CHAPTER 324: TURN THINGS AROUND-II

Judge Darling then continued his interrogation.

Iliza’s nerves were unraveling by the second. Every lie she told felt thinner than the last, and whenever she dared to glance up, she could feel the Queen’s eyes on her, cold and sharp, a silent command: Say what you must, or die where you stand.

She couldn’t stop now. She had to follow through.

"I— Then I saw... the woman who’s always beside His Highness," Iliza stammered, "she tricked Princess Marissa into drinking the potion."

Judge Darling raised his brow and, with deliberate calm, placed a vial on the stand. The liquid inside was a sickly, luminous green.

"This is the potion in question," he said. "You claim she tricked the princess. Tell me, how exactly did she do that?"

Iliza hesitated, her throat dry. "The princess... trusted her. It was easy to trick her that way."

"And yet, this potion—" he tapped the glass, "—has a distinct color. Wouldn’t that raise suspicion? You’re suggesting it was added to the drink, yes?"

"Yes... she poured it in secretly and brought it to Princess Marissa. The drink would’ve masked the color—"

"Then the drink wasn’t green," Judge Darling cut in. "So how did you recognize that the potion was inside it?"

Iliza’s lips parted, but no sound came out. Her hands trembled.

"Or perhaps the better question is, how do you know this is the potion that transforms a vampire into a remnant?" he continued. "You said you saw it before?"

"I— I was Minister Rueben’s slave," she blurted. "I saw it accidentally... I remembered what it looked like. I knew it was dangerous."

"And this was your assumption at the time? Or did someone tell you what it was?"

Iliza’s mouth opened, but no answer came.

"Curious," Judge Darling said, voice quiet but steady. "You claim this woman tricked the princess. Yet you’ve no proof she knew what the potion would do, nor that she possessed it, nor how you yourself could identify it without any prior explanation."

Iliza’s eyes filled with tears. Her composure was crumbling.

Judge Darling didn’t soften. His interrogation was surgical, precise, relentless, and leaving no room to breathe.

Arabella could her whispers from her left and heard the other people who had sat on the second floor of the court whispering how they also think that Iliza was lying, or at least that she wasn’t telling the truth.

The vampires could all hear her loud heartbeat and although it wasn’t enough to prove she was lying, it was enough to prove that she was nervous.

"B- Because I saw her working with someone who had passed her that green potion!" She tried to lie and continue through it but why was it getting even more difficult? One lie covers the other and now she had no way out than pouring more lies with lies.

"Have you since then found the person she had worked with?"

Silence filled the room and sighing, the judge turned toward Queen Morgana, "After finding out that there was a mole who passed potions through the castle, have you not report this matter to the King or have the guards search for the person in question, Your Majesty?"

Queen Morgana gritted her teeth.

Useless. Why was Iliza so useless?!

"Of course I did but to no avail. Not long ago there was a soldier, his name is Raven and his death happened so quickly that I suspect he was killed so evidence could be hidden," said Queen Morgana, her eyes pointing toward Cassius, "It’s not rare for someone to shut others by killing them."

"His death happened during the time His Highness is in the prison."

"He has a witch with him, what isn’t possible?" quipped Queen Morgana before turning the conversation by pointing her hand toward Arabella who was sitting on the second floor. "I have took it upon myself to prove that the woman over there had the power of a witch. There are many witnesses who had seen this! And the fact that the last person who had seen princess marissa before her death is also her, doesn’t this show that there is a connection between her and the potions that turned vampires into remnant? Causing so many deaths!"

Judge Darling didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he leaned back, studying Queen Morgana with an expression unreadable to all but the most trained observers. His silence, however, was far from passive, it sent a chill through the room more than any outburst might have.

Arabella’s pulse thudded in her throat. She gripped the wooden railing before her, trying to stay still, trying not to show the flicker of fear that ran down her spine as Morgana’s words stabbed through the courtroom like poisoned arrows.

Eyes were on her now. Judging. Measuring. Waiting.

Judge Darling finally spoke, voice low, controlled. "You are accusing Lady Arabella of being a witch?"

Queen Morgana offered a tight, chilling smile. "Not merely a witch, Your Honor. A conspirator. One who, despite her lowly background, has managed to climb into the prince’s inner circle and use her powers to corrupt the royal bloodline, perhaps even curse it."

A few nobles gasped, while others turned toward Arabella with narrowed eyes. The whispers grew louder.

"She was born from nothing," Morgana continued, her voice growing sharper, crueler. "No noble title. No family worth remembering. And yet, she found herself in the highest chambers of this palace, walking beside His Highness. Tell me, what but sorcery could achieve that?"

Arabella stood. Not to defend herself, but because the sheer heat of Morgana’s venom forced her to react. Her fists clenched, and she opened her mouth—

"Silence," Judge Darling ordered, holding up a hand. His gaze snapped to Arabella. "You will have your chance to speak, Lady Arabella. But not until I call you."

Arabella sat, jaw taut. Her eyes briefly darted to Cassius again. This time, there was something else in his stare, dark amusement. He appeared as if he was about to just drop all this act and go straight into murdering for Morgana had once again smeared her name.

Judge Darling turned back to Morgana. "You’ve made serious accusations. Do you have solid proof that Lady Arabella used magic to kill Princess Marissa?"

"Isn’t it enough that there was more than just one witness who had seen that day that the girl moved around the castle in secret? She was trying to find a way to administer the potion to Marissa, that night everyone had found her behavior odd. As for the reason why she would want to harm her own master’s sister... I found this."

Queen Morgana flicked her finger and quickly someone walked in a hurry, bringing a paper with him.

"This seems to prove that Cassius and Marissa had quite a big fight towards each other.... and perhaps a reason why Cassius would want her death."