Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

Lord Eudes read the next item in the agenda in front of everyone.

"The Department of Human Welfare brought up for discussion the next item in the agenda. It is stated in their report that the Third Princess secretly went out of the palace and colluded with a  red-eyed man of unknown origins who wielded his sword against the innocent people of the capital."

King Armen looked at the ministers from the aristocratic faction and they all had smirks on their lips. He knew it was another scheme against his daughter, and he was prepared for it. He decided to hear them all first, which would help him figure out who else was participating in this scheme. There was no way he would let go of the culprit who had troubled his innocent daughter and even tried to burn her.

Cian looked at his father, who gave him a reassuring look that conveyed that everything would be fine. Being away from the capital, Cian was not aware of the entire situation, but King Armen had briefly described to him the gist of what had happened so far the previous night as he believed that this matter might be raised in the next court session.

In addition to the worry of defending his sister, Cian had another concern as once again, a red-eyed man was associated with his sister—and he knew who that man was.

The minister in charge of the Department of Human Welfare, Odo Warin, stepped forward to present his case as he bowed before King Armen to ask for permission to speak. "Your Majesty!"

King Armen nodded lightly. "Proceed!"

Minister Warin bowed lightly before continuing, "Your Majesty, on the day of the Second Princess' engagement, the Third Princess went out of the palace after leaving the ceremony. Despite being ordered not to step out of her residence unless called by Your Majesty, she disobeyed your royal decree and went out of the royal palace. Not just that, but she even hurt the ordinary and innocent people of the capital."

"Innocent?" Cian commented as he offered a doubtful look at the minister.

Without a change of expression, Minister Warin nodded. "Yes, Your Highness! The Third Princess even had an unknown red-eyed swordsman with her who murdered an ordinary civilian in the open. There are many witnesses to this happening."

Minister Warin moved his gaze from Cian to King Armen. "Your Majesty, in my name as the Minister of Human Welfare, bearing responsibility towards the lives and treatment of the ordinary subjects of our  kingdom, I seek justice for those innocent people whom the Third Princess had harmed."

King Aman knew where it would lead and waited to check what cards they held up their sleeves. The red-eyed man the minister had mentioned was the King of Megaris, and it took him by surprise how they judged Seren and Drayce as accomplices in harming people.

Minister Warin continued talking. "Your Majesty and my fellow members of the Royal Court, for the sake of justice, I wish for you to hear the statements from those innocent people themselves. I have invited them here as these poor victims and witnesses wish to let the palace know what the Third Princess had done, how brutally she treated them."

Though King Armen and Cian felt angry with his allegations, they couldn't openly show it on their faces as everyone had the right to say their part. If things were so easy, they would have beheaded these ungrateful subjects at this very moment.

Minister Warin looked at the guards. "Bring them in."

Soon after,  ten grown men with dirty appearances entered the throne room with guards escorting them. All of them looked hurt with clothes torn, no, more like they were burned. Looking at them, anyone could guess the Third Princess must have put them on fire. It was highly possible as Seren had done it before, and many of the palace people had a bitter experience with it.

Hidden by the sleeves of his royal robe, King Armen clenched his fists in anger, his fingers digging into his palms. The moment he had learned that his third daughter had an incident outside, he ordered his men to catch these people and decided to punish them on his own without even giving them a chance to plead for forgiveness. Unfortunately, the same night, he received news of Cian's abduction. The sudden emergency in the kingdom made him push his plan for later. This was further delayed by what happened with Seren which kept him too occupied to think about other minor things.

Those ten commoners kneeled in front of the king. After Minister Warin introduced their humble background as ordinary people living in the capital and told them to air their grievances, one of them cried out, "Your Majesty, see how badly the Third Princess had hurt us. Thereby, we are here to seek justice for ourselves." He was the same drunk man who dared to stop Seren and even asked his men to remove her clothes in front of everyone.

Cian stepped forward and looked at Minister Warin. "Minister Warin, care to explain what exactly happened so we can decide who was at fault."

Minister Warin looked at the injured men and said, "Don't be afraid and tell everyone what happened that day."

The man who had talked just a while ago, his expression darkened before it crumpled as if he was in near tears, while the others with him collectively shivered—and exaggeratedly so—as if they were weak chickens that would die soon. Even a casual passerby would know that their expressions were rather forced.

"Your Highness!" He looked at Cian and lowered his head to bow him as he talked with his head down. "That day, we saw a lady who was covering her face with a veil and a wide hat that made her look like she's hiding her identity. From her attire, she looked like a lady from a noble family. However, the part of the capital she was wandering into was not for any decent lady, much less someone from a precious noble house. Thinking she must have lost her way, I thought of talking to her and guiding her back to the central plaza or perhaps lead her to the guards patrolling the city. But when I tried to talk to her, she suddenly turned angry and put me and the other innocent passerby in that alley on fire. Only then did we realize that she was not a noble lady but a witch. Despite our lives being threatened, I and the others who witnessed her violence thought to capture her so that she couldn't harm more people. When we went after her, we saw one red-eyed man taking her with him and hiding her in a deserted alley. All of us went there, and that man mercilessly killed one of us with a sword. We didn't know she was the Third Princess. If we had known, we wouldn't dare bother her."

Prince Cian gazed at those men and asked coldly, "So you all didn't know she was the Third Princess even after she burned you."

"That is right, Your Highness," they said in unison.

Cian walked in front of them from left to right as he continued to say, "How many so-called witches do we have in the kingdom who have the ability to burn someone upon turning angry?"

This question startled the men, but one of them answered, "Only the Third Princess is known able to do that. But who would expect a royal to wander the city on her own? In that situation, we only wanted to protect the people from a witch. If there is one, then there can be more, Your Highness…"

Cian continued to walk back and forth without saying anything, which had started to scare those men.

"In all these years, has anyone among you ever come across a witch?"

"No, Your Highness," they said in unison again, trembling in their pleading voices.

"Then, are you sure you didn't know who she was even after she put all of you on fire?" Cian stopped walking as he stood directly in front of those men, looking down on them intently. "Tales about her burning people when she is angry are famous in the entire kingdom, aren't they?"

"Y-Your Highness, we were so scared to even think about it. We thought she was a witch, and we needed to capture her to protect everyone—"

"Are you sure?" Cian asked again, his sapphire blue eyes looking scarier with every passing moment.

"Y-yes, Your Highness." None of them dared to look him in the eyes.

"Forget about what your thoughts were back then. Let me clear one thing to you—the Third Princess doesn't have the habit of burning lowly creatures without any reason. I am sure there must be a strong reason that she had to do it."

All of those men gulped as they looked at each other. They knew deep in their bones that they would be doomed if the truth came out.

"I want the truth," Cian ordered loudly, and the entire Royal Court heard him loud and clear.

"W-What we had told earlier is the truth," one man insisted, siding with those who had talked previously.

"There won't be another chance," Cian warned with his intimidating gaze as his hand, which already held the handle of the sword, gripped it as if he would pull it out if he were to hear an answer he didn't like.

Feeling scared, one man immediately lowered his head and said, "This is really the truth, Your Highness! Please believe us!"

To stop Cian from intimidating those men and getting the truth out from them, Minister Warin interrupted him. "May I speak on their behalf, Your Highness?"

Cian didn't even look at him as he said, "Speak."

"Based on their statements, I am inclined to believe the Third Princess came out of the palace against His Majesty's order in order to meet that red-eyed man, but because of these people, she got caught. This must be the reason why she turned angry and harmed them."

"Red-eyed man?" Cian said, even though he knew who they were talking about.

"Prince Cian, we all know there is only one man with a pair of red eyes currently in the capital—the King of Megaris, King Drayce Ivanov. I wonder if something is going on between the Third Princess and the King of Megaris for them to have a need to meet so covertly…"

"Minister Warin!" Cian interrupted and warned him loudly, "Watch your words! You are speaking slanderous words against the Third Princess of Abetha!"

Not only Cian, but King Armen had also turned furious too. 'How dare he?!'

Minister Warin immediately bowed to both the royals. "My deepest apologies, Your Majesty! Apologies, Your Highness!" Just as they thought this minister would say no more, he spoke again, "I apologize if my words offend His Majesty and the royal family, but since we are here to seek for the truth and justice for these subjects, then we should consider and talk about all the aspects of the situation. Being a member of the royal family of this kingdom doesn't give the Third Princess the privilege to hide the truth. We need to reach the root cause of this incident."

King Armen and Prince Cian couldn't stop him from saying his side, and they could only bear with what would come next.

Darus Count looked at the queen, who looked unperturbed though she couldn't hide a light smirk gracing on her lips for a brief moment.

Just then, the guard by the door announced. "The King of Megaris, King Drayce Ivanov, and the Crown Prince of Griven, Prince Arlan Cromwell, are requesting an audience with His Majesty King Armen Ilven and the Royal Court."

All heads turned to look at the door of the throne room swinging open. As if the atmosphere had turned still, something pulled them to stare at the two young men who had just entered the session of the Royal Court of Abetha.