CHAPTER 327: PLEASE, I DON’T WANT TO DIE

Minister Rueben glanced toward Cassius with a wary glint in his eye, though pride kept his smile intact. "Of course. She and I aren’t connected. You don’t have any evidence to prove otherwise, do you?"

"True," Cassius hummed, feigning disappointment as he reached into his coat pocket. Whatever he pulled out made Rueben stiffen immediately.

"But you see—"

"NO!" Rueben’s voice cracked through the courtroom as his hand shot up. A flicker of panic crossed his face. Had he left something behind? Some damning evidence that could tie him to Iliza once and for all?

"AHAHAHA," Cassius beamed, his expression lit with delighted malice. He waved both hands innocently. "I’m sorry," he sang mockingly, "I was joking. There’s nothing here, you see?"

Though laughter echoed from the prince’s lips, no one else dared join in.

Everyone understood the truth: there may not have been real evidence in Cassius’s hand, but Rueben’s panicked reaction had already exposed him. His guilt was laid bare without a single document.

A low murmur rippled through the courtroom like a wave. Arabella didn’t need to strain her ears; the whispers near her were loud enough to hear clearly, and each one now turned toward Rueben and Queen Morgana, not Cassius.

"Don’t you think it’s strange?" someone whispered. "The Crown Prince has always insisted on finding the potion’s origin... but Queen Morgana demanded it be handed directly to her. It’s like she wanted to bury the trail."

"If she truly worked with the sorcerers..." another voice murmured, "could she have poisoned the King?"

"And what about Marissa?" someone else added. "Her death, the rumors surrounding it, all of it tied to the Queen. If Morgana’s hands are already stained, who’s to say she hasn’t done it again? The King’s been ill ever since."

"The Crown Prince have always had a soft spot for his sister, so it really makes no sense that he would suddenly kill her. But it’s a different story with the Queen."

Atlas who had also saw this change in the court smiled. He also noticed that even the people who was once glaring at Cassius like he was a monster now turned that gaze toward Morgana.

Just a few words, a few evidence, and with such ease has Cassius control the court room.

If he was still the King, Atlas would have taken Cassius in first as there was nothing more dangerous than the power that could control the mob. Queen Morgana was inexperienced with this and perhaps that’s because Cassius was used to doing this back in battlefield.

Only then would it make sense.

After all the courtroom was just a second battlefield for people like them.

"He’s amazing," Atlas said to Arabella who was still stunned by everything.

"He is..." she whispered with a mull.

"But you don’t seem excited? With this even Judge Darling would soon drop all the charges on him. What’s left is simply us seeing Cassius’s counterattack," Atlas looked at her with more worry than before as he noticed how suddenly she had turned gloom.

"I’m happy that everything works.." Arabella turned to him, "But something feels wrong... don’t you notice that the courtroom has a bad energy?"

"Bad energy?" Atlas frowned and looked all around them. Before... there was a time when Circe would also say similar thing. It was like a gut feeling of witches when something is wrong.

While Atlas searched for the source, Cassius had continued his words.

"I do have an odd witness that was quickly killed before his voice could be heard. He told me that the King’s illness was odd, how things didn’t add up. Sometimes people do get sick out of nowhere but not the King. He wasn’t ill, he was just out of his mind and had began to move like a puppet."

Cassius flicked his finger to Morgana, "But isn’t it odd that suddenly he told everyone he’s ill and would only appear when needed?"

"What are you implying?" Queen Morgana scoffed, "I don’t have magic, I can’t just turn my husband into a puppet and control him around! Don’t you see how he still moves and talk with you during the meetings? And I wasn’t there to control him, correct?"

"Well, how you controlled him aren’t certain yet but with who’s help you could have done it is quite clear," Cassius turned toward Helena and smiled. "Haven’t you received a letter from a soldier by the name Raven?"

Helena stood up and turned to greet Judge Darling. She nod and spoke, "Indeed I have. In fact, not only me but Juan and Paolo as well. In it, Sir Raven expressed his concern to a doctor by the name of Alice."

Juan then added from the side, "In my letter he said he had sent all the envelope containing this warning to the rest of the ministers," then his eyes trailed to the ministers who had switched their sides toward Morgana, "But I wonder if you all really have the letter or keep it a hidden?"

The ministers muttered to each other, sweats forming on their forehead as they understood that this was the last chance Cassius was going to give them. If they refused and lied, they would then be subjected to the same end as Morgana.

Three of them immediately stood up, "Indeed me too!

"I... as well.."

"That letter- I have it in my possession."

"YOU," Queen Morgana’s red eyes reeled with anger but Cassius smiled as he turned to the rest of the ministers.

"And the rest of you?"

While he was about to tie the loose ends together, Cassius’s ears caught something dangerous. It was a whisper, something that everyone else had been doing in this courtroom but something felt different.

That whisper was alarming and his eyes snapped over Iliza who was the source of that whispers.

"I don’t want to die."

Iliza stared at her hand that was holding tight to a vial to the point that her palms had turned blood red.

"I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die," her eyes then moved to Rueben and Morgana, eyes dripping with tears and then she shifted her gaze to Malvo who had been quiet in the courtroom.

His brown eyes looked at her before it shifted away in a disappointment.

It only dawned to her now what kind of mistakes she had done, how foolish she was, and how no one could save her.

But that woman...

Alice told her that there was one last chance for her if she was trapped by Rueben’s words.

That if by any chance Rueben had casted her aside, she could use this method to save herself.

She couldn’t trust Alice as she looked crazy when they saw each other before but she’s a witch isn’t she? She’s strong and... no one else was going to offer her mercy as Alice did.

So even if this potion in her hand glow in such a menacing glare, she would rather give it a bet than to die.

"Witness," the soldier beside her questioned her silence, "What are you holding on your hand?"

But Iliza was still staring at Rueben and Morgana.

"Liar," she whispered for the last time before quickly pulling the flask to her hand and drinking it to her mouth.

Cassius was a beat early in yelling, "STOP HER!"

But Before anyone could shut her movement, Iliza drank the potion in one large gulp...