As the courtroom turned chaotic, Rosalind broke into tears. However, there not much sympathy for her in the court room or in any part of the kingdom. Even at the Thorin estate were the servants had long been aware of what she had done, they condemned her for her foolishness once again.
"Did this plan work?" Lord Dresden asked her.
Rosalind shook her head, wiping away her tears with a cotton handkerchief. "The crown princess found out about the plot in turn and she punished me for my crime. At the time, she did not want to create a scandal before her wedding so she swept the matter under the rug." She craned her neck, peeking at Sigrid. "I am sorry, I should have been a better friend. I am really sorry."
Sigrid did not respond to the apologies. Rosalind did not deserve to be forgiven because if her plot had worked at the time, she would have been ruined. She was lucky because she had a system and knowledge about the novel which saved her.
As murmurs continued to rise, Lord Dresden sent Rosalind away. "Miss Rosalind, thank you for your bravery in admitting your mistake publicly."
While she retreated under the protection of five red knights due to the ugly stares of many citizens in the courtroom, Lord Dresden asked the witness to step forward,
It was a servant of the Ye family, none other Lord Oliver Ye’s personal butler. Oliver Ye could not believe his eyes when he saw his own servant about to testify against him.
"You bastard." he shouted in rage.
The Lord mage waved his hand and chanted a short spell, sealing Oliver’s mouth. A few people that had no idea who the man was curiously asked others about his identity.
The question was soon answered as Lord Dresden started the questioning.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present my next witness Mr. Mitchell Bertram. He has served the Ye family for forty years and specifically served Lord Ye for thirteen years. I believe that this is more than enough time for him to understand the inner workings of the Ye house."
The nods around the room were very many, this was a fact that many agreed upon.
"Mr. Bertram, can you tell this court about what you confessed to me when you were in custody."
Mr. Bertram nodded. "Yes Sir, M’lordship, I do declare that I will be telling the truth about Lord Oliver, aye." He begun, his voice a mix of whimsy and bewilderment. "Lord Oliver doth prance ’bout the estate and kingdom like a peacock in a thunderstorm, flappin’ his arms as if summonin’ the very winds o’calamity!"
In the courtroom, there were a few snickers at the peacock comparison. Some people were amused by Mr. Bertram’s accent and pronunciation of words, it was similar to that of individuals that had been born and raised in the North where he was from.
Lord Dresden held back a chuckle, cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Bertram, please stick to the facts."
"Facts, yer lordship? Oh I gots ’em, I does. M’lordship, Lord Oliver is a most foul man I say and so is the rest of them Ye brood. Bad blood I tell you, cursed lot they are. Lord Oliver be sneakin’ ’bout like a mouse in the moonlight, gobblin’ on the servant girls and promisin’ to make honest women outta them, he be leavin’ em with big o’ bellies. Her grace, she be drownin’ em poor lassies and dumpin’ em in a well. A dastardly deed most foul!"
The courtroom murmured in amusement but were swept up in anger even more. A woman leaped from the crowd and tried to reach Oliver Ye but she was apprehended by the red knights quickly.
"Give me back my daughter you lecherous bastard, I knew it was a lie when you claimed she had run off with a footman."
She was taken out of the courtroom but the screams of her demand for justice echoed in the room for many seconds before the crowd settled down once again.
Lord Dresden turned to the king and then the crowd, "Ladies and Lords, while the unfortunate death of those servant girls is not connected to the crime being tried, it does speak towards the ugly character of the accused Oliver Ye, his mother and the Ye house entirely." He raised another piece of paper and many people squinted as they stared but they could not read the contents.
Those at home managed to view the contents because a camera zoomed in on the picture.
"Twelve maids have gone missing from the Ye house in the last three years." Lord Dresden shared. "As I speak now, the well in question is being investigated. Before the day ends, we will know accurately how many young women were buried in that mass grave and forgotten." He turned to Mr. Bertram again. "What can you tell us about Lord Oliver’s motive for wanting the crown princess dead? Please be professional Mr. Bertram."
"Aye, yer lordship," he replied, bowing deeply. "What I repeat was declared by his grace Lord Ye imself’. It were many a year ago when the first Lord Ye bought imself’ a cushy noble title. T’was supposed to bring im’ glory amongst the ton but it did not. The others looked down on im’ for bein’ a humble man with no true noble roots.
The lord be wantin’ to purify his roots so he courted a true noble lady not for the bonds o’ affection, nay, but for ancestral arithmetic. All o’ the Ye’s followed im’ down the purification road. Clean bloodlines, they say. An’ I say...folly, yer Lordship. Folly o. the highest order. T’was why he was so angry with Crown princess Sigrid, when the betrothal was turned down."
The courtroom erupted into murmurs as they put together what Mr. Bertram was testifying to. The Ye family were not originally noble, they used money to buy a royal title. That was not enough to make them fit in with other nobles who looked down on them for their origins. So, they started marrying from nobles families or into noble families to purify their bloodline.
"No wonder they only marry from or into the most traditional or highest ranked noble families." Someone loudly shouted.
Some of the noble lords and ladies in attendance had relatives that married into the Ye family or from it. Hearing this revelation from the butler made them very uncomfortable.
Even the women that had married into the Ye family were outraged. They were watching this trial under watchful eyes of red knights and they could not believe that they had been tricked into marriage just to purify the bloodline of the Ye family.
"Foul, indeed it is a foul family." One of them lunged at her husband.
She was the first, and others followed.