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CHAPTER SEVEN . GUTS AND GLORY
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⸻ WERE YOU ATTENDING A TRIAL OR A CIRCUS?
You weren't sure what you were expecting when Neuvillette had invited you to watch a trial in court. Of course, you had high expectations, what with Fontaine being the land of Justice and the Iudex himself extending a request that you attend.
But this.
"Are you saying you're questioning my capabilities, Lord Henderson? What kind of feeble subject are you to even hold the slightest doubt against the Archon of your nation who has watched every single man and woman from your lineage die and be brought to life?"
"It's not your capabilities I question, Lady Furina, but your ability to deduce information. Despite your rebuttals, I still do not see what motive I could–"
"Why you insist on lying is beyond me. Do save us all the trouble of hearing your hypocrisy and just admit to the fact that you were trying to stage your mother's demise so you could inherit all her fortune."
"So you say. But what evidence other than–"
"There were witnesses who caught you in the act! Should I remind you that even you cannot explain why you have your clothes stained in your mother's blood?"
"Well,... you see, I, uh, err.. Uhm, I didn't mean to—"
"I knew Lady Furina was correct!"
"Ate and left no crumbs!"
"YES!!"
"She's so mother I think I'm gonna cry."
This trial?
It was ridiculous.
The courtroom was supposed to be a sanctuary of order, a realm to exercise not only intelligence and courage but also a place where the people feel they are protected by the laws that govern them and the officials that preside over them. Lives were at stake in every trial. It wasn't something people could laugh and make a spectacle of. It was supposed to be respected.
And above all, it was supposed to be sacred.
Whatever this was is the very opposite of sacramental.
A Viscount by the name of Lord Reginald Henderson was under trial for murdering Lady Henderson, his mother who was the dowager Viscountess.
It was an ironic case given that the man himself planned to be the one to call for authorities to investigate the scene of the crime until members of his family came bursting through the door unannounced only to find him setting up the stage of his mother's so-called accidental death from falling down the stairs.
