"I mean..." Charles pretended to hesitate, hand flying to his mouth to cover his smirk—one only Enzo could see. "My husband tends to hurt himself..."

The omega let out a dry laugh, smiling bitterly.

So now, you have come to blame me for your doings?... Disgusting pig.

His jaw clenched as he fought the urge to scream. However, behaving in a violent manner would only cause him trouble and prove his point.

"Oh dear! Poor High Priest Charles."

After that one statement, the crowd suddenly divided into two—those who stood by Enzo and those who supported Charles.

"Your Imperial Majesty," Zayden rose from his seat, unable to let this circus continue any longer. How could they even believe that someone from their own Empire would behave like this when they practically saw him grow up?

Disgusting nobles.

"Yes?" Selena said, and the attention shifted toward Zayden.

"I believe no sane person would do this horrible thing."

"And that is why High Priest Charles stated that Lord Enzo is not sane—"

"Tut-tut," Zayden interrupted. "I am talking about High Priest Charles," he crossed his arms, looking down at the shorter elderly man.

The nobles tilted their heads, narrowed their gazes, trying to understand what nonsense the General was spouting.

Fools...

Zayden shook his head. He couldn’t understand how they suddenly believed the words of someone from Hianshu instead of Enzo. Where did their hatred of decades disappear to? Was it simply because they were blinded by the wealth they obtained from Hianshu, or had this suddenly turned into a battle between alphas and omegas? He glanced at Ren, who had told him once that he lived in a fantasy where omegas were treated right. And this time, he couldn’t argue on that topic. Not when such injustice was befalling right beneath his eyes.

"High Priest Charles says Lord Enzo is mentally unstable. However, could a mentally unstable man stay in the palace, and not one maid would have noticed anything unusual about him?" He grinned.

Charles bit the inside of his cheek, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

This little... Ruining my plans.

However, he immediately masked his fury with a smile.

"That is because I made sure his interactions with others were limited, Your Imperial Majesty," he said, looking up at the Emperor and Empress.

"More like cage me..." Enzo mumbled, voice low.

Zayden scoffed, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" he asked, but it was only an empty question.

What he needed to do was buy some time until Soren arrived with concrete evidence. They had been questioning countless servants, yet none had witnessed anything unusual. Perhaps Charles only did those horrible things at night, in private, when no one could even help Enzo? He didn’t know. He only wanted to find something to force the divorce but...

The guards announced the Imperial Crown Prince Soren’s arrival, and all eyes shifted to the entrance.

Everyone apart from the Emperor and Empress stood, bowing to him in greeting.

A maid followed Soren closely, her head lowered while she sneakily peeked at the court. Never had she thought she would get the chance to enter this luxurious place—not as a criminal, but as a witness.

"Your Imperial Majesty, I apologize for my tardiness."

"You are excused. But who is the person behind you?" Zephyr demanded, his calm voice carrying through the hall.

Soren walked up, taking a seat beside the Emperor before speaking.

"This is a maid who witnessed High Priest Charles’s behaviour toward Lord Enzo."

Charles shot a furious glare at the maid, who flinched.

"I asked her to leave... Where did he even find her?" he mumbled, biting his nails anxiously. Immediately, he moved his hand away. He couldn’t let his body speak for him.

"So, you say you have seen something?" one of the ministers asked.

The maid nodded timidly.

"Could you enlighten us on what you saw?"

"Well... There was a time when the High Priest ordered me to remain by Lord Enzo’s side while he was asleep—"

"See?" Charles interrupted. "I told her to take care of him because he might do something wrong!"

"Let her finish," Zephyr said sharply, fixing his gaze on the elder man, who reluctantly nodded.

"Do continue."

The maid folded her hands together, head lowering further.

"When he awoke, he asked me to leave. And I did. But as I walked down the hallway, I told myself it wasn’t right to leave him alone when the High Priest had told me to stay by his side. So I went back to his room. And then I saw—"

"You didn’t knock?"

The maid froze at the question.

"Pardon?"

"Did you not knock before entering a noble’s room?"

Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t quite recall if she had, but admitting that could put her in trouble and discredit her testimony. Swallowing hard, she nodded.

"I did, but he didn’t respond..."

"Ah! So you barged into his room," one of the ministers said, snapping his fingers as if he had just solved the case.

"Well... I had no choice—"

"Why would you not?"

"Minister Alphons," Zephyr’s tone hardened as he turned to the man who kept interrupting.

Alphons lowered his head. "I apologize."

"Mhm. Better. Continue," Zephyr gestured for the maid to go on.

"When I opened the door, I found him on the floor. Blood ran down his..." The maid covered her mouth, muffling her sobs.

ChatGPT said:

"But that doesn’t prove that the High Priest was the one who hurt him..."

"True..."

Once again, faint whispers filled the hall before Zephyr cleared his throat to regain the nobles’ attention.

"Is that all?" the Emperor demanded.

The maid shook her head.

"Recently, I was heading to serve tea to Lord Enzo. The door was slightly open. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop... but I heard someone choking. So I opened the door, only to find the High Priest strangling his husband!"

Enzo’s eyes widened. He hadn’t known someone had witnessed that. Even he had forgotten what happened that morning. Did he fall before telling her to leave, or after? The memory was blurry, and perhaps even she hadn’t stated the events in the right order. But pointing that out could only weaken his case. Hence, he remained silent.

"And we can see the marks on his neck still..." the Empress said, her eyes glowing golden. She had the power to see from afar, and this was the moment her ability could be used.

"Your Imperial Majesty! This is all fake!" Charles argued.

"You threatened me to leave the palace!" the maid shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You said you’d have me and my family erased from the face of the earth if I told this to anyone—"

"And you still spouted it in front of the whole court?!" Without realizing it, the words left his mouth before he even caught himself.