Chapter 580: The Brightest Act

Before she even let the people in the room grow defensive and insulted at her prophecy, Ruby immediately went to explain herself. Strike while the iron was hot, while the confusion was still fresh, while you could still shape the narrative before anyone else gets a word in.

"First of all, just as how it all transpired, it was such a swift assassination," Ruby said. "Even with my prophecy and warning that His Majesty would die, he still died."

She was saying that Baron Merdier wasn’t a name capable enough to carry out such a magnificent operation. The Emperor’s safety that night was the best safety the empire could muster. Who in the world could breach it?

The palace had been fortified like a fortress, guarded by the finest soldiers that should have made assassination impossible. And yet, the Emperor had fallen. Someone had to be capable enough to orchestrate such a thing.

And that someone, Ruby was implying, was standing right in front of her.

"At the same time, in my vision..." in the future she had experienced, "the Emperor carried the open secret ’notoriety’ that he killed his father to ascend the throne."

Cecilia inwardly sneered. So just using that knowledge, she dared to accuse Damon?

She was gambling everything on the hope that the Emperor’s reputation was fragile enough to be shaken by a few well-placed tears?

Perhaps if Cecilia actually died, and Ruby had established herself as the Saintess securely enough, it could work. Cecilia’s eyes grew colder behind the veil.

Ruby might not know that Ivy killed the emperor to replace her especially, but in that future world, she must’ve thought that her downfall began when Damon ascended the throne. That was why she was trying to bring Damon’s downfall instead in this life.

It was a logical conclusion, for someone who didn’t know the full truth.

Cecilia safely confirmed that Ruby was anticipating Lilyca’s arrival now.

"With such impossibility, who in the world can kill the Emperor... if not his own... son...?" Ruby’s eyes started to glimmer with pitiful, gorgeous tears as she stared up at Damon.

The tears were perfect, catching the light just so, shimmering on her lashes like dew on a flower. She looked like a painting of martyrdom, a saint suffering for her devotion to the truth.

Although she couldn’t see any sign of thaw in Damon’s icy look towards her, she kept trying to look and sound as pure and innocent as possible.

"Your Majesty, I am merely a prophet. I utter what the gods told me. And when they make me believe such truth, what can I do?" a tear fell on her cheek.

The tear traced a perfect path down her cheek, disappearing into the collar of her robes. Ruby’s lower lip trembled. Her shoulders hunched slightly, making her look smaller, more vulnerable.

Cecilia’s jaw tightened. How dare this bitch used the gods name for her own—

In the room, Arkai was the only one who noticed the fluctuation and hatred bubbling over Cecilia’s emotion. He knew how deeply Cecilia had grown to love the gentle and benevolent gods. It was one of the few things that could truly move her, that could crack the carefully maintained mask she wore.

Those venerable names, used to manipulate and scheme by this malicious Saintess... if it was him, he would’ve ripped Ruby’s mouth, tearing her tongue and offered it to those same gods.

The image was vivid in his mind, Ruby’s pretty face contorted in pain, her lies silenced forever. He could almost taste the satisfaction of it.

Such loving beings, slandered by such heresy.

Cecilia’s hatred festered more and more. It felt like Ruby was insulting her own birth parents.

Despite her cornered state, the way Ruby could still slip away from immediate blame was something only she could do. The experience she had from her two lives shone the brightest now.

Cecilia wanted to just end everything and ripped that pretty little jaw of hers right now with her own two bare hands, but she knew she still needed more information from that world. So, she subtly turned to Angela, who had been waiting for her signal.

Angela’s violet eyes met Cecilia’s for just a fraction of a second.

The moment she did so, Arkai embraced her side just a hair tighter, trying to subtly comfort her. ’Well done for holding back.’

"I see," Angela nodded. "So that’s what happened."

Ruby’s eyes shook subtly. These people... their reaction... wasn’t this just too composed?

She’d expected outrage or denial. She’d expected something, a flash of guilt, a moment of panic, anything that she could exploit and use.

"A-are you going to punish me now?" Ruby meekly asked. Her voice wavered, just slightly. "I... I am still the one trusted by the gods to be their mouthpiece. To cast me aside..."

She let the implication hang in the air. To cast aside a Saintess was to cast aside the gods themselves. It was blasphemy of the highest order, a sin that could bring divine wrath down upon the entire empire.

"Your Majesty, if you truly were the one who planned it all, can you please tell me the reason? W-why did you kill your father?" Now, she flipped the strategy. With Father Rohan behind her, and with her status as the Saintess, she staked her life on this move.

"And if you truly weren’t the one who did it... please convince me that you’re not. Please show me the proof that you’re innocent," Ruby said.

It was a clever gambit. By asking for proof, she was positioning herself as reasonable, open-minded, willing to be convinced. She’d left herself an escape route.

Even if she didn’t truly believe the proof, she could act like she believed it, and they wouldn’t have a reason to replace her just yet.

Of course, everyone in the room knew that Ruby was only spouting desperate nonsense. Ruby herself was the only one who didn’t know that they knew.

To Damon, he didn’t care who Ruby believed killed his father. It truly was beneath his notice. He’d been called worse things by more credible people. But Cecilia asked her to play along. So he did.

This woman truly was worth nothing to him. No. She was worse than nothing.

"Since that’s how you see this situation, it seems that my brother had done the right thing by ordering me to come out of the dungeon," Angela said.

Ruby turned to Angela, a bit surprised that again, she was the one she would be facing today. Even after everything she said to the Emperor!

She’d expected Damon to be the one to respond, to defend himself, to get drawn into her trap. Instead, it was his sister who was taking the lead.

Was it to exploit her discomfort?

Angela placed her tea cup back to the saucer. "Since even the Saintess believed that my brother was the one behind everything, it seems the reason why gods showed you that vision was to tell us how to properly clean my brother’s name."

Huh?

To properly... clean the Emperor’s reputation?

"Saintess," Angela said. "Baron Merdier was truly the one who killed our father."

Ruby flinched.

At her reaction, Angela smiled.

"The fact that you know the name of the culprit before the court officially announced it," she tilted her head, "it seems that you have truly spoken with the gods."