By the time the post-coronation festivities had ended and people were beginning to return to their daily routines, a large signboard was erected in front of the courthouse.
––––Tomorrow at noon, the trial concerning the series of incidents that began last year will be held in the Grand Courtroom. Public viewing is permitted, but please remain silent.––––
Chief Justice Devon Victorias
The news spread instantly, turning the event into something resembling a festival.
Moreover, because it was open to the public, every detail would be revealed.
In cases like this, the usual practice was for the upper echelons to settle matters privately, issue a convenient explanation to the public, and let the whole affair eventually fade from memory.
To hold a fully open trial instead was unprecedented.
That same evening, Victorias visited the queen’s study.
“Thank you for your hard work every day, Lord Victorias.”
Victorias bowed with a grave expression.
“Is something troubling you?”
“Yes. We have more than enough statements regarding the attack on Her Highness Princess Anastasia at the time, but the murders of Prince Herakleitos and Miredias IV remain thin. If the defendant denies them, it will be extremely difficult to break his story.”
“I see. You’re right. However, we can simply make him confess. Using the old custom.”
So saying, Anastasia took out a single book and opened it to a certain page.
Written there were the words Blood Oath.
Victorias stared at Anastasia in shock.
“How do you know about this…?”
The Devon family was now renowned as authorities in law and the history of philosophy, but in ancient times they had been a line of prayer priests.
Rather than magic, they handled curses—used to exorcise evil, purify, and strengthen the bonds between people.
Among those curses existed a stronger form called a binding vow that restricted human action.
One of them was the Blood Oath.
It was a vow made directly to the Sun God Ter.
If the oath was kept, no harm would come. But if broken, necrosis would spread from the finger bearing the blood seal.
Each time the oath was violated, the necrosis would advance, accompanied by unbearable pain, and would not stop until the oath was formally nullified.
The oath required special ink and paper, but the Devon house still had descendants of the prayer priests and preserved the necessary tools.
“So you knew about my family’s secret.”
“My aunt told me.”
“I see… I never imagined anyone still knew. Truly a terrifying person.”
Victorias bowed deeply.
“Tomorrow, we will have Lord Alexios swear the Blood Oath.”
Anastasia nodded.
Just before noon the next day, the area around the courthouse was overflowing with people.
The judges, defense counsel, and witnesses had already gathered inside under heavy guard, but the square in front of the Grand Courtroom was packed so tightly it seemed impossible to pass through.
The front half of the gallery had been reserved for court personnel, but even the rows behind were already filled—including journalists from the broadsheets. The Grand Courtroom was at full capacity and wrapped in intense heat.
Just before noon, the defendant, defense counsel, and witnesses had assembled in the courtroom and were waiting for the arrival of the presiding judge, Victorias.
The noon bell rang across the city. At the exact same moment, Victorias entered the courtroom.
Everyone rose to greet him. When the judge took his seat, those permitted to sit did so.
The gallery, which had been noisy only moments earlier, fell completely silent.
“We shall now begin the trial concerning the murder of the previous king and princes, as well as the attempted murder of the princess. Defendant, step forward.”
Alexios, still wearing handcuffs and leg irons, stood before the judge.
“In accordance with ancient custom, the defendant will now swear the Blood Oath.”
Murmurs rippled through the gallery at the unfamiliar term.
“This oath binds the person who swears it. However, the nature of this case is so selfish and cruel that ordinary methods are insufficient. One key witness was subjected to malicious violence and may have been killed, making testimony impossible. Taking these circumstances into account, we are applying the old custom. We will now draw blood from the defendant’s right thumb.”
At Victorias’s signal, a guard seized Alexios’s arm and sliced a horizontal line across his thumb with a short sword.
While Alexios shouted “Let go!” and struggled, the guard squeezed enough blood to fill a small unglazed earthen jar that could be covered by one hand.
An elderly woman stepped out from the gallery, added black powder to the jar, and stirred it while chanting a quiet prayer.
She then took out a sheet of paper and began writing with the blood.
At the top center she drew a circle with a black dot—the symbol of Ter.
Below it she wrote unfamiliar characters and patterns.
––––We humbly offer this to the great Sun God Ter who illuminates the heavens and the earth––––
Or so it appeared. Only one person in the entire courtroom could actually read it.
“Write your name here.”
The old woman instructed Alexios.
He refused.
“Defendant, obey. If you refuse, we will take it as an admission of guilt regarding the murders of the king and two princes and the attack on the princess. Is that acceptable?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Trembling with rage, Alexios continued to resist, but in the end he complied.
“Below your name, write as follows.”
The old woman showed him another sheet.
It read:
––––I swear to the great Sun God Ter who illuminates the heavens and the land that I will speak the full and complete truth in this court––––
Trembling, Alexios slowly wrote the sentence, character by character.
“Finally, press your thumb firmly beside your name.”
Alexios hesitated, but the guard seized his arm, pried his thumb away from his fist, and pressed it against the paper.
At that instant, every character except the circle and black dot vanished from the page, and the dark red ink was absorbed into Alexios’s thumb.
“The oath is complete.”
The old woman returned to the gallery.
“The trial shall now commence. We will address the murder of the previous king last. The murder of Prince Herakleitos will also be questioned later due to the absence of a witness. First we will examine the attempted murder of Her Highness Princess Anastasia at the time. Witness Elmunt Bernolt, step forward.”
And so the trial began.
◇
That night the moonlight was blocked by clouds, making it a very dark evening.
Covanas suddenly appeared at the hideout.
He said he had received an urgent request and had been brought here by a mage hired by the client.
“You promised you wouldn’t come here.”
Covanas wiped away sweat as he explained.
After hearing the amount and the target, Bernolt understood.
When he learned the targets were the queen and the princess, he was actually delighted.
He was far more interested in them than in the ten gold coins offered.
He had never killed royalty before, he said.
Bernolt gathered about thirty desperate men from the Old District and hid them in a grove beside the highway.
He and the man called Keebs, who claimed to be a mage, climbed a tree overlooking the road.
Soon a group of riders and a carriage appeared.
There were about ten riders.
They must have had good instincts; they never entered the grove.
Bernolt fired one shot. It struck a horse in the neck.
At his command the men charged the riders.
He never expected them to win. They were merely bait to lure the carriage into the trees.
As expected, after more than half were cut down, the carriage and the remaining riders entered the grove.
“Take out the driver. You burn the carriage.”
With a single arrow he pierced the driver’s throat. The carriage lost control, veered off the road, and overturned against the trees.
Keebs unleashed flames.
But the fire spread strangely slowly.
“Hey, what the hell? Are you useless?”
“It’s not me! They put up a barrier! No one told me there was a mage!”
“Tch. That bastard sent us a completely worthless idiot.”
At that moment the queen and two women emerged from the carriage and began to run.
Bernolt clicked his tongue.
The queen had left the carriage.
“You take the queen. I’ll kill the other one.”
Keebs hurled a fireball at the woman standing beside the carriage, but her magic canceled it out and it vanished.
An instant later lightning struck Keebs. He fell from the tree and lay on the ground like a broken doll.
“Totally useless.”
Bernolt spat at the corpse.
The women were trying to regroup.
Thinking he at least had to kill the princess, he took aim and fired.
The arrow sank into the left side of the princess’s chest.
A smile of pleasure spread across Bernolt’s face.
The woman whose daughter had been shot unleashed a massive lightning strike, forcing him to retreat and order his men to withdraw as well.
One rider galloped toward the capital.
The princess was now surrounded by horsemen, making it impossible to target the queen.
There was no chance of winning against ten riders.
Soon an incredibly fast carriage arrived, picked up the princess and queen, and sped away.
Bernolt left the men to dispose of the bodies and returned to the hideout.
Covanas was still there.
“I killed the princess. But you never told me the queen was a mage.”
“What happened to that man?”
“The queen killed him. Give me his share too.”
Snatching the gold, Bernolt vanished into the night streets.
◇
“Witness Revenant Covanas, who gave you the request?”
The examiner asked.
“The Chief of Royal Capital Security, Pompeius Helminas.”
“Pompeius Helminas, step forward.”
Helminas took the witness stand, visibly terrified.
“Pompeius Helminas, whose orders were they?”
The examiner pressed.
Helminas hesitated.
“Are you the mastermind?”
“No. I received instructions from the Chancellor.”
The gallery erupted in commotion.
“Defendant, did you order Helminas to kill the princess?”
Alexios’s face turned crimson as he glared at Helminas and refused to answer.
“Did you instruct Helminas to assassinate the princess?”
“No!”
The moment Alexios shouted, his thumb turned purple.
His face twisted in agony.
“Defendant, did you order Helminas to assassinate the princess?”
“It wasn’t me…”
The discoloration had already reached his wrist.
The man clutched his right hand and screamed.
“Yes, I gave the order! It was me… gah…!”
Unable to endure the pain, he collapsed to the floor.
“Do you admit to the attempted murder of the princess?”
“…I admit it…”
The Grand Courtroom fell silent.
“Next we will examine the murder of Bat Serra. Witness Elmunt Bernolt, step forward.”
Bernolt once again took the witness stand.
◇
Upon receiving the report that Bat Serra had been captured, Helminas immediately informed Alexios.
Alexios panicked.
“If that woman talks, we’re finished. Have you taken any measures?”
“I have subordinates in the investigation team. I instructed them to torture her the moment they find her so she cannot speak and to report false testimony. There will be no problem.”
“What kind of false testimony?”
“Poisoning of the king and prince.”
“Order them to transport her to the capital. Eliminate her during the journey.”
“Yes, sir.”
A bag heavy with gold was pressed into his hand.
Helminas explained the situation to Covanas and hired him to kill the woman during transport.
The request reached Bernolt, who headed for the peninsula.
He stopped at a fishing village, took a boat to the area around Alba, and hid in the western forest overlooking the eastern coastal highway.
The morning of the day after next, he confirmed that the investigation team had left Alba and was heading north.
He walked parallel to them through the western forest.
The woman was inside a cage used for transporting prisoners, chained and barely recognizable as alive.
The opportunity did not come easily.
The unit was tightly packed, and the cage itself was in the way.
Then the woman suddenly began convulsing.
The soldiers hurriedly tried to pull her from the cage and called for a medic.
The moment had arrived.
Two soldiers carried the woman out of the cage.
Bernolt fired, then immediately changed position.
He climbed a nearby tree, lay flat on a branch, and watched.
The woman lay on the road with an arrow in her head.
The mission was complete. All that remained was to slip away from the unit.
The soldiers entered the forest.
Even though the leaves had fallen and he should have been visible, clinging to the fork of an upper branch made him surprisingly hard to spot.
He had chosen dark brown clothing to match the bark.
He waited until the investigation team moved deeper into the forest, then fled westward.
From the fishing village he took a boat into the limestone cave.
◇
“Defendant, state the reason you ordered the murder of Bat Serra.”
Sweat poured down Alexios’s forehead like a waterfall.
The flesh of his thumb was already peeling away, exposing white bone.
His breathing was rapid, his arm shook, and he could no longer stand.
“State the reason you ordered the murder of Bat Serra.”
“Because… if she talked… it would be trouble…”
“What kind of trouble?”
“…I can’t say… ugh… aaaaah…!”
Wordless screams echoed through the Grand Courtroom.
“Defendant, answer.”
Whether from sweat in his eyes or the pain, Alexios’s eyes were bloodshot.
“That woman… I didn’t kill her… aaaaaah…!”
The necrosis had advanced past his elbow.
His hand from the wrist down fell to the floor.
Alexios’s shriek rang through the courtroom.
“I didn’t kill that woman… I only had her deliver the medicine.”
Struggling to speak, Alexios continued.
“That woman brought my brother’s headache medicine to his tent… I saw her hand it to him. The next morning my brother was found dead inside the tent… A piece of paper was clutched in his hand, the medicine box was open, and there were five packets inside—the same paper as the one in his hand. I took the box, searched for the woman, and placed it in my own tent.”
Alexios took a deep, ragged breath and exhaled.
“She said Clarissa had asked her to deliver it. I… brought the woman back with me and imprisoned her so I could frame Clarissa. Until she obeyed, I had the guards violate her…”
He must no longer have been able to resist the pain.
His words came out flatly.
“Using the same poison, I mixed it into Herakleitos’s evening meal… He died too… That same night, after the woman had been violated, the guard fell asleep. She escaped in that moment. I ordered Helminas to bring her back, but she was caught by the investigation team.”
“You admit to poisoning Prince Herakleitos?”
“I admit it…”
“Then, regarding Miredias IV, witness Baronia Serena, step forward.”
It was the servant woman.
“What is your occupation?”
The examiner asked.
“I was a servant in the royal palace.”
“Are you still?”
“Now I am under protection in Valerius territory.”
“Why?”
“I witnessed the prince’s murder and was helped by Lady Clarissa.”
“Can you describe the moment of the murder?”
The woman nodded and began to speak slowly.
“In the entrance hall of the palace, on the staircase, I saw Chancellor Alexios push Prince Miredias down. The prince was shoved from the corridor, tumbled headfirst, and stopped moving. I was terrified and ran away.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes…”
“Defendant, do you admit this?”
“I admit it…”
Alexios confessed his involvement in the murders of two people and the attempted murder of one.
“Finally, regarding the murder of Miredias III, Her Majesty Queen Clarissa, please step forward.”
Clarissa took the witness stand.
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