Chapter 780: Royal Court

The more the days carried, frequent grew tiresome troubles. Suit on, shoes tied, Igna left the apartment in a nonchalant mood. Today’s agenda mainly consisted of the court hearing. The car toggled, and he drove into the capital – past the massive northern gates and inside the array of buildings. Prime location for their debate rested little shy of the noble district, from his Rosespire manor, where a monument of remembrance was built for Lizzie, the car made a few twists and turns southwest and into a clearer, sparely built plot of land. There was much distance between each construction, and in to fill those empty spaces grew grass, trees, and bushes. The streets were clean, freshly built in some weird way – in and out were very uncommon; a few cars were sided on the roadside. Renowned brands of luxury mobiles gallantly laid in wait. The very strong Mizo S5 wrapped a corner and arrived. The door unlocked towards a mountain of darkened tiled stairs, the railings were silvery, the steps were stern and symmetrical – a monstrous darkened gray building overlooked said stairs. In a way, it almost seemed to glare, horizontal writing on the right side had, ‘-Royal Court,’ written in bold white.

Large space interspersed with fresh air, shadows from the adjacent buildings, and tranquility unlike the capital.

He threw a gaze at the car, scanned, and firmed forward, making way to a lonesome bench next to the overwhelming stairs. The spot was prime for a refreshing breeze, add the shadow from the building over, and one had a perfect place to nap. A cigar lit out of habit, the time displayed 11:43, ‘-I forgot to look over the complaint,’ he puffed, ‘-royal courts are biased to nobles,’ he stopped and side-glanced, ‘-justice in a monarchy is hit or miss. The ruler decides whether the people art be rewarded for good behavior or not. This place is a trap, there won’t be any justice served – since I assaulted the boy, blame’s on me,’ the shoulder eased, ‘-does it even matter?’ he puffed again, the ring-shaped smoke widened until nothingness. There was clear discrimination in the judicial system, and Igna knew much about it – the reason why his actions went unanswered was because of not bringing attention to a particular situation. What is a random occurrence in the greater state of things, deaths are common and most often unsolved, there was nothing to be scared about. Still, in the rare cases where a case could be filed against him, the company made sure silence, especially from the DG was reinforced. Courts were for the rich and powerful, the commoners had no say in the matter, their way of dealing with the offense was to either take it to law enforcement or remain silent. And when it came to the rich and powerful, status and money spoke volumes, a person’s pedigree held a lot of weight over how the proceedings would follow. So is to say, unlike Alphia, Hidros was a playground for the powerful, and Queen Gallienne stood as the ringmaster.

“Master,” the wind blew and caught the reflection off-guard, “-I’m here,” said éclair dressed formally.

“éclair,” he smiled, “-been a while,” he said, “-please, take a seat,” the body instinctively offered a smoke, one the butler accepted and puffed.

“How’s the maid doing?”

“Yui or Midne?”

.....

“Both of them.”

“Yui’s working under Prince Julius for the time being, there was a leak and Lady Courtney caught the spy, Yui had a great influence over the matter. I say proudly, the lady’s taking to her job nicely. We recently established a link between her and the sister system, similar to how you and I are connected.”

“How useful will she be in the future?”

“A phenom,” he said, “-perhaps scarier than me.”

“You’re plenty scary,” said Igna with a little chuckle, “-I know the abilities first hand, without it, I’d had never been in my position. What about Midne?”

“She’s hard at work serving the Princes of Hell. Lady Kul took a liking to her and they’re living together from the last report.”

“Sounds nice,” he said, “-everyone’s living their lives per their own will. I’m satisfied,” the way in which the words escaped his lips was ominous, a precursor to greater trials ahead. A fast-sounding hum tore across the asphalt and halted short of the court, it efficiently pulled aside, the bright red doors opened upwards, the driver exited in the company of another, two nicely dressed individuals. One dawned a very conservative suit, the colors and style were not overly interesting to the common eye. To those in the know, the fabric and quality spoke of taste and financial ease.

“Greetings young Master Igna,” said the clean-shaven man, the facial features were average, the short hair minimally gelled to the side and frameless glasses upon the nose-bridge, “-I believe today’s the first time we meet, my name’s Raide Rosie, the lawyer for lord Julius,” the regard also landed politely on éclair who rose to exchange handshakes.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” replied Igna following éclair’s actions.

Next, the driver, a very handsome man with slightly shuffled hair, and partly feminine facial features, the wardroom choice was formal, beige with warm colors. The mouth always smiled grandly, almost in a way to show off the perfect white and cared for teeth, “-we meet again, young master,” said the younger-looking man, “-my name’s Bleu Aizo of the Aizo noble family.”

“Yes, we meet again,” he friendly went for an embrace, “-I was impressed by the talents at the trial of Count Oathtall.”

“It was no issue,” he smiled, “-said case was an easy fix.”

“Care for a smoke?” inquired Igna, the newcomers graciously accepted the offer and puffed, the menacing court house’s presence diminished, the lawyers threw an equally imposing air against the building. At around noon, the plaintiff arrived in a normal car, the lawyers exited first, a duo of a man and woman, followed by Count Esteballe Denlord, behind him, Theo Denlord forced to travel in a wheelchair. Inspector Mia tended the man’s wound, menacing glares flew towards Igna’s group. Shortly after, the mother and her child arrived in a taxi. Their eyes met, to which she averted her gaze, the boy noticed Igna and ran to be halted by his mother, she turned his body and shook her head, the energetic youngling slouched and tipped his chin. She blatantly avoided his gaze and moved to the Count’s side who stood firmly with arms crossed.

“We have a lot on our plate,” said Bleu.

“I noticed,” said Raide, “-they’ve joined sides with the Count. We’re going inside with odds stacked against us,” he casually stared the court-house, “-the Royal Court, the jury will consist of her majesty’s council. She’ll watch and deliver the final verdict.”

“Any chance at winning?” inquired éclair.

“No clue,” the lawyers exchanged smiles, “-we have an ace up our sleeve, she should be here any minute.”

Meanwhile, the opposing factions glared, “-look at them,” said the Count, “-acting innocent,” he glared the mother, “-I’m sure your husband has related the information, you’ll blame the whole situation onto Igna Haggard, do I make myself clear.”

“Yes,” said a timid voice, “-I’ll do as you say.”

“Olphia, Oliver, why the long faces?”

“We apologize, my lord,” said Oliver, “-the lawyers standing at Igna’s side are the worse obstacle which we could have encountered.”

“Please explain?” his expression tightened. Theo watched silently, unable to move his hands or legs.

“The plain-looking man’s Raide Rosie, a man of average looks and presence, once inside, the personality changes tremendously. He’s fought cases internationally and is said to have been the best graduating student at the prestigious Aizo Academy.”

“And, what of the second man?”

“The son of the Aizo Group’s president, an unrivaled genius said to have a photographic memory and the ability to sway facts without even blinking. They graduated at the same time and have been working for conglomerates serving as consultants. We’re against them,” shuddered Olphia, “-there’s more at risk from what we realize.”

A distant screeching veered their attention, a lady exited, she bore an extremely large coat. “-NO!” fired Theo, “-this can’t be her.”

“What is the matter, son?”

“Father... it’s her, the one who I nearly killed a few weeks ago.”

“What?”

“I told Mia about it and she quietly handled the situation, I thought we paid her handsomely.”

“Why is it a problem?” he asked.

“Because the accident occurred in front of camera...” The atmosphere deepened in density; she casually approached the gentlemen.

“Hello, the name’s Laren, stage name, Angel.”

“Hey Angel,” winked Bleu, “-long time no see, has the injury healed?”

“Yeah, the son of a bitch still hasn’t been caught.”

historical

“Oh, we have caught him,” he brazenly pointed at Theo, “-there’s the culprit.”

“Really?” she smirked, “-I don’t know what this is about,” her stare went from person to person, “-and I don’t care. You must be the leader of this group,” she locked onto Igna.

“Good eyes,” he returned, “-Angel, if I remember correctly, you’re a performer underemployment of the DG, aren’t’ you?”

“Ah,” she covered her mouth, “-an intelligent man, perfect.”

Each party gathered; the clock hit 12:45, they headed into the lobby where a guide escorted them to a massive hall. Three seats far end the centermost reserved for the queen, the right seat, a representative of the Tharis sect, and the left side, the apostle of Syhton. A gathering of elevated seats within a wooden square( placed against the left wall) was reserved for the jury. As predicted, her majesty’s council entered the room, followed by the queen herself. Igna took his seat as did the count, the massive oak doors slammed shut, no words entered nor left, Olphia delivered a very strong opening statement, and the trial began.

20:30, amber lit lamppost attracted bugs, the hearing ended on a favorable verdict on Igna’s side. Bleu and Raide utterly decimated Olphia and Olvier, for the first half of the argument, they blamed Igna for having a history of violence, deeming him too dangerous to walk around in public. After allowing the duo to gain momentum, Raide interjected. A little fact was conveniently left out, the footage of him rescuing the mother and son. Before the duo could say anything, the images laid upon the projected screen for all to see, from there on, the deliberation grew one-sided. It was complete devastation, no matter the refute, Bleu was ready to strike and switch the narrative. In the end, the fault fell onto Theo Denlord’s shoulders, it went so far as to accuse the jury itself in cahooting with the count to sway the ruling. Under the guise of fairness, before the trial began, Igna requested for the hearing to be made for the public to see. Queen Gallienne saw nothing wrong, the jury also accepted the request, tis then their fate was sealed. Videos were shot, the media was brought into the courtroom – the overwhelming disadvantage going into the trial nullified.

“I, Queen of Hidros, sentence Theo Denlord to prison, Count Esteballe, on the reason of corrupting the sacred place of justice, is to drop from Count to Baron and relinquish his properties and authority as a member of my council. May this serve as an example to any who dares go against the law. As a ruling monarch, my duty is to assure a place of rest and comfort for my people – an environment for them to thrive. The relinquished properties will be transferred to the Viscount of Glenda, a hero who’s done much for our land. I won’t tolerate fake news.”

They exited the royal court with smiles; Theo Denlord was spared prison time on the basis that he would transfer everything to his name, including businesses and assets, to Igna Haggard. The takeover will be under Rotherham’s jurisdiction, thus meant, they had free reign.

“YOU!” gritted Baron Esteballe, “-HOW DARE YOU!” echoed across a comfy corridor.

“Please,” interjected Raide, “-there’s no need for additional damage.”

“Let him,” smirked Igna, “-the justice system favors the truth.”