The Trial was to be held a dusk. she was surprised when a guard told her that. Trial , these people pretended to be civilized. why not just execute her. or do , whatever it is they want to do. This just made her hope that it might be fair after all. that tis world wasn't medieval.

then images of hanged men and women , dismembered thieves, lashed drunks ran through her mind and remembered.

She promised , this time no more Hope. She knows.

So , she ate , gruel and potatoes plus two pieces of jerky. before she would have hated this food, after her stint in the wild though , it was delicious.

she would have liked her ribs , but this was good. she wanted to to the bathroom , but didn't want the guard to take her. she didn't want to commit another murder ,the first was trouble enough.

she wated doing nothing, she stretched sometimes. stared at the wall , ate the food that was given and ignored the urge to ask for a bathroom.

luckily a female guard came and took her , without her having to say anything. she didn't know there were female guards. she didn't think they cared about what happened to her , she started doubting herself again, hoping , but she crushed it all with every bit of will,

never again we said. never Hope. Today was as expected sunny. it was winter but the sun shown through. i the twenty days she was alone , the sun never showed . it even snowed a little as high up as she was. yet now it was sunny. typical she thought.

An hour before dusk she was taken to another room , she walked the hallways freezing wearing nothing but the robes , not even sandals. she still couldn't use mana. she had manacles now, that sucked everything. they were covered in tiny writing , none of it made sense . she just learned that magic was wider then she thought. soon enough she reached the room , it was in the noble side of the building , a while a way from the dungeons and in it was a small table covered in white cloth , same as her robe , she sat at one of the only two chairs at the lady guards order, she recognized that she was in what she had called zombie mood. but her recognize in it was a good sigh , its been a while since she was this foggy but she could handle it. she was still cold though she brought the chair closer to fireplace and wated for whatever this is.

Soon the door opened and he showed up , Eric or whatever his name is. next to him stood a man wearing fancy noble clothes and lady in blue dress. lady guard bowed and then left without saying anything.

what is this ? ...

"Anna right ? ... do you know why your here ? "

she just shook her head.

" right , this is your pretrial counselling concerning your rights and privileges as an accused, I will read you your charges , tell you what to expect and that would be all, you can ask questions and ill answer to best of my knowledge , you many answer anything asked but only if you wish , you are not required by law to do so. this will not be under enforced Truth , basically it is so you know what to expect. its not mandatory and you can wave the right. it simply is Law to offer it. do you understand ?"

I nodded slowly trying to digest it , I had rights ? there is Law , medieval means that the "Lord" did whatever the fuck he wants , right , that commoners are sentenced by the dozen. what this about Law , this whole affair sounds like something from johns world, not here. also enforced Truth ?

my stomach churned , this was not what I was expecting, I thought papa Nobel was going to be mad , and how dare I say no to his son/bastard then get lynched, never mind that I killed him .... since when do I have rights .... i caught myself

here it comes again

HOPE

NO

"any questions ? you seem like you have a- "

bitterness leaked into my , voice .. and I interrupted him ... Fuck this guy .. acting like this is shit everyone knows

" Since when do we have rights ?! Last time I checked you hang anyone you call murders , you whip a women that 'broke her vows' yet men always do whatever the fuck they want , you cut hands off from people hungry enough to steal, while you throw parties that can feed a town every night , I'm a women , no , not even I'm just a Girl .. and you want to tell me I have fucking rights ... what are my rights Eric ? since when ? this is a barbaric land last time I checked ... with corpses rotting on ropes and now suddenly we have rights and your acting like everyone knows ? "

They looked shocked , like guard lady even opened the door , my voice was loud enough to be heard outside, They didnt know what i was saying .. they heard me I think but not really listened ...

the lady with blue dress, Lura I soon learned her name , took a crystal out thin air , setting it in the middle of room.

Eric seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts.

"You always had rights, everyone has and that is imperial law. As a mage you have a special designation, I want to hear more about the previous issues you mentioned . but this is concerning your trial so we will focus on that for now , to answer you question , A mage can not be convicted of anything anywhere beside Auras main temple, The law is final on that. the pretrial we are about to have can only happen with your consent. your status as a unregistered mage , strips you of some advantages , you are 14 and so a year away from majority ,not yet classified as rogue. That is you main right , the second that every crime has an equal punishment as serving on the wall, mages can chose if the crime is minor , but for major crimes the wall is your prison"

he paused a little giving me time to calm down ...

" you have the right to a fair pretrial , with three judge's , a registered Qualified mage must be one, that is Emoulura , A representative of the Aura temple that is me , and A noble of the land where your Crime was committed that is Raymond. if you find the trial unfair, you can ask for it to be redone in the temple. and they will decide on it , after reading our judgment they may disregard your request or Set a new trial , the Victim or there representative has an equal right"

He took a breath.

while I thought through, I gave up , hope is in the air now ... I don't know if there lying. I don't know if he is telling the truth. but its clear he is.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

its nothing like the worst case ive imagined.

when did I start taking the worst case as the only possible reality. when did I ? .. I know I'm doing it again , I know that's what leads to disappointment , but i ... I'm hoping , and I cant crush it. not this time ... there was order in his words , and Law ...

those thing brought a defining amount of hope and I couldn't crush it

" any questions so far ?"

books. I should have ignored my work and read every book in that library. then I would have known ...

"can I ask anything ? not about the trial .. I need to know somethings "

he looked back at the two behind him and they silently came to an agreement.

"ask anything , I will try to answer .. but keep in mind we have limited time .. "

I asked about everything I assumed , everything I could think off. no mages aren't just to the wall to slave forever. they are trained , paid , and have a limited service time and vacations . Nobles had a heavier burden whatever that meant. no one got off lightly, you can pay money instead, but only if you have no other choice. it sounded ... Fair. nowhere near perfect , but it was an attempt at Fair .. its not a dog eat smaller dog world ...

Fair ...

Rape was still Rape. Women were treated well , but they are caged in there roles as housewives mostly. it sounded not good, but not as terrible as I had thought, divorce, alimony and everything ... it was rare but a women could do it . . Vows where not a Marriage only thing , they could mean any vow made at a temple, and those who broke it had to confess themselves. and took the punishment willingly to repent , at least according to him. he didn't look like he was lying.... it was weird but cultural or whatever, if you get off on that ,sure you do you , he assured me it wasn't like that but he seemed way in to it ..

we talked and talked, and I opened up more and more , the world wasn't so bleak anymore . The trial was forgotten . he asked about my magic, I asked about his. he found mine weird , I thought his was weirder. who says words and makes it happen. mine makes sense , its magic , yes but it has a sort of logic. his is just... I don't know what it is. You say something and it happens , and those words are heavy somehow weird.. I can still hear the word , I can almost resist it now. but not if I spoke it out loud .... after a while we ran out things to say. the hour was obviously up. and my tears , they been running down on and off slowly this whole time and I have no idea why. I felt lighter.

I'm still in trouble , but nothing inhumane is likely ... they didn't act like monsters , they didn't seem like slavers. he was appalled when I mentioned fuckdols and I what thought nobles were like that , Raymond didn't like that. Lura , she insisted I call her that, didn't seem as offended , she was a commoner before she became a mage and rose to her station. technically she is Ranked higher than her husband, but she didn't want Land. she changed the subject fast .. she acted nice but stiff...she happily let me know that technically I am a noble , Knight , the minute I register I'm awarded this and land if I want. a village to call my own, or just empty land.

" corruption exist ,obviously but not that many. we are not as Horrible as you seem to see us, if you were a normal maid, and managed to call for help or ran away, the situation would have been handled. Nobel or not Rape is Rape and we take it seriously. the punishment is ten years on the 4 wall, mage or not "

He keeps looking at me like I'm the weird one .. like this is common knowledge. and so rare it never happens , but i could tell it does , Lura never said anything against ..

I would have had rights. he said .. I must look crazy to him , I probably am , who laughs while crying ...

" does every one know ? because I didn't . I wasn't even sure I could say no when I was Taken by that old lady , I wouldn't have come here if I could help it. I wasn't sure I could say no to marriage either , I thought if some solider or anyone really showed up , donated enough than that was my husband , they pick we just follow , no one taught us we could say no. it was always do what your told. be dutiful wife's, nothing about choice.. its obvious to you , I know , not us.. chapel girls and boys were told to do as told , the rebels are bad , the ones who question are bad and Gia wants us to be good , there good nothing else . obvious , nothing was ever obvious in my life ..."

I should have come clean. I should have told anyone I'm a mage ... they didn't seem surprised so I'm not that special. ive built it all in my head I think. but I didn't know , I just didn't know... There was a chance , just a chance things could go bad, but there was a chance it would go good too , somewhere , somewhen in my terrified state I forgot ... and just hid.

I let out the long breath I was holding.

" do you think if where as bad as i said , anyone in this mansion what have told you no. if you went outside right now pulled a maid into a room and had your way with her , what could she do ? would she do it ? shed lose her job, her life , if she wasn't killed, you being the big powerful Nobel , all she is ,is orphan turned maid. she has no one , nothing , and doesn't know the law. I can tell you know you look at me with petty , like I made a terrible mistake because I'm ignorant , truth is I'm lucky "

"any other maid wouldn't have had a choice, she would have stayed quite , cleaned his dick , as he said . and cried herself to sleep at night, none the wiser "

"now me I'm a mage, so I could stop him. I didn't do what he wanted. I'm not .. defeated. I wonder how many of your maids cry themselves to sleep Lord Raymond. how many ran Away because they couldn't take it anymore or worse just looked for an easier death. if I wasn't a mage I doubt any of this would have happened .. I would have ... or dead. you none the wiser. "

a long silence hung ...

I steeled myself and finally asked.

" what are my charges ? and what is enforced truth ? what is the punishment if I was convicted... what is the worst thing that could happen .. not death I know that's a possibility but I mean worst than tha-"

he cut me off before I could mention all the horrible things , ive guessed. he has been slowly demolishing every expectations ive had. And I wanted more. I'm about to be tried for murder and ive never felt freer , I have rights. Shit happens , but there is Law

I kept Giggling every Time I thought of that. rights

ive gone cooko .. ah

" ... From minor to major, you have been charged with following, Poaching two counts, Theft , Absending and Murder/Manslaughter to be determined"

Poaching when I heard I lost it a little ...

" you could have let me finish eating the ribs "

I was barley listening

"The Poaching charge was Dismissed , on account of the owner , the theft also, on account of Murder charge. The matter of Absending can be solved with a simple registration as you are still a minor, I have a form hear that you merely need to sign .... "

I signed the paper with Mana , that was new, they took my cuffs off for that too. I didn't do anything, I have rights ... I'm crazy but I have rights.

"As to your question The punishment for murder is death or life at the wall for a mage of third rank or higher and it is sorted by case, you are a minor and considering the circumstances you will most likely not be sentenced to death , but that is to be decided later, .... nothing worse than death by hanging awaits you . for manslaughter it is 10 to 30 years of service. shortened by wall Rank to the usual Method ..."

I wasn't listening any more , giggles and supressed laughter rang in the room ...

" The trial will be held tomorrow at dusk , we missed our time today.. and you need ..... rest "

I need a doctor , call me a doctor ~

I kept giggling all the way to the cell. outright laughing when I saw the maids, I told them we had rights. they looked at me like I was

crazy ,

which I am I guess.

but still, we had rights !! I'm a mage so special rights .

I couldn't sleep , I laughed and laughed all night talking at the guard all about my right

oh I could have done a billion thing better , I lost time I know , wasted my childhood

boohoo

I have rights , im young, ill do my time and live on the wall if I have to. Because I have Rights , I can say no ... and I have magic to blast anyone who disagrees. Truth spells to force reveal everything in court , no wonder people smile , there free....they should smile.

I was living in prison and im free too

I didn't even notice but they left me without sucky mana cuffs too .

wheeeee , im free ...

Eric showed when I wouldn't stop laughing , his my new favourite person now.

" Sleep, miss Anna . Sleep "

" hehehe , that wont work on me no more , but sure ill Sleep "

I fell asleep as he stumbled a bit ... huh I got him a little too.

Free