked, but the Baron remained silent.
"Your Majesty! The Imperial Magistrate is accusing the Baron without any proof," interjected Paulino Davis, the Baron's lawyer and cousin.
"I have proof," Vincent replied firmly, his gaze never leaving the Baron.
"Then show it, Your Honor," Paulino said mockingly as he adjusted his glasses.
"The Baron has a mistress, and she is the one who committed the crime. That ring was found at the crime scene. The Baroness held that ring tightly before she died," Vincent revealed.
The room was stunned. The idea that the Baron, who was known to love his wife dearly, had committed adultery shocked everyone.
"Baron Davis, hiding the murderer makes you an accomplice. However, if you reveal the murderer now, I can guarantee minimal damage to your reputation. Make a wise decision," Vincent urged.
The Baron looked conflicted and secretly glanced at Leila, who was hiding among the crowd.
"Before I met my wife, I was already in a relationship with Leila. Five years ago, I tried to stop my marriage to Katherina, but her father's schemes prevailed," the Baron confessed. He had loathed the Baroness, believing she had schemed to marry him and sold Leila into the red light district. In truth, the Baroness had loved him with a pure heart. On their wedding day, Katherina had tried to escape, but her father had caught her and threatened to kill the Baron if the marriage failed. When she learned her father had sold Leila, she had tried to help her, but he threatened the Baron's life again. She begged her father to release Leila, which he did in exchange for Katherina bearing the Baron's heir.
"All her life... all her life, all she ever did was love me. What a foolish woman," he said sorrowfully, looking at his dead wife. Suddenly, a creepy laugh echoed from the crowd.
"Leila..." Baron Davis called her name with concern, but she looked at him with complete hatred.
"In the end, you are choosing that damned spoiled brat over me!"
Leila screamed, her face contorted with rage as she aimed a gun at the Baron. The room erupted into chaos, with people panicking and the Imperial Knights instantly forming a prtective barrier to protect the Emperor of Eldoria.
"Your Majesty, we must evacuate", one of the knights urgently pleaded.
"Wait...", the Emperor commanded, his dark purple eyes widening at thr sight of someone entering the room with a commanding presence.
"I am noblewoman too, just like her. I should be the one by your side. Why her? Why not me?" Leila cried out hysterically, tears streaming down her face.
"I am sorry, Leila..."
"As I spent more time with her, I was drawn to her kindness and unconditional love", the Baron confessed.
"Remember your promise when you found out I was trapped in that hell?"
"I promised to do anything to get you out of there and to marry you once I divorced Kathy. But things changed. I couldn't bear to see her suffering...I'm truly sorry, Leila."
"She's now dead. We can be together!", Leila insisted.
"...I vowed my life to Kathy until the day I die. She was my everything, and now that she is gone..."
"Kathy? Ha! You broke that promise, so... die!", Leila shouted as she pulled the trigger. The Baron, resigned to his fate, smiled, waiting for the bullet to end his life. But suddenly, another bullet intercepted, deforming mid-air.
The Baron turned to see a woman in a nobleman's suit, her gun still smoking. It was Eliza, her white suit and face marred with dirt and blood, glaring at her target.
"Eli!" Uncle Sam called out, his face etched with worry. Upon hearing her uncle, Eliza's demeanor shifted.
"Sorry!"
Eliza turned her head towards the direction of two men, with bright smile on her face compared to her domineering aura when she entered the room.
"I was late, I just helped Gareth cleaned up the mess caused by Miss Leila. What a manipulative lover you have, Baron"
She added with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders then looked at Leila who is now trembling when Eliza looked at her with disgusted look.
The Baron turned his disappointed eyes back to Leila.
"Why...? Why do you need to involve people not related to this?!"
"You're asking why?! Seriously?! I suffered because of that brat's family, you know that! I'll do anything for us to be together, for us to be happy!"
Leila's madness, evident on her face, worsened.
"Correction! For 'your' happiness. Baron, the woman you loved with all your heart is one of many mistresses of the former Archduke Isaac Montclair, even before you met her. They're still in contact now. I believe the former Archduke has already set something... terrible"
Eliza's revelation left everyone stunned.
"Ah... HAHAHAHA... I've been found out," Leila declared, her madness now transformed into the confident sneer of a villainess. She pointed the gun at the Baron and pulled the trigger. But Eliza's swift move, grabbing the back of the Baron's collar and pulling him aside, saved his life.
"Eli! At your back!", Uncle Sam shouted, spotting a shadow behind Eliza.
With reflexes honed from her previous life in special police forces and comparable to the assassins like Gareth, Eliza swiftly moved in front of Vincent and Uncle Sam while still holding the Baron's collar.
"Eli, are you alright?" Uncle Sam asked worriedly, noticing blood dripping from her left arm. Eliza looked confused.
"Yeah! Why do you ask?" she replied energetically, turning to him to check on the shocked Baron. Uncle Sam was stunned to see the figure of the man who nearly injured Eliza. He is lying on the ground with his neck cleanly slit, choking on his own blood.
'Ah... Lady Eliza is terrifying. Her stregth and agility are reminiscent of Mr. Samuel Morgen in his prime. I didn't even see her move an inch...' Vincent thought, noticing Eliza's dagger dripping with blood.
"Lady Eliza, I think we should retreat for now..." Vincent suggested, seeing a group of a hundred assassins in white garments entering the room to protect Leila.
"I think so too..." Eliza replied, but has a different reason. She is sensing the immense aura emanating from the strongest man in the untitled novel, the Emperor of Eldoria, Allan Vortigern. Known for his brutal methods, Allan was called a monster or a demon on the battlefield, his enemies either sliced in half or exploded. Rumor had it even beasts feared him.
In the novel, when he married Empress Kristen, he always insisted that she must be present on his killing sprees, targeting his enemies connected to Isaac Montclair. Rumor had it that he enjoyed the terror it brings to the Empress.
"How dare he? That disgusting old man" Allan coldly declared, his voice laced with power and authority as he unsheathed his sword and stepped in front of his knights. His ten knight followed suit.
'Oh my! It's going to get brutal', Eliza thought, closing her eyes and sighing, lamenting that she might not enjoy the beauty of the corpses if the Emperor decided to explode them.
"What a waste..." she murmured, sensing the Emperor's heavy energy now focused on her, she did not open her eyes, afraid of his predatory stare.
'What's that? His gaze is similar to hunting a prey... Now, I understand why the novel described him as someone even beasts feared! So scary!' she continued to act as if she hadn't noticed.