Chapter 79: The Royal Court Is In Session

A few hours before Adonis returned to the Melcian Convent, he took a detour to Rensfell.

He wanted to be sure the seasonings had actually arrived. Transport agencies lost things all the time, and he’d paid 200 gold coins for the privilege of not being disappointed.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Smoke was already rising from the orphanage kitchen, and the smell reached him before the village did. Garlic, pepper, and other lovely aromas. The nuns were running between pots with their sleeves rolled up, and the children were lined up outside the door with their bowls held out like they were waiting for a blessing.

Father Rill spotted him from across the yard.

The old priest didn’t waste a second. He crossed the yard faster than his knees should have allowed and threw both arms around the prince, squeezing tight, thanking him over and over with his voice cracking.

Adonis stood there with his arms hanging stiffly at his sides.

’...A grown man is hugging me.’

He patted Father Rill’s back twice, then eased him away by the shoulders with an awkward laugh.

"E-, Err, you really don’t have to do all this. I’m the one who wanted to, remember?"

That was the polite version. The real one was that he just wasn’t comfortable with it.

Father Rill wiped his eyes and kept on smiling anyway.

Adonis left before anyone could try again.

Meanwhile, in the capital...

Count Vesta was having a wonderful day.

His men had brought him good news. A big-time merchant called Baron Korvan Thale had just bought seasonings worth 200 gold coins, and a man with that kind of money was exactly the sort of person the count wanted in his pocket. So he did what any careful noble would do and had his people dig into the baron’s background before offering a partnership.

The report came back that evening.

The seasonings had been delivered to Rensfell.

Count Vesta read the line twice. Then he read it a third time, and his face boiled red.

"Rensfell?!"

The soldiers standing at attention flinched.

"Rensfell?! That Church-loving mud hole?! Do you idiots understand what this means?! Gifting goods to people who side with the Church is as good as treason! Do you want my enemies to laugh at me?! Do you want embarrass me?!"

Nobody answered, because nobody was sure what the right answer was.

"Go! Now! And bring me everything you can get out of those peasants!"

The soldiers marched to Rensfell that same night.

They dragged the villagers out of their beds and questioned them in the dark, one at a time, and then all at once. Most of them kept their mouths shut. Some of them were shaking, but they still refused to answer.

Father Rill was the loudest of them.

"I will not say a word! Whoever helped us, I swear I’ll protect them by any means necessary!"

Count Vesta had arrived by then, and he looked at the old man with a thin, unfriendly smile.

"Then I suppose I’ll just have to make life hard for you. For all of you. And for every orphan sleeping under that roof. A living hell, Father. I’ll make sure of it."

Father Rill’s hands trembled around his rosary.

He looked at the children’s window, where a small face was watching from behind the curtain.

"...Forgive me, Your Highness."

The old priest said it quietly, as if Adonis could hear it from across the city.

"I don’t know any Baron Thale. All I know is that Prince Adonis promised to bring us the seasonings."

That was the truth, or all he knew of it.

It was more than enough for Count Vesta.

...

The royal castle was packed.

Nobles lined both sides of the long hall, and every one of them was whispering. The news traveled fast. By morning, half the capital knew the Fifth Prince had been dragged out of the Melcian Convent in chains.

Adonis walked through the doors with iron cuffs on his wrists and a pair of soldiers at his back.

He didn’t look nervous, rather he looked bored.

’Everytime I get in trouble with these guys...’

"Look at him! Still smiling!"

"I thought he’d changed! And yet the bastard thinks he can steal from his fellow noble! He must be punished!"

"Hold your tongue! We don’t know the full story!"

"Exactly! He’s the one who beat the First Prince! A man like that wouldn’t need to steal!"

"Shut your mouth! Anyone who even thinks of stealing from a noble should be punished!"

The nobles argued with each other all the way down the aisle, some defending him, some spitting at his shadow, and some doing a bit of both.

At the end of the hall, the royal family was already seated.

Queen Esmarie sat on her throne with her chin raised, and beside her sat Prince Godfrey. Queen Minerva was on the other side with Prince Bradley, who kept his eyes down on the floor.

Queen Lucelia and her son were nowhere to be seen, figures.

Whenever Adonis was in a situation like this, Godfrey always has that soft, worried look on his face.

Today, Adonis was a little surprised to find it missing.

Godfrey just sat there with his head against his palm.

His face was calm and empty, totally unbothered.

’Not that I’m asking for anyone to feel bad for me. But...’

A lot had changed about Godfrey since the duel.

On the highest throne, King Aldrius didn’t spare a glance.

Adonis was brought to the center of the hall and made to stand. Count Vesta stood a few steps away with his hands folded over his belly, and he was grinning at Adonis like a cat.

’Is Hershant behind this?’

The thought crossed Adonis’s mind and he turned it over carefully. It would’ve made things simple. But the Grand Chamberlain was one of the most cautious men in the kingdom so he’d never played his trump cards early.

Only a man like Vesta would be this impatient.

"Count Vesta."

King Aldrius spoke.

He was lounging back with an elbow on the armrest, and his tone was lazy, but nobody in the hall mistook it for calm.

"What is the Fifth Prince’s crime? And why is it that I’m hearing about it now? In front of the entire court?"

Count Vesta’s grin faltered for the first time.

The king hadn’t been told. Vesta had arrested a prince of the royal family, dragged him through the capital, and filled the throne room with nobles, all without bringing a word to the throne first. Aldrius’s authority had been trampled over and the whole court knew it.

Worse, he was airing royal family business in public with the Church breathing down their necks.

Count Vesta bowed deeply.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. The matter was urgent, and the evidence overwhelming. I believed it best to bring it before the court at once."

"Hmph. Then let’s hear it."

Count Vesta straightened and cleared his throat.

"Your Majesty, honorable lords and ladies. I stand before you today to accuse the Fifth Prince of fraud, forgery, and theft of state secrets."

The nobles went quiet.

"Some time ago, the Fifth Prince created a false identity. A baron by the name of Korvan Thale, who does not exist in any registry in this kingdom. Under this false name, he entered the Halcyon Auction House and deceived the House of Halcyon itself, one of the oldest and most respected institutions in our realm!"

A few gasps came from the left side of the hall.

"Under the same false name, he purchased goods valued at over two hundred gold coins. Two hundred! From a prince whose allowance was cut to the bone! Where did the money come from, I ask you? When a man with no income suddenly spends a fortune under a false name, there is only one word for it."

He paused, enjoying himself.

"Laundering."

The gasps came louder this time.

"But that is not the worst of it. Lords, ladies, Your Majesty... the Fifth Prince also entered the Royal Archive and took records. Sensitive records. Records on which noble houses oversee which sectors of the kingdom’s economy, and which companies stand behind them."

That did it.

The whole throne room erupted. A baroness in the front row clutched her fan to her chest. An old lord dropped his cane. Someone near the back shouted something that was probably a curse and probably aimed at Adonis.

Even the nobles who had been defending him a minute ago had turned pale.

"Shameless!"

"A thief! A common thief in royal clothes!"

"Does he have no respect for the law?!"

"I never believed it, but he’s rotten to the core, just as they said!"

Count Vesta raised a hand, and the hall hushed again.

"The law is clear on these matters, Your Majesty. For forging a noble identity, the punishment is the stripping of all titles and lands. For fraud against a registered institution, a fine of ten times the value taken, and imprisonment of no less than ten years in Greywall. For the theft of sector records, which is an offense against the Crown itself..."

He lowered his voice, and it somehow carried even better.

"The penalty is death."

Nobody breathed.

"Furthermore, as a member of the royal family, his crimes carry additional weight. The removal of his rank in the line of succession, the revocation of all allowances, and the public branding of his name in the registry of the disgraced, so that no house in this kingdom may ever offer him shelter. Those are the penalties, Your Majesty. And I humbly request that the court apply them in full."

He bowed.

It was a very good performance, and Vesta knew it.

Aldrius let out a long, tired sigh.

The story was detailed, the dates were right, and the accusation was heavy enough to sink a lesser prince. Nobody in the hall wanted to say what they were all thinking. If this was true, the Fifth Prince was finished.

"Before we proceed with anything," the king said, "we must first confirm this with the accused."

He turned his head and looked at Adonis for the first time.

"Fifth Prince. Is this story true?"

Some of the nobles were already shifting in their seats, ready to leave. They’d heard the gist, and the rest was a formality.

Adonis shook his head.

"Not a word of it, Father."

The hall paused.

"I swear I haven’t committed any of these crimes. How could I? I’m the most active royal in the Melcian Church. I’m practically a saint."

Every noble in the hall frowned.

It was a very specific frown, the kind people make when they smell something rotten at a feast. It spread from one side of the room to the other.

Adonis blinked and looked around.

"...Wow. You all must really hate religion."

The faces got tighter.

Someone near the front let out a tiny snort.

Everyone turned. Queen Minerva was sitting with her hand pressed over her mouth, and her shoulders were shaking. When she noticed the whole court looking at her, she put on the most innocent face in the kingdom.

"Ahem. Sorry. I have a bit of a cold."

She coughed twice, very delicately.

Nobody believed her, but nobody could prove anything either.

"Hmph."

Godfrey’s voice cut through the hall, flat and cold. He hadn’t moved from his throne. His head was still resting on his palm.

"You haven’t been in the Church for that long, and yet you’re so eager to call yourself the most active royal member. That sounds foolishly arrogant." He paused. "Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve always been like that."

Adonis tilted his head with a bright smile.

"Well, to be fair, I already have a lovely relationship with the Mother Superior, in case you didn’t know."

A few nobles coughed.

"And if all of these crimes somehow turn out to be true, doesn’t that mean I sacrificed my freedom just so a bunch of orphans could enjoy a hot meal with a little taste in it?"

He said it with a perfectly sincere face.

Some of the nobles were swayed. A lady near the aisle was dabbing at her eye with a handkerchief. A young lord whispered, "That’s actually kind of noble..." and was immediately elbowed by the man beside him.

But the conservative lords and the members of the royal court, the ones Count Vesta had warned beforehand, didn’t care what story the boy had prepared. They had their verdict already.

Adonis shrugged, and turned back to Godfrey.

"But let’s be honest. Even if I did something great for the Church, you and that shithouse of a mother of yours would just find a way to steal the spotlight from me, wouldn’t you?"

Silence.

Godfrey’s scowl deepened.

Queen Esmarie shot up from her throne so fast her sleeves snapped. Her face had gone white and then red, her mouth already open, her hand already pointing.

King Aldrius lifted a hand without looking at her.

"Sit."

She sat. It cost her visibly.

Adonis smiled at her sweetly.

On the floor in front of him, Count Vesta was shaking.

It wasn’t fear. It was fury, hot and humiliating, crawling up his throat like heartburn.

’What is this?! Why is he smiling?!’

The boy should have been terrified. He should have been trembling at the knees with his voice cracking, begging for mercy in front of the entire court. Vesta had pictured it all night. The fear, the mental torture, the slow collapse of that insufferable, pretty face.

Instead the boy was joking. He was winning the room.

’How dare he! How dare he be so worthless and arrogant!’

His hands curled into fists. The vein on his forehead began to throb.

Then Count Vesta stormed forward, nearly tripping on the hem of his robe, and shouted at the throne.

"Your Majesty! I request that the Fifth Prince be made to take a lie detector test!"

The smile on Adonis’s face died for one sharp moment.

’...A lie detector?’

His mind went blank.

’What lie detectors exist in this time and age? That doesn’t make any sense...’