The Prosecutor

Chapter VIII

Sae's heart almost stopped. If she hadn't heard the translator wrongly, she was soon going to be put on trial. The cell had gone so quiet that she could almost hear her heartbeat echoing all over the cell. On trial. Was the case going to be taken to court so quickly? Had Xi Lun already completed his investigation? Most importantly, what was going to happen now? The attorney who'd brought her the news frowned at her in concern.

"  你还好吗？"

The translator promptly interpreted his words for her, with a concerned expression on her face as well.

"Are you alright?"

Unable to even make a sound, Sae could only shake her head. The translator turned back to the attorney, and spoke a few more words of mandarin. The attorney nodded, and the two turned to leave. Sae curled up on the bed, having nothing else to do but reflect upon her misery. She dearly hoped that Xi Lun, wherever he was, had figured out something already. For the past few days, she'd been stuck in this cell, with no connection to the outside world. The only person she got to talk to was Xi Lun, and even he was prosecuting her case. If she went on trial, it'd be over in the blink of an eye and she'd probably get a death sentence. Sae shivered. The prospect of dying horribly was just plain unpleasant, regardless of whether the person undergoing it deserved it or not. However, if she was going to die, she hoped the people in charge would make it as quick as possible.

Without anybody to back her up for her case, she was probably doomed to die anyway. It was a bit dramatic, but it was the truth. She was snapped out of her miserable train of thoughts when someone banged on her cell door. She looked up and saw a guard.

*"  王先生找你。"

The name Wang resonated with her. The guard opened up the cell door and led her over to a communications booth, where Xi Lun was waiting. Sae sat down and took the phone from its receiver. The guard left to give them their privacy. Xi Lun seemed like he'd been rushing around the entire afternoon, but he looked awfully excited to deliver whatever news he had.

"You do know I'm going to be on trial soon, right?"

Xi Lun stared at her like she grew grew another head. "Yeah, how could I not? I'm the prosecutor for this case!"

"Look, I don't think I'm going to get through. I... I think I might die." Sae's voice cracked at the word 'die'.

"Wait, what? You mean the death sentence?"

Sae nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Hey, you're not gonna die, okay? Not when I've completed the investigation!"

Sae sniffed and looked up at him.

"Okay, so I went to speak with your second cousin, the current CEO of Kanashiro Plc. To be frank, I didn't get much information from him, but his attitude towards you gave me all the answers I needed."

Sae stared at him, hanging on to every word. Xi Lun nodded, assured that she wasn't going to start crying again, continued.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you don't need to know anything about that, though. All you need to know is that he pretty much rejoices at your situation. That's about it."

"You got that he helped frame me from that?"

"Well, usually I wouldn't assume the truth from a person like that, but dysfunctional families tend to be the exception. Especially yours, Miss Kanashiro."

"With my family, everyone says that about each other. Even my own family was pretty dysfunctional."

"Along with that, I asked your cousins to look into the murder itself back in Japan."

Sae immediately knew who he was referring to at the mention of cousins. Out of the many she had, only two got along well with her and Mika. "You got Taki and Akira to investigate? Since when were they detectives?" She'd meant that one as a joke, but Xi Lun had quite the surprise for her.

"I guess your father enforced his rules on you and and your sister even until adulthood, eh? They've been doing well on their own. As part of my investigation, I decided to speak with some of your relatives. Most of them were unpleasant or didn't bother with your situation, but Taki and Akira were very cooperative." He smiled as he braced to reveal to Sae the big surprise. "Apparently both of them took up law enforcement in college and opened up a detectives' agency when they graduated. It's been going pretty well, and they've offered to put their skills to good use."

Sae wanted to cry, but this time in relief. She had hope now. Xi Lun's investigation had been successful, and Taki and Akira were investigating the murder back in Japan on their behalf. But then another thought struck her.

"Will they be able to catch the culprit quickly enough, though?"

Xi Lun's smile vanished. "I can't be sure. Your trial is scheduled to be at the 5th. That's next week. I'm not too sure if they can solve it by then."

"Well, regardless of which, they should have more luck with my relatives. They're not the ones who cut themselves off, and they get along far better with everyone else."

"I sure hope so. By the way, about the trial. I've decided to drop the case."

Sae could not believe her ears. "What?"

"Yeah. I'm not going to prosecute the case after all the investigating I've done. Sure, your relatives make it seem like you've got every motive to murder your parents and sister, but I know for a fact that you're not that kind of person. And the note? Now, come to think about it, doesn't the wording on it sound familiar? Of course, it's your relatives' words." Xi Lun leaned on his elbow as he looked at her. "Also, you know you're innocent, and you've been doing nothing but convincing me of that. So to you, there's nothing to gain from lying about things. An innocent person has no reason to lie about what they've done."

Sae could only stare. Xi Lun sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"With your alibi and everything you've told me about your family, intuition tells me you haven't been lying. But look. Just because I've dropped the case and said you were innocent doesn't mean someone else won't take it up again and prosecute you during trial. For now, we can only hope that Taki and Akira solve the mystery as soon as possible, and wait."

"What if they can't solve it quickly enough?"

Xi Lun scowled. "Let's not go there."