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"Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism." —Colossians 3:25
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THERE were always two sides of the story, she could remember her grandmother say that back then. Yet she also used to say that there was only one truth. Any truth outside the real truth was nothing but fake news. Fabricated lies that would come out from the mouths of people who liked to tell stories—entertaining stories that didn't matter whether they were true or not. As long as the attention of people was drawn to them, nothing else mattered. The truth, dignity, honesty, life and love were nothing to fame, riches and power.
If a person was told a lie yet that person only knew a surface area of the story, would it still be called a lie if what that person only knew was the half baked, one sided truth?
If a person with bad eyesight said that he saw the most wanted person in their empire at the market, that would be his only truth. Unless he was slapped by the reality that whom he saw was not the wanted person but just a random guy that had a few resemblance to the real culprit.
If the person was already clouded with the idea that his beliefs were right, would it even cause the lie detecting magic to catch even the slightest change in the person's pulse and heartbeat? No. No lie would be detected even if what a person knew was only half truth because that half truth was already what they had deemed to be 'the truth'.
"Duke of Montgomery, do you swear to tell only the truth during this hour of time and shall speak only the truth? Shall your mouth utter any word of deception, do you swear to receive the punishment of God, the Almighty Adonai?" the emperor's scribe said.
Lantana was taken back to reality as soon as the voice of the emperor thundered inside the hall.
The scribe was standing at the left side of the emperor with the mage and retainer while the duke of Montgomery was asked to stand at the witness stand to swear an oath.
"I swear in my name, Philippe Ritcher Montgomery, that in any sense my mouth shall speak any word with deception, our Lord God, Adonai, shall strike my heart with His power," the duke said in confidence with his right hand placed on top of his left chest, which made the people who heard it gasp uncontrollably.
Usually, in trials like what was unfolding before their eyes, the witness, the suspect or the accuser would only say they swear. Nothing else. However, the duke of Montgomery was different. Not only he swore, he even swore with his name on the line! That only meant that the trial was so much of a big deal for him to even stake his name on the line. But as a consequence, if he was found wrong in the end, it would be the end of their family.
The emperor, who didn't even bother to hide his expression, expressed his amusement with a hearty laughter. However, due to that, the place fell into complete silence to the point that Lantana could even hear the loud beating of everyone's heart that seemed to be more deafening than usual.
The emperor's people and the noble were all looking at him, waiting for whatever his words would be. Even Lantana who was sitting beside him couldn't help but to look at him secretly in wonder.
Noticing the sudden change in the atmosphere, the emperor cleared his throat and broke the thin ice that seemed to be chilling everybody's spine and sending them shivers all over their bodies.
"Resume," he said in a serious tone. His amazement was nowhere to be seen. As if the person earlier was nothing but a mirage in the desert.
"With that, we take your words that you are giving us permission to use the anti-lying spell with you. In any case that you lie, your heart will experience being electrocuted and it will never stop unless you speak the truth. Be reminded that continuous lying could make you end up dead. Understood?" the old mage said sternly.
"I understand," the duke replied with determination.
"Then please, draw out your right hand."
As soon as the duke drew out his hand, the mage walked and stopped in front of him. He took a golden pen carved with an intricate flower design, and the ink out of his pocket. Then, without wasting any more time, the mage drew a Magen, a symbol composed of two overlaid equilateral triangles that form a six-pointed star at the duke's palm.
At first, Lantana already knew that it couldn't be a normal symbol. She knew that she assumed things again knowing that she was inside a fantasy world. However, when the lines that the mage drew on her father's palm started to burn a yellow light, her astonishment couldn't be contained. Her eyes sparkled in delight as if a child was given a new gift on Christmas while thinking it came from Santa. She was so amazed that her mouth even hung open without her realizing it herself.
'Wow! I'm witnessing something that only happens in anime or novels!' Lantana thought as she tried her best to control and refrain her hands from clapping subconsciously while watching her father look so cool despite the fire that was burning the symbol painted on his palm.
"Now, let us hear what the duke has to say," the emperor declared as soon as the fire started to dissipate.
"Your Majesty, things wouldn't have escalated this way if only their family and the fiancé of my beloved daughter were kind enough to immediately cancel the engagement if the truth was that they were never really satisfied with the engagement. They could have stopped it from happening if they just really wanted to. But they didn't. I wonder why? Perhaps it was due to the benefits of being the duke's daughter's husband that they got blinded," the duke said while subtly shaking his head.
"The only reason I agreed with it to happen in the first place was because of my daughter's well being. After the death of her mother, my dear Lantana had always had a shadow left behind her. I tried to provide everything for her. I tried to fulfil the role that my late wife left but I always felt it was always lacking..."
Lantana saw, as the duke spoke, his left hand reached his chest, gripping it with a melancholic look that made the perfectly iron clothes crumpled. She even saw how some of the women who were there were not even really listening, but instead, they were just blushing while focusing their eyes on the duke's big hand that was showing off all its veins.
The daughter shook her head. 'I don't mind having a stepmother but please, not someone younger than me or even around my age!'
"My daughter was always alone. She was always in our house and whenever I saw her, I never saw her that happy until the day she got engaged. When the day of engagement came, she was the happiest and prettiest girl in the world," the duke said with a dreamy face.
"My daughter was the loveliest person in the world. She became my world from the first time that I met her. I watched her grow up. She would never wrong anyone. And even when she was the one wronged, she would never try to retaliate. My daughter is too kind to even lift up an arm. She would not tell me about her worries but instead, she would lock herself up in her room."
"A day before the previous imperial ball that happened in this place, my daughter received a few pieces of cookies from her fiancé. She ate them during the night. The next day, she went to the party normally yet after the party, she was found unconscious in her room. I've tried to take her to every doctor and mage yet no one found anything. But still, I didn't give up."
"When she woke up, she didn't even remember any person—anyone including me. It took her a few months before she regained some of her memories. And just a few days ago, she remembered some important details she had forgotten. The cookies that her fiancé's servant sent to her and the scene that she witnessed during the ball between two people. The cookies with poison had a one day gap before it would take effect. That's why I did not suspect anything. The two people that she saw that day were her fiancé and dear friend, the eldest son of the Floyen and the eldest daughter of the Uros, Hubert Floyen and Mistica Uros. They plotted to kill her with the poison that someone concocted for them in order for my daughter to disappear—in order for them to be happy without having to go through the troublesome process of canceling an engagement with the emperor."
After the duke spoke and revealed everything that happened, everyone ended up gasping in shock. They couldn't believe it—at first. Like? Why would someone be engaged to another person if they didn't really like them? And to even cheat and plot to kill the real lover? Was it really like that?
In the past few years that Hubert Floyen showed up in the society, he was seen as a magnanimous guy—most especially when he got engaged to the ugly duckling of the society. From being a dream of every beautiful girl in the society, to suddenly being entangled to an ugly fat girl—every girl alive was mad.
And the accused mistress, though she was lost for a long time, was seen in parties and celebrations in the society as a lily who couldn't do anything wrong. For her to steal her best friend's lover—was it actually real? It wasn't her fault in the first place if she was more beautiful than the duke's daughter but was it alright for her to also be blamed? Shouldn't the guy be the one who should shoulder everything? It was his fault for rowing in two boats.
But all those questions in the crowd's mind at that time were answered when the overly prepared duke called out his servants who were bringing the magic stones.
"Your Majesty, please hear your subject's plea and grant my daughter the justice that she deserves."
Then, the duke proceeded to give all the magic stones he readied to the mages who played them one by one in front of everyone.