Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

Chapter 79

Earlier that day...

"I saw him there at the computer on Lucia night." Sara replied nervously.

"Did you see exactly what he was doing?" Rickard asked her confidently, clearly building to something.

"He was disconnecting his phone from the computer. It was plugged in with a USB cord."

"So you didn't see the screen of the computer?" He raised his brow at her.

Sara looked out to the few people in the room who were watching her testimony, and her gaze settled on Simon. He sat next to Linda.

Simon looked up at his sister giving her encouragement, trying to show her he was proud of her just through the look in his eyes and soft expression.

"No. But the video leaked later that night." She answered.

"But you understand that it's possible it could have been almost anything else." Then Rickard lowered his voice slightly. "...if you in fact saw him there."

Sara furrowed her brow, angry at the implication that she was lying. "I did see him there. And then I saw...investigators take the hard drive away a few days later."

"And do you know what happened then?" Rickard asked calmly.

"They were working for the Royal Court and made a report about it that proved it was August who uploaded the video."

Rickard gave her an incredulous smirk. "And how do you know that?"

"I saw the report. August logged in and connected his phone at the time I saw him there. Wilhelm got the report from his father and showed it to us."

Rickard turned to the judge, giving him the same incredulous expression, then continued his questioning of Sara. "You're referring to Crown Prince Wilhelm and Duke Ludvig...?"

"Yes." Sara answered quietly, nodding then glancing around the room searching the faces of the attendees as they watched her.

Rickard turned to adress the judge then.

"Firstly, the report the witness is referring to hasn't been verified as genuine. We were given a pen drive with a fuzzy photo of a supposed report that was allegedly provided to the Royal Court by a private investigation firm. We contacted the firm and they weren't able to confirm that they produced the report. We've also requested testimony from the Duke and Her Majesty Queen Kristina as well as from representatives of the Royal Court and they've denied any knowledge of it. I've made their depositions available to the Court in Exhibit 12."

Sara was confused that the Duke would go along with the rest of them and deny that he knew of the report, and she suddenly couldn't hold back her anger.

"Because they don't want to admit they knew it was August!"

"Your Honor, I'd like to have that comment stricken from the record. It's speculation on the witness' part."

"Sustained." The judge responded, giving Sara a quick glance that she understood right away.

Sara lowered her head and swallowed the lump in her throat. She took deep, slow breaths. She looked up at Simon again and he realised she was about to cry. He turned to Linda and touched her hand and she put her other hand over his.

She turned to whisper to Simon. "She'll be ok."

"Secondly, the report itself only provides information about a login to August's school account and a connection to his phone via a USB cord. There's no proof of what, if anything, was uploaded at that moment. However, even if the report could be verified as genuine, we only have Ms. Ericksson's word against the defendant (her ex boyfriend) to suggest that the person at the computer was August. There still exists the possibility that someone else could have taken his phone and logged in to his school account to upload the video if they were motivated to frame him. I've seen more devious plans in my career."