A Maid's Problems and Start of Trial

"I will ask this only once more," Everest asked, visibly pissed. "What the hell do you mean by third time?"

"Um... I don't understand what you mean, Your Highness." Aria asked, her face contorted with emotion.

"Hold your tongue."

"B-B-But Lady Rose, I am ju-"

"I said shut up." An unusual silence filled the space after her first set of words and the next one she spoke after that. "Three times. Three times now. Six months ago, three months ago, and now."

"I'm afraid I don't follow," said Aria, trying to grasp the situation and lie her way out of it.

"At the Emperor's birthday, at Everest's, and now at Alfred's. Tell me what your motive is."

The three days were set at intervals of important people. The Emperor, who was the current ruler; the motive was to wreck his mood. Everest, the most likely to take the throne; the motive was to end her dream and life unexpectedly. Alfred, the planner; the motive was to wish himself a happy birthday.

"The thing is," Aria said under her breath, "...you don't need to know."

"Why is that?" Everest said, standing up.

"Because you won't understand."

""Huh?!""

Crying, she continued, "You won't understand; it's not like your family is being held hostage in prison, is it?" she shouted, forcing every word out of her mouth like she was throwing off a weight on her chest.

"What?!" Everest said under her breath.

"What did you say?" Rose said simultaneously.

****

"Your family..."

Silence filled the room again, with two of the women standing there in confusion while the third crouched down in pain. One would think it was the pain of what she said earlier, as tears were still rolling down her cheeks, but the pain she felt now was far greater.

A three-dimensional magic circle dyed black appeared on her chest, but not just any magic circle- a slave contract. One that was put on her to ensure that she never told anyone about her family or the prince's plan.

"Sorry, Princess Everest," she said, pulling out a knife from her maid dress. "I need my family out of there."

She said it with all sincerity. It was either she died accomplishing nothing, or she could get her family freed, even if she died. So with that she thrust the knife and herself at Everest.

WHIRR. SLAM! 

The next moment, Aria had been grabbed, spun around, and pinned to the ground, with minimal movement and effort by Rose, ending the confrontation as quickly as it started. Everest then made her way to the door, telling Rose to follow her as she was going to settle the matter with Alfred for involving her maid in it. But at that same moment, Stella burst into the room, looked over it, and immediately she saw Aria pinned on the ground and the 3D magic circle above her chest. She ran towards her, her face drained of all colour.

"Aria! Aria! Are you still conscious? Is the effect eating into you? Can you hear me?"

Stella frantically asked those questions in rapid succession before retrieving Aria from Rose's grip, while inwardly cursing the prince responsible for it. Dark red streaks flowed out of her colleague's lips, and her life force (HP) was going down.

"My Lady, I believe you should know, but Prince Alfred is the one behind this."

"Yes."

"So please, don't blame Aria for this." Stella then paused. "Her family was held hostage, and I failed to notice things earlier, so... So..."

"I am going to seek an audience with my father about this; we should be able to at least free her family."

"Thank you. I will stay here to clear things up," Stella replied, reaching into her shadow before bringing up something. "Here, Rose, it has all the evidence you will need for the time being."

"Got that."

With that, the princess and her guard left the room with solemn faces; even after closing the doors, they still stared at it for some seconds before heading to the Imperial Throne Room. Meanwhile, inside the princess's chambers, Stella had laid Aria's almost lifeless body on the floor and had cleared up the tea that spilled as an aftermath of Rose and Aria's clash, before she finally started tending to the magic circle still present over Aria's body.

Ω

[THE IMPERIAL THRONE ROOM.]

Atop the throne sat Emperor Edward, and in the almost empty throne room, stood a few of the emperor's personal guards on either side of the imperial purple carpet; the Grand Marshal and the Emperor's Advisor stood at either side of the Emperor, and a few ways from the throne were the First Princess Everest and General Rose.

The matter at hand is the Second Prince Alfred's severe case of atrocities, including mass murder, rape, forced abortion, unlawful detention, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, among others. Normally, this meeting wouldn't have happened if Everest hadn't been her father's favourite child.

"I can't believe all this happened under my own watch," contemplated Emperor Edward, putting his palm on his face.

“’Tis a matter that must needs be addressed, Your Majesty,” commented the man in armor at the right-hand side of Edward.

"Lord Bjorn, I don't believe this is the expertise of the army," the other man in glasses spoke after trying to cut him off.

“Pardon me, Lord Elias. I can no longer endure the loss of my men, especially when the cause thereof is so vain and foolish.”

"Is what you are saying true?" Edward asked, removing his face from his palm and looking at his daughter.

"Yes, Your Majesty." She replied gracefully. "Even if I were to lie out of spite for my brother's ridiculous assassination attempts, this magical device that has statements made by surviving victims stands as some sort of evidence."

"Some nice selection of words, befitting of my daughter," he said, getting up from his throne before facing his left, "Elias, we shall hold a public trial by noon."

"Sir, but..." Elias stuttered. "Even if the trial must be public, noon is far too soon."

"Elias."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Are you going against my word?"

Those words were enough to silence the advisor, who could no longer protest, and so later that day by noon. The Sovereign Tribunal, aka the highest court in the Northern Empire, was active. Ready for the trial of Prince Alfred.