Chapter 597: Most obvious culprit

"...how many coincidences must we accept before they stop being coincidences?"

The court fell silent as a few people nodded, agreeing with Cain’s assessment.

Elion had to give the man some credit.

Cain knew how to speak.

More importantly, he knew how to arrange unrelated or partially related truths in a way that made them sound far more damning when placed beside one another.

The problem was that this time, there really was some truth buried underneath all of it.

Elion had used the ink of yearning on Liora.

He couldn’t deny that to himself. Whether Cain could actually prove he was responsible was another matter entirely, even though the fact that it was somehow linked to demonic forces was false.

Elion was almost certain that these people were simply throwing shots in the dark here.

One of the councillors looked toward Liora.

"Lady Liora." Liora’s shoulders stiffened. "Please stand."

Slowly, Liora rose from her seat.

Her pink hair swayed around her shoulders as she stepped away from the row and into clearer view.

Hundreds of eyes immediately settled upon her.

Elion watched silently.

Liora kept her gaze lowered for several seconds.

The councillor spoke again.

"You understand that anything you say before this court must be truthful?"

"Yes."

Her voice was quieter and calmer than Elion remembered.

And if he had to say, perhaps this was her true self on display right now. But that was simply speculation on his part.

"Then before Duke Dawncrest continues, I would prefer to hear this directly from you." The elderly woman’s eyes remained fixed upon her. "Were you subjected to mental manipulation?"

Liora’s fingers curled slightly against the sides of her skirt.

For some reason, Elion found himself more interested in whether she would finally look at him than in what her answer would be.

Eventually, Liora raised her head and glanced toward him. Their eyes met briefly, but they both held it for a moment, and then Liora looked away first.

"Yes." The single word carried throughout the silent court.

The councillor continued.

"And do you know who was responsible?"

Liora hesitated for a moment before answering.

"No." A few murmurs immediately followed.

Cain’s brow twitched.

The councillor raised a hand, silencing them.

"You don’t know?"

"I don’t remember anyone attacking my mind," Liora explained quietly. "I only know what was discovered afterwards."

Cain stepped forward.

"Which is exactly the issue with an ability capable of manipulating someone’s thoughts."

The councillor glanced at him.

"I asked Lady Liora."

Cain immediately stepped back.

"Of course."

Her attention returned to Liora.

"You stated that you don’t know who attacked you. Then are you able to personally testify that Elion Nova was responsible?"

Another moment of silence ensued as Liora looked toward Elion again. This time, he held her gaze.

If she felt the slightest bit guilty about going along with Cain’s plot, then she didn’t show it.

"No."

A few murmurs immediately followed. The elderly councillor raised a hand, silencing the murmurs.

"You don’t know?"

"Not for certain."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Liora hesitated briefly.

"When I first started interacting with Elion, there wasn’t anything particularly unusual about him. We worked together through the Disciplinary Committee, so I spent quite a bit of time around him. He felt more like an underclassman who had finally discovered himself."

She glanced toward Elion.

"After discovering that my mind had been breached, I spoke with him privately. I didn’t accuse him directly. I simply wanted to see how he would react by using a sequence of carefully constructed questions."

"And?"

"His reaction made me suspicious. He acted confused and genuinely unaware, but I had spent enough time around him to know when something was off, and though I’m ashamed to say it, I was even forced to use one of my family’s skills to discern whether he was lying or not."

The councillor narrowed her eyes.

"So you believe Elion Nova was responsible?"

Liora nodded.

"Based on my interactions with him, what happened to me, and my own observations... yes. I’m certain it was him. He also seemed to be trying to hide something about himself."

A murmur spread through the court.

"And the supposed demonic traces?"

Liora’s fingers tightened slightly.

"They were there. Whatever entered my mind left traces of demonic energy behind, and the most obvious culprit was him. Of course, as the duke said, by then, I was just suspicious, but the events that followed seemed to confirm those suspicions."

Elion stared at her silently.

Her story wasn’t quite solid, but she had said just enough to make her point while leaving enough leeway that her words couldn’t easily be used against her.

Unfortunately for her and Cain, Elion intended to end this farce the moment he was given the chance to speak. After all, all he had to do was put forward two or three unmistakable facts that would invalidate their entire story.

One, the origins of his sudden explosive strength.

And two, something that would either explain Liora’s claimed mental breach or, at the very least, put the claim into question.

After all, he doubted they could prove the supposed demonic traces since they had never actually existed, unless they had somehow planted the traces themselves, which would make them lying hypocrites.

Still, Elion had taken that possibility into account. If the demonic traces really were there, he couldn’t exactly claim they weren’t. By that point, he would simply have to resort to other measures.

Regardless, he listened quietly until Liora finished speaking.

For now, he would have to wait and see what else they had planned against him. And judging by the presence of Mira’s parents and the academy professor, he could already make a few guesses.

To his surprise, however, instead of calling the Duke’s other supposed witnesses once Liora was done, Elion found himself being called upon instead.

"Before we proceed, I think it’s only right that we hear what Elion Nova has to say in his defence, pertaining to the facts the accusing party has presented so far."

Elion raised a brow.

’Oh?’ He glanced briefly toward Cain before turning his attention back to the councillors. ’Is this my chance to simply end this whole thing?’

Without wasting a moment, Elion got up from his seat just as Cain and Liora were returning to their own.

He took centre stage, and Wendy stepped aside, gesturing for him to begin, but not before warning him that nothing but the truth would be tolerated.

Elion nodded, giving her a thankful smile before turning to face the rising terraces filled with hundreds of eyes looking back at him.

Despite the collective pressure coming from all of them, Elion easily brushed it off and took a breath.

Then, he put on a radiant smile.

For a brief moment, the atmosphere in the court seemed to change.

More than a few of those staring down at him found themselves momentarily dazzled, almost forgetting that the young man standing before them was supposed to be on trial.

And now that he stood alone at the centre of the court, with every eye focused entirely upon him, his handsome appearance became even more difficult to ignore.

Among all those gathered here, perhaps the only man who could even compare to him in terms of looks was their King, seated upon the lofty throne.

It also suddenly became a little easier to understand why a woman as beautiful as Zenith might claim to be his wife.

With her appearance alone, she could have enthralled men far more powerful and influential than Elion was publicly known to be, yet she had willingly chosen to stand beside him as his wife.

Even further, some began to make their own guesses as to why the Vampire Princess herself might have chosen to give her hand to him.

Elion’s calm voice finally broke them out of their thoughts.

"Before we begin, I would like to apologise once again for my late arrival, even though the circumstances were unfortunately beyond my control."

His smile softened slightly.

"Now, without further ado, I will begin my defence. I’ll start by sharing my thoughts on this entire heretic affair, as well as explaining how everything unfolded from my point of view."

Elion paused briefly.

"First of all, it is important that everyone here understand that this whole matter dates back almost a year now. At least, that’s when I would say everything truly began, until it became the story you know today."

His gaze shifted toward Cain.

"Duke Dawncrest’s son, William, and I have held a deep animosity toward each other since the day we started at the academy together. And it isn’t something so simple that it can be dismissed as some small disagreement between students. While I cannot say for sure how William’s dislike of me began, I simply assumed he held a particular dislike for lowborn commoners, as you nobles tend to say."

A few displeased murmurs erupted from the congregation, forcing Elion to pause, but a single hand from Wendy quieted them, and she told him to continue.

"Of course, my hatred of him only began after facing his animosity multiple times in the academy." Elion’s expression gradually hardened. "Saying that he made the past year of my life a living hell would be an understatement."

His eyes sharpened considerably as he spoke those words, and for the first time since taking centre stage, a trace of genuine bloodlust slipped from his body.

It wasn’t enough to threaten anyone present, but it was more than enough to punctuate his words.

More importantly, it made one thing unmistakably clear: His hatred wasn’t fake.