A Villainess Should Be Strong

Chapter 24: Audience (3)

"Duke Clareste and company have arrived!" The guard announced with a large volume, gathering everybody's attention in a flash.

Their eyes turned to them, every single stare as sharp as blades, wanting to pierce them mentally. Thankfully, all of them were prepared to face such a challenge, and bore the painful gazes without showing a change in expressions as they walked up to their assigned table.

The Clareste Dukedom was only one level lower than the King. Since there were no Grand Dukes, their status were only below the royals and above everyone else.

They were exempted from bowing down to the King.

"Long live Your Majesty the King," Alan made a simple salute, followed by the other four.

"My subject, do you know why you were summoned?" The King received the salute, but did not comply to the proprieties where he is supposed to instruct Alan to sit down.

[Minerva, isn't he supposed to let us sit?] Estelle pursed her lips. The nobles' gazes on them were sour. The King's treatment worsened the loathing looks.

'...These pesky royals will try to make it hard for us in every single way, this is just one of them.' Minerva scolded, disgust showing on her face as she glared at the King.

Estelle bit her lips in rage as she looked over to her father, who was standing straight in front of them.

Unbothered as ever, Alan's eyes were cold and unfeeling. Like he had already given up on everything.

It wasn't like he didn't hold loyalty to the Kingdom, it's just that they disappointed him too many times. The King was corrupt, but his tendency to want the people to adore him led him to create a separate persona. The benevolent King the people saw was indeed the same person who was now inciting Alan's rage.

There were many blind supporters within the people who viewed him as the perfect ruler. Little did they know, the ones who performed the miracles were his subordinates, the hardworking and honest nobles.

Alan always refrained from interacting with the Royals. Because he had given up on them, who betrayed his expectations.

"Answering Your Majesty, this one does not know," Alan answered curtly.

The court was shaped like a ring, amounting to a maximum of seven floors. The ones on trial was at the very bottom floor, while the King was slightly above them and below the people.

The audience was situated according to their peerage ranking. The higher ranked ones would sit on the lowest floors to provide better view and understanding. Similarly, the lowest ranked attendees sat on the higher floors.

The ones on the seventh floor was still able to view the court's progression due to a special screening created by magic. The ones on trial would be magnified and projected on the screen. In this case, the entire Clareste family was enlarged to be seen.

"My people have gathered and reported your wrongdoings to me. My subject, I know that you have been loyal and helpful to me for years. However, I cannot overlook any injustice in my kingdom," The King knocked his fingernails against the throne's armrest. "We are giving you one last chance to confess out of consideration for your service,"

The King's words made it sound like Alan really did something and was just unwilling to admit it.

[Loathsome bastard.] Estelle commented, clenching her fists.

"My King, this one is unaware of his wrongdoings. I have not committed any acts punishable under the law. May Your Majesty rethink his conclusions once more," Alan challenged his claims.

Once Alan finished his last sentence, the audience immediately gasped one after another.

Alan's words were faulting a King's words and bringing doubt to its credibility.

A King's words were akin to gold. Rare and precious. Once the King proclaimed something, he could not retract the meaning easily, just like how other people are not capable of refuting his words.

Alan was challenging this golden rule.

"I also think that judgements can sometimes be clouded," This time, Heine inserted himself into the conversation.

Estelle had her sight drawn to the new voice. She saw the familiar Spirit King sitting on the first rows, looking down at them from his height.

[I can only fan the fires. I'll leave the rest up to you guys.] Heine communicated his message to Estelle using the mind connection. Outide, his stature looked completely professional, nothing was off.

[Un, I got it.]

"Spirit King Heine, are you aware of your current role?" The King stated in a tense tone.

"A Ruler must be impartial, objective, and wise," Heine calmly replied, closing his eyes.

"Are you implying that this one hasn't completed either one of them?"

[Of course it's not one... It's all three of them, stupid.]

"The King has taken my words the wrong way. I was just stating my opinion. I am sure that the other Ruler also think the same?"

In actuality, the Human King was only able to invite two other rulers, one of them being Heine and the other the Beastkin King, Gazelle Leonhardt.

Both were invited thanks to the connections between Estelle and Heine. Gazelle, being Minerva and Heine's former student, was called in to help his newest junior disciple.

The true purpose was to put more pressure onto the King. Unlike Heine, Gazelle was known to be upfront and brutally honest. His way with words was rigid and unbending, not willing to cloud his meaning behind analogies and unclear metaphors.

The nobles, who particularly liked speaking in the aforementioned way was considered as disgusting liars to the Beastkin King.

"..Your words are not wrong," Gazelle nodded in acknowledgement.

This time, Estelle's line of sight was once again, drawn to the first floor where the mentioned Beastkin King was sitting by.

Gazelle Leonhardt had a robust body covered in golden armor that seemed heavy enough to outweigh Estelle by at least ten times.

His face was human - like. No traces of beast morph could be seen in any parts of his body.

'He's your senior brother.' Minerva chimed in, causing Estelle to jolt in place.

[..Senior brother?]

'Heine and me took him in as a disciple years ago, long before he became king.'

[Wait, the other disciple you mentioned was a literal King?] Estelle almost gaped. The sudden revelation was too shocking.

'You were going to meet him eventually, so I didn't bother elaborating on it. Ah, he probably doesn't mind you peeking on his status, so feel free to do so.'

[..For matters like that, you should elaborate no matter what the timing is...] Estelle grumbled, but her interest in the King's status made her drop the matter.

[Mind's Eye Activate.] She cast the spell inside her mind.

A magical circle illuminated her golden eyes, glowing with a fuchsia - colored hue. The magic circle was made invisible to the public, but those with keen eyes would be able to notice her subtle use of magic.

Status

Gazelle Leonhardt | Beastman (Lion)

HP: 330.000/330.000

Title:

- [ Ruler ]

- [ Lion King ]

Core Purity: 37%

Mana: 10.000/10.000

Affinity: [Fire] [Earth]

Unique Magic: -

Skill: -

[...] His status was not low, but compared to Heine and Minerva, there was a large disparity.

'You've seen it? You see, he came by in a near - death state and suddenly said that he wanted to become our apprentice. His core purity... Sigh, it was such a shame, he could grab the concepts pretty easily, but his constitution is lacking. Wait, it's not time for this.'

[Right.] Estelle placed her gaze back onto the King.

"My dearest guests, one ought to not preach their religion on other faith's holy ground," The King said, his gaze turning dark as he swept through Heine and Gazelle's figures.

(A/N: A reader of mine gave this phrase as a suggestion because the previous one was "One ought to act like Romans while in Rome." It contained Rome, which didn't exist in Estelle's world. If anyone has a better phrase, feel free to give it!)

It was not a secret that the Fae King, Beastkin King, and the Crimson Witch were acquainted and had a bond that was more than casual friends with political benefits.

"Are you saying that you are admitting that there is injustice in this 'holy ground'?"

"..How could that be? It's just that the evidence all points to this subject of mine.." The King regained his calm and chose to try and divert the attention back to Alan. He had noticed that he was being discussed more than the one on trial. Grabbing into the anomaly, he took this chance to further his advances.

"The red roses that burned on top of the Clareste Dukedom, the monster attack that followed the display... I wonder if the Duke knows that red roses are often used as a symbolic icon by the people who practice black magic? Not only that, I have heard that the recent black magic advancement is about reproducing artificial monsters... The Duke must know that the appearance of monsters in that amount is not normal?"

The King's words seemed like he was just stating facts, but he was clearly trying to stir up matters and bend the audience's thoughts towards his views.

[I am pretty sure that the monster incident didn't involve outsiders. There might be explosions, but that can be justified as training. From an exterior point of view, nothing should be out of place.]

'As we thought, a spy has been placed.'

[I want to burn the place down.] Estelle was irritated with how she couldn't just use straightforward methods to solve her problems.

Social hierarchy, prestige and fame, why did she have to mind those things?

Her actions were hers, why did it involve her surroundings?

'Rest easy, a bug is short - lived.' Minerva tried to comfort the child's irritation.

[Un, I know.]

"I might have an explanation to this, would everyone care to hear?" Bringing surprise to others was Gazelle, who offered his thoughts in a gruff voice.

'Gazelle is a lot more free in terms of actions.'

The Beastkin Kingdom was actually not that unified since there is a lot of species inside.

Gazelle rules on top of them, but his actions will mostly affect his species, the Lions and not so much for the others.

Sensing Estelle's thoughts, Minerva provided this new piece of information.

[What about the other kingdoms?]

'The elves are extremely unified, they have a royalty system where they treat the royals as Gods. Their reproduction rate is really low, so they abstain from politics and choose to seclude themselves inside Yulia's barrier to avoid damages.

The dragons are individualistic. One dragon will be enthroned as the most powerful, but the other dragons are free to do whatever they want. Their ruler is just a title, and akin to a commander at war.

The spirits... Well, it's not like they aren't free to act on their own, it's that they don't want to. They choose to stay inside their lands and not make any contact with the outside world.'

[I see.] Noting down the information, Estelle continued to listen to the discussion. It was her first time being in a political setting, just like how it was her first time being in a real fight a while ago.

"..May the Beastkin King speak his thoughts?" The King had to show respect for the other Rulers not only from the formalities' sake, but also because they were not in a valuable position compared to the other Kingdoms, which held quite the pack of punch.

"I am sure that everyone knows about my affiliation with my mentors; the current Fae King, Heine; and the Crimson Witch," Gazelle brought the spotlight away from Alan.

He had not been informed about the whole situation, but he was clear on one thing.

He sensed Minerva's presence by the Clareste family's side, he saw how Heine tried to support the accused while staying in the neutral zone, and he also knew that his mentors had accepted a new disciple residing in the Clareste Dukedom.

Knowing that Heine could not fully support them, he used his freedom to help.

"I have been informed that they have selected a new disciple,"