What the hell? Are we going to die?
Every last person in the parliament thought the same thing and frowned at the same time. This meant so much more than what was said on the face.
They also saw Radhaan, the King, and Dr. Victor with not even the slightest of shock, making their frown only deepen.
They were definitely scheming something devious—it was obvious—as every last person who had the right to sit in the parliament was a snake in their own right.
If they were the one targeted by the king, it would be very hard to survive out of this predicament.
Johan bit his lip, understanding the intentions of Leor in an instant, but tried to calm himself with sweet words.
'No no I shouldn't worry too much, I still have Sebestian by my side. If all comes down, I can still run away, right?
And he wouldn't really seriously target me, right?' he thought, hoping, praying to every god he had heard of in both lives.
"Johan was the one who ordered me to kill your son!!" Leor said to Erwin, his voice loud enough to reach even the smallest corner of the parliament.
"Fuck!!" This was the only word that stayed in Johan's mind, repeating on it's on, as if it were the holy mantra.
Gasp!
Selene stared at Johan with some confusion, some disbelief, and some understanding.
"...Father," she faintly spoke through gritted teeth.
'See, I told you. You should've never trusted him, not even a little. This is your reward for letting your feelings make you stupid. You already knew how he was—how he had been. Did you really believe he would change in a single night?
That he would love you?' She was cursing herself more than she was cursing Johan.
There was no proof shown yet, but just because Leor said so—and the real Johan could definitely do something like this to frame Leor—she just assumed it was the truth.
The shock also quickly spread through the whole parliament: some surprised, some dazed, some understanding, some pitying Johan as his plans and goals were exposed.
It was normal for most of them to kill children of their rivals as a precaution, or to kill their heirs, or to just break them so they could be easily taken down.
But they had never heard of any rivalry between Johan and Erwin. Both were from the King's faction, conspiring together on multiple occasions.
Why would someone kill their ally's son?
"Johan… did you really…" Erwin spoke from trembling lips. He didn't have much strength in his body from the constantly increasing current inside him, but his heart was more fragile at the moment.
Yes, he had said he would kill Johan in that moment of rage, but in reality, his whole life he had considered Johan his closest friend—
When he was just a rookie at the court, Johan was the one who taught him—a person who only knew fighting—things like how to talk properly, act, intimidate—everything about power.
They drank together, laughed together. Osman even used to play with Selene in his childhood. Both their children were good friends.
Johan stayed quiet, just staring at the redwood of the table, not making eye contact—not knowing what to say to refute. He had no idea of anything going on.
"What about evidence? You don't just expect us—the court—to believe just your words, right…" Christopher spoke in a firm voice, dangerously low, immediately making Radhaan—who was in a fighting stance, about to attack and kill Johan at any moment—straighten his back.
"Evidence? I will give you all the evidence you need!!" Victor scoffed from Christopher's side, his voice mocking—more toward Johan in the middle.
He gave a look to a beautiful brown-haired girl behind his seat, who instantly manifested a light blue gemstone out of nowhere.
A stage 3 spatial mage who could store items in a different dimension.
A cold smile appeared on the faces of Leonard and Victor, while Radhaan just stared calmly toward the stunning woman, prepared to cut Johan's head off at any moment when the evidence was revealed.
The woman was a professional, so she didn't waste much time. Crushing the rune, green light spread all over the room, and a few-hundred-inch-wide screen manifested out of nowhere at the front edge of the central podium, magically visible to people on every side.
"Johan had captured and imprisoned my mother and sister using his Divine Knights.
A day before yesterday, I received a recording—recording of both of them under the most gruelish of tortures: like being poured with burning oil, ruining their fair, beautiful faces, beating them with lashes—" his voice turned to a quiet whimper, as if he would break down at any moment.
Johan's pupils constricted. He had no memory of doing anything like this, not even in the inherited memories.
No one in the parliament was surprised by this. Everyone had done something similar at least once to the commoners, as they were considered more like cattle than humans by the majority.
"I was angry, I was shocked, I wanted to save them. I wanted to kill the man who inflicted so much pain on my loved ones—but I could do nothing…
except read the letter attached to the rune, hoping I could save them…" he continued, his voice becoming the voice of someone trying to talk while crying.
Some people respected the guts of the commoner to speak his mind so openly in a court full of nobles who despised commoners, nodding in approval.
Christopher felt an ache in his heart, feeling pity for the young boy. He was one of the very few nobles from the Great Royal families who actually wanted to end this monstrosity toward commoners.
'He's very similar to me. I also couldn't save Marry… she was sexually assaulted to death because of these arrogant nobles… After all, the only woman I ever loved was just a commoner.' His stomach twisted with flashes of fond memories that he could never experience again.
[+100 favorability from Christopher Von Fitzgerald]
[+Skill lvl 1: Swordsman of the Leaf: Gives the user a kind of peripheral vision that allows them to blend and seamlessly use their battle environment to their advantage.]
Leor grinned inside his heart, reading the notification.
"It was just a single line: Kill Osman von Vasuki tomorrow, or your whole family dies… I had to make a tough decision, but it all came down to my priorities. Let my family die… or kill the man who bullied me for two years… I had to…"
Then a single video appeared on the bright green screen. Both mother and sister of Leor were tightly tied up on wooden stakes, fully naked, bloodied, and battered, crying as loudly as they could muster, begging.
The video was so brutal that some noblewomen in the parliament started puking and crying in their seats, cursing Johan for the cruelty on the poor women.
Leor's face was already fully covered with tears and snot. He now looked like a teenager completely beaten down by life. Some in the parliament felt pity for him, which instantly filled Leor's mind with notifications, making him grin inside.
Selene's eyes were filled with hatred and self-loathing, but she stayed quiet, clutching the hand of the also troubled Olivia tightly.
'I like this kid—torturing his own mother and sister just to get the evidence to use against Johan… He could be an even better pawn than the King for our plans. But… what a cruel bastard.' Radhaan laughed in his heart, admiring the ruthlessness and decisiveness of Leor.
Leor had approached him with his unconscious mother and sister. At first, Radhaan just thought it was for show, that they were being pretend tortured to get evidence. But Leor insisted the screams wouldn't be real enough.
He demanded that the same level of torture used on terrorists and war criminals be inflicted on his own biological mother—a frail woman—and his nineteen-year-old sister, who was just a girl in the prime of her youth.
Not even warning his family. They just woke up in a dark dungeon, naked, with violent men of Radhaan surrounding them.
Things even went beyond just beatings and torture, as expected from the consequences of a beautiful young girl being delivered to immoral and sex-deprived men.
But Leor never said anything to Radhaan about it, so he also just ignored it and watched with amusement.
"Leor Milford's statement against Johan Von Matilda has been noted, but this isn't the only video available in the rune. There is one more—and according to Dr. Victor Blane's statement—
this shall prove Johan Von Matilda is a terrorist!!"
The announcer declared calmly, but his voice still betrayed disgust when he said Johan.
AN: I pulled an allnighter today because I promised in my last chapter that I would publish today, RIP to my sleep, but hey, did you liked it?