'What should I say?'
Rey racked his brain to think of a way to circumvent the issue and avoid lying, without also saying the truth.
"How do you suppose I did that? My Skill is to temporarily transform my body and—!" He tried to do just that.
However, before he could get very far, Lady Vida silenced him with her next words.
"Just answer the question. Did you leave the Royal Estate or not? If you indeed left the Estate, where did you go?"
These were extremely precise questions that required direct answers for him.
'She's trapped me!' Rey greeted his teeth as he watched her chuckle slightly.
It seemed she truly took pleasure in seeing him like this.
'I really don't like how she's looking down on me. That condescending gaze… it irks me!'
The more he hesitated, the more suspicious he looked. Rey knew that much already.
'I've already denied an ample number of allegations, and successfully at that.'
If he made a blunder now, it would reduce the reliability of his words, practically ruining all his efforts until now.
Left with nowhere else to go, Rey finally gave up and used his last ditch option.
"I… I refuse to answer that."
Gasps escaped from the lips of the audience as they heard his response.
"Oho?" Lady Vida seemed to be even more excited once she heard that. "Are you sure that's how you want to respond?"
"Yes. I'm sure."
As the entire room heard this, the Lady was greeted by Rey's defiant stare. Anyone with such high standing would feel understandably dissatisfied with that.
But not Lady Vida.
Rey's defiance only caused her smile to widen even more.
If one looked closer, they would be able to see the pink shades that subtly appeared on her cheeks.
"What about this next question? What do you spend your spare time doing?"
"Preparing to save the world." Rey answered with a stubborn smile.
"Ohh? That's so brave of you. Mind telling us the details?"
"No."
More back and forth occurred between Rey and the Lady, and it soon became just them engaged in what couldn't be classified as a Trial anymore.
The two were smiling, and their words contained an odd mix of hostility and pleasure.
Anyone could see that they had both departed from the confines of the trial.
"A-ahem! That's enough of that…" Conrad Listrio cleared his throat and made sure his voice was extraordinarily loud.
This was enough to snap Rey and Lady Vida back to the reality that everyone lived in.
"Aha! Oh my… it seems I got a little carried away. My apologies."
Despite Lady Vida saying this with a smile, she seemed to be a tad bit dissatisfied that she was interrupted by Conrad.
The remaining members of the Council had nervous looks and took their gaze away from Vida Origa, while Conrad coughed awkwardly.
He could clearly sense the hostile gaze she was directing towards him.
"In any case, it seems you are not properly cooperating with the trail, Rey Skylar. If you do not properly answer our questions, we can't fully determine the truth and prove your innocence." Conrad successfully brought the topic of the Trial back on track.
"But you can't prove my guilt as well."
The moment Rey said this, Conrad narrowed his gaze.
"I beg the contrary. We have a testimony from your Classmate. Since the Truthseeker confirmed he was telling the truth from him, that means you're still guilty of some things."
In essence, Rey wasn't out of the woods yet.
One would expect such a person to be panicking, but Rey was currently smiling.
Almost as if he had expected this outcome.
"Oh really? Then maybe you should ask him for details as to how I was able to leave the Royal Estate. You all know my Skill and its abilities, and you know I was telling the truth about that."
Once Rey said this, he averted his gaze to Adam Sanchez, who was already showing signs of nervousness.
"How would someone like me be able to get past so many guards? Why not ask the man himself what he saw?"
Everyone looked at Adam, who was now buried under an overwhelming amount of attention that he never planned for.
'Thankfully they still don't doubt the nature of my Skill. That Truthseeker stuff must be really reliable.'
If he had been questioned on the specifics of his Skill, Rey knew his entire case would fall apart.
Fortunately for him, his gamble paid off.
"Adam Sanchez, please rise on your feet."
The boy obeyed.
"Tell all of us the details of how Rey escaped the Royal Estate and… evaded the detection of the guards."
It seemed like Conrad was already recognizing how ridiculous the entire thing sounded while confronting Adam.
His conflicted expression was enough to give it away.
"I… erm… well…"
Adam could see the Truthseeker, so he had to be very careful about his words.
'You can't lie, can you? You don't have the Enchanted Item with you, so it's impossible to fabricate another story against me.'
Rey was enjoying the moment with utmost satisfaction.
'Since this is the Royal Court, they search everyone who is about to enter, and there are Magic Detectors that would spot an Enchanted Item on someone.'
This was done in order to guarantee the safety of the members of the Royal Council and ensure a fair trial.
'And that works in my favor!'
"I-I'd rather not say anything!" Adam yelled out before plopping back to his seat.
That act was the final nail on the coffin.
"I have answered your questions regarding the Sack of Monster Cores, as well as my confusion about this whole thing. I don't claim to know all the answers here, but I know this one thing…"
Everyone looked at Rey as he declared his position with utmost confidence.
"I am innocent!"
As his voice echoed in the Royal Court, Rey's thoughts also reverberated within him.
'With this, even if they can't completely verify everything and reach a definite conclusion, it's clear that I'm not guilty.'
That was all that mattered to Rey.
'Hehehe… hehehe… hehehehe!'
This… all of this… had been his goal from the start!
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Thanks for reading!
Sorry the trial is taking so long, but I really enjoy writing backs and forths like this.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
