A Death in Court

A week passed.

And the day of the trial arrived.

It was five in the morning, precisely. The trial would begin at eight. Only three hours remained. The first rays of sunlight were starting to come. The atmosphere was supposed to be very serene—yes, you read that right: supposed to be.

Because a huge crowd of people was already rushing toward the courthouse at that hour to secure the front seats and watch the trial.

Not because they wanted to show how supportive they were, but for their own gain.

This wasn't a fairy tale, but reality: everyone here was selfish, caring only for themselves.

The gamblers for their bets.

The nobles for their profits.

The common people came to watch a circus they didn't need to pay admission for.

Everyone was masked, chameleons who appeared one way but were something else entirely.

* * *

"Hey, Rania! Walk faster! Or we'll lose one of the front seats!" Duraan shouted, full of enthusiasm.

"I know, I know, but calm down a bit. You're acting like it's a matter of life and death."

"HAHAHA! You know, right? I'm very curious about this trial!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I want to know why."

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW THE REASON MYSELF! BUT I HAVE THIS IMMENSE CURIOSITY ANYWAY!"

"Hmm... okay, I don't know what to say. I'll just go with the flow."

After that, Duraan and Rania quickly entered the courthouse and sat in one of the closest seats. They had managed to get it.

Some time passed. Now only ten minutes remained before the trial would begin.

Almost all the necessary officials had already arrived. The royal judge was seated in his position.

Only Hiroshi and the King's presence were missing.

* * *

Five minutes later, outside the courthouse, an immense sound of approaching footsteps began to be heard.

It was the sign that the King was about to enter.

There was his royal carriage in which sat the King, the Queen, the royal counselor, and the butlers. The carriage was surrounded by the Royal Guards—an organization specialized solely for the protection of the royal family, who were willing to both give and take life without any permission if it concerned the royal family.

The carriage stopped.

A guard opened the door and the butlers descended first, creating a clear path and laying down the carpet.

Then the royal counselor exited, making sure everything was in order.

Then, with the sound of a trumpet indicating the presence of the KING, the KING and Queen descended.

The King, from his face, looked wise: an old face, white hair, with thick and long beard and mustache, a slightly bent back.

With a smile on his face and his hands clasped behind his back, he walked forward.

Behind him was the Queen, his opposite.

Her face couldn't be seen because it was covered, but it wasn't necessary—her physique alone was enough to intimidate anyone.

Tall, over two meters, robust build, dressed in dark clothing.

Her slow, heavy steps already revealed that intimidating aura.

As soon as the King entered the courthouse, everyone stood up out of respect and fear.

After that, he and the Queen went to sit in their designated seats. The counselor and butlers remained standing beside them to serve.

"Thank you. You may all sit now," the King said with his sage-like voice.

"Now we can begin," he said.

But from all sides, silence remained.

"What happened?" the King asked, unaware that Hiroshi was still missing.

The judge was sweating because he had no answer.

And right then, the protagonist made his epic entrance.

"I apologize to everyone! I HAD AN ACCIDENT ON THE WAY, WHICH IS WHY I ARRIVED SO LATE!"

"What happened to you?" the judge asked.

Hiroshi raised his hands and said with a confident voice, "Your honor, I honestly don't know. In this condition that everyone sees me in, I wasn't like this when I left my lodging this morning. This was done to me! I'll have my head guard Okil, appointed by the state itself, explain everything."

Okil, standing behind Hiroshi, said, "Your honor, Mr. Vassair is right. While we were in the middle of our journey today, at a certain point our carriage came under an explosion. Our carriage overturned. Some guards were injured as well. Mr. Vassair nearly broke his leg. When we quickly got out to see who had done it, there was no one outside. Perhaps they escaped. After leaving the injured guards at the hospital, Mr. Vassair still came here even though the doctor wanted to prevent it."

These words spread silence throughout the entire courthouse.

There was only the sound of journalists writing everything down.

There was silence, yes, but more than silence, there were two people in extreme shock: Rania and Duraan, who couldn't understand what was happening.

How was Hiroshi alive? Why was he there? What was he doing and why? And much more.

Rania wanted to shout his name to get his attention, but Duraan stopped her and said to wait and see what would happen next.

"Your honor, I don't know who's behind this, but they will soon come before everyone."

"Very well, Mr. Vassair. At this moment I order the police to search for the person behind this. In the meantime, we can begin today's trial."

It was as if the judge couldn't care less.

But Hiroshi didn't care much either, since he had arranged the attack himself to draw more attention and people to his side.

"Thank you, your honor."

"Good, now let's begin today's trial session."

"Thank you, your honor. Then let's start from the concept from last week, where we had to stop. Because Mr. Wilhelm lost control of himself and did something he shouldn't have done, and perhaps he will pay the consequences as well."

Before the judge could say anything, a figure stood up and said, "Your honor, allow me to contradict the concept of our accuser."

"Permission granted," the judge said.

But immediately Hiroshi intervened without wasting time. "No, no, no, your honor! Who is this person? We haven't seen him before. And what is he doing here?"

He stood up and adjusted his tie and said, "My name is Ejin Lozzo, and I am the lawyer who will fight from now on in this case on behalf of my client, Wilhelm Von Falkenhorst."

Ejin Lozzo: a man of medium stature with an athlete's physique, well-groomed and neatly combed hair, elegant suit.

His face itself looked like a model's.

In two words, you could say he was one of those "idols."

Hiroshi had already anticipated that he would be a tough man to face.

"Very well, pleasure. I am Alistair Vassair. I hope you know everything about the case."

"Yes, I know everything perfectly, rest assured. I know perfectly well how you are deceiving the entire courthouse with your impeccable mastery," Ejin said.

The words were provocative, but not to Hiroshi.

"Mr. Lozzo, your words have no weight without proof."

A smile appeared on Ejin's face.

He pulled a sheet from his file and said, "I know perfectly well, Mr. Vassair. Therefore, your honor, look at this document where it's clearly written that my client, Mr. Wilhelm, on the date //***, never entered that casino to play gambling. Not only in this casino, but my client has never entered a casino in his life, except for work matters. With this I clearly state that all the witnesses that Mr. Vassair presented at the last gathering were false."

The judge read the entire document.

From all sides there was extreme tension.

"Mr. Vassair, Mr. Ejin is telling the truth. Here from Mr. Ging Klow himself it's written that everything was false and you had paid him. There are both your fingerprints and signature here, which confirm everything."

* * *

With these words, Hiroshi understood that now the water had risen above his head.

His plan had disintegrated.

Ejin Lozzo's entry had ruined everything.

The plan was supposed to continue calmly in a straight line, but it had become tangled.

He understood that the state's intervention had now made things difficult.

The main plan to save Wilhelm in a simple and direct way that they wanted to do could not be continued.

The plan had to be changed.

The first attack from the government's side had been like a punch that had disintegrated eighty percent of Hiroshi's plan.

Now I can't go back anymore. This is more serious than expected. My calculations were wrong. Now I need to find another way. I already had doubts when I met that old man from Zytoon, but now everything is clear. If I don't do something, I'll be dead and Wilhelm too. The main issue isn't mine, but Wilhelm's—I gave her my word, and for me... ah, I'm already dead with this absence of emotions anyway. Dying for real won't be shocking. But I won't die so easily either.

* * *

Throughout the courthouse, people began stating their opinions, some on Vassair's side, others on Ejin's.

Hiroshi didn't get discouraged.

"Then, Mr. Ejin, can you tell me what your client did with those one hundred fifty million Dravs? Where did they go?"

Ejin, again calmly, went and took a document from his file.

"Your honor, this document speaks for itself. My client spent all his money to rebuild various northern villages that were destroyed due to natural phenomena. In the document, there are the names of the villages, the rebuilding he did, and the signatures of all the citizens. Your honor, my client is recognized as a person with a heart of gold. Even though he has a small position as a general, his heart is thousands of times bigger. But perhaps Mr. Vassair cannot understand this."

The documents were speaking clearly, and this worsened the situation.

Hiroshi needed to play differently.

"Your honor, I have a doubt and I want to call Ging Klow here to ask him some questions. Do I have permission?"

"Your honor, Mr. Vassair is just trying to change the subject because he knows his falsehoods have been exposed," Ejin said.

Hiroshi had to play dirty.

"If that's the case, Mr. Lozzo, why don't you let me call Mr. Ging Klow, so everyone can hear the entire truth with their own ears? What do you say?"

Hiroshi had trapped Ejin.

He couldn't refuse—if he did, his perfect attack would have cracks.

So he said nothing.

Thus the judge gave permission to call Ging Klow.

About twenty minutes later, he was present in the witness box.

Hiroshi was preparing with his questions to ask, but throughout all this he noticed that Ging's condition didn't look good.

"Mr. Klow, are you well?"

"Yes, sir, I'm fine."

"Good, but it seems to me that your condition isn't that good. Where were you before?"

"I was at my casino, but I'm fine."

"It doesn't seem that way to me."

"YOUR HONOR! MR. VASSAIR IS WASTING TIME ASKING USELESS AND UNNECESSARY QUESTIONS!" Ejin said, raising his voice.

"According to you, is it stupid to ask how a person is doing, Mr. Lozzo?" Hiroshi asked, but was stopped by the judge.

"Mr. Vassair, don't waste time and ask the witness your questions."

"Very well, your honor."

Then he turned toward Ging Klow.

"So, Mr. Klow, tell me: the other day when you came to confirm that the accusations I had made against Mr. Wilhelm were false, had I given you money to say this?"

"Yes, you had given me money that day."

Hearing this, everyone was astonished and thought that now Vassair was finished.

But not so fast!

"Okay. So, Mr. Klow, how much money did I give you? Can you tell us?"

"Twenty million."

"Okay, twenty million. So when?"

"The day before the gathering."

"At what time?"

"Around evening."

"Evening when?"

"Seven PM."

"Okay, seven PM. Had you already had dinner?"

"Not yet."

"And why?"

"I was busy."

"Busy? How come? Where were you?"

"At the casino."

"At the casino. With whom? What were you doing?"

At that moment Ejin intervened.

"YOUR HONOR! MR. VASSAIR THINKS WE'RE IDIOTS! HE'S ASKING USELESS AND SENSELESS QUESTIONS!"

Hiroshi made his scheming smile to provoke Ejin.

"Your honor, all these are not stupid questions. It's just that small brains cannot understand."

As soon as these words were heard, Ejin shouted, "YOUR HONOR! WHAT IS THIS?! MR. VASSAIR IS INSULTING ME IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!"

"Mr. Vassair! What is this behavior?" the judge said, banging his gavel.

"I'll explain now, your honor—"

While Hiroshi was still speaking, he noticed that Ging Klow was falling to the ground.

So he ran toward him shouting, "SIR!"

BANG!

From all sides, absolute chaos erupted.

Hiroshi tried to wake Ging up.

"SIR! OPEN YOUR EYES! SIR!"

Hiroshi began giving light slaps to his face, but without success.

Then the boom.

White foam began coming out of Ging's mouth.

"HELP! HELP! DOCTORS, QUICKLY!"

The doctors intervened immediately to do their best.

Within a few minutes, everything became traumatic for many, and many froze from shock.

Ging left this world just as the foam was coming out of his mouth.

The soldiers carried his body away.

* * *

"Your honor, I cannot reason clearly at this moment. Give me permission to leave," Hiroshi said with his hand on his head.

"I understand, Mr. Vassair. You may go, and take a trip to the hospital. The next date is in two days. Today's trial is dismissed."

After that, Hiroshi immediately left the courthouse, as if he didn't care about the King and Queen who were present there.

And he truly didn't care about them.

He had done all this just to have some time to think about his next move.

Ging's death had been like a gift to him.

In the courthouse as well, slowly, everyone began to leave.

The King and Queen remained offended by the behavior Hiroshi had displayed.

But they couldn't do anything, legally, since he hadn't violated anything.