OH! My Lady |FAIRVERSE Book - 2|

Chapter ♦ 25

ZYLITH.

“You are permitted to do so.” Alexteris nodded with an even temper, seeming as though he was the king of this world, looking very much like his brother indeed. If I didn’t know that is was the hot tempered prince under those bandages, even I would be conned by his disguise.

Fredurd bowed respectfully towards the majestic Royals in front of him and then turned on his heels to motion someone with his eyes. And no sooner, two well-armoured guards walked in with a boy of no older than fourteen of age and some torn pieces of burnt clothing.

I had never seen the guy before, but looking at the pallor in the faces of the maid, Melissa and the captain of the Royal Guards counsel, I could almost imagine the entire scenario. Though I didn’t show anything in my face, but I thought, ‘Now isn’t this an Poetic example of turning of the tables.’

“This, Your Majesty is the younger brother of a maid in Her Majesty, Queen Dowager’s palace. We caught him when he was escaping the palace sneakily after burning something in a secluded corner of the palace. The guards found him suspicious as he was a stranger in the Royal castle and he was lying and unwilling to divulge his original identity.” Fredurd said as the boy with a sooty face was pushed forward for the crowd to spectate.

“Fortunately our guards were fast enough and we found out what he was burning and soon put the fire out and were able to save the evidence.” Then he motioned one of the guards to bring forth the half-burnt clothing and presented it in the court.

“This Sire, is the partially burnt dress of the maid, Melissa which was initially smeared with the same liquid kerosene oil used to burn down Her Majesty, Queen Dowager and Her Highness the first Queen’s palaces. It seems that the maid was in a hurry to remove the evidence of her crimes and so, gave her oil-stained dress to her brother to bring away from the palace and ultimately get rid of it.” Fredurd mouthed in a stern tone.

“Objection My Liege!” The scrawny Royal guards leader bounced up in an agitated demeanour. “How could you convict a person of such a heavy crime based on a flimsy piece of half burnt clothing? This!... This is not ethical neither is it enough to prove that Miss Melissa committed the arson.”

Fredurd calmly turned his head to look at Mr. Scrawny and replied, “I would like to ask of you the same. How could you, a renowned captain of the counsel of Royal guards, so decisively convict a person of such a heavy crime based of a flimsy piece of women’s undergarment? And by the way.... I do not want to link you, Sir Rudolf, who is such an esteemed official to any kind of vulgarity, but on this grave occasion, I’m forced to ask, how did you know that this undergarment belongs to Miss Liana? Did you perhaps peak at Miss Liana while she was in a compromised state?” Fredurd’s aura became very very dangerous as he asked such a question in the open court.

Consequently so, Mr. Scrawny’s face turned red, then purple, and then pale; his expression looking very painful at the moment.

And I couldn’t help but think in glee, ‘Wooooo! Burn! Now, that’s a proper legit face-slap right there.’        
“Wha-What nonsense are you sprouting Sir Vanner!” Officer Rudolf’s face very much resembled the red bum of a baboon. His posture became awkward and crooked as he felt choked for words, “Do you understand that your words were a personal jab at my dignity just now?”

Fredurd looked Mr. Scrawny in the eye in a challenging manner, as if to say, he was very well aware and he didn’t give a damn. Because how could he, if it were in his hands, Mr. Scrawny Rudolf’s head would have already been decapitated for falsely slandering his wife by now.

I couldn’t help the urge to roll my eyes at this lovesick puppy as he looked like a beast whose tail had been brutally stepped on.

Fredurd refused to associate himself with Mr. Scrawny and turned towards us and said in a righteous tone, “You Majesties, this is only half the evidence that I have presented in court.” And then he looked at him men and ordered them to bring in the rest of what he called undeniable evidence.

It was an old sooty wooden barrel smelling of kerosene, looking very volatile at the moment. The crowd, hence took a step back in fright as they saw the wooden barrel being brought in.

“We found this empty barrel in this boy’s wagon, as you can already tell, it was previously loaded with kerosene. Further solidifying my claims of the maid Melissa being guilty of this treason. Not to mention that this barrel also reeks of alcoholous kerosene, this is reason enough to imprison maid Melissa and question her origins.” Fredurd’s words caused further pandemonium in the court room as gasps of horrors reverberated in the air.          

Kerosene alone was enough to scare away people of this era, as kerosene was not used for illuminating purposes like in my world, it was like a biochemical weapon used for wars. So, it was used in very restricted amounts and was not open to the market. Not to mention ethanol mixed with kerosene. It was indeed a dangerous composition even in my time.

“Silence.” The Queen Dowager’s crisp voice echoed amidst the crowd of chaotic nobles and I must say, a mere word from her was effective enough to quiet down the pompous feathers of these noble crowd. It further proved the magnitude of influence the Queen Dowager had on the noble lords of Reveldron.

The Queen Dowager looked at Fredurd with deep contemplating eyes and spoke in a languid but powerful voice, “Do continue. What else did you find?”

Fred to my surprise, was not the least bit intimidated by the Queen Dowager, he only looked calmer as he went on, “Maid Melissa is also the head maid of the royal princess, which I believe, gives her further freedom to move around without much supervision in both the palaces. And not to come to any assumptions but, people saw maid Melissa and officer Rudolf chatting and spending quality time together mere days before the arson occurred. So, I have reason to believe that officer Rudolf should also be taken into temporary custody for further questioning.”

TO BE CONTINUED...........