"Interesting. Now look at this," Alec showed a small bottle to the man. "Do you recognize this bottle?" The same bottle was presented by Cassandra a while ago as evidence of Lauren and her maidservant’s conspiracy.
"I do," the merchant nodded. "I buy my drugs and poisons from lands in the west but I change its lids with customized ones to have my own trademark."
After checking the bottle he said, "This one is a spellbound poison that needs to be put in a silver weapon, one drop of it is enough to kill a person’s heart within seconds. This is rare though and I only managed to get one bottle, which was bought by Princess Cassandra. I know all of the merchants in the town and I believe none of them sells this kind of poison due to its rarity."
The Queen whose face had gone red in anger was about to open her mouth but Alec spoke before she could.
"Your Majesty, don’t tell me you are going to accuse us again of bribing the merchant?" Alec offered a polite smile but his eyes screamed hostility.
"Selling poisons is illegal and admitting it to the court means death. A merchant who is wise in business can’t be too dumb to do it just for money. What I’m trying to say is, I brought this man here by force. You can say I’m good at investigating crimes so I managed to trace where the poison came from. It would be useless working for the council for years if I won’t use my skills to support my wife."
Cassandra turned pale.
"One more thing, the night when it happened, the council did a thorough research in the castle. But I don’t remember seeing that thing in the maids’ quarters," Alec pointed at the small box that looked like a book outside but was actually hollow inside, which was on the table in front of the Supreme House, the box that Cassandra claimed she found the poison in.
"My fellow councilmen can attest to it. Though none of them are here, should the Supreme House demand their testimony, I shall request for their presence," Alec added.
"That is not necessary," Lady Amber said as if she was dismissing the topic.
Queen Thalia panicked. "No, no, don’t believe their bullshits! That bitch’s maidservant confessed-"
"Because you threatened her," Lauren cut her off.
"How bold of you to accuse your queen!"
"Sally had always been loyal to me, but you used the poor maid’s weakness to make her submit to you. You threatened her with her lover’s life, the gardener Lucas." Lauren didn’t know Sally had a lover, but after looking into it for the past couple of days, she found out Sally had a discreet relationship with one of the gardeners.
"Your Majesty, why are you so hellbent on defending Cassandra? Instead of looking for your son’s murderer, you are putting the blame on me who has nothing to do with it. Don’t you want to seek justice for Casper’s death? Or is it because..." Lauren raised a brow. "all this time you are aware of what Cassandra did? Perhaps you thought the dying Casper was of no use, and to get rid of me you two conspired to frame me for his murder."
The Queen’s eyes widened. King Martin who was silently listening to all of it started to doubt everything he thought he knew. Bloody feuds in royal families had always been inevitable. He wanted to defend his wife and daughter but he wanted to know the truth behind his son’s death, and of all people, he knew the best how cunning Thalia and Cassandra could be. With the evidence Alec and Lauren presented, Martin didn’t know what to believe now.
"This evil girl is being too much, Martin! Now she is accusing me of killing my own child! I am still grieving for my son’s death! How could she!" Queen Thalia wailed to gain sympathy, but the acting chief of the Supreme House, Lady Amber, looked at the queen suspiciously.
The woman may look young and inexperienced, but as an elite vampiress who was trained to replace her father’s position in the future, she knew very well how to catch a person living beneath a mask. With the small amount of time she was observing the royal family of Evardin, she could only say one thing about them, which was, all of them had twisted minds and things would continue to be chaotic unless a strong side would prevail.
"If there is no more evidence or witness to be presented, it is time for us to give our verdicts," Lady Amber said which silenced the ministers’ chattering.
In a court trial judged by the Supreme House, each member would vote if the accused was guilty or not, and the final verdict would be based on how many gave a guilty verdict.
However, before the Supreme House could give out their verdicts, the loud breaking of the window’s glass echoed in the courtroom.
"I don’t think the verdict is still necessary," Lauren said after everyone witnessed how Cassandra jumped off the courtroom’s window.
"Catch the princess!" One of the ministers yelled at the royal guard inside the hall as it was crystal clear why Cassandra ran away even before the court trial ended.
The Queen fell on the floor when she fainted. Her maidservants quickly came to her aid. Meanwhile, King Martin was too shocked to give a reaction. The Supreme House rose from their seats with their faces void of any emotion as if seeing such an event was not new to them.
"Let’s have Prince Alec’s court trial the day after tomorrow, King Martin. What transpired today must have overwhelmed everyone, so I shall give you time to sort things out," Lady Amber said before looking at the couple who managed to outwit their offenders.
"Congratulations, Princess Lauren. You proved yourself innocent," Amber said with a small smile. Although Lauren sensed no hostility in it, she knew it wasn’t something that indicated friendliness.
"See you around, Prince Alec and Princess Lauren." Lady Amber glanced at Alec who was like a cold stone beside his wife before she and her subordinates left the courtroom.