My Taming System Makes Me Overpowered

Chapter 42: Playing the Victim

"Forgive my tardiness, Your Highness,"

Everwood said, his smooth, aristocratic voice cutting through the ambient hum of the courtroom as he offered a flawless, low bow.

"The security meetings are indeed paramount, but a matter of sever urgency was brought to my notice."

The Elven Queen leaned forward slightly on her amber throne, her piercing eyes locking onto the bound, hooded figure standing beside the Elder. Her expression was unreadable, but the subtle shift in her posture radiated a suffocating pressure.

"And what matter could possibly justify your absence, Elder Everwood?" the Queen asked, her voice like liquid silk, yet laced with a dangerous undercurrent. "And who do you dare bring into my presence in heavy bindings during a closed-door council session?"

Everwood straightened up, a dark, knowing grin playing on his lips. He stepped closer to Vince, his long emerald robes brushing against the polished heartwood floor.

"I bring you a present, Your Highness," Everwood announced theatrically, his voice resonating throughout the circular colosseum. "A being that this Canopy has not laid eyes upon in centuries."

With a swift, deliberate movement, Everwood reached out and pulled Vince’s deep hood completely down, his elegant fingers shifting the strands of messy dark hair away from the sides of his head.

"A human," Everwood declared flatly.

For a single, heavy beat, the entire courtroom fell into a stunned, absolute silence. Then, like a sudden thunderstorm, the hall erupted.

A chaotic roar of loud murmurs, gasped breath, and sharp murmurs ricocheted across the wooden tiers. Dozens of high-ranking elven nobles and stern-faced elders leaned forward over the benches, their faces instantly twisting into masks of pure, unadulterated spite and disgust. To them, the sight of a human let alone a magic less one standing in the sacred heart of their sovereign capital was a profound insult, a disgusting stain on their pure, mana-infused domain.

Vince kept his gaze fixed on the dais. He watched the Queen’s face closely. For a fraction of a second, her amber eyes widened with genuine, stark surprise. But almost instantly, the surprise melted away, her features freezing back into a cold, emotionless mask of regal absolute authority.

"Silence," a powerful elder from the upper tiers barked, standing up and pointing a trembling, ring-covered finger down at Vince. "This is an outrage! A harbinger of war! Elder Everwood, have you lost your senses? Bringing a filthy, human parasite into the royal presence? He is a spy, a virus sent to breach our internal wards! He must be cast into the deepest root dungeons to rot!"

The accusations began to fly from every corner of the room, a cacophony of aristocratic outrage. Vince, however, remained entirely unfazed. His analytical mind was already running numbers, calculating the psychological baseline of the room. They weren’t reacting out of strategic logic; they were reacting out of ancient, deeply hardwired biological prejudice.

The Queen slowly raised a single, elegant hand.

The entire colosseum went dead silent in an instant. The crushing weight of her command was absolute, suffocating the voices of the elders before they could even finish their sentences. She looked down from her high amber throne, her gaze landing on Vince like a scientist looking at a microscopic speck of dust.

"The laws of the Ancestral Core Canopy regarding unauthorized human entry are absolute, regardless of their magical capabilities,"

The Queen spoke, her angelic voice entirely devoid of warmth or empathy.

"You have crossed into sovereign territory, human. By the decree of the First Canopy, your life is forfeit. Guards, take him to the courtyard gates. Executive execution by sunset."

Damn,

Vince thought to himself, his purple eyes narrowing as he felt the chilling finality in her tone.

She is as cold as she is hot. I doubt trying to play smart will work here. Time to change tactics.

Realizing his "valuable tactical asset" angle would likely be ignored by a monarch this detached, Vince intentionally let his shoulders slump. He forced a rare, fragile vulnerability into his expression, his voice cutting through the quiet room in a sharp, defensive ring.

"A spy?"

Vince scoffed, playing the role of the desperate victim with flawless precision.

"If I were a spy, I would have a weapon, a plan, or at least a single spark of mana to defend myself. I didn’t breach your borders to insult your crown. I am running for my life."

The Queen didn’t flinch, her expression remaining completely static.

"I am being ruthlessly hunted,"

Vince continued, making sure his voice carried to every elder in the room.

"Four catastrophic human beings—the Dread Commanders—have officially crossed your southern provincial lines. They are tracking me, destroying everything in their path. I am nothing but a defenseless human caught in their crosshairs."

The Queen listened to his pitch, her amber eyes unwavering. When he finished, she didn’t show panic. She didn’t call for a defensive deployment. She simply rested her chin on her hand, looking down at him with utter, casual defiance.

"Do you think the names of your human pursuers carry weight within these walls, boy?"

The Queen said softly, a trace of freezing arrogance lacing her words.

"The Dread Commanders or whatever you call your pursuers, your lack of mana, your desperate flight... it changes nothing. It is a simple equation. As far as they, or you, are within my territory, you will all meet the exact same fate. Our wards do not discriminate between the hunter and the prey. Within our borders, You humans are all one and the same"

She waved her hand to dismiss him, and two massive royal paladins instantly stepped forward, their heavy golden plate armor clanking as their gauntleted hands gripped Vince’s shoulders to drag him toward the executioner’s block.

But just as their iron grip tightened on his flesh, a sudden, sharp sound resonated inside the absolute silence of Vince’s mind.

DING.

The cold, mechanical chime of the system rang out, accompanied by a flashing purple text box that materialized directly across his vision.