“State your full name, age, and status, Lady Neveah,” one of the judge’s attorneys ordered.

I watched as the woman who threatened me just a few days ago entered the courtroom, ignoring my gaze as she walked to the front of the podium.

“My name is Neveah Wilhelm, age 19. I belong to the Wilhelm duchy,” she stated confidently, looking at the waiting judge.

“Miss Neveah, do you swear that you will tell the truth, and only the truth, under the supreme justice of the court in law?”

“I swear.”

The attorney exchanged a look at the judge before turning to face Neveah. “Will you please recount the series of events that led to Lord Raphael almost killing you and Lord Idris, the victim of the trial?”

“Mister Raphael initially orchestrated a plan to murder Lord Idris,” she stated in a loud voice, causing a few surprised murmurs to emerge in the audience. “He intended to ambush him in the abandoned cottage where he was discovered at the crime scene. However, I showed up instead and we engaged in an agreed duel and,” she turned to me, her cold gaze meeting my eyes, “this man used alchemy in his sword; he did not intend to let me live.”

Another couple of gasps could be heard in the court. I flinched, realizing that what she had said was probably right. Raphael did indeed want to kill both her and Idris; but he ended up getting caught instead.

Idris’ attorney took this as a chance to comment. “What should’ve been an honourable duel between two swordsmen had been tainted by trickery, and I believe this is a valid excuse to put this man to death—“

“Objection, your honour!” my attorney finally decided to say something and I let out a sigh. My case was hopeless, but a little support from them would be better than nothing.

“As we’ve concluded before, the alleged poisoned weapon is absent and thus, does not tie to my client,” they continued, “everyone here can also agree that Lady Neveah is a close friend to the victim Idris, and her words cannot necessarily be credited fairly—“

“—What are you saying, Sir Mashe?!” Idris’ lawyer spoke up, glaring at my attorney. “Are you framing Lady Neveah for lying in front of the court?”

“That is not what I mean, please, calm down,” the other lawyer said again. “Every individual is prone to bias and it is reasonable of us to object the witness’ claims...”

The conversation went on like that for a while. If I was being honest, I stopped listening a while ago; this was probably the most important moment of my life but I couldn’t help but stand in a daze. It felt like my head was about to explode any minute now.

Unfortunately, I chose the worst time to zone out because soon enough, the attorney suddenly turned to face me. “Lord Raphael, I’d like to ask you a question.”

I held onto the standing desk nervously, feeling all eyes in the auditorium turn towards me in an instant.

“What is it?”

“Did you send a letter to Idris as of lately?”

“… No, I did not.” It was bad enough that I didn’t know the truth when I said it, but I knew denying things was always better than accepting them. The eyeballs did tell me to fight though till the end after all.

“You aren’t lying, are you, Lord Raphael?” they narrowed their eyes before turning the next page to what I assumed was their script. “After inquiring your own servants, we found out that days prior to the duel, you sent a letter to Idris.”

‘Yikes,’ I let out a sharp sigh, ‘even my household isn’t willing to cover for me.’

“What we want for you is to explain the… threats in the letter, if you may so please,” the attorney paused in the middle. I bit my finger, my thoughts becoming a jumble.

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“I—Well…” I took a deep breath. “There were no threats contained in that letter.”

The lawyer raised their eyebrow in response. “Is that so? Well, it clearly showed some crude language and death threats that weren’t suitable for a young Lord such as yourself…”

“The letter…” I stared at them, a little anxious. “Where is it now? Let me see it.”

“You are not allowed to—“

“And why not?” I interrupted, already having expected the answer. They didn’t have that either. “Surely if it’s in your possession, you’d have it ready to present as evidence. Otherwise, you would be wrong in your accusations!”

The attorney fought the glare as they stared back at me. “Lord Raphael, we have witnesses that could attest to it and—“

I interrupted again, feeling bolder. “And yet the victim himself is nowhere to be seen. Since he was the recipient of the letter, he should be able to answer honestly. If he’s not here to back up his lawyer’s words, then you’re just accusing me of having ill intentions.”

“Then what else could’ve been in the letter, Mister Raphael?” they glowered at me, almost losing their patience. “Everyone here knows that your relationship with the only son of the Marchioness is a difficult one, and we all have heard the rumours…”

“This one was work-related,” I said, lying becoming a constant open switch the more I talked. “The letter I sent was related to the company, he wished to talk about business. I cannot disclose more information for the sake of the company’s privacy.”

‘Raphael had a small company right?’ I thought to myself after saying that. I mentally frowned upon remembering that he also embezzled funds from there… I hoped they wouldn’t bring that up too.

“Are you telling the truth, Lord Raphael? Remember, you swore to uphold the truth in front of the supreme justice, lying will not be tolerated under any grounds.”

‘Oh yeah, like that’s totally gonna change my mind.’ I stopped myself from replying with a sarcastic remark, trying to focus on the current argument. “I will also not tolerate being falsely accused of threatening someone and killing them… sir.”

I then turned to look at Neveah, wanting to finish this argument. “We had a duel and it was arranged by our rules. Mister Idris had nothing to do with it.”

This time, I waited for her to mention the kidnapping, and how maybe I used that to lure Idris to kill him. I was trying to come up with something as fast as I can but when the only thing she did was coldly stare at me with her piercing violet eyes, I knew something was up.

From the very beginning of the trial, I wondered why Neveah hadn’t brought up her kidnapping, but it wasn’t until now that I understood the reason why.

“… It was a battle between the two of us, no one interfered,” she finally responded.

I covered my mouth to hide the evil grin on my face. What a prideful woman.

Even though I didn’t have a full grasp of her personality yet, I did know that she was a really strong character. Aside from the fact that she helped and saved Idris’ life from danger multiple times, she was written as someone who was talented at not only the sword, but wielded her alchemy with great precision that she didn’t even need to rely on physical strength.

And to think she got kidnapped by Raphael, someone whose swordsmanship and alchemy lacked in comparison to hers would be insulting to not only her family, but herself. Although she hadn’t seemed that pissed about it when we first talked in the dungeons (at least when it came to Idris), there was no doubt that she was annoyed at almost being used as a damsel-in-distress in a petty scheme.

Which might’ve worked if she wasn’t strong and Idris was a compassionate guy.

‘Raphael really is a cunning bastard,’ I thought. ‘He hurt her pride and even used her as bait to try and bring out Idris… I think I really understand her frustration.’

Now if only her frustration wasn’t directed at me, it would’ve been easier to sympathize with her. I tensed when her cold eyes bore into for a second before she continued.

“However, my point still stands; Mister Raphael has attempted, and at times, succeeded in hurting the victim in numerous occasions. This includes the most recent incident from weeks ago where he set up a filthy trap in our annual hunting contest.”

I let out a tired exhale. I really did regret not paying enough attention to Jian when she spoke about the book because the hunting contest did ring a few bells right now; but I still couldn’t remember what important event had occurred there. Though I wondered if it would really help me even if I knew…

‘She probably isn’t lying; Raphael is definitely capable of something like that.’ I nodded to myself to confirm my thoughts but then froze, remembering I was still being watched by everyone.

“Therefore, murdering Lord Idris should be easy for him to commit,” Neveah finally finished, her voice loud in confidence. I was certainly impressed with the way she talked naturally in front of all these people—

I frowned. ‘Why do I keep praising her anyway? She scares me!’

As my lawyer continued to fight for my life (quite literally), I could only watch closely and wait for the next time they interrogate me. I wondered how long it would take for them to start questioning my lies as I bullshit my way through this impossible trial.

I let out a sigh. ‘If I ever get transported to a world again, just make me a powerful, smart and rich wizard with no criminal record.’

At the end of the day, this was all wishful thinking, of course.

***

A/N: First day of lectures… I need someone to let me out of here fr.