"The trail of lady Angelina Lamonia, the firstborn daughter of house Lamonia, S Rank Adventure, and betrothed to the crown prince Marshall Malone, will now begin. Lady Lamonia, you stand accused of treason by feeding the Great Eastern Empire classified information. How do you plead?"
In the royal castle's largest hall, there is typically the sound of laughter and music as people partied into the night. Today, however, is far from those happier scenes. Instead of dancing, there is me, kneeling and in chains as my trail begins. In the place of music, all I can hear is people calling for my head.
"Not guilty,"
Everyone stares at me. Most of them already think I am guilty. Or they will do everything in their power to ensure I am found guilty. They cast glances and exchange nods with one another.
"Foolish girl,"
As it turns out, my grandfather is the prosecutor in my case. He shakes his head and smirks to himself. The only person who doesn't seem to be against me is the king, who today will be my judge, jury and, if things go badly, my executioner. At least the king is giving me a sympathetic look.
"Very well. We will do this the hard way," The speaker who stands next to the king has already found me guilty. He glares at me before turning to my grandfather. "The prosecution will now make its case."
"This won't take long," My grandfather slowly gets up from his chair and walks over to a table to the room's left. "These documents contain troop potions and defence plans along our kingdom's border with the Great Eastern Empire. They were found in my granddaughter's room at the Royal Magical Academy. We also have testimony from a spy from the said empire. According to the spy, he was to meet with my granddaughter and buy these documents for a hefty sum."
Looking at the statement for a minute, my grandfather looks at me with a smile that reeks of victory. With only a moment's pause, he begins to read out whatever has been written.
"The captured spies exact words upon confessing are," Taking a deep breath before he continued. "I was to meet with a contact on the grounds of the Royal Magical Academy at midnight. I do not know her identity, only that they were a female first-year student. Upon obtaining the documents, I was to kill the contact to cover my tracks."
He puts down the statement and reaches for a knife.
"This dagger was found on the spy," He held up a small-looking weapon that didn't look deadly. "At the time we arrested the spy, the blade was coated in poison."
Putting the dagger down, my grandfather returns to his seat as the crowd starts screaming.
"Guilty!"
"Don't waste our time with this traitor!"
"Off with her head!"
It's clear the crowd is only here for blood. They howl and scream for my death, but the king silences them with a wave of his hand.
"We are a kingdom and people with law and order. We are bound by these laws for the good of all," The king tells the rowdy crowd. "Speaker, please continue."
"Yes, your highness," The speaker bows before glaring at me. "Lady Lamonia. Present whatever feeble excuse you have to defend your actions."
This really is a setup. Witnesses aren't allowed to testify in court in this world. Instead, they write statements that are present to the court. On paper, it is said this is to avoid nobles intimidating the lower classes during the trial. Still, in reality, it only serves to allow the nobles to corrupt the trials. For instance, the witness statements my friends gave have mysteriously vanished. I glance at the empty table where they should be.
"Right away,"
I smile as I reply. The plotters thought they were so bright hiding them, but they would have destroyed the statements if they had any brains. Magic tracking is a useful skill with many ways it can be employed. You could track nearly anything with it as long as it was a living creature. Still, few people know it can also be used to track inanimate objects. You need to put some magic on the item, and then you can never lose it.
"Speaker of the Court. May I have the witness statements you have hidden under your stand?"
"How dare you accuse me of…."
I don't let him finish. I split the stand in two using earth magic and cast air magic to retrieve the hidden statements. They don't seem to have been tampered with, so they are good to go.
"You need to do a better job when plotting against me," I warn the speaker before presenting the statements. "I have multiple witness statements that prove I had nothing to do with this act of treason."
"Fakes!"
"She's lying!"
"Take her head already!"
Tough crowd. I knew this wouldn't be an easy fight from the start. I wish I was dealing with monsters so I could punch my way out of trouble.
"My granddaughter is clearing trying to present fake evidence," My grandfather steps forward. "Your highness, the prosecution requests these statements be disregarded."
"Denied," The king states causing an outroar. Once everything calms down, he continues. "These statements are written on a special paper and are impossible to fake or tamper with. Since this is the potential future queen on trial, I had all witnesses write on this paper instead of the normal kind."
I'm glad I have the king on my side. The people here may grumble and complain, but they can't go against him. But I am curious about this paper. It didn't appear in the game, and I would love to know what kind of magic or material made it so special.
"T… then I withdrew my objection,"
Stepping forward as the chains around me rattle, I clear my throat before reading the first statement.
"These are my adopted brothers, Noah Lamonia, own words," The crowd looks like they want me to sit right down, but I proceed regardless. "My sister would never betray the kingdom. She may cause trouble for those around her, but she would never commit such a crime. I can prove she didn't have the opportunity to steal those documents. Our family has tracked her movement ever since she nearly killed herself fighting a dragon. We would have been alerted if she had been anywhere she wasn't supposed to."
"He's clearly lying for his sister!"
"Stop her false testimony!"
"Why is that traitor allowed to defend herself?!"
Ignoring the crowd, I move on to the second statement. But how was my family tracking me without getting caught? I was careful to ensure no one placed enchantments on me or anything I owned. The only way they could have if… Bozzair. I wouldn't be surprised if he betrayed me for some treats. Unlike humans, dragons are skilled enough to hide traces of magic from me. I'll make sure he learns his lesson whenever he turns up. For now, I need to defend myself.
"These are the crown prince Marshall Malone's own words," At least the prince's name got the crowd to shut up. "My beloved lady Angelina is not a traitor. I know she is innocent of this crime she is charged with. Ever since some students tried to assault her at school, I had my knights keep an eye on her. Not once have they reported anything of concern with lady Angelina's actions or movements."
"More lies!"
"She's manipulating the prince!"
The crowd is really getting out of control. They keep acting as if I am guilty. I take a deep breath feeling glad it is only the king I have to convince.
"The following statement is the words of Zeno Facaryn, the second prince of the elven kingdom," I feel nervous at what I am about to read out. Something tells me I am going to want to kill Zeno after this. "I have been watching my beautiful Angelina since we first met, so I know she never betrayed everyone. She wakes up as the sunrises every morning and puts down the barrier keeping us apart. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together, study in class together and hang out together after school has finished for the day."
I really down want to keep reading. Glancing at the next part makes me want to bust out of here and hunt down that pervy elven prince. But I continue reading since it helps my case.
"After we say we are going our separate ways, I shapeshift into various forms to keep an eye on her," I really, really don't like where this is going. "If the weather is good, then I turn into a bird at watch my Angelina read under a tree. If it is terrible, I am a fly watching her study in the library. When she is bathing in the shared bath, I shapeshift into a lady to continue to watch. None of the other ladies could draw my eye as she could. I wish she would use the shard bath more often. When she is sleeping, I watch from nearby trees. As you can tell, my Angelina is rarely out of my sight. She has never had the opportunity to betray anyone."
When I am done, I can feel my cheeks burning as my body shakes with rage. When I get out of this mess, I know I will never use the shared bath again. Even if it is more relaxing than the cramped one in my dorm room. I would also need to find a way to counter his shapeshifting ability. I didn't know he could do that Zeno never had that kind of ability in the game.
I need a moment to calm down before I read the last statement. The best thing I can say about it is that Zeno shuts the crowd up. They seemed too surprised by his words as I was, and no one cried out for my blood this time.
"The final statement is the words of lady Ellis Lockridge," Once everyone had enough time to recover, I continue. "Lady Angelina is not a traitor. We spend a lot of time together during our breaks at school and club activities. Outside of that, lady Angelina is helping me study or practice magic. It would have been impossible for her to commit any crime without me noticing."
I'm glad the crowd didn't argue back this time. Zeno must have blown their little minds with the stuff he admitted to. I'm still unsure whether I should punch him once and forgive him or beat that pervy elf to death. I place the statements on the table and return to where I was once. I look to the king and speaker, waiting for the next stage.
"Is there any evidence left that either party would like to present?" The speaker says after a moment of silence.
"No, the prosecution rests its case," My grandfather still looks as assured as he had when this all began of his victory.
"I…."
"Wait!"
Just as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, the door to the room burst open. I smiled when I turned around. Ellis, bathed in the light of the sun, continues to prove why she is beautiful enough to be the protagonist in an Otome game. I'm still surprised none of the love interests hasn't shown any interest in her. The knights at the door try to stop her, but she is too fast and agile for them.
"This is a court of law, not a place for surprises," The speaker declared. "Arrest that girl at once!"
"Bozzair! Now!"
At Ellis's cry, Bozzair appears, flying in above everyone's heads.
"I will let you see with your own eyes the truth behind these false charges on my pet,"
Before anyone can react, Bozzair traps us all in Earthen Recordings. The events of the past start playing for all to see. Daniella Allencourt, it shows her and her two friends planting the documents in my room and capturing Bozzair. We didn't get along, but I didn't think she would try something like that. Bozzair didn't leave anything out. He showed every detail, making it impossible for anyone to claim I was guilty.
"Send people to arrest those girls at once," As soon as the recording is over, the king quickly gives his orders. "After what I just witnessed, it is clear that lady Angelina Lamonia is innocent. Remove those shackles. She is free to go."
No one complains or objects. No one could say anything after Bozzair's appearance. They grumble and complain as they leave while shooting me glares. My grandfather was the worse. He threatened me, telling me to learn my place as he walked past me.
I smile and relax as a soldier unlocks the shackles around my wrists. It felt better than I thought it would once those things were removed.
"Lady Angelina," Ellis runs over to me before I can move and wraps her arms around me. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Thank you, Ellis," I softly replied, hugging her back. "I would have struggled to get out of this mess if you hadn't rescued Bozzair."
Speaking of Bozzair, it seems the king has stolen him. He's curled up on the king's lap, nibbling on meat. Since I got Bozzair the king and my parents, all would keep treats on them for him. The king probably had some meat on him today because he knew Bozzair would turn up to defend me. He's okay with the king for now. But after I tell my friends everything worked out at the trail and punched a certain princely elf, I will talk to him about spying on me for my parents.