Ch58 - [Who is he] At that time, who else was in the room?

“Perfect phrasing of words.” The Chief’s voice sounded within the courtroom: “That is indeed not the reason to convict you.”

Nalun stared at the tiles beneath his feet with lowered eyes, eyelashes concealing the light of success in his eyes: Yes. It’s time for this irrational disaster to end. He was innocent anyways. Up until now, he didn’t even touch a corner of the Scepter, just a few handful of the Metal Devouring Bug’s little belly, that’s all.

“…… However, it’s also not the reason to exonerate you.”

Nalun abruptly looked up. What did that mean?

The elder looked directly at Nalun, the words he spoke carrying a lot of weight.

He accurately pointed out Nalun’s flaw: “From start to finish, you’ve been refuting and denying the crime, but you never once discussed that while these incidents were occurring, where were you, what were you doing?”

Pupils constricting, Nalun very quickly noticed the issue.

When a person informs you randomly that “you did something at a certain time”, your first response should be to recall “what I was doing at that time”, not retort immediately with “You have no proof, it’s false”.

The elder then said: “Even if all of your arguments were true, that everything was a coincidence, that even this trial is a wrongful accusation……” He summarized all of the arguments that Nalun provided previously, and expressed: “Some things can’t be avoided, unspoken.”

Pressing together his lips, which were dried from speaking a lot, Nalun recognized a fact– The Chief’s stance never swayed. While he gave his seemingly reasonable arguments, the Chief maintained his clarity this entire time.

Nalun was very aware of his weakness, and at this moment, the thing that he’s been ‘avoiding to talk about’ was being requested to be publicized to the world.

How could that be possible?

On the day the Scepter was stolen, he was in Sirius’s bed.

The figure in Langdon street was also indeed him.

Even the secret discussion with the Mist Bug– that was because he was already suspicious enough to be “renown amongst the Insectoids”.

……

These were all holes that needed to be filled by lies.

The Chief said: “Oral disputes don’t actually prove anything. The trial still needs to discuss the matter at hand.”

As he spoke, he took out a pair of golden framed glasses and started to flip through a certain file next to his hand.

“On the day of the Princess’s banquet, you were strolling in the courtyard and bumped into Mr. Bonnard meeting with a lover. However, Mr. Bonnard denies this.”

This was something in the first round of Nalun’s confession.

The Chief said: “Perhaps you should have spoken with him first.”

Nalun said: “A man known for being devoted, why defame him when I can defame other people with more putrid reputations.”

The Chief nodded his head– this was indeed the case. Bonnard’s denial was full of flaws, however: “He claims that you dragged him out only to conceal your own scandal.”

Nalun narrowed his eyes, almost like he was pondering deeply.

As they spoke, Bonnard was brought into the courtroom with a dark expression on his face. When he saw Nalun out of the corner of his eyes, a dark fire started burning.

Before this, he had been doing his best to maintain a reputation of being deeply in love with his wife. She was a beautiful, obedient woman who had a strong family background. He didn’t want to have any disagreement with the other, but now…… The moment that he was summoned to appear in court, he practically didn’t dare to look at his wife’s shocked and hurt face.

“I saw the Honored Prince leaving from a certain room with my own eyes.” Bonnard’s tone was sinister and cold.

“At that time, I just happened to go to the resting area for a brief respite. After I saw him, I turned into the courtyard and encountered a certain Miss who had accidentally twisted her leg. Out of kindness, I supported her and helped her sit down on a bench. Who would have thought I’d be misunderstood.”

He turned his head and looked at Nalun, saying his words one by one: “The Honored Prince should have been heading towards the backdoor of the estate, right? But that seems to be exactly the opposite direction of the courtyard. Did you change direction midway?”

From hearing the first sentence, Nalun’s heart started hanging in suspense. After hearing Bonnard’s question, on the contrary, he calmed down.

Separated by a small distance, the two people looked at each other and saw a shadow of themselves in the other person– they each had a secret they were desperately trying to hide.

Nalun suddenly regretted going so far as to mention this matter.

He never thought that someone could have seen him slipping out of the room, and that person just happened to be Bonnard. If, out of curiosity, the other had peeked inside the room. They would have seen a certain clothes disheveled Admiral fast asleep.

However…… Nalun secretly examined Bonnard and guessed that he probably didn’t do that.

Bonnard was probably searching for a room to reconnect with his lover, but accidentally bumped into Nalun; therefore, he changed his path and headed to the remote courtyard.

Hearing this, the young judge furrowed his brow: “At that time, who else was in the room?”

A commotion appeared within the courtroom. Someone from the observation gallery shouted out loud.

“The Admiral!”

Nalun’s face froze: “……”

Oh fuck, how did they know?!

“Ah, it really is the Admiral!”

Nalun: “……”

He turned around and looked at the observation gallery behind him, wanting to see who spoke out the truth. However, he discovered that most of the people were looking in the same direction in unison.

Sirius had arrived in the courtroom quietly some unknown time ago, found a seat in the remote corner, and was listening in.

Nalun: “……”

<<The Rules of the Observer>> was almost not enough to suppress the excitement of the people.

Sirius gave them a nonchalant look and made a shushing hand gesture.

The obedient crowd immediately sat down properly. The courtroom was pacified, even more effectively than the hammering of the judges’ gavel– Other than Princess Shasha. She picked up the hem of her dress and marched over in small quick steps to sit by Sirius’s side.

Sirius: “……”

The crowd: “……”

Although they were separated by a certain distance, Nalun could still discern the despair from Sirius’s completely unchanged face.

After Nalun re-adjusted his expression, he looked back towards the judges in their seats.

“I was drunk.” He very quickly thought of his excuse: “After drinking, I didn’t feel very well so I went into a room to rest for a moment. However, under an unfamiliar environment, it was hard to rest properly. Therefore, after thinking for a moment, I went to the courtyard to get some air.”

“Then you bumped into me having an affair with someone?” Bonnard said coldly: “Speaking of an affair, I feel like the Honored Prince fitted this even better. Because at that time, your clothes were disheveled, expression hurried. It really makes it hard not to overthink.”

Nalun scoffed: “Taking off the outer coat while resting isn’t all that surprising. On the contrary, it’s more suspicious for a married gentleman to be hopelessly entangled with a certain unmarried young lady.”

Bonnard: “You, you……”

The Chief stopped the two people’s disputes.

These two people– one was saying he saw the other rendezvousing secretly; one was saying the other’s behavior was suspicious. Someone must be lying here. However, the main point of today was not to debate about this. Instead, it was to pry open Nalun Charvey’s mouth.

The Chief asked: “On Langdon Street, when the Metal Devouring bug was being rescued, where were you at that time?”

Grayish green eyes flashed for a moment. Nalun unconsciously glanced towards Sirius’s position from the corner of his eyes.

Nalun spoke honestly: “I was also at Langdon Street.”

The crowd in the gallery started to discuss quietly; however, the judges weren’t in the mood to bother with them.

One of them asked: “So the person in the picture is you?”

Nalun gave him a glance: “Of course not.”

The judge choked and said in dissatisfaction: “But you admit that you were in Langdon Street!”

Nalun nodded his head: “That’s right. That day, I was meeting with someone. The entire time, I was together with him. Although I was in Langdon Street, it doesn’t indicate that I am the person who helped the Bug…… it’s not like I can do two different things at the same time.”

The young judge’s face revealed a cold expression of ‘oh, another coincidence’.

Even the audience, who were awed by Nalun’s aura at the start of the trial and faintly felt he wasn’t the suspect, started to sway.

The world couldn’t have this many coincidences, right? Excessive coincidences resulted in certainty.

If the Honored Prince Charvey happened to be involved in the same incident multiple times, even if he didn’t commit treason, it was hard for people to believe he was innocent.

The Chief narrowed his eyes and asked: “Who’s he?”

Nalun turned around, green eyes swiftly locking onto a certain person as he called his name.

“Sirius Monte.”

As soon as this name came out of his mouth, all of the eyes within the courtroom turned towards the person–

The Admiral, who was named, gave a friendly smile and nodded towards the judges to indicate: “En. I can verify this.”

The crowd: “……”

Nalun nodded his head in satisfaction. In a flash, his thought process became incomparably clear. He expressed that on that day, he even went to the mall to buy something. The place where they ate should also have their receipt. These things can all be used as evidence……

“Buy?” A judge asked curiously: “What did you buy?”

Nalun said: “Oh, a men’s watch.”

Not far away, Sirius rolled up his sleeve correspondingly and revealed the metal watch on his wrist.

The crowd: “……”

Where’s the promised political arch nemesis who’s always in disagreement?

Were political arch nemesis supposed to have this kind of relationship?

During this time, Nalun had his back to the gallery and didn’t notice Sirius’s movements. He only heard a wave of buzzing discussion behind him. When he turned his head, he just happened to meet the gaze Sirius shot over to himself– The Admiral sat upright and proper, left hand resting leisurely over his right wrist.

The sound of discussion in the observation gallery vanished abruptly the moment he turned his head around.

–There didn’t seem to be anything abnormal.

Nalun: “???”

He turned around, suppressed the confusion in his heart, and decided to continue proving his innocence.

The Chief, however, stopped his unceasing speech and wrote something down in his notebook, clearly planning to add things into his investigation list.

“On the day of the Hunting Festival, you were found having a long private discussion with the Mist Bug near the Crescent Moon Lake.” The Chief continued to ask: “That place is scarce in people. How did you get there?”

Crescent Moon Lake?

Some of the people in the gallery sank into a brief moment of confusion. Then they recovered and all became excited!

The top scenic destination of the entire nation! The legendary secret location?

Who would pick such a holy and sacred lover’s meeting spot to discuss treason?!

That’s really inconsistent with the mood!!!

Countless Crescent Moon Lakes existed in the hearts of the people. However, without a doubt, it’s mysterious and wonderful. It’s a place of emotions and feelings, with a wonderful implication and riveting, breathtaking view.

The melon-eating crowd couldn’t actually imagine that in such a legendary scenic destination, someone would be a wet blanket and discuss important business.

Shouldn’t they be doing this and that and this and that?

Nalun furrowed his brow: “Someone brought me over there.”

His sideways glance floated towards where Sirius was sitting behind him again.

The Chief asked: “Who?”

–Thus, Sirius Monte’s name popped out of this Honored Prince;s mouth once again.

The crowd: “……”