"Your accusations have concluded, but sadly, you've failed to judge me," Felina remarked, her voice steady as she addressed Marcel. "Now, it's my turn to place you on trial."
Standing at the center of the stage, Felina's voice rang out, clear and resonant: "I, Furina, formally accuse Marcel, President of the Confrerie of Cabriere, of being the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the Hydro Archon, the trafficking of Sinthe, and the long-unsolved serial abductions of young girls."
At this, the entire hall erupted in a wave of gasps as if a tidal wave of shock had crashed through the opera house.
News of Furina's assassination attempt had already spread across Fontaine. Years ago, a drink known as Sinthe began circulating throughout Fontaine. The drink brought intense euphoria and hallucinations but had an extremely high addiction rate and caused immense harm to the body. The Fontaine government swiftly outlawed Sinthe, yet despite these restrictions, its trafficking remained rampant. Authorities pursued the perpetrators but never managed to uncover the kingpin. And then there was the infamous case of the missing girls.
Starting two decades ago, young women began disappearing from Fontaine without a trace. The court searched, but no clues surfaced—no bodies, no sightings. The case became one of Fontaine's most notorious cold cases, causing widespread fear. Many young women were still too afraid to go out alone.
Whether the charges were for godslaying, drug trafficking, or mass kidnappings, any one of these alone would mark the accused as a vicious criminal. But now, Lady Furina claimed the culprit behind all three was the same man?
In the stunned silence, Neuvillette's face briefly betrayed his surprise.
"Lady Furina, are you prepared to substantiate this accusation?" he inquired, quickly regaining his composure.
Felina nodded. "Of course."
Neuvillette then turned his gaze upon Marcel. "Mr. Marcel, do you accept Lady Furina's accusations?"
Although asked, Marcel knew there was no real choice here. Fontaine had a particular rule: if the accused refused to stand trial, they could challenge a Duelist Representative. Win, and the accused would be excused from trial entirely. The rule was meant to offer those who preferred to defend their honor in battle a way to avoid trial. In reality, however, few had ever been victorious over the Duelists and most went on to trial afterward.
And in any case, if he was innocent, what would he fear from a trial?
"I accept the accusation." Marcel's heart raced as he forced himself to keep calm. He knew his expression betrayed his anxiety.
Earlier, Marcel had tried to force Felina into a corner. But now, the roles were reversed, with Marcel on the defendant's stand and Felina seated among the accusers. For the first time, he felt like he was in her grasp.
Marcel could sense he'd likely fallen into a trap, but with the court now seated and the eyes of Fontaine upon him, he had no choice but to proceed.
"Then, let the trial begin!" Neuvillette declared with a tap of his staff. "Lady Furina, if you believe Mr. Marcel to be the culprit behind these crimes, please provide your basis for such accusations."
Felina inclined her head slightly and began to recount her case.
Within minutes, Felina had vividly described how, twenty years ago, Marcel's lover Vigneire had accidentally come into contact with the Primordial Sea Water and dissolved, leading Marcel, then known as Vacher, to desperately seek a means to revive her. He expanded his influence, began producing and trafficking Sinthe, and abducted young women to conduct his experiments, finally reaching his last resort—an attempt to kidnap a god for knowledge.
By the time she finished, the hall was buzzing with shocked voices.
"So that's it!"
"So Sinthe is really just diluted Primordial Sea Water?"
Despite Marcel's efforts to erase all trace of his past as Vacher, records still existed on Vigneire. Her disappearance had been filed by her family twenty years ago, and the registry kept those records. Neuvillette ordered a quick inquiry, and soon enough, the report of her disappearance was verified, bringing more murmurs from the audience.
"Vigneire went missing twenty years ago, and Sinthe first appeared around that time. And if I recall, the first of those kidnappings also happened around then…"
"It's all tied together now. He must've dissolved all those poor girls trying to recreate her!"
"Such a monster deserves to die!"
Outrage rippled through the crowd, and the faces in the audience, twisted with anger, seemed ready to see Marcel condemned then and there.
"Silence!" Neuvillette's stern voice rang out. "Order in the court!"
Neuvillette turned back to Marcel. "Mr. Marcel, do you accept Lady Furina's narrative as true?"
"Of course not," Marcel spat, his eyes fixed on Felina. "I have to say, Lady Furina, your theory is… quite entertaining."
"Sure, your theory makes sense," he continued, "but the law here deals in facts!"
He jabbed his finger in Felina's direction. "Where's your proof? All these pretty words, yet you haven't tied them to me in the slightest!"
"If you have evidence, show it! But if you think you can accuse me with nothing to back it up, then not even you can play judge, jury, and executioner."
Marcel's words echoed around the hall, leaving the audience visibly uncertain.
"True… Lady Furina's story makes sense, but it sounds more like a fable without hard evidence to prove Marcel is Vacher."
"Could she really be trying to strong-arm him into submission just on her authority as a god?"
Seeing the audience's wavering, Felina remained seated, her legs crossed as she lounged in a posture that practically exuded smugness.
"I'm afraid," she replied, a hint of casual disdain in her tone, "that I don't have evidence."
"What? No evidence?" Marcel burst out in laughter, his voice filled with a joy that came only with deliverance from the gallows.
"No evidence? Then this is nothing more than slander!"
"Lady Furina, you may be a god, and I just a mere mortal, but you cannot falsely accuse me with nothing to support your claims!"
Marcel's words were skillfully chosen, turning the matter into an issue of a deity bullying an ordinary man. His words stirred a hum of conversation among the crowd once more.
"No evidence?"
"No evidence, yet you accuse me in court—this is slander!"
When Marcel heard Felina admit she had no proof, he exhaled in relief.
With a grin, he spoke. "I admit, my accusations toward you earlier may have been rude. I understand if you hold a grudge against me for that."
"If my actions truly angered you, I'll apologize. But isn't this a bit excessive—making baseless accusations against me?"
"Or do you intend to force me to confess through your authority as a god?"
Indeed, Marcel's skillful rhetoric was that of a seasoned criminal and businessman. His apology conveyed submission on the surface, yet between the lines, he suggested to the crowd that the Hydro Archon was petty—willing to use divine authority to pressure a mere mortal to confess over a personal grudge.
As expected, his words sparked a wave of muttering, and the crowd's perception of Felina began to sour.
"That's true, isn't it? Lady Furina's arguments make sense, but there's no real evidence," someone murmured.
"I believe Vacher did those things, but nothing ties Marcel to that identity."
"Yes, without proof, anyone could wear Vacher's crimes. Today it's Marcel, tomorrow it could be you or me. Imagine the chaos!"
"This can't be right. It's unfair to accuse someone without evidence. Does Lady Furina truly intend to force him to confess?"
As the murmurs grew, a sense of disappointment spread throughout the crowd. People looked at Furina with either doubt or discouragement, clearly feeling that her actions went against the ideals of justice Fontaine so treasured.
Even Neuvillette's brow furrowed slightly. Though his instincts told him that this Furina was no ordinary deity and that she must have a hidden card up her sleeve, he could not ignore that she had admitted to lacking evidence.
"Lady Furina, I trust you're aware that the court is a place of evidence and solemnity," Neuvillette said. "If you cannot support your arguments with evidence, then these accusations amount to slander."
Felina, however, remained unbothered by the crowd's doubts or Neuvillette's warning. The choice to hold the trial in an opera house meant that the proceedings were a spectacle.
People would view the trial as entertainment, swayed by the arguments on both sides, like a fickle audience that shifts loyalties at a moment's notice.
As she leaned back, gazing calmly at the crowd below, she felt nothing but calm.
"It's true. I have no evidence," she said, standing up and looking Marcel dead in the eye.
"But I don't need any to judge you."
"What?" Marcel's surprise quickly turned to delight. "Lady Furina, are you saying you'll defy the law and condemn me by divine right?"
Seated high upon the bench, Neuvillette also frowned. "Lady Furina, as Fontaine's Hydro Archon, I would ask you to consider the impact of your words."
"Heh," Felina chuckled, shaking her head with an air of resignation and disdain.
"I think you've misunderstood me," she replied.
Her gaze turned to Marcel and then swept across the audience. The strength in her eyes quieted the room, as every onlooker fell silent.
"Do you know why gods are called gods?"
"A god is a god because they transcend the ordinary."
"Gods possess extraordinary power and can do things that mortals find impossible."
"For instance, I can judge you without a shred of proof. It may sound extraordinary…"
"But I can do it."
"Oh?" Marcel sneered. "Then please, Lady Furina, show us how you plan to accomplish that."
"Simple. I'll make you confess willingly."
"Ha! Hahaha!" Marcel burst into laughter.
The sound echoed through the opera house, and it took him a while to calm down.
"So that's it?" he said, sneering. "Lady Furina, you really have quite the sense of humor."
"Well then, suppose I truly am a depraved criminal—how will you force a criminal like me to admit guilt?"
"Getting a vicious criminal to confess their crimes voluntarily is surely impossible," Felina replied with a slight smile. "But a god can accomplish the impossible."
"Don't underestimate a god," she continued, her tone sharp. "I could, with a mere touch of divine power, have you spilling every last truth. But that would be too undignified—and frankly, you're not worthy of it."
Marcel's face paled, his smugness cracking as dread began to settle in.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to recall the story I shared earlier."
"Vacher committed countless crimes to reunite with his beloved, Vigneire, who dissolved into nothing. Years of fruitless experiments drove him to desperation, leading him to consider abducting the Hydro Archon."
"This shows just how deeply his desire to reunite with his lover consumed him."
Then Felina fixed her gaze upon Marcel, looking at him as one would regard an insect easily crushed underfoot.
"So, Vacher… What if I told you I could let you see Vigneire again?"
This was the essence of why the people of Fontaine loved witnessing trials. Felina's words sparked it all.
Pride, despair, insanity, elation—all the raw, hidden emotions of human nature laid bare and magnified upon this stage.
In the span of one hour, this trial had contained more intrigue and suspense than the finest of films.
When Felina declared she could reunite Vacher with Vigneire, the audience fell silent, only to erupt in a furor of debate.
"Could she really solve it like this?"
"Unbelievable! I never saw this coming."
"Exactly! Vacher did so much, all for that reunion—it shows how obsessed he was."
"If Marcel truly is Vacher, then hearing this from Lady Furina must have him at his limit."
"How incredible… Lady Furina doesn't need proof; she strikes at a criminal's weakness and makes them admit guilt on their own!"
"So… this is what it means to be judged by a god?"
The crowd let out gasps of awe, admiration rippling through their ranks.
At this point, the drama had reached its peak.