"W-what?" Livia says in stunned horror, "No! Your highness, please, just let me explain!" She begs.
Her pleas are ignored.
The Crown Prince speaks over her as if she hadn't talked at all, "For the crime of attempted murder, continuous assault, and the threat of harm to your own fellow classmate, Miss Amelia Margaret Reeve, I renounce your noble status and sentenced you to...DEATH!"
"I would do the honor myself..." The Crown Prince hand twitches for his sword, "But I wouldn't dare stain the Academy with a drop of your putrid blood. Guards, take her away!"
'...Unfortunate. Plan B it is then,' Livia thinks in numb detachment.
A cold chill suddenly runs down her spine.
A flash; she is underground and being dragged away. She is nothing but skin and bones. Her legs are too weak, so they drag against the stoned floor. The sunlight stings her eyes, and she sees the sharp glint of silver above her for a second before her neck is forced into a wooden hole. She briefly sees the Crown Prince and Amelia in the crowd before she hears the sharp whistle of something heavy falling above her.
"NO!" Livia shrieks, shaking her head frantically to dislodge the scene as tears trail down her cheeks,
"Please! You can't do this to me! What proof? What proof do you have?" She shouts. Her desperate eyes turn to Amelia who flinches. Livia starts to smile, even as guards grab her arms harshly, shoving her to her feet.
"Miss Amelia, I didn't bully you. I was only trying to be your friend! How could you sit by and let a completely innocent person be so unjustly punished?" She accuses the girl harshly, ignoring how her makeup runs down her face as she lunges forward with a mean smile. The guard's steel-like hands don't let her go far, but a part of her is a little to please of the look of terror that fills Amelia's eyes when she does, and how both Prince's hands go to the hilt of their swords.
Amelia cowers behind the towering forms of the two men who step in front of her to protect her for a good few seconds before she pushes through them with a trembling body but a look of fierce determination.
"No. You are not my friend! You never were! I tried to deny it but I won't anymore. It was you who sent all those horrible letters, you who pushed me down the stairs and even slapped me for all to see! I can't believe you hated me so much that you would attempt to kill me! You, Katrina Valentina, are completely guilty!" Amelia sobs, before covering her face with her hand and blindly running into strong arms.
The crowd chooses that moment to join in, jeering as Livia is roughed up as she strain against the arms that attempt to drag her away, staring with wide disbelieving eyes at the still sobbing Amelia and the two Prince's who watch her with nothing but hatred.
'Any moment now... '
She is almost at the entrance of the ballroom when her sister breaks through the crowd and throws herself at the feet of the Crown Prince.
"Please don't do this!" Liliana screams as her small fingers claw into the expensive fabric of the Crown Prince pants.
"My sister may be guilty, but she does not deserve death! Please, your highness, have mercy on her! She is my only sister! I can't live a day longer if she doesn't! I beg of you, please show my sister mercy, your highness!" Liliana wails. She clings onto the Crown Prince's leg even as a single guard tries to gently pry her away. Once her grip is loosened, she throws herself back to the ground in a kneel, her forehead hitting the floor with a soft thud as her snow-white hair falls around her head.
"Please, please, please spare my sister, I only have her, please, please, please, please," Liliana continues to beg pitifully in a wet stream of words broken up only by her choked sobs.
Everyone freezes.
The guards, in the middle of yanking Livia out of the room, come to a stop. The crowd, ridiculing Livia even as she lost everything, fall silent. The two Prince's, standing tall in the face of justice and shielding Amelia from view, break form and stare with disbelief at the small girl at their feet. Amelia, who had been gently crying into a strong chest, looks down, silent, and equally stunned.
Only sweet Liliana sobs could be heard echoing around in the grand ballroom as she soft pleas for her older sister's life.