Even though Harvey would have preferred to go with Susan and Williams to confront Lance, he couldn't since he also needed to be at the assembly, which would be starting at any moment, and he needed to keep an eye on what was going on.
His eyes were fixed on Alicia, who was looking around the place as though she was searching for someone even though everyone was present now.
"As you all know, the king is ill and cannot join us. The Queen, Prince Ivan, and I will be in charge of this assembly and trial," Damon announced, causing Alicia's heart to skip a beat.
The King was ill? Why now? Why did he have to be ill at the same time as Harold, who was unconscious? Was he aware of what was happening to her? Alicia wondered as tears gathered in her eyes.
Something told her that someone had murdered Beth and they were trying to make her take the fall for it. Or else, why was everyone who was supposed to help her unable to make it?
"We are all gathered here for the trial of Princess Amber, Prince Harold's bride, who killed one of us, Beth, and injured Princess Tyra," Damon announced, and some of the members of the assembly began to whisper amongst themselves, while some looked at her with contempt.
"You can't say it's a trial and then say she killed someone in the same breath," Sir Richard corrected from where he was standing on the right side of Damon, and Alicia almost sighed in relief, glad that she at least had one person who was reasonable.
The Queen turned to him with displeasure and tried to conceal her anger as she said, "It's only called a trial because we want her to admit to what she has done. Regardless of what she says, we already know that she is guilty," the Queen said, and the others nodded in agreement.
"If that is the case, then you should sentence her already and not waste our time questioning her," Sir Richard said, dispelling any element of hope that had started to bud in Alicia.
"If it were your daughter who was hurt or killed would you be interrupting this assembly in this manner?" Beth's father asked, his eyes red with rage as he glared at Sir Richard, not minding the fact that Sir Richard was his superior.
"Please, we shouldn't fight over this, Sir Richard. You should let the King's Beta speak," one of the other aristocrats said, and the hall became quiet, with all eyes on Alicia, who was kneeling in between the two places where the aristocrats stood, with a weak Paulina kneeling beside her.
"What happened on the night of the banquet?" Damon asked as he looked down at Alicia with a mixture of disgust and disapproval on his face.
He was glad that this had happened to her and not anyone else since there was no other person he despised as much as he did her. Right from the first time he set his eyes on her during her wedding to Prince Harold, he had known she was a bad choice for the prince and she was going to be trouble.
She had proved it almost immediately when she dared to open her wide mouth to challenge him in front of everyone on that day. And not only had she challenged him in her kingdom, but she had also dared to bring her mannerlessness with her to the moon kingdom. She deserved whatever she got.
"I have no idea," Alicia cried, hoping he would believe her even though she could tell from the look on his face that he hated her.
Of course he would. She had never given him any reason to like her. In the same way, he had never given her any reason to like or respect him like everyone else did. If only she had known such a day would come when her life would be in his hands, she would have tried harder to maintain a cordial relationship with him.
If only the king or Harold were here, then she would at least have been sure of a fair trial, but now she wasn't sure of it seeing as no one here seemed to be on her side. From the look on their faces, she could tell that they all thought she was guilty already.
Who was responsible for all this? Who hated her so much that they would go to this extent just to do this to her? The only people she knew in the palace who didn't get along with her and hated her guts were the Queen, Ivan, and Beth.
She couldn't imagine the queen hurting her daughter just to set her up for something like this, so who could it be? And where was Susan right now?
"You have no idea? How can you say you have no idea after you did that to my daughter?"
Beth's father roared as he took a step forward, and immediately Paulina started wailing in fear that he was going to hurt Alicia.
Ivan placed a hand on Beth's father's arm to stop him, "I understand that this is difficult for you, but please exercise a little patience," Ivan said reasonably, and the Queen gave him a nod before stepping forward.
"Princess Amber, where were you on the night of the banquet?" The Queen asked calmly.
Alicia's first instinct was to say she was in her chamber as usual, but she couldn't bring herself to say so since she had no memory of the entire day and she didn't even know if she had been in her chamber or Harold's chamber. What if she said she had been in her chamber, and maybe an accident had happened like the last time water had flooded her chamber during the day?
No matter how much she thought about it, the only response she could give was an honest one, and from what she knew about cases like this, saying she had no idea where she had been that night was only going to end up making things worse for her.
So instead of responding to the queen's question, she closed her eyes as she tried once again to summon her memories of that day, but like before, her head began to ache to the point that she almost passed out, so she stopped and shook her head, causing it to throb again. "I can't remember anything. I don't know what is happening, but I have no memory of that entire day. You have to believe me, please. Someone is trying to set me up. I'm innocent!" Alicia cried helplessly, and Paulina cried harder when she saw how helpless Alicia was at that moment.
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