What If...I Remember?

Chapter 63

"So," Feng Jiu munched on the plum she had taken out from the fruit bowl placed before Bai Qian, "They're finally going to punish Su Jin at last?" "Her crimes will be re-evaluated before she is punished." Bai Qian clarified, and Feng Jiu shrugged, "It's no different. But is it all of her crimes?" "All of it that we can list, and all of it that she can confess to." Bai Qian sipped tea from her cup, and Ye Hua glanced over, "Qian Qian, you will be used as a witness too." "That'll be some reason for us to be biased again." Bai Qian muttered, and Feng Jiu blinked, "Isn't Di Jun here to help?"

"He's here to oversee things, not hold the trial." Ye Hua explained, although he did spare Di Jun a second glance, and Bai Qian slumped over in a posture of defeat, "Are they escorting her over now?" "She should be here now." Ye Hua glanced at Jia Yun, who nodded as his master, "Your Highness, she-" Jia Yun was cut off by the collective gasp of the generals, and blinking, Bai Qian turned her gaze to the entrance of the hall, where Su Jin stood, held firmly by two Celestial guards.

"-is here." Jia Yun muttered, finishing his incomplete sentence, and with a somewhat sigh, the civil assistant unrolled another scroll that he had prepared, "Su Jin, Zhao Ren Princess of the Celestial Tribe and Sole survivor of the Su Jin Clan. Your trial begins now. Step into the light, where you shall be held by nothing but the truth." "She can't see, Lord Jia Yun." Peng Re snapped, making as though to descend, only to have Ye Hua's voice echoing through the hall, "Sit, Peng Re. The guards will escort her."

Indeed, as the Crown Prince ordered, the guards moved forward silently, dragging along Su Jin, who still attempted a feeble struggle, and even as they shoved her into the circle of sunlight that shone from the hole in the ceiling of the Grand Hall, Su Jin gave a gasp, and her hands flew to cover her eyes at once. "Give her a blindfold!" Peng Re roared at once, forgetting Ye Hua's order to remain seated, and Bai Qian held her husband back, much to everyone's surprise, and from the Crown Princess's hand flew a piece of white cloth, which floated down slowly, before it wrapped itself around Su Jin's eyes, and Bai Qian rested her chin on her hand, "There. I gave her a blindfold. Now sit down, Peng Re, before I get someone to glue you down to your seat, and if you stand up again, we will invite you out of this trial."

"Get it off me!" Su Jin shrieked, ripping the blindfold off her eyes much to everyone's surprise, "I am not Su Su! I don't want a blindfold over my eyes! I don't want your pity, Bai Qian!" "You don't want my pity?" Bai Qian repeated, her voice filled with mirth, "Very well, then. You do not drink the wine offered respectfully wine, but drink, instead, the one for punishment." With a wave of Bai Qian's hand, the blindfold burned away at once, earning a shocked gasp from Su Jin and the startled gazes of almost all the generals present in the room, but the Crown Princess merely leaned back on her armrest, her free arm folded over her abdomen, "Well, let us begin the trial."

"Su Jin, the only living deity left from the leaders of the rebellion," Jia Yun read from his script, "Your crimes, be it related to the war or not, shall be evaluated today. Let us begin with your crime of treason. Do you plead guilty?" "What treason?" Su Jin's hands were twitching from the effort to not cover her closed eyes, and Ye Hua merely took over, "Treason of breaking the laws of the alliance formed with the Ghost Tribe back after the first war of Ruo Shui. Treason of betraying all the peace that your clan had died for...only to bring more war. Treason of killing the Ghost Queen when you knew that we wanted her alive."

"You had a choice, Ye Hua, you just didn't choose to agree." Su Jin snapped, diverting the crime onto Ye Hua, and Di Jun's eyebrows flew up, "Is this true, Crown Prince?" A silence spread in the hall as Ye Hua looked towards Di Jun uncomfortably, but no matter how uneasy Ye Hua was, he understood that Di Jun had ought to know the truth, and that he ancient deity would have found out about it sooner or later anyway. "It is true. I did not agree to her conditions." Ye Hua admitted, and Di Jun arched an eyebrow as he sat forward, "That does not seem like your character, Crown Prince, to not think conditions through first and make the decision on your own. Who did it concern?"