NOVEL NEXT Chapter 58: The trial
Rian later heard about the duel between Earl Rosewood and Young Lord Anthony Fulvous.
He wished he had seen it. He wished he had time to go up to Earl Rosewood and shake him—Anthony Fulvous lost, but then you gave him a second chance?! Why didn’t you give me a second chance?!
Unfortunately, he had obligations and tasks to carry out.
Firstly, there were his lessons: history, geography, politics, advanced magic, and so forth.
Secondly, there was the catering for the next social event. The event was in four weeks, upon harvest time. He drafted the menu from a mixture of standard event foods and some small new foods from the Rosewood fief. He sent some of the Imperial Palace chefs to the Rosewood fief to learn how to cook the new Rosewood dishes, and in a week, they’d come back and prepare a tasting session.
Thirdly, his Imperial Father had given him a task: since he had been enthusiastic about Earl Rosewood’s new agricultural methods, he was to liaise with Viscountess Sage and communicate the improved agricultural methods to the nobility. Since many nobles were currently residing in the Capital, he and Viscountess Sage decided to hold a small conference at the Imperial Palace.
And fourthly, he wanted to build his faction. Viscount Obsidian eventually agreed to a business contract—the first and hardest step towards allying with Viscount Obsidian. Through Earl Rosewood, Adrienne Obsidian and Florence Sage and his only little brother Alexius were in his faction in spirit, if not in name. Rian also invited different noble children to his morning teas and afternoon teas. In general, most children liked talking to mature, intelligent people who treated them as mature and intelligent. Laying the groundwork and creating connections now was a lot easier than when they were older and more suspicious. After showing them favour and interest, some of the children evenly directly agreed to join his faction.
(Or maybe the hint that Earl Rosewood would take them flying again was what swayed them…)
If Queen Mira didn’t want Earl Rosewood to be the only person in Rian’s faction, then Rian simply needed to gather more people.
But if she wanted him to show less favouritism to Earl Rosewood, then a better person would need to come along. However, no one was more suitable than Earl Rosewood, so Rian simply couldn’t fulfil all of his Imperial Mother’s wishes, and that was something that Rian could happily live with.
Cassiopeia was in a very different state.
Due to Prince Rian’s and Earl Rosewood’s recent actions, the two were a common gossip topic. At their private dinner table, her father Duke Schauss had complained about Earl Rosewood had insulted the healers at the Capital Hospital over the topic of ‘pathogens’ and ‘germs’. With her friends, they talked about how Prince Rian personally gave Earl Rosewood a tour of the Imperial Palace, and how the Rosewood fief had a lot of new dishes, like ‘tofu’ and ‘ramen’ and ‘soy sauce’.
But tofu and ramen and soy sauce were not from this world!
Those were all Asian dishes that shouldn’t exist in this novel!
The rumour was that Earl Rosewood cooked these dishes first and taught them to his cooks. It didn’t necessarily mean that Earl Rosewood was the first one to make those dishes in this world—someone else could have introduced them and Earl Rosewood popularised them.
But Cassiopeia had a hunch that it was Ayden Rosewood. All the changes had to be Ayden’s fault—Ayden must be a reincarnator too! But instead of following the canon, he was selfishly and ignorantly messing everything up!! Did he even read the original novel? Self-entitled men!
As Cassiopeia became more certain of her conclusions, she came to another problem: how could she fix things? After watching the duel between Ayden Rosewood and Prince Rian, it was clear that Ayden would kill her for revealing the truth.
She was a ten-year-old healer mage, what could she do?
What could she do?
Could the true plot still be salvaged?
And why didn’t the other nobles see that there was clearly something wrong with Ayden Rosewood?
The day of the Cordovans’ trial arrived.
Since the announcement of the trial, the Cordovans had been under house arrest, with Royal Guards surrounding their house in the Capital. On the day of the trial, they were escorted via plain carriages to the Parliament.
The trial was held in the big courtroom inside the Parliament.
At the front, the lead Capital Investigators sat in the centre, Earl Rosewood sat to one side, and Baron Cordovan and Baroness Cordovan sat on the other side. The three Cordovan children sat behind their parents, not technically part of the defendant’s party—the Capital Investigators were not calling the trial against them.
The Imperial Councillors sat behind them and on the left and right edges, while the seats at the back were filled by any other nobles who wanted to watch, including Prince Rian.
The non-noble accomplices and assassins themselves would be convicted at separate trials. As they weren’t nobles, they weren’t worth the Imperial Council’s time.
Baron Cordovan was cold-faced. Baroness Cordovan was tearful, her eyes red. The announcement of the trial had come as a shock to them. They had spent the last week working with their solicitors to pull together a defence. The most frustrating thing was that Ayden Rosewood was the most suspicious person! Yet, somehow, the Capital Investigators had found something that implicated the Cordovans instead.
Soon, the court filled as almost all the seats were taken. Prime Minister Duke Mauvine stood up. “All rise for His Majesty King Edric Azure!”
The courtroom turned quiet as everyone stood up.
King Edric strode in. He climbed the steps behind the front stage, coming to a stop at the centre front in the highest position as the judge and king.
“All hail His Majesty King Edric!”
“All be seated,” King Edric said. “Prime Minister, proceed.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Prime Minister Duke Mauvine began the formalities and opened the trial.
The Capital Investigators then took the lead in providing all their gathered evidence. Their investigations were laid out neatly and cleanly. One of the accomplices—a Cordovan servant—even gave a confession.
Ren Xiyang didn’t speak for the most part, aside from giving a witness statement about how he had caught the assassins and answering the questions about Baron Cordovan and Lady Cordovan’s motives. Baron Cordovan and Lady Cordovan had been quite urgent about adopting him and taking over the Rosewood estate; they hadn’t even waited until the funerals were over.
Then, the Cordovans gave their defence, pleading innocence. How could they murder their own family? The late Marie Rosewood was Baron Cordovan’s younger sister! They had Ayden Rosewood’s best interests in mind. They also had alibis—that Cordovan servant was framing them! Not to mention…Ayden Rosewood himself was the most suspicious person. How convenient was it for him to appear just after all his family members were killed?
“—Whether Earl Rosewood directly hired these assassins himself or not, there is absolutely no doubt that Earl Ayden Rosewood has profited the most from the deaths of family members, Your Majesty,” the Cordovan’s defence lawyer said. “As such, we call the Capital Investigators to investigate Earl Rosewood!”
“Permission to speak, Your Majesty,” Senior Investigator Marais said as he stood up.
“Permission granted.”
Senior Investigator Marais turned towards the defendants. “We have already investigated Earl Rosewood. However, we have given our evidence, hence the defendants on trial today. If future evidence emerges then we will call another trial as appropriate. But that will not negate the role that Baron Cordovan and Baroness Cordovan have played.”
The Cordovan’s lawyer strode over. “Then wouldn’t mind answering some questions for us.”
“I will answer.”
“Did you find Earl Rosewood’s background?”
“No.”
“Did you find Earl Rosewood’s previous living location?”
“No.”
Ren Xiyang: “…” Cough, technically, there was no way for the Capital Investigators to know the truth unless he or Rian told them. And if Investigators uncovered the apparent truth somehow, i.e., that Ren Xiyang was ‘Alyssa Rosewood’, then he’d be even more innocent.
Eventually, the Cordovan’s lawyer finished all cross-examinations. The prosecution and the defendant both gave their closing statements, and then King Edric spoke:
“Members of the Imperial Council, you have now heard all the evidence and the arguments of the prosecution and the defence. It is now time to give your verdict.”
The Imperial Councillors all straightened up in their seats.
“Is the first accused, Baron Mateo Cordovan, guilty or not guilty of conspiring to murder the Rosewood family and of hiring the six assassins? All those in favour of guilty, raise your hands.”
Baron Cordovan’s face was stiff. He could feel the gazes of others upon him. Anger and annoyance and fear brewed in his belly as various Councillors raised their hands.
“All those in favour of not guilty, raise your hands.”
“All those abstaining from voting, raise your hands.”
King Edric then repeated it for Baroness Lucia Cordovan. His eyelids lowered in thought; the voting was merely a guide and he didn’t need to strictly follow the majority. Imperial Councillor votes aside, he also knew more than what the Capital Investigators were presenting—the fact that Baron Cordovan had suspect links to the Angio Kingdom. The Cordovans should be grateful that they were only being persecuted for murder than for treason.
All eyes were on him as he gave the final verdict.
“Thank you Imperial Councillors. I decree that Baron Mateo Cordovan is found guilty of conspiring to murder the Rosewood family and of hiring the six assassins, and you will be sentenced. I decree that Baroness Lucia Cordovan is found guilty of conspiring with Baron Mateo Cordovan to murder the Rosewood family and of hiring the six assassins, and you will be sentenced.”
King Edric turned to Earl Rosewood. “Earl Rosewood, as the only surviving member of the Rosewood family, do you have any requests for their punishment?”
“Yes.”
Baroness Cordovan’s heart turned cold.
On the matter of convictions, commoners would be executed. But rules and laws for nobles were different: Earl Rosewood could give his preferences for what the punishment should be…which could also be execution.
Ren Xiyang looked across the hall to where the Cordovans sat. The children sat separately from their parents; there was no evidence of their involvement.
There were three children, between the ages of 10 and 20. Whatever Ren Xiyang chose would also affect them. If he chose to sentence their parents to death, would there be a future plot line where one of them tried to get revenge against him?
Ren Xiyang stood up and faced King Edric.
“I request that the punishment be long-term community service, with the possibility of parole should they show remorse and reformation. Their title should be transferred to one of their children. I also request an amount of monetary compensation or equivalent that Your Majesty decides is fair, for both my family and the Rosewood staff killed.”
King Edric examined Earl Rosewood. Indeed, the Earl was a child, and his request was quite softhearted.
“Does Earl Rosewood have an amount of damages to be awarded in mind?”
“50 thousand gold coins in total, or less, capped at 50% of the value of the Cordovan estate. To be paid over a ten-year time frame,” Ren Xiyang said.
King Edric swept his gaze across the Imperial Councillors. “Does any councillor have any objection?”
Hearing no objection, King Edric announced, “Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan are hereby stripped of their nobility status. Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan are hereby sentenced to hard labour for forty years under the supervision of the Capital Prison, as punishment for the murder of Roland Rosewood, Marie Rosewood, Silas Rosewood, Alyssa Rosewood, and others. In addition, the Cordovan estate and fief are now handed to the eldest son, Baltasar Cordovan, henceforth Baron Baltasar Cordovan. Over the next ten years, the Cordovan estate must pay damages to Earl Ayden Rosewood at a total amount of fifty thousand gold coins or equivalent. Baron Baltasar Cordovan must convene with Earl Ayden Rosewood to sort out the details. Thank you, Imperial Councillors, for your time. Today’s trial is now adjourned.”
Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan were stunned. Hard labour?! Like common peasants?! Forty years? They’d be old and possibly even dead by then! They were nobles, they were distinguished mages! Earl Rosewood wanted them to shovel shit like his farmers did at the Rosewood estate, didn’t he?!
Ren Xiyang: I want 50 thousand gold coins.
Rian: 😌 Ah, money-loving-Earl-Rosewood has appeared.
I feel like I’ve written a court trial before and hmm still don’t know how to write them (；一_一)