"You devil, you cunning devil!" When the criminal was sentenced to life imprisonment, he yelled at Albert in despair.
"Oh, dear sir, see you in hell. Maybe in sixty years, I'll come to visit you." Albert tidied up the documents and answered casually. He had no interest in celebrating his victory.
Several nights in a row of four times made his waist and back ache.
If a knight knocked down a group of opponents in the arena, his supporters would ask him to perform the same in the next match.
If a merchant sold discounted goods one day, customers would complain that the goods at regular price were too expensive.
Likewise, if a man had sex four times in bed, he would be met with contemptuous and pitiful looks from his lover when he could only handle three times.
For Albert, the hot gift from the little wildcat was becoming increasingly difficult to resist. This had left a shadow on his pride as a man.
His witty remarks elicited applause from the audience. Being young, handsome, and single, Albert's popularity index was soaring.
In the First Court, Albert was getting more and more attention, and people were surprised to find that he had won the friendship of the wizard.
Master William had always had a cold face that kept others away. When people saw him greeting a junior court staff member with kindness, they wondered about the meaning behind it.
Perhaps this newcomer named Albert was Master William's relative? Or perhaps he was chosen as an apprentice because of his talent in magic?"
Regardless of the reason, when a person had a wizard standing behind him, it meant that his future was boundless.
If Albert knew about these speculations, he would probably laugh bitterly in his heart. Master William had tested his talent out of boredom and bluntly said, "Your affinity with arcane magic is no different from that of a stone."
When these rumors reached Jenny's ears, the little wildcat had curiously asked a lot of questions. Albert was helpless to stop her constant chatter and could only use his mouth and tongue to shut her up.
Of course, Albert also hoped that he could maintain this friendly relationship with Master William.
Human beings are a race that easily forgets suffering.
In less than half a month, the fear caused by the Flondeck serial killings gradually turned into an interesting topic to pass the time at the dinner table. People speculated about the identity of the killer and mocked the police's ability to solve the case.
"I'm a wizard, not a bloodhound. You can't expect me to sniff out the killer's whereabouts with my nose." William said after working hard for several days, and then he returned to his world of magic and alchemy.
Fortunately, the Midnight Butcher seemed to have evaporated from the human world and did not strike again.
The world calmed down again. The citizens no longer looked fearful and anxious. Except for the chief inspector of the patrol team who was urged by his superiors and gained a few more white hairs, everyone else was satisfied.
As the three-month probation period was drawing to a close, Albert looked forward to his new position with anticipation.
Despite the fact that the chief prosecutor Camilo held him in high regard and had expressed his support for Albert to stay at the First Court, Albert was cautious in expressing his gratitude for this promise. He hoped that everything would be done according to the rules.
After all, if even the most impartial court paid attention to personal relationships, then what in this world could be trusted?
Being a direct prosecutor at the First Court would be best, but if that didn't work out, going to the regional court was also an option.
Maybe it would be a little difficult, but he could find some part-time work on the side to make enough money to rent a spacious apartment with a balcony.
Albert had previously entrusted a real estate agent to inquire about several properties in his spare time, and had also visited a few of the properties recommended by the agent.
There were nobleman's old residence and some newly developed apartments, all of which were quite nice."
“Wow, it doesn't look like a house that's over forty years old. It's been maintained too perfectly. I love the rose garden in the backyard”
"This place is also great. Although it's an apartment building, the street view from the windows is really beautiful when viewed from above," said Jenny, who accompanied him. The little wildcat that accompanied him became excited at every location, and Albert saw the starlight of dreams in her beautiful eyes.
"I really want to move in here soon. Grandma hasn't enjoyed such a big bedroom yet." After bidding farewell to the real estate agent, Jenny sighed with lingering regret. Then she walked with Albert outside the house, gazing fascinatedly at the dreamy mansion until it was dark.
Happiness always makes everything lively.
Therefore, at the critical moment, Albert was extremely cautious and tried to avoid any unfavorable troubles.
And the source of trouble is the young lady of the Golden Sparrow Flower family, Penny.
It seems that this young lady has a particular preference for intelligent people.
On several occasions, she has invited him to dine together, and the dining locations are often the most famous restaurant on Diamond Street.
From the quality of the waiters there, one can tell that these restaurants are absolutely deserving of their reputation.
Each waiter was proficient in describing the taste of any vintage wine and what food it paired well with. They knew which side of the mouth was best to taste certain types of alcohol.
Even the headwaiter was fluent in several foreign languages and carried himself with the elegance of a gentleman.
Compared to them, Albert felt inferior in his taste and knowledge.
So every time they ordered food, Albert would remain silent and watch as Penny carefully considered whether the 34-year-old red wine would be better paired with goat cheese or blue cheese.
This young lady pursued perfection in everything she did, even to the point of being meticulous.
At first glance, Penny seemed like an arrogant young lady who treated those around her with disdain and kept everyone at a distance.
However, Albert sensed that it was just a facade and that the girl was actually very lonely on the inside.
Sometimes Albert would advise her to be friendlier to her colleagues, but Penny would make a disgusted expression and say, "What's the difference between someone who can't be excellent and lives their life in ignorance and a monkey? Why should I be friendly with a monkey?"
After being stung by the girl's sharp tongue a few times, Albert gave up on his efforts.
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Teaching a noble family's young lady about the ways of the world was not his duty, and there were already idle rumors spreading in the courtroom about an ambiguous relationship between a low-ranking nobleman and a wealthy young lady, which quickly spread through the First Court.
Albert began to avoid having too much contact with Penny outside of work, as it was a basic principle of survival for newcomers to keep a low profile.
However, it seemed that the young lady had a strong interest in Albert.
She saw him as a friend worth socializing with at the First Court, and their dinners were intermittent.
"How about this lamb eye stew? It was specially ordered," Penny asked. "It looks disgusting, but it tastes good. I quite like it."
God knows how Albert managed to swallow those round, rolling eyeballs.
"The taste... um, the taste is very strange, but quite good," Albert said with a forced smile out of courtesy.
After that, during their meals, Penny always served him the lamb eye stew that he found "quite good."
"You're a smart person, and I like smart people. Or should I say, the Leinshman family likes smart people," Penny suddenly said after several dinners.
"Um, you flatter me," Albert answered cautiously, knowing the young lady's intention of recruiting talent, as the Leinshman family had always regarded talent as the foundation for the prosperity and survival of their family.
Penny shook her wrist and the waiter standing in a corner of the salon hurried over with a silver teapot, refilling her cup with the brownish-red honey tea. She took a sip, satisfied, and continued, "Power, wealth, and desire always make reality seem helpless. You're very talented, but when you have gray hair and are still struggling for a living, still gazing at the position that should have belonged to you but has been occupied by monkeys, regret will crush you completely. But Leinshman will make sure that this regret no longer exists."
Walking out of the luxurious restaurant on Diamond Street, a carriage engraved with a gold sparrow flower emblem was parked at the door.
Passersby admired the two horses pulling the carriage with appreciative looks. Those who knew horses secretly marveled that although they were not purebred, they were at least descendants within three generations of purebred horses. Using them to pull a carriage was truly a luxurious act.
"Please consider, Leinshman never disappoints loyal people," Penny leaned out of the carriage and spoke as the carriage started to move.
The evening was gloomy, with dark clouds covering the moon since dusk. Albert stood on the street, ready to find an available carriage to go home, but after thinking for a while, he decided to walk instead.
Albert didn't know how many streets he had walked through.
As a young prosecutor, he dreamed of becoming someone important one day, but becoming a puppet of some family and replacing justice and freedom with the family's interests was not his pursuit.
No matter how exquisitely packaged, a puppet, even when playing the role of an emperor on stage, cannot escape being manipulated by strings.
"Find a polite reason to refuse it." Albert made a decision and then stopped at the corner. The various desserts in the shop window were emitting appetizing colors.
"Buy some for Jenny, she loves sweets." After counting the change in his wallet, Albert walked into the pastry shop. The sweet aroma immediately enveloped him, making his still unsatisfied stomach rumble with desire.
It wasn't easy to fill up on braised lamb eyes in the luxury hotel that emphasized etiquette.
"The girl's coffee brewing skills are good. These cakes would pair perfectly with it," Albert thought happily, holding the small box from the pastry shop and picking up the pace.
Greed, laziness, lust, pride, envy - humans always have various insatiable desires.
That's why we have laws, courts, and judges, because humans also fear being consumed by their own desires.
In the human world, laws restrain the behavior of most people, relatively fairly making society orderly.
Even the will of a king must be limited by the law.
But the Church is an exception.
"The secular law has no effect on the faithful." This is the belief held by everyone from the Pope to the lowliest of priests, and only religious courts and inquisitorial tribunals have the power to judge them.
If the Church were to keep this belief to itself, it would not be a big problem.
However, it is clear that the Church has already influenced and hindered the rule of law.
The most famous example is the right of sanctuary.
Every monastery and cathedral displays a wooden cross on the back door, which serves as a sign of safety for fugitives.
Any non-heretic, even the most heinous criminal, can gain inviolable protection by touching the cross on the door, shouting "Requesting sanctuary!" and donating all of their possessions to the Light.
No one dares to enter the monastery for an arrest, "the church is a kingdom of this world, where the gods thrive," and the Church will never allow the trampling of divine authority.
Of course, the person seeking sanctuary can only live their life in the monastery, leaving the premises means forfeiting the right of sanctuary.
Although they must live the life of a penitent for the rest of their lives, those who are truly desperate will still choose this path. To live, to continue to witness the sunrise and sunset, is always better than to kiss the wet, cold blade of the guillotine.
Norton Philip is the man who made this choice.
In the records of the First Court, Norton was a cruel and greedy adventurer, and the spirit of nobility and chivalry was obviously a joke to him.
He once organized a privateer team to harass and plunder enemy caravans, and in the eyes of the Byron people, he was a hero. At social gatherings, the scars on Norton's body often elicited admiring sighs from the ladies.
Until one day, a team member in the privateer team was forced to sell a gold button engraved with four black erect lions due to gambling debts, and the hero became a wanted criminal.
The four black erect lions were the coat of arms of Count Hotchkiss.
And that button should have belonged to a young member of the Count's family. This member, who disappeared a few years ago with a bag of gold coins, never appeared in public again.
According to the seller's confession, the Count's nephew was quietly lying three feet deep underground in some unknown woods at the moment.
The person who committed this crime was Norton Philip.
Before the police and the angry private guard of the Count could set out, the shrewd knight hid in the cathedral of Flondeck with several boxes of treasure.
The large amount of wealth made the bishop of the cathedral grin, and he sanctimoniously declared that the seal of light protected the sinner and that he would repent his sins in the cathedral for the rest of his life.
Even the Count's anger could not shake the authority of the church.
So the killer spent twenty years safely in the cathedral.
The confession of this murderer is crucial to a case in Albert's hands.
Albert believes that the suspect he is about to accuse was a member of Norton's privateer team.
"We need to find a way to get him out," Albert closed the case and frowned, thinking.
The next afternoon, at the police department, Detective Lime received a notification from his personal secretary.
"Mr. Fraley, the assistant prosecutor of the First Court, wishes to meet with you."
"Let him in, but give him a heads up beforehand. We are very busy, and I can only give him fifteen minutes at most."
Lime didn't like dealing with prosecutors. These bureaucrats who never stood at the front lines always complained. "Oh, I'm going to court now. Haven't you found the accomplices of the suspects yet?" They always said it in a dismissive tone. But if they caught the suspect, they would say, "Oh, the criminal is in your hands. It shouldn't be hard for you to get more evidence out of him, right?"
This attitude of not empathizing with others made all the detectives in the patrol team very annoyed.
Now even an assistant prosecutor has come to the door. Lime impatiently took a sip of water and made a temporary decision, "Ten minutes is enough for him."
Ten seconds later, Albert opened the door to Lime's office. Inspector Lime was around fifty years old, with a sturdy build and a stern expression, clearly from a noble family with a strong tradition of knighthood.
"He's a person who gets things done," Albert thought.
"What can I do for you?" Lime gestured for him to sit down and asked directly.
"I want to consult on the case of the murder of Count Hotchkiss's nephew twenty years ago, where the culprit evaded pursuit using sanctuary laws," Albert said without the customary pleasantries.
"Ah, yes, I remember that case," Lime recalled. "I was just a regular member of the patrol team back then, but unfortunately, there was nothing we could do because the church had sanctuary rights."
"I have to admit, Norton Philip is a very vigilant fellow. My investigators noticed that he often rides out in a black cross carriage at night, but as everyone knows, the church claims the carriage is an extension of their sanctuary, and since he never gets out of the carriage, there's no way to apprehend him."
The black cross carriage is a specialized carriage for high-ranking church officials, named after the black cross painted on its carriage. Surrounding the carriage and forcing the occupants to get out would be viewed as a provocation.
"In fact, the Count considered this to be the most shameful disgrace of his family. There is evidence that he had thought of using bribery to persuade the church to expel the killer, but no clergyman would have the courage to accept such a naked transaction."
"Anyway, as long as Philip does not walk out of the church voluntarily, he will be able to escape punishment." Inspector Lime glanced at his watch, ready to end the conversation.
"What if I can make him come out voluntarily?" Albert said.
Lime thought he had misheard, "Can you do that?"
"If we have another hour, we can discuss my plan in detail."
Lime looked at Albert, and Assistant Prosecutor calmly accepted the inspector's gaze. After a moment, the inspector shouted loudly at the door, "Secretary, bring Mr. Fraley a glass of water, and notify the detectives that the meeting will be postponed for an hour."