I looked around the room at all their shocked faces. Yeah, that’s right. I had just proven Koln innocent and they knew it.

“Mr. Allard…” A bead of sweat dripped down the Count’s nose. “Koln… tried to kill me?”

“Shall I execute him now?” Nair asked, taking out a second gun and pointing it at Koln’s bald head. “This scum… doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you, Count.”

Okay, so maybe they didn’t know it.

“That’s not what this means,” I said. “Koln didn’t try and kill anyone.”

The Count was practically hyperventilating. “He… He didn’t?”

“He didn’t?” Violetta echoed. What happened to believing in our client?

“If Koln was trying to kill you, why would he turn it the wrong way?”

The Count bit down on his lip. “He didn’t just turn it the other way on accident?”

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Do you really think he’d make such an obvious mistake? He was the first one in the circle to touch the cup. He had complete control of how it would be passed around.”

“I suppose… that does make sense.” The Count’s eyes quickly shifted over to Koln. “But if that’s the case… then what does this mean?”

“It means my client is innocent. It means this trial is over.”

“Hey!” Inel slammed his fist down on the ground. “What the fuck is that? Who the hell did it then, huh?”

I stood up. “You guys realize that trials are for deciding if someone’s innocent or guilty, right?” It’s not like real trials exposed the true criminal every goddamn time.

“But then who are we supposed to execute then?” the Count asked. Always with the executing.

I shrugged. “You’ll just have to figure that out later.”

“Hmm…” The Count rubbed his chin. Really? He still wasn’t sold on it? Did someone need a bullet to the head tonight that badly?

“Don’t worry, everyone!” Violetta jumped up next to me. “Ryley always finds the killer! He’s just… building the suspense!”

“Oh…” The Count let out a raspy laugh. “Is that all? You’re both quite the performers.”

“Of course.” Violetta slapped me on the arm. “Ryley’s a professional law expert, you know!” Fucking Violetta.

Ugh. Demons were getting some really weird ideas about trials. I had no idea who the killer was. Why would I? If Koln didn’t do it, then it had to be someone who touched the cup before him, right? And if that was the case… then it meant it had to be Ceai or Hadria, the two people that had literally no reason to want the Count dead.

Unless… we had all been taking something for granted. Something that changed everything we thought we knew about this case.

The Count’s expression hardened. “Mr. Allard?”

“I… have a theory,” the words fell out of my mouth. I wasn’t even completely sure of where exactly I was going with this.

“Then by all means…” The Count wiped his brow. “Explain for us.”

Here I went again.

“When I learned about Nimeni’s death, all I could think about was how it didn’t make any sense,” I said. “Why would someone poison him during the ceremony when they could have done it any other day? After all, everyone takes turns cooking. It would have been easy to put poison in his food.”

“But I thought you just said they were trying to poison the Count,” Violetta whispered loudly.

“They were,” I snapped. “Will you just listen for a second?”

Violetta’s mouth scrunched up. “I’m… I’m sorry!”

“As I was saying… Now that we know they were going after the Count, it explains everything.” I turned to the corner of the room and motioned to Ceai. “While I was in the kitchen, Hadria mentioned to me that you make all his food for him. Is that right?”

“Yes…” Ceai nodded slowly. “I… make every meal for him.”

“Every meal?” I asked. “Every day?”

“…Yes.” She didn’t hesitate to answer. “Always.”

“Then that explains why it was done during the ceremony,” I said. “It was the only time that anyone would be able to touch something the Count would put in his mouth.”

“But… wait a minute.” The Count looked back and forth between me and his wife so quickly, I’m surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “Doesn’t that prove my wife’s innocence then?”

“Yes.” I smiled, smug as fuck. “It does.” Painfully awkward silence. Cool. Just what I always wanted.

The Count narrowed his eyes. “Then… Koln did it?”

Oh my god.

“When I said that someone other than Ceai touched the cup, I wasn’t talking about Koln.” I wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but I would just have to say it. “I was talking about Hadria.”

This prompted every gangster in the room other than Hadria to simultaneously get on their feet and point a gun in my face. Even Koln. Not sure why they allowed him to have a gun. Not sure why he was threatening me while I was the one trying to prove his innocence either.

So yeah, I had six fucking guns in my face.

“Oh my goodness!” Violetta huddled into a ball at my feet. Nice to know she had my back.

“It’s one thing to accuse me…” Ceai’s eyes were fierce. “But I will not have you accusing my daughter.”

“Will you just let me finish?” I threw my hands up. “I’m not saying Hadria’s the killer either!”

“What else is that supposed to mean!?”

“H-H-Hadria,” I stuttered. “I just thought you were spacing out during the reenactment but… There was a reason you didn’t take the cup from your mom at first, wasn’t there?”

A few seconds passed, which felt a lot longer due to the whole life in danger thing. Finally, Hadria stood up. “Drop the guns,” her voice came out cold. “Now.”

Ceai reluctantly lowered her gun. “But… But sweetheart…”

Hadria quickly slipped in the center, making a barrier between me and a face full of bullets. “Ryley’s right,” she continued. “This was the first time I was a part of the ceremony, so it’s only natural to think I was involved.” She looked back at me with a toothy grin. “This is what being Lyili means, right? To search for the truth, no matter what happens.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

…She did realize that Lyili was a person and not the word for prosecutor, right? Not to mention the fact that Lyili was much more concerned with winning than knowing the truth. Whatever. At least her heart was in the right place I guess.

“All of you…” The Count dropped his hand to his side. “Take your guns off my daughter this instant!”

“Yes, Count!” the men yelled. They backed away from me and put their guns back into their blazers. Much better.

Hadria let out a sigh, walking over to stand next to me. “It’s true,” she said. “I hesitated taking the cup… because I don’t remember touching it last night.”

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” Ceai asked. “I handed it to you myself. You… took it over to Koln without a single mistake.”

“Besides…” the Count added. “You can’t be hypnotized, sweetheart. Your… eye, remember? You must just be confused…”

“By the time I realized it, the cup was already in Koln’s hand,” Hadria huffed. “I figured mom had already done it while I was spacing out. I don’t remember picking it up.”

Sweat poured down the Count’s forehead and dripped from his brows. “This… This must be some kind of mistake… We… We would have noticed if she were hypnotized…”

“It’s not a mistake,” I cut him off. At least, I hoped it wasn’t. “Count, you said it yourself before. The ceremony is carried out in complete silence, isn’t it?”

“That’s right…”

“Then even if she was hypnotized, there was almost no way for you to know it.”

“But… even if Hadria could be hypnotized…” The Count looked at me in desperation. “Who… are you saying did that?”

“Oh my goodness!” Violetta wiggled around like a worm. “The anticipation! I can’t stand it!”

Alright, here it was. It was time to lay it all out on the proverbial table.

“Throughout this trial, I questioned everyone that took part in the ceremony, and I hit a dead end every time,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. “But I never even considered… that someone outside the room might have been the killer.”

The Count’s voice came out like a whisper. “Someone… outside the room?”

“That’s right. The one we never even suspected.” I really wish I had a table to slam my fists down on right now. I settled for a badass finger point instead. “Nair!”

Everyone turned to look at the wavy haired bodyguard. Silence. Again.

Violetta tilted her head to one side. “Wait, what?” Not exactly the reaction I wanted.

“Nair…” The Count looked just as confused. “What’s going on?”

After a moment, Nair shook his head with a sigh. “Ridiculous… First it was the Madam, and now you’re accusing me?” His eyes turned sharp as daggers. “Is there no bottom that disgusting hole of depravity you call a mouth?”

I turned my disgusting hole of depravity into a smile. “Sorry, but you’re not talking your way out of this, asshole. You slipped up. When I was in Hadria’s room, she told me that you became her bodyguard just six years ago.”

“…And?” Nair asked like a smug fuck.

“That means you only became an official member last year. And that’s when you came up with your plan to kill him.” I lifted my left hand. “But you hadn’t expected that Koln would turn the cup the opposite direction it was turned during your own ceremony.”

"Oh!" Violetta hit her fist in her open hand. "That would explain it!"

"That was your plan," I continued. "You hypnotized Hadria right before the ceremony, put garlic on her somewhere, and then went to the kitchen to get Ceai and Koln. That's when you got rid of the bottle in the garbage."

“Interesting. If I remember correctly from your previous trial…” Nair examined his fingernails. “You need proof if you’re going to make claims like that. Care to show us some? I don't recall anyone finding garlic on Madam Hadria.” He looked up, glaring at me. "And you didn't find a bottle either, did you?"

It was time to wreck this guy.

“You’re right,” I sighed. “You made sure to get rid of all that evidence. I don’t have any proof to back that up.”

“Of course you don’t. These are just the desperate cries of a ‘man’ that knows he has lost.”

“I do have proof that you’re a liar though." I smiled. "You might have been careful to make sure Hadria didn’t remember putting garlic on the cup, but you forgot to get your alibi straight. Or maybe… you just didn’t think Hadria would run her mouth so much.”

Nair didn’t answer. Something told me I was warm.

“Before the ceremony started, Ceai and Koln were in the kitchen making their secret cookies,” I continued. “And during that time, I understand that you were responsible for being the lookout.”

“Yes…” Ceai said. “He was.”

“Interesting.” I let my smug face go wild. “It must have been pretty hard to act as a lookout in front of the kitchen and do Hadria’s hair and makeup in her room at the same time.” Everyone gasped.

Fuck yes. I hated this guy the second I met him, and now I had him cornered.

“It appears I must come clean...” Nair’s face softened. “I lied to the Madam about standing guard.” Huh?

“You mean… you weren’t being our lookout?” Ceai asked.

“I apologize, Madam.” Nair bowed his head. “You see, the time you use the kitchen is typically long after dinner. A time when no one dares go near it.” He looked back up, just as calm as ever. “Therefore, I must admit that I sometimes chose to engage in my other duties instead of keeping watch. Last night… was one of those times.” Come on, no one was stupid enough to buy that shitty excuse.

“Well that’s a relief.” The Count laughed. “It was just a misunderstanding then.” I stood immediately corrected.

“You were with Hadria then.” I wasn’t letting that slide. “And that means you hypnotized her to kill the Count! Hell, it was probably you that hypnotized Violetta to try and kill me too!”

“Y-Yeah!” Violetta piped up. She seemed kind of lost, but I appreciated the support where I could get it.

“And what proof do you have to back up those claims?” Nair let out a sigh. “I may have been with Madam Hadria before the ceremony, but there are plenty of vampires standing right here in this room that had just as much of an opportunity to hypnotize her as I did.”

“Uh-oh…” Violetta grabbed her horns. “They did, didn’t they?”

Did they though? There was only one way to find out, and it was the only shot I had left at putting this fucker in his place.

“Count,” I said. “Try hypnotizing Hadria.”

“W-What?” The Count stammered.

“Hypnotize her. Just make her clap or something. If you don’t… we’ll never know the truth.” I kept my eyes locked on Nair as I spoke. He kept his locked on me, not even breaking his glare to blink.

“It’s okay, daddy.” Hadria walked up in front of him. “We need to find out the truth. Just like Lyili.” Why not ‘just like Ryley’?

“Okay.” The Count’s nose dripped with snot, tears streaming down his cheeks. I don’t think he could be intimidating anymore even if he tried. “I’ll do it.” He took a deep breath, staring into his daughter’s eye, and then… nothing happened.

“Did you do it?” Hadria asked.

The Count nodded. “Yes.”

Hadria scratched her head. “Did it work?”

I sighed. “Uhh… are you clapping?”

“No.” Hadria shrugged. “I guess not.”

“And there’s your answer,” Nair said. “Madam Hadria can’t be hypnotized. The trauma of last night simply jumbled her memory.”

“I’m not done.” I felt a smile creep across my face again. “I need to have Hadria take her eyepatch off first.”

Nair tensed up. “E-Excuse me?”

“Ooo, you wanna see?” Hadria clapped her hands together. “It’s really gross!”

“Save the clapping for when you’re hypnotized,” I said. “I want to see it. After all… I think it’s clear who had the only chance to see Hadria with her eyepatch off. There was only one person here that was responsible for doing Hadria's makeup and he's standing right there.”

“Madam!” Nair took a step forward. “There’s no need to listen to this lowlife…”

“Don’t you fucking move!” the Count yelled. In an instant, Koln, Inel, and Bani all had their guns on Nair. The Count continued. “Sweetheart, please remove your patch… and open your eye.”

“You got it.” Hadria wrapped her dainty fingers around the edges of the square eyepatch and pulled it up off her head. She opened her eyelids to reveal a gaping dark red hole. She wasn’t lying.

It was kind of gross.

“I’m going to faint, Ryley.” Violetta latched onto my arm. I probably wasn’t the best thing to use for support right now. I was pretty close to fainting too.

“Look into my eyes,” the Count said. She stared up at him, hole still gaping, and then… she clapped.

And a bang rang out through the room.

A gun. Someone fired a gun. Did I get hit? No… I didn’t feel anything. Nair was on the floor, Hadria standing over him. What the hell just happened?

Nair had his hand pressed up against his nose, blood seeping through the spaces between his fingers. Wow, she fucked him up.

“I’m disappointed in you, Nair…” Hadria’s voice sent a chill down my spine. “Not only do you try to poison my father, you shoot him too?”

That’s when I realized that the Count was holding his stomach.

“Dear!” Ceai screamed. She ran to his side and caught him just as he collapsed.

Violetta punched me in the arm. “Ryley, what do we do?” Why was I the one responsible for this and why was my arm being punished for it?

“W-W-We need to get him a doctor. Demons had doctors, right?” My mind was racing. “Uhh… Koln, grab Nair so he can’t get away.”

“On it.” Koln bent down, heaving Nair up from under his armpits. Inel hurried over to help hold the Count. Bani dashed out of the room to get help.

“Ryley Allard!” Nair screamed, blood dripping down his face. “You… You disgust me!”

“Sorry, not the first time I’ve been told that,” I said. “Get a lot prettier and you might actually hurt my feelings.”

“You’d better watch yourself,” Nair continued, his voice ragged. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with!” Yeah, okay.

Before I could retort with a witty remark, I noticed Nair’s mouth. Was he… chewing something?

“Koln!” I yelled. “His mouth! He has something in his mouth!”

It was too late. Nair let out a gasp, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Then he burst into flames, slipping right through Koln’s hands. All that was left was a pile of grey powder sitting in the center of the room.

As Hadria would say… He bit the dust.