Bambi and the Duke

Sitting in the room, Vivian read the case file which had been given to the team in the time of the morning. Leonard and the others were out and attending the meeting with the head council which she couldn't join yet. To attend the meeting held by the head council, one needed credibility level as well as experience of time which she didn't have right now. She had solved part of the first case she had taken but the light hadn't been shed on what actually happened. 

It made Vivian wonder if this was going to happen for the rest of the cases too. Putting her head down on the desk, she exhaled loudly. She thought to herself, at this rate her credibility would go in a snail's pace.

Therefore the only work she could do at this moment was to read through what they had received. 

She read the file in her hand which spoke of a boy who had killed his entire family five days ago. He had taken the lives of his two sisters and parents with his bare hands which sounded odd to her. The boy was of the age of twelve, therefore, his father must have been able to fight him off but with the death, she noted that it wasn't what had happened. The team who had initially taken up the case had investigated the boy along with the bodies. The claim was that the boy was the one who had killed his family but in truth, there had been not a single wound that was found on any of the victims. Then wouldn't that make the boy the victim for being framed by the others for a murder which was caused in an unexpected manner?

She turned the file that had other parchments attached to it which spoke on the terms and survey done in the house and the words of the villagers. As she was reading the door to the room opened, 

"Lady Vivian, councilman Lionel is waiting for you to join at the court," one of the councilmen informed her after standing at the door without entering the room.

Vivian picked up her quill and her parchment book which she had made by herself instead of letting the sheets fall all over the place. She hurried herself to where the council court was. After her first few times in the court, she had come to dislike the court proceedings as the punishments for the criminals and the victims suffering was far too worse than a normal being who didn't take part in this wouldn't know something cruel and manipulative existed in this world. Each case was different from another but the punishments were always the same. Either it was death, money to be spared or beatings in the cell rooms until a person was brought to his or her senses. 

Vivian who was on her way met with another councilman Creed Ogen whom she was familiar with. She bowed her head in greeting, "Good afternoon, councilman Creed," her eyes falling another whom she had met a couple of times before she greeted, "Councilman Lancelot."

"Is everything alright? You appear to be in a hurry," Lancelot commented, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose while also slightly raising his brow as he did that. 

"I have been called by Councilman Lionel," the man responded with an 'Ah' look.

"You must hurry along then. He doesn't take tardiness well," Lancelot smiled. Councilman Creed only gave her a smile before she walked away from them. 

Reaching the courtroom, she saw Lionel who had taken his seat at the high chair. Her chair being empty which she usually took next to the elder man, she went there and opened her parchments. Readying her quill to write she felt her heartbeat. She had almost half run and half walked on her way here. Councilman Lionel had asked her to join him at the proceedings but she had forgotten due to her involvement in reading the case history of what the team had received. 

Thankful that didn't give her any strange looks. The towns minimal disputes were brought forward and then started the back and forth talk for an hour. It was after that hour did she see the double doors on the right side of the room open and in came the two guards with a young boy between them. Bringing him forward in front of everyone, Lionel spoke for the room to go silent. 

"Samuel Matthews," Lionel spoke the boy while his head was bent down to read the papers which held the names of the criminal or victim who was to be tested and verified. Vivian noted that it was the same boy whose case file she had been reading a few minutes earlier. 

The boy looked scared, his eyes seeking everything around as if he wasn't sure what was going on. For the boy to be young and a look of anxious filled in it, she felt for the boy, empathizing his current situation for the council to be making unruly accusations when they had no proofs. But then that was why he was being put under trial so that someone in his support could take his side. As she saw now there was no one who was fighting for the boy's innocence. There was no one in the crowd whom she could point out as one of his family members. It reminded her of the time of what might have happened when Paul was subjected to the same treatment. 

"It states here that you killed your sisters and your parents. Why did you do it?" asked Lionel straightforwardly already deciding that he was the cause for his families death. 

"I-I, Sir, have nothing to do with it. I didn't kill them, I would never kill them. My parents," the boy started to cry with his hands holding his face, "I didn't kill them," came the muffled voice.

"You were the only one with them when five of you went to the forest, aye?" asked Lionel reading the report and then looking up to look at the boy, "What happened?" 

Vivian didn't have to know what had happened as she had already read his statements but the statements were a little awry, making the two things different. What was written and what was spoken were slightly different. 

"We didn't go to the forest, they were already dead when I returned back home. My parents wanted to go to the forest but we never went there. Please believe me that I had nothing to do. I wasn't allowed to go see my parents!" the young boy cried.

"The reason here states that your brother-in-law fears that you would only dig their graves as you threatened the guards if they didn't allow you to see them," compared to the crying boy, Lionel stated with a calm face his composure rock like where the tears didn't move him.

"No, those are lies! I didn't say that!" the boy turned frantically searching someone from the crowd and them screaming, "Brother please believe me I had nothing to do with what happened! I didn't say it! Please believe me!" he cried to get a beating from the guard for causing a commotion in the room. Vivian couldn't believe the way the guardsmen were treating the boy. He was a young boy who seemed to be put under the wrong accusation. 

She caught sight of a man who was well dressed compared to the boy who claimed to be his brother which was strange. The report said that he had only two other siblings who were his sisters but there was no mention of a brother in there. 

"Mr Senielton," Lionel called a man forward so that he could question the man in front of the court. 

The man made his way up to the front of the court, standing to face the councilman. There was a stark difference when the boy and the man stood next to each other. She came to assume that he was either well off from the rest of the poor family he came from without any contact or he was one of the sister's husband. 

"Mr Senielton, how long has it been since you married Ms Jane?" asked the councilman as he read through the reports. 

"It has been two weeks since our wedding," the man answered, keeping his eyes in the front without sparing a look at his younger brother-in-law who was giving him a pleading look. Murmurs took place in the court with how unfortunate it was for the bride and groom to be pulled apart with the tragedy that took place. 

"I am sorry to hear it," and though Lionel uttered those words of apology, he sounded not one bit sorry and it felt more of versed words that would be thrown at people in these kinds of situations, "It looks here that you come from a middle society. What were the circumstances in which you got married to her?" came the question and at the same point, Vivian wondered why these details about this brother-in-law were not given in the report that was handed to their team. It felt suspicious. 

Curious to hear the story from the man who stood in front of them, she heard the man reply, "Ms Jane was a beautiful woman. If you ask by the village men you will hear nothing but praise. She was a beautiful woman by heart too and well-liked. There were many eligible bachelors who wanted her hand in marriage."

"Could you iterate on what you saw?"

Mr Senielton stood quiet for a few seconds. As if he was trying to recollect something very painful over the loss that had occurred, especially with his wife's death, he pressed his lips, "We, our family wanted to go to the forest for a picnic. With mine and Mr Hectate's work, we hadn't been able to visit each other after the wedding. Jane wanted to meet her parents and I decided to drop her off there-"

"Drop her? You didn't spend your time there," questioned Lionel.

"I did. I first dropped her at the time of night. I had an errand-"

"What kind of errand?" asked the councilman.

"I work in the gas shop which hadn't been put under decomposition as some of one of my main workers had taken the week off. His wife was pregnant and she was going to give birth that week according to the oracle. When I returned back...when I returned back everything was over. My wife was on the floor and my in-laws dead with her. I tried to wake her up but-" he paused for a good two seconds and then continued, "I saw this boy in there hovered over my sister-in-law with his hands around her neck. There were no marks," he said hurriedly which got everyone frowning in the room, "If you look at his back, there's a sealing mark. A mark which once was used to worship the devils. Check it," the man said for the very first time looking at the boy who shook his head in denial. 

The boy screamed and thrashed to only get his legs beaten up making him fall down on the ground. One of the guards pushed the boys head to the ground while the other pulled the boy's shirt up. From where Vivian sat, she couldn't see anything until the young boy was turned around to have his back exposed to Lionel and her. It was a crescent moon-like mark which had two lines that were drawn on it. 

"You can have it looked up and you will find it. I don't know why he would do it, they were his family," the man turned to look at his young brother-in-law, "Why would you do that Samuel?" the boy shook his head in denial.

"No brother, I didn't," the boy pleaded, "Please don't say that!"

"Your parents and your sisters loved you. I took you in my brother yet this is how you repay your family for looking after you?" the man looked at the boy angry for the very first time as he said it, he turned his head away from the boy, "Don't call me brother and shame me further to what you have done. God will not let you unpunished for the sins you have caused. Going to the devil for help!" 

"No, brother no! It wasn't me who killed them. I didn't do anything. I would never," the boy cried with tears streaming down his face. 

After hearing both of them and looking through the file he had received, Lionel readied himself to pass the judgement.

Something hit her head at that time. The case was a recent one where further investigation was needed due to which it was sent to her team but then why was the accused being trialled this soon. Usually, the trials took place after the investigation unless it needed some light which was of some grave importance.

If it were a simple case where the boy had murdered his family, why were the files pushed directly to Lionel for the court proceedings?