"His way of conducting himself is unacceptable your Excellency..!" The prosecutor said with an unnecessarily aggressive tone.
I tried to remember what I ever did to her, for her to hate me that much. I struggled for a solid five minutes then gave up, and decided to ask her-
*Slam*
"Order in the courtroom."I along with everyone else was cut off by Premier Varshavski's line. The man who has absolute authority over our country's military. He is why our military is so strict. He is quite strict on even himself, infact it's at the level where it seems uncanny to us. He even has the record of directly disobeying the previous Emperor. He was spared because of his track record. In short, although he liked me, this old man wasn't going to let me off the hook that easily.
"Convicted Lieutenant Colonel Stone, How do you plead..?"He asked me. If it was only twelve hours ago, I'd have to think about my answer before giving it. But not anymore "Not guilty..." I said with a slight smirk.
"How does the jury see this..?" He asked while looking back at the four members of the jury. The jury consisted of three of the most heinous person in existence and one saint, who was Sir Norman obviously.
Rest of them were Major Carmine, who was the central figure of every nepotism related entry in our ranks. Second was Major Lummer, a person with the record of most desertion of duty. Although somehow he gets away with it every time. And the last but not the least was Major Ian, the lord of military equipment smuggling syndicate.
And the part that pissed me off the most was that, they weren't really being subtle about what they were doing. Because they were all high ranking nobles with major ties. The worst part is they abhor me. A boy from a low ranking viscount family, going up four ranks in three years didn't really sit well with them. This case gave them the chance of a lifetime. And they were not going to waste it.
Lummer: "With all due respect sire, there is nothing to see.
The convicted has been proven guilty."
Carmine: "Regardless of what he pleads, there are no room to doubt his actions."
Ian: "By the article 5th, paragraph 4 of our constitution, he is guilty of Insubordination and negligence of military protocol."
"Major Norman, do you not have anything to say about all this..? He was your subordinate wasn't he..?" Varshavski asked.
Norman: "Although I was his commending officer, I can not deny how atrocious it is to brake the military protocol.
And someone who does that must be adequately punished.
Provided of course he did commit the act..."
The last line stuttered the rest of the jury body. They weren't sure, what to make of that statement.
Varshavski: "Your statement leads us to believe that, you have some sort of evidence proving he didn't open the envelope...
Is that the case..?"
Norman: "No your Excellency but.
I have something that proves he had the right to do so..."
Chaos broke into the courtroom. Everyone was surprised to hear that. The Premier was the first to collect his composure. He then quickly brought about the end of the mayhem.
Norman: "With your permission your Excellency.
I'd like to proceed with my findings..."
Varshavski: "Permission given..."
Norman: "I have a paper with your signature in my hand which was about to be overruled because of the current situation.
It was a notice of creating a new order of knights and making Sir Stone incharge of said order.
And for that task he was given a promotion of one rank."
I could feel the two polar opposite emotions switching sides. And the audience started giving their own verdicts. I was just enjoying the show. Forty minutes into the trial and I just uttered two words. What else would you call this other than a theatrics.
Varshavski: "Do go on..."
Norman: "Yes your Excellency...
As I said he was given a promotion.
It is noteworthy that his promoted rank was eligible for that level 24 classified documents...
Furthermore, when his promotion was authorized it was 13:30, 16/04/1728 of the imperial calendar."