The noblewomen were busy gossiping at one corner, they were sharing their rants and suggestions to each other regarding their husbands' case.
Idris raised his brows when he noticed that the women were looking on his way, he turned his head, ignoring their judgements and walked away. They were given a 30-minute break, so everyone went out while the sinners stayed inside the court together with lots of soldiers and the emperor, there's no such thing as private consultation since it's forbidden, the emperor is just busy examining the evidences presented to him as well as the defendant's answer.
Idris stopped and sat on a marble chair near the tree. He sat and calmly appreciating the scenery of the emperor's palace until someone interrupted him.
"You are lucky already to have him, your grace. I envy you." Marques Ori interrupted while staring at him deeply, his attendant's behind him staring at the floor.
"What are you saying?" Idris asked not hiding how annoyed he was.
Ori inhaled still not removing his intense glare at the duke, "That night... I never saw that kind of expression from him, he was... most of the time snobbish, always ignoring me, letting me kiss him on the cheeks, clinging and hugging but that's it, he was never concerned nor interested even a bit... but you, it turns out that you don't really know him?" Marquess Ori smirked at him before walking away, he didn't even wait for the duke's response, he was happy to see the confusion and annoyance on the duke's face.
Fifteen minutes passed and all of them went inside again, they sat in their places and Idris didn't lift his head, he didn't want to see those malicious stares again, he became even more bothered with the marquess' words.
"Marquess Ori Dumas from the South, one of the witnesses that night, did you see the actual assault the three noblemen did to Duke Idris?" the man asked, and Idris heard a creak sound coming from the marquess side.
"Yes, I did, my lord." Ori answered.
"Do you, then, agree to these three describing the behavior of Rufus Audril, who turns out to be your former employee?"
"No, how can he? He's a very sincere and hardworking man." Ori defended.
"There's been a burglary that happened in your household before, right? They accused Rufus too. Do you decline that also?"
Idris eyebrows moved; do they really need to bring that up too? He tilted his head to the women who were speaking with each other earlier, the duchess is smirking, do they plan to add and point all the burden towards Rufus?
"Yes, and It wasn't him. He was just framed; I can lend you my personal inspector for extra evidence to prove his innocence in that case."
"Thank you, my lord." The man said seriously and signaled Ori that he can finally sit, he turned to the three noblemen in front of him, "How did you meet Rufus then? The three of you?" After that question, Idris saw how King Balder shifted on his seat.
"H-he worked for us before!" Duke Neil stammered. All the people inside the court stopped and went silent when they heard a deep chuckle from Rufus.
Adeodatus raised his brow after he saw Rufus' action, he signaled the man to pay his attention to Rufus, the man walked towards Rufus and asked if it's true.
"I refuse to believe in any lies, your imperial majesty." Rufus answered. Idris clenched his fist after hearing Rufus' words. He's annoyed, why would Rufus give an unclear answer? Does he want to get himself killed?
Marquess Ori raised his right hand, "Excuse my intervention but he was working under me for a long time, so, how can he work for the duke then?"
The three noblemen went silent and shared a look to each other, they were about to make up some lies but stopped when they heard the emperor heave a sigh.
"This is longer than I expected, let's cut it short, shall we?" he mumbled and stretched his hand, the knight beside him handed a file and he opened it. Everyone are still silent, watching their emperor, "So let's start, from the very beginning, the late emperor, my father, Octavius Carnegie made an oath to marry off his sister-in-law, Queen Adela Hilti to King Balder Eurman IV but it was soon broken when a rumor escalated saying that King Eurman impregnated a woman when he went to a brothel... and the kid turns out to be Rufus Audril, the orphan and one of our litigant."
Whispers started to be heard inside the court, but the emperor continued, "King Eurman refuse to marry the low lifer and refuse to recognize his own flesh and blood, so, the courtesan handed Rufus to the orphanage at the age of five, handing the knowledge to Rufus about his parents' past and awareness about his father being the king. The woman soon died because of an illness."
Idris started to pinch his arm as he got more uncomfortable with his situation, what the point of doing all these? Digging the past for what?
"Rufus grew up in a small orphanage, studied in a small-public school near the orphanage and started working at age of 15 under some nobles, 10 years after that he started to work for Marquess Ori Dumas of the South... and none of this records says that he work under Duke Neil Brown." gasps and whispers invaded the courtroom and all eyes went to the duke who started to sweat because of nervousness, but he stopped himself from spilling anything because he could feel the stare of a scary man behind him.
"Three years after that he was accused of stealing but he was soon proven innocent but since he didn't want to be favored by the Marquess he chose to leave and apply as a gardener at the Gastrell household. So, Rufus, please tell us why you stole the heirloom necklace of the Gastrell before applying as a gardener?" the emperor asked.
"To protect the Queen as well as the people from the household." Rufus answered firmly without inhibition.
"And why?"
"The king from the north, King Balder, planned to pay someone to steal it and frame up Queen Adela, to ruin the starting relationship of the late duke and the queen... They are planning to kill Duke Idris too, who was still a Lord before, to anger the late duke more." he explained. Idris' mouth fell open after hearing the man's confession, his head turned to face the King who was two rows away from him. The man didn't even budge!
"And I can confirm that. Rufus sent me a letter before saying this might cause treason, that's why I investigated secretly..." Adeodatus stated, he glanced at King balder who was staring at him blankly and smirked, he shook his head when he saw his knight commander about to make a move to seize the king. Still not the right time. He was having fun spilling all his knowledge in front of his people.
"And I dig deeper of course. I even retrieved some of my late father's papers so I could solve this properly, this shitty case made me do a lot of work." he mumbled then sighed, "People, it wasn't Rufus.... It was his father King Eurman and the bailiff of the late Duke Gastrell."
Idris gasped upon hearing the emperor's last words, "What!?" King Roy shouted beside him.
Idris froze when he felt James's move, he didn't bother to look but he felt that the steward stood, "Seize the." Adeodatus commanded in a firm tone and four soldiers entered the courtroom, gripping both King Balder and his trusted steward James who betrayed him.
YOU ARE READING
Royal Thief
General FictionPREQUEL | BL Alone in his huge room, no people roaming in the dark alley, not enough good guards guarding their manor. Soon to be Duke, Lord Idris Gastrell was left alone that night. His father took almost all the guards from their household for a t...
