Chapter 96
Just then, the door opened and the sound of footsteps entered.
Min-ha quickly turned around to look at the people entering the courtroom. Starting with Bediviel, who came in while being tied by a rope like herself, Seth was also there, among many people as well. The moment she found him, she uttered his name out of her mouth without realizing it.
“..Se—!”
“Keep your silence.”
However, her voice was cut off by an approaching knight.
She wanted to share a word with Seth, whom she hadn’t seen in a few days, to ask how Sir Bediviel was doing and to inquire about Sir Gareth, who was nowhere to be seen. Though seeing the menacing figure of the knight, Min-ha quietly shut her mouth.
The knight, dressed identically to the High Priest of Resitia, who stood on the dais to the left, tied her body to a chair and stood beside her. After glaring at Min-ha and the others who had entered the courtroom, the High Priest turned his head and spoke to the Emperor, who was seated on a high dais.
“Looks like everyone has arrived, Your Majesty. Let the trial begin.”
“I see. Then call the first witness.”
“But before we do that, why don’t we begin by announcing the atrocities that this witch has committed against His Majesty’s Royal Mistress, Grand Duchess Blaine?”
“Very well. Then, I’ll let High Priest Resitia speak first.”
“I’m grateful for your consideration, Your Majesty.”
After bowing respectfully towards the Emperor, High Priest Resitia then turned and glared at Min-ha with disdain. Picking up a parchment scroll that lay in front of the dais where he stood, he unrolled it and began to read the words in a cold voice.
“The 24th day of the 6th month of the imperial calendar. The maid, who thought it was unusual for Grand Duchess Blaine not to leave her room for a long time even after noon, ventured to open her bedroom door and found the Grand Duchess, Charles, and Minuel lying collapsed inside the bedroom.”
But regardless of Min-ha’s confusion, High Priest Resitia’s steady voice continued.
“The three of you showed symptoms of high fever, erythema, and shortness of breath and were urgently sent to the imperial physician to be examined. The imperial physician suspected that these symptoms were not a ‘disease’ but a ‘curse,’ so the Vatican sent priests to examine Grand Duchess Blaine and her two sons. As the priests used their divine powers to treat them, they came to the conclusion that the maladies they suffered from were caused by a witch’s curse.”
“Do you have witnesses and evidence to support that claim?”
“Of course. All the priests who examined the three of them pointed to this emerald bracelet that Grand Duchess Blaine was wearing as a gift from Duke Persen at the birthday party as an object containing the curse.”
In response to the Emperor’s question, the High Priest held up a glass box containing an emerald bracelet.
Min-ha recognized it at once. As she had suspected, it was the one that Grand Duchess Blaine had shown off proudly to her at the party at Loengram Castle.
‘…Obviously, nothing happened until then.’
It was ridiculous to say that it was suddenly cursed now.
When she glared at it fiercely, High Priest Resitia glared back at Min-ha. As fierce glances were exchanged between the two, an elderly gentleman sitting to the left of the Emperor pointed to the emerald bracelet and asked.
“As I understand it, Grand Duchess Blaine’s birthday banquet was about two months ago. Is it possible for a witch’s curse to manifest itself with a delay of two months?”
To the old gentleman’s question, High Priest Resitia answered as if he had been waiting.
“It is said that it’s impossible with a normal curse. However, as the priests investigated, it turned out that this curse was not from this empire, but from the ‘other world’.”
“…What does that mean, otherworldly?”
“Has the Pope ever heard of forbidden magic?”
High Priest Resitia’s question was met with a puzzled look from the elderly gentleman, the Pope.
“By forbidden magic, do you mean the magic mentioned in the edict of the First Emperor?”
“That’s right. Hundreds of years ago, His Majesty the great First Emperor drove out the wicked demons and wizards who controlled them and established this empire. At that time, the First Emperor prohibited evil wizards from using evil power against the will of God to corrupt good citizens and disrupting the order of the empire as an imperial law.”
“Yes, but what does that magic have to do with what’s going on now?”
As the Pope asked back after hearing the High Priest’s answer while stroking his long beard, High Priest Resitia moistened his dry lips and replied.
“According to what the priests found out, only a witch from another world can devise a delayed curse through an object… And they said that the only way to bring a witch from another world is through one of the forbidden magics, ‘half-soul’.”
“…Does that mean that the Duchess of Persen, who’s sitting there right now, is that ‘witch from another world’?”
“That’s right! I’m telling you that the person right there, the witch from another world wearing the mask of Duchess Persen, is the one who hurt Grand Duchess Blaine and her two sons by sending her the cursed bracelet.”
High Priest Resitia, who was gradually raising his voice, pointed at her with his finger and shouted.
Suddenly, the silence of the courtroom erupted into an uproar. Min-ha shook her head resolutely as she glared at the High Priest’s finger that was pointed at her. She wasn’t a witch, she didn’t cast curses, and she knew nothing about the bracelet.
Just then, there was the sound of a chair being pushed from behind her, followed by Seth’s furious voice.
“I was the one who ordered the bracelet and instructed it to be sent to Grand Duchess Blaine! This person has nothing to do with it!”
“The Duke of Persen shall be chaste!”
“So Pope, that person is innocent!”
“Didn’t I ask you to be quiet?! If you interfere anymore with this sacred trial, even if you’re a duke, I’ll have you thrown out of the court!”
“Your Majesty, this is all a ridiculous accusation! The evidence and witnesses from this trial are all false!”
“Your Majesty, the Duke of Persen is blinded by his wife and is accusing the innocent victim, Grand Duchess Blaine, and me, who’s representing her, of perjury. Why don’t we remove the Duke from the courtroom so he can calm down?”
Looking at Seth, the Emperor seemed a little hesitant at High Priest Resitia’s suggestion but eventually nodded heavily.
“…I grant you permission.”
“Your Majesty, you must not take their word for it!”
“You must leave the court now, Duke. Behaving like this in court will only put the Duchess at a disadvantage.”
“….!”
“Duke of Persen. I understand where you’re coming from, but I think you’d better calm down for a moment.”
“But, Your Majesty…!”
“I’ll listen to you later. So please leave the courtroom for now.”
“….”
“I don’t want to punish you as well. The trial will be conducted fairly, but for now, I want you to follow my orders.”
“…I accept the order.”
After holding out until the end, Seth was forced to give in to the order and walked out of the courtroom. Meanwhile, High Priest Resitia, who had driven Seth away, laughed at Min-ha with a triumphant expression as the Pope asked him again.
“High Priest Resitia. If so, can you prove that the current Duchess of Persen is a witch in another world and that she cast a special spell on the Grand Duchess and her two sons?”
“Of course. In the process of delivering this bracelet to Princess Blaine, I have summoned someone here to testify that they were bewitched by that witch.”
“Bring them in now. Let’s hear the testimony, and we shall make a judgment.”
“Yes, I understand… Sir Arland, call the witness.”
“Yes, High Priest.”
Claiming to have witnesses, High Priest Resitia gave an order to the knight standing in the doorway behind.
As the knight who received the order then bowed, he turned his back and opened the door he was standing in. Through the open door, a woman in a worn dress slowly walked into the courtroom. With her head bowed, her pace was slow as she stood on the dais opposite the High Priest though her face was enough to draw Min-ha’s attention.
Feeling that the woman’s face was somehow familiar, she kept gazing at her.
Meanwhile, as if sensing Min-ha’s gaze, the woman shuddered before raising one hand and speaking in a trembling voice.
“…I swear by God that I will answer truthfully and without concealment in the courtroom.”
“First, could you tell me your name and title?”
“…I’m Sally Reed. I used to be a maid in the Duchy of Persen.”
At that moment, Min-ha was so surprised that she couldn’t even scream.
‘Th-that person…’
It was the same maid who had led her to believe that Mrs. Wanda was waiting for her in the annex months ago. Min-ha stared at her in surprise, not knowing why she was here, as she had never seen this woman in the mansion since that day.
“D*mn it! That woman…!”
“Hey! Can’t you stay calm!”
“Sir Bediviel!”
“Be quiet!”
As if recognizing the woman in the courtroom, Bediviel also rose from his seat, muttering profanities.
The next moment, the soldier next to him roughly pressed him down.
Min-ha screamed in surprise as she looked back at Bediviel, who was being subdued, while the soldier standing beside her forced her into silence like Bediviel.
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