The trial was arranged with remarkable speed, taking only a single day to prepare.
Whether Beatrice had laid the groundwork in advance or simply had no intention of giving him time to prepare, Ex found himself standing before the court before he'd even had a chance to catch his breath.
The proceedings were open to the public.
High-ranking nobles and imperial officials were present, as were Darius and Beatrice, and even ordinary citizens had been allowed into the courtroom to watch.
The citizens did not look pleased.
‘Why even bother putting a demon worshiper on trial?’
Most of them thought the entire affair was a waste of time.
What they wanted was to see the hated demon worshiper executed as soon as possible.
And as their resentment and anger toward Darius, the man responsible for holding this trial, continued to grow, their praise for Beatrice, who had captured the criminal in the first place, grew right along with it.
“Ex, you stand accused. Your trial will now begin. I solemnly declare that these proceedings shall be fair and just under the protection of the Goddess Deuslute.”
The imperial magistrate announced the beginning of the trial, then began reading through the documents laid out before him one by one.
“Ex, you stand accused of the heinous crime of demon worship. Circumstances and evidence have also been discovered indicating that you conspired to rebel against the Empire and overthrow its rule. Do you admit to these charges?”
The magistrate's tone was purely procedural, as though he expected Ex to simply answer the question put before him.
Someone interrupted before he could.
“Wait, Magistrate. Shouldn't we first establish exactly what these supposed circumstances and evidence are?”
Darius rose from his seat and challenged him.
The magistrate visibly shrank beneath the Imperial Prince's gaze.
“Then, by Your Highness's command, we shall first present the evidence and witnesses proving the accused's charges…”
“Forget this damned trial and execute him already!”
A shout suddenly erupted from somewhere among the crowd.
“He's a demon! A traitor! Kill him now!!”
“A trial is too good for someone like him! Just execute him!”
“Purify the demon!! Hang the traitor!!”
They were outrageously disrespectful words for ordinary citizens to shout in a solemn chamber occupied by an Imperial Prince, an Imperial Princess, nobles, and imperial officials.
But heresy and treason were charges sensitive enough to stir the public into agreement with frightening ease.
Of course, only a tiny handful of people realized that the first man to shout had been a planted agitator hidden among the crowd by Beatrice.
“Have these bastards forgotten their station? How dare they…!”
Darius ground his teeth, just about to unleash his fury.
“Everyone, this is a court of law where justice must be determined. I ask that you all observe the proceedings with the solemnity they deserve.”
Beatrice moved first.
Facing the furious citizens, she continued in a calm voice, speaking as though appealing to them from the bottom of her heart.
“Please, calm yourselves. We have not uncovered the truth yet. We must never allow an innocent person to be sacrificed. That is precisely why this trial is being held.”
The citizens were immediately moved by Beatrice's apparent integrity.
They completely forgot that Darius was the one who had demanded the trial in the first place.
The common citizens had no way of knowing the complicated circumstances behind why these proceedings had been arranged. They could only see what was happening before their eyes and believe what they were shown.
Beatrice understood that perfectly.
And with that knowledge, she seized control of both the atmosphere and the direction of the trial almost instantly.
“I was the one who had Ex brought before this court as the accused. So I have no intention of treating these proceedings lightly. First, I will present the evidence that he conspired to rebel against the Empire.”
At Beatrice's gesture, prepared documents were distributed among the nobles and officials.
What was written on those pages was shocking.
As everyone stared at the contents in disbelief, Beatrice spoke as though summarizing the report for the entire court.
“One month ago, the accused was present at the scene of an incident that has since been concealed from the public for reasons unknown, the so-called ‘Demon Appearance at the Grand Estate Incident.’ More astonishing still, the person responsible for orchestrating that entire incident was none other than the accused, Ex.”
Just like that, Ex had become the mastermind behind the demon incident at the grand estate.
It was an absurd fabrication.
Still, Ex really had been the one who revealed his face and took charge of the event at the time.
And since no one knew that Beatrice had forced him into doing it through blackmail, there was very little he could say in his defense.
“At the time, the accused attempted to gather high-ranking nobles and key figures of the Imperial Palace in one place and kill them all. Fortunately, an Elyon Academy student who had infiltrated the gathering acted quickly and managed to help those people escape the threat.”
That student had been Lola.
Ex had asked for his own name to be left out of the incident back then.
He had never imagined that decision would come back to bite him like this.
‘So this is why Lola couldn't come.’
Beatrice had applied pressure behind the scenes to keep Lola, one of the people directly involved in the incident, from attending the trial.
All so she could steer the proceedings in her favor.
“That is nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Where are your evidence and witnesses?”
Darius narrowed his eyes as he listened to Beatrice.
“Choose your words carefully, Imperial Princess. That banquet at the grand estate was held because someone intended to distribute Mana Awakening Potions to the nobles gathered there. In other words, most of the people present were criminals.”
Darius had no choice but to reveal the secret behind an incident he had deliberately kept from the public.
The citizens sucked in sharp breaths at his words.
Even ordinary citizens knew that Mana Awakening Potions were horrific concoctions created from the lives of countless Demonkin and humans.
They had always assumed that the nobility was corrupt, but learning that nobles had willingly intended to consume an evil potion created by cultists and demon worshipers left the crowd visibly shaken.
This was not something Darius had wanted to reveal.
But allowing Beatrice to control the narrative was far more dangerous now.
“It is undeniably true that the massacre of numerous nobles would throw the Empire into political chaos. But claiming that this automatically proves a conspiracy to rebel against the Empire is an absurd leap.”
The crowd was horrified by the revelation, but they also found themselves agreeing with him.
The nobles committing something monstrous and Ex plotting a rebellion were clearly two completely different matters.
Even as the citizens' reactions began to shift, Beatrice merely smiled.
“That changes nothing. Ex was still the one who organized that banquet. And now, I will call a witness who can testify to that fact.”
“A witness…?”
Every single person connected to the incident had been tracked down and punished at the time.
Not one had been allowed to escape.
Darius had every reason to be suspicious.
But then the courtroom doors truly did open, and someone stepped inside.
It was a young man.
His body was pale as a sheet and trembling like a leaf, and he clutched at himself as his terrified eyes darted across the courtroom.
Beatrice looked upon the gaunt young man with an expression of sympathy.
“Lernist of House Krenon participated in that banquet. He barely survived the tragedy that took place there, and even now, he has been unable to recover from the trauma.”
“You were hiding a criminal, Imperial Princess…!”
“A criminal? I have merely been caring for one of the Empire's poor, suffering subjects.”
It was an utterly ridiculous excuse.
And yet, when the people looked at Lernist, who seemed to have wasted away until there was little left of him but skin and bone, all they felt was pity.
“Witness, look at the accused before you and give your testimony.”
At Beatrice's command, Lernist trembled violently as he looked toward Ex standing before the court.
“Ah, aaah…!”
Then, the moment his eyes landed on Ex, he screamed.
“Demon-!! Th-that demon tried to kill me!! That demon started the banquet and tried to kill all of us-!!”
Of course, Ex looked considerably different now than he had back then.
But enough traces of his original face remained for Lernist to recognize him and scream in terror.
And Lernist's miserable, desperate screams were more than enough for the citizens to decide on their own that Ex must be guilty.
Beatrice watched the crowd erupt into murmurs and smiled with satisfaction.
“I believe that testimony should be more than sufficient. And whether what he just said was true or false is something Your Highness should know better than anyone.”
“…”
The magic device brought to the courtroom to distinguish truth from lies also judged Lernist's statement to be truthful.
It was sophisticated enough to determine truth even when the person speaking was insane.
There could be little doubt about its conclusion.
The atmosphere of the courtroom swung toward Beatrice.
Lernist's testimony alone did not tell the citizens exactly what had happened at the grand estate.
But at the very least, one fact had now been branded into their minds.
Ex had some connection to ‘demons.’
‘So that's what she's after.’
Only then did Darius understand.
Beatrice had never intended to conduct a proper trial from the beginning.
Her goal was to take pieces of truth that suited her, fit them together however she pleased, and whip the citizens into demanding Ex's death.
The truth itself was not particularly important to the crowd.
They simply wanted the spectacle of watching the evil before their eyes be punished.
That was why Beatrice had invited ordinary citizens into the courtroom and prepared this entire performance.
‘But this won't go the way she wants.’
Darius glanced at Ex, who had remained silent all this time.
Ex was simply standing there without saying a word, but his deeply settled eyes remained fixed calmly on the Imperial Princess.
He certainly did not look like someone who had given up.
‘Please tell me you've prepared something.’
Darius continued challenging Beatrice's claims.
“Stop twisting the truth of what happened. There is someone who personally witnessed what Ex did at the estate. I will call that witness now.”
At Darius's words, the courtroom doors opened once again, and another person entered.
Beatrice inwardly scoffed at his desperate resistance.
Lola, the student who could serve as the most important witness, was trapped at the academy and unable to appear.
And even if she somehow did appear, she was still only a student. Beatrice could find a way to make her testimony seem insignificant.
‘The fact that she's the Young Lady of House Lemercier is a little troublesome, but I can manipulate public opinion around that somehow.’
But the moment the doors opened and Beatrice saw who had entered, her relaxed smile froze.
“I have come under the orders of Imperial Prince Darius.”
The person entering was someone Beatrice had never expected.
“Marlene of the Guard. I have appeared before the court as ordered.”
It was Marlene, the guard who had helped Lola and Ex resolve the incident at the grand estate.
‘Who is she?’
Beatrice did not know much about Marlene.
She had heard that the aftermath of the grand estate incident had been resolved because of an investigation conducted by some guard, but she had never learned the details.
At the time, Baal had summoned her and subjected her to relentless pressure, leaving her in no position to investigate the situation thoroughly.
All she really knew was that Marlene was the guard credited with resolving the incident.
“Marlene Amer, tell the court what you personally witnessed and confirmed while investigating the grand estate incident.”
But Darius, who had reviewed every detail surrounding such a major incident within the Empire, had not overlooked her role.
Marlene answered his command.
“I was assigned to investigate the distribution of Mana Awakening Potions. After receiving intelligence that those vile potions were going to be distributed at a banquet held at the grand estate, I personally went there to investigate.”
“What did you see?”
“Masked nobles, the host who intended to harm them, and…”
Marlene looked directly at Ex and spoke with confidence.
“Two Elyon Academy students who boldly stepped into the middle of the incident and provided assistance so crucial that we might not have resolved the case without them. Those two students were Lola and Ex.”
The moment Ex's name was mentioned, murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“Lola and Ex noticed signs that something was about to happen before the incident began. They cooperated with me while I was investigating, and together we managed to evacuate the nobles moments before a major disaster could occur. They were remarkably brave students.”
“For her contribution, the Young Lady of House Lemercier received the ‘Royal Knights' Honor Medal,’ a third-class imperial medal. Ex chose to give up public recognition for his own contribution, so he was not formally awarded a medal, but he received compensation appropriate to his achievements. I, an Imperial Prince, personally guarantee this.”
Marlene's and Darius's statements sent a shockwave through the audience.
If what they said was true, then the accusation that Ex had plotted a rebellion against the Empire was completely unfounded.
Instead, suspicion began to shift toward Lernist.
Perhaps the witness Beatrice had summoned had simply misunderstood what he'd seen.
After all, one glance at Lernist was enough to make anyone question whether the man was in his right mind. It was only natural to wonder whether his testimony had been the rambling of someone who had lost his sanity.
Even the magistrate overseeing the trial gradually began to lean in that direction.
‘Maybe I pushed that charge too far after all.’
Beatrice narrowed her eyes as she assessed the changing situation.
Of the two charges she had used to force Ex before the court, the accusation of imperial rebellion had effectively become useless with Marlene's appearance.
She could still pick apart their statements and drag the argument out.
But if her goal was to inflame the citizens, that would not be an effective approach.
When the board had been arranged in the opponent's favor, it was better to abandon that line of attack.
‘The rebellion charge was only insurance anyway.’
Deciding not to engage in a pointless battle of arguments, Beatrice let out a faint sigh.
“I suppose it may be difficult to conclude that he truly participated in a rebellion.”
The Imperial Princess's concession immediately sent murmurs through the crowd.
But naturally, she was not finished.
“However, I do possess undeniable evidence that Ex has ties to demon worshipers. Bring it in.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a guard entered the courtroom carrying something.
It was a scroll made from parchment.
But it was nothing like an ordinary parchment spell scroll.
The guard handed the scroll to Beatrice, and she revealed its identity.
“This scroll was discovered inside Ex's dormitory room at the academy. It was found beneath his bed, and there were clear signs that someone had attempted to conceal it. After examining the scroll, we discovered that…”
Beatrice smiled in triumph.
“This scroll, found in Ex's room, is a ‘Demon Contract Scroll,’ created by demon worshipers for the purpose of making deals with demons.”
It was the very Demon Contract Scroll that Beatrice herself had given Ex in the past.
At Beatrice's revelation, everyone's gaze changed.
The ordinary citizens.
The nobles and officials.
Even people such as Darius, who had been favorably disposed toward Ex.
In a single instant, the way they looked at him was no longer the same.
And there was nothing remotely favorable in those eyes.
Hostility, disgust, fear, and distrust stabbed mercilessly into Ex from every direction.
“Now then, Ex. Explain why you were in possession of this Demon Contract Scroll.”
Ex's eyes remained perfectly steady.
–TL Notes–
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