I Promise, I'll Leave! But, With No Regrets!!

Chapter 80

♦Chapter 80: Seven of Swords♦

[]Third Person's POV []

Pointing the palm of his hand toward the person that made her entry in the midst of the trial, the prosecutor formally presented her to the jurors.

"She is a maid named Sophia Langdale, who also served under the Duchess' manor for three years and seven months, to be exact. She will now reveal what she exactly witnessed, the day of the murder attempt."

Coming after that, the handmaiden spoke of the happenings that she saw from her point of view that day, accurately and with care, although recalling the scene seemed to burden her and made herself feel uncomfortable to a certain point.

"At first, there weren't any particular changes between the atmosphere around her grace, the Duchess and the young lady. The moment they entered the garden and took their seats across each other, they normally began to open and read the books that they brought in their hands, meanwhile we served the tea set on the table."

"The events went smoothly and naturally as they had an enjoyable discussion whenever one of them brings up a topic to talk about. But then, I think things started to go wrong when her grace suddenly gave an order to all of the servants around that time.", the maid fidgeted.

At this point, the judge asked, "An order, you say?"

"...Yes.", she hesitantly answered and added.

"Her grace, the Duchess... she commanded us to leave her alone with the young lady for a minute or two."

The crowd was in chaos, chattering to each other as the servant's testimony effectively made them think that the answer to the occurrences has proven enough that there was no longer a need to have a second thought to arrest and punish the criminal that stood down that courtroom. Although there were others that opposed the idea of judging things so fast, they went with the flow, not wanting to be scorned with hateful gazes by the number of people that agreed with the basic hypothesis. Or else, they'd be insulted as those people that tried to defend a person that attempted to kill a twelve-year-old child.

There, the badmouthing started. The audience stared and belittled the Duchess with rude compliments and eyes that would say that they were looking at a murderer. Nevertheless, Fleurette paid no mind to that harassment and patiently waited for the tables to be turned.

In fact, there was no need to argue with their pressure. After all, that'd cause nothing but a waste to her energy. But more than anything else, she knew that one statement was enough to dissolve this farce. She perfectly acted like a predator, waiting for the most impactful and definite moment to catch its prey.

Later on, the judge used the gavel in his right hand to gather the attention of everyone in the courtroom, and shouted.

"Silence!"

He waited for a while for the noises to subside and completely disappear. And as soon as it became quiet, he went ahead to keep the trial going so the time wouldn't unnecessarily get wasted.

"Miss Langdale, please continue."

"Y-yes.", the handmaiden replied in a flustered manner, being brought back from the overwhelming uproar of the crowd. Soon enough, she retailed the rest of what was requested.

"After that, we obediently followed her orders since we thought she had a private matter to discuss with the young miss. That's why, I'm afraid I can't say what happened between them during our absence."

"But(!) I can tell the jurors for sure if it concerns what I spotted when we arrived at their side, the next moment we heard something of a teacup breaking after falling down the floor...", Sophia said, as she gazed at prosecutor Darriel's direction with a somewhat uneasy expression, most likely because of what she was about to utter.