Chapter 108: The Golden Gaze
As she thought crossed her mind, her hand trembled with rage, just as it had when she once saw a darkrot tear the heart from a five-year-old child. Her eyes flickered gold as she struggled to control her powers. Ivan and Cece, seated on either side of her, immediately sensed the shift in the air. Ivan exchanged a look with her, and understandingly, she gave him a subtle nod.
Cece silently placed her warm hand over Evelyn’s and whispered, "Stay calm, Evelyn. You don’t want to do anything here," reminding her of the negative consequences her actions could bring upon both herself and Ivan. With great effort, Eve forced her powers back under control, suppressing the surge within her.
While others failed to notice anything unusual about Eve, one pair of keen eyes caught everything, and they belonged to none other than Duke Regulus Silver, Damien and Cece’s father and cousin brother of King Iskara. He observed how his daughter was subtly supporting the lumen princess. He thought the reports he received about Cece and Damien’s daily activities had not been wrong then.
His lips curled into a small smile, though what surprised Regulus more than anything was Ivan’s open declaration of the princess when he had walked into the courtroom. A quiet warmth filled him as he felt genuinely happy for his nephew to have found someone in his otherwise lonely life. After all, he considered Ivan as his own son, just as much as he did Damien.
While the courtroom was in total uproar over the number of revelations Ivan laid bare, he did not stop there.
"Alex," he called in a low voice.
Alex stepped forward with multiple scrolls, and one by one, Ivan began reading out names of the arrested ministers, additional misdeeds such as bribery, tax evasion, prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, and even passing information to the bordering countries, each crime backed with undeniable proof. He then passed the documents to Cassian, who in turn passed them to the King and the Duke of Silver Crest, Regulus Silver.
The ministers who had been causing a ruckus now fell silent as they looked upon the extensive reports that were practically a death warrant for all those involved in it.
It was Regulus Silver who finally broke the silence. His calm yet commanding voice ripped through "Now, Minister Ozen, do you have anything to say on this? Early, you dared to shout at the prince, which makes me wonder... if you perhaps had a hand in aiding Marquess Lester and other corrupt ministers in carrying out these vile deeds detailed in the reports?"
"D-Duke Silver, are you insinuating that I am involved in these horrific crimes?!" Ozen barked, but inwardly, he was sweating bullets...after all, he may or may not have helped Marquess Lester in tax evasion fraud to earn some extra coins on the side.
Duke Silver’s sharp eyes narrowed at him, his tone cutting as he openly challenged him, "And what if I am? Weren’t you the one who dared insinuate that Prince Ivan was threatening you, when in truth he was merely reporting and had asked to be interrupted?"
Everyone straightened at the table as all the ministers were aware of how fiercely loyal Duke Silver was to the crown. He was known as the white tiger, someone who would tear a man apart once he locked onto his prey.
Ozen shrank back under the weight of the duke’s words and muttered weakly, "I...apologise for my earlier interruptions and my words."
But Duke Silver wasn’t finished. His voice resonated with measured authority as he warned, "See that you remember this next time the crown is speaking...before you blatantly dare to disrupt the court proceedings."
"Yes, Your Grace," Ozen replied quickly, his face turned red from being reprimanded like a child in front of everyone in the court.
After reviewing all the evidence, King Iskara finally spoke in a booming voice, "It seems my compassion has been mistaken for my weakness. It is time you all are reminded of which Kingdom you reside in and whom you serve. As your King, I will never tolerate betrayal, and the price of treason will always be severe. There is a reason why certain laws are absolute because, when broken, their cost falls heavily on the innocent citizens who have placed their trust in us."
"Every single minister present here is meant to serve this kingdom, not yourselves. There are many things I turn a blind eye to, but I will never tolerate crimes such as these. Therefore, I hereby pass a decree that all traitors will be executed publicly tomorrow. Their families shall be stripped of all their titles, wealth, and they shall have no place in this kingdom anymore. Any of their family members found complicit in the captive’s crimes will meet the same fate."
He then looked at Cassian, "Bring all their families to me later, I will sift through their memories myself to determine whether they are fit to live or not."
"I hear your decree, Your Majesty," Cassian said.
And others followed, "We hear you decree, Your Majesty."
Iskara then looked at Ivan, "Good work, Prince Ivan. Is there anything else that has to be reported?"
"There is, Your Majesty. It concerns those who were involved in orchestrating the captivity of Princess Evelyn," Ivan replied.
King Iskara gave him a nod, "You have my permission."
"Thank you,Your Majesty," Ivan said, then signaled to Caleb. Moments later, Caleb returned, dragging a human woman with brown hair inside the court. She looked dull and dirty, but when her eyes fell on Evelyn sitting before her, she was stunned to her bones to find her alive. She then growled at her and glared at her with open spite.
"The letter Princess Evelyn mentioned, the one forged in my handwriting, under my name, was written by this woman, Kayla Michael," Ivan said, gesturing towards her. "She devised an elaborate plan to have Princess Evelyn killed, and she conspired with none other than Drake Viremont, the son of Lester Viremont."
One of the ministers asked, "Why would this woman want to take Princess Evelyn’s life?"
Another minister followed, "Is Drake Viremont involved in Lester Viremont’s crimes?"
Ivan answered, "Kayla Michael harboured a twisted obsession with Drake Viremont, who himself has been long obsessed with Princess Evelyn. To persuade him, she obtained a forbidden scroll containing instructions on how to perform a slave bond."
Hushed murmurs rippled through the air, knowing how sensitive the topic was to His Majesty.
"Upon further investigation, it was discovered that she had devised this elaborate plan with Drake Viremont, persuading him by promising information on how to perform a slave bond on Princess Evelyn. While Drake agreed, she hired local goons to kill Princess Evelyn instead of allowing him to mark her. In the end, those goons turned out to be darkrots who had already been hiding in the city under the guise of ordinary vampires. That was how Princess Evelyn was taken to Welfort."
"But she is a human. The human king will demand proof," one of the ministers said.
"We have witnesses who caught her red-handed in the act. Lady Cece and Lord Edward, you may recount everything you witnessed.
Cece and Edward rose from their seats and relayed all they had seen the previous night.
"Where is the scroll, then?" another minister asked.
"The scroll is somewhere safe and will be destroyed once we show it to the human king," King Iskara replied.
"But is there any other evidence against the woman?" Minister Ozen asked.
"We have two witnesses who caught her red-handed with the scroll, which bears the seal of her native land. On top of that, she had confessed to her crimes already." Ivan answered.
He shifted his sharp gaze to the woman, who continued to glare at Evelyn so fiercely, it made him want to gouge her eyes out. When his eyes turned to Evelyn, to his surprise, he saw her staring directly back at Kayla. What threw him off more was that Eve showed no fear or distress; her face was as calm as the lake, and her eyes flickered gold.
Amidst this, Cassian asked Kayla, "Kayla Michael, do you confess to your crimes of being in possession of a forbidden scroll, along with the charges of attempted murder against Princess Evelyn Lumaeth Starforged?"
Every eye in the courtroom turned to Kayla as they waited for her to respond. Kayla, who continued to stare at Evelyn, spoke almost robotically, "Yes, I accept all the charges against me. I was the one who planned to have Princess Evelyn killed so that I could be the only one in Drake Viremont’s life. I hired the goons to kill her."
Ministers were shocked, wondering what was wrong with the woman. She had one chance to escape by denying the charges, yet she readily accepted everything.
While everyone’s eyes were fixed on Kayla, Duke Regulus and Ivan’s attention lingered on Evelyn. They both noticed her eyes glowing gold as she continued to stare at Kayla.
Cassian asked again, "Was Drake Viremont a part of this plan?"
Kayla responded once more in that same robotic tone, "Yes, he was involved as well. In fact, Drake has been so obsessed with this witch that he even went as far as drugging her with a strong aphrodisiac potion during the Blood Moon Masquerade."
