They decided to use the Monet guard as the scapegoat. What happened next made Aiden, Rufus, and Jason's jaw drop.
The Monet family has revealed that the betrothed bio to be wed as the official wife to the third prince of Cleas ran off with a guard. The emperor is pissed and the nobles are enjoying the drama.
The Monet family tried to plead with the emperor. They blamed the bio for being unruly, horrible, and ugly and trying to get away from a good thing. They have raised him well and this is the treatment he gave them.
The Monets used this to gain sympathy and for a time, it worked.
The official wife cried in public claiming how could she raise such a horrible son after all the things she had to go through to raise him well even if he is a bio.
The baron called for his son to come back safe and sound.
Juliet Monet even used this to appeal that the "accidental betrothal" to ask for sympathy from the public.
"I have prepared myself to be married to the third prince but little did I know that my bio brother would get that position. And the man just ran away? I heard they were lovers in the past."
Everyone sympathized with the beautiful girl having to deal with such an ungrateful brother and for commending her for her bravery to put up with a tyrannical prince as her future husband. They felt sorry for the baron to have to raise such a horrible son.
That is until the third prince came out with evidence against them.
Victor made a public announcement to the emperor and everyone who is listening when he arrived in the throne room that he found his betrothed on the night of the banquet.
It turns out that the guard was not there to run away with "his lover". The young bio was ill, drugged (not true but he has to make it believable), and unconscious. Victor has interrogated the guard for three days (also a lie) and it was revealed that the guard was from the Monet manor, tried to kidnap the bio who was very ill in his room, and that the man has been stalking the bio ever since he was a child despite efforts to push him away.
Victor also included the interrogation through a magical recording device (that looks like a crystal ball that serves as a video or audio recording) as proof revealing how the Monets treated the bio son and how this perverted guard took advantage of the lack of protection of the bio. That he was living in a basement, his inheritance stolen and sold off by the Monets, and he knew that the bio will have no protection and wanted him for himself.
The prince and his men accidentally spotted him and thought he was suspicious so they detained him until they found out what he was up to. Victor and his men have the man admit to the crime of trying to kidnap and commit assault on the betrothed of the third prince at the time of the banquet when there were barely any nobles or guards available to notice it. Emphasize the betrothed.
Of course, the part of him kidnapping the bio was technically a lie but Victor wanted to take advantage of this with the promise that his death is swift and painless. This person is already sentenced to death for his action and as a royal, Victor has the right to hang anyone even without a trial so long as they are viewed as a threat to the empire, to the family, or him (trials are also very rare in Claes and often reserve on nobility, and Victor just wants to get rid of the piece of garbage who harms his wife even though he very much so wants to keep him alive and torture him). Trying to steal the prince's fiancé was already considered a threat to him.
A personal healer of the emperor was sent to assess the condition of the bio in which he admitted that the bio's physical condition is not just weak, he is emaciated, and his magical core is very weak due to malnutrition. There were many healed broken bones and scars, and he is currently unconscious and would take days to recover. The healing magic has helped make the recovery faster and easier for him.
The Monets tried to justify themselves. After all, abusing a bio in the family is not unusual. Though most people won't admit to it. But the other nobles and commoners blamed them for being so harsh towards their bio son and that they were playing them for fools.
"If you didn't say what you did say, why do I hear rumors about you trying to buy off items from other people? I heard those items were the bio's inheritance!", "You claim to have raised him well and even call for sympathy? Shameless!" and "I felt sorry for the Monets to have an unruly bio son but it turns out they were the cause of all this!".
The emperor had no choice but to place the Monets on suspension and not only do they have to pay back all the inheritance of the bio but they have to pay a significant amount of pay towards the third prince for all the fuss they caused which was more than the cost from their first offense Juliet, because of her actions got snubbed by many of the high noble ladies.
But that was not the end. No.
Victor wanted to take advantage of the guard by taking care of the other problematic nobles based on what he read in the novels. Even if proof could not be found, doubt will be instilled in the hearts of the nobles and the royal family and this will make them panic.
So, the recording showed the guard admitting to other faults of other nobles he "claimed to have discovered during his time as a guard". This caused an uproar in the throne room. The nobles who were accused tried to argue back that this guard was lying and that it was not true. But investigations thanks to the ministry of Justice and through the me minister, Ernest Avington, who was guided by certain written letters about where to find the things he needed in many of these noble houses made it easier to get those pieces of evidence.
One of the nobles has committed child trafficking. Slavery is legal in Claes but it is heavily regulated. After another country was decimated when the slaves went into revolt and because that country also had more slaves than citizens who know all of their masters' secrets, it was easy to fight back when they realized how awful their conditions are. The empire learned from that lesson. This is why slaves must not exceed more than 10% of the total population of the empire, slaves have the option to get their freedom through various means, has some protection from abuse, and most of all, no children should be enslaved. Often parents have to be committed into slavery if a child was caught committing a crime. That noble was trafficking children.
The other noble was discovered to have a secret army in the mountains in the western region which is considered treason. This is due to the previous events with nobles having their armies to usurp the royal family.
Another noble was discovered to have businesses in the red-light district. This is not a high-level offense and will be less likely to get punishment from it. But it is frowned upon for nobles to own businesses like that. The kicker was, that the noble was a priest at the church, and having his brothel is immoral in the eyes of the gods.
Another noble who is also a priest mismanaged funds given by the government for the management of the orphanages. That priest was also related to the human trafficking ring as many of the orphans were sold by him and his cronies.
And Duke Ronald Maris was committed after it was revealed that his basement held people from the Elven race, mostly children. There were even missives with the magic tower about the use of such children as ingredients in their magical experiments which horrified everyone in the room. Everyone knows how awful the magic tower is but to that extent?
This is even a very big deal because the Elven people are worshiped by a lot of humans as they were seen close to gods than any other races. Not to mention the way that may happen between Claes and the Elven nation which would be very bad considering how despite the country's strong power, they are still no match against Elven magic.
Duke Maris holds the White Lily army and was the noble who wanted the Blue Rose army so he can sell them off to the magic tower only to be debunked by the third prince over his budget. Letters of their correspondence regarding the Blue Rose were discovered. The man was idiotic enough to store these letters instead of burning them. This was mostly because the duke didn't want the magic tower to screw him over so he wanted to use those letters as evidence against them if they back out from their deals.
In the end, 25 out of 30 nobles were proven to have committed a crime. Some of these nobles could not believe that evidence was found so easily. The rest of the other nobles were given a warning.
To avoid a riot from the capital, the emperor cannot reveal all of this behavior and crimes. Most of the accused nobles were suspended, and others were imprisoned especially the noble who has a secret army. A suspended noble means they are basically under house arrest. Most if not all of their assets will be taken away, some of their territories were taken back by the government and are now assigned a magistrate to manage them. This is still better than being put in prison. Victor knows all too well what life is in the dungeons.
A magistrate is a person usually a noble, who was assigned to manage a territory under the empire but not to a particularly noble territory. Even if the territory is farther from the capital, that territory will now be in the management of the royal family.
This event shifted a lot of power towards the royal family even more while the church and the magic tower incurred some losses. As for Duke Maris and the other noble who committed child trafficking, they did not face suspension. They faced a death sentence as this was a serious crime. Despite efforts to keep it quiet, their crimes were leaked to the public and the commoners demanded justice as all of the children who were trafficked were commoner children and the nobles from the Elven nation demanded blood after knowing what happened to some of their kin.
In this situation, the noble's position in the commoners' eyes was now riddled with doubt. Normally, commoners tolerate nobles' behaviors and often do not fight back even when they are faced with injustices but there is a limit. Trafficking children is one of those things that cannot be ignored.
A lot of these accused nobles belong to factions. Most of them come from the sixth prince faction, the others are from the seventh and fourth princes' faction. This created a loss of power for these factions. The sixth prince and Duke Elrose were livid.
Victor is disappointed that no evidence could be found that would attach the Elroses with a crime but he was still happy with the result even though he has to push the plot a little bit further. Many of these nobles caused an economic issue in the empire that led to infighting which also caused divisions in the royal family, making them unprepared for the next beast raid which will happen five years from now.
But all these were done in under a week. One week and more than 20 nobles incurred losses, the church and the magic tower were forced to pay compensation for the crimes committed, and the families and victims were given very high compensation with the condition that they will not revolt against the empire. The empire did pay heavily to the elven kingdoms when they returned their people to them. The reason is that as emperor, he was supposed to oversee and prevent such behavior from happening, so the empire has to pay reconciliation.
Aiden, Rufus, and Jason all sat in front of the third prince in both awe and fear. This man single-handedly put down 25 nobles by using a single guard as a scapegoat or in this case, the key to set up the domino effect against these nobles.
The prince just sipped some tea from his cup and then turned towards the three men, "So, any questions?"
Both Rufus and Jason who spent so long with the prince could not believe this cold and quiet man was this diabolical. They are afraid of what the prince could do if he is furious as this was something they have never witnessed from him. The prince could get angry yes, but furious? Would the sun no longer shine at that time?
Meanwhile, in the middle of all the chaos, a beautiful blue-haired fairy lying comfortably in a soft bed that feels like the clouds opened its beautiful sapphire eyes.