CHAPTER 107: A ROYAL JUDGMENT

Queen Lilith, her crimson eyes gleaming with a mixture of amusement and a dangerous, predatory light, declared, "Now then, it’s official. And in the witness of the high priest and the most powerful people in the entire empire, you should feel proud."

She then turned her gaze, sharp and unforgiving, to the Knight Commander, Erwin, who had been standing frozen in a state of stunned, horrified disbelief. "Now," she said, her voice a low, dangerous purr that sent a shiver down the spines of everyone in the cathedral, "we should turn to the real matter at hand. Commander Erwin, did you know that your son was committing a grave sin by attempting to take everything from that girl?"

He stammered, his own face a mask of pale, desperate confusion. "I... I didn’t know she loved someone, Your Majesty. I had no idea."

Lilith’s voice turned sharp as a blade. "The matter is not whether she loved someone else," she snapped, her voice ringing with a righteous, unyielding fury. "It is about whether she wanted this marriage or not. You used her like a second tire, a political pawn to be added to your son’s collection. You were making her a concubine, and all without her consent, all with the force of your family’s power. Is that how honor works in the house of my Knight Commander?"

He fell to his knees then, his own face a mask of profound, soul-deep shame and regret. "I am truly, deeply sorry for all of this, Your Majesty," he whispered, his voice a raw, broken thing. "I didn’t know. My son... he told me that he wanted to marry a girl, and that she would not refuse. I thought... I thought the girl was here for money, for power. But the things I have just witnessed... they are different. I have failed. As a father, and as a commander. I could not raise my son well." He bowed his head, his own voice a low, defeated murmur. "And so, I will accept any punishment you see fit. Even if it is my own death."

Lilith’s expression softened for a moment, a flicker of something that might have been pity in her crimson eyes. "Erwin," she said, her own voice a low, almost gentle murmur, "I know you better than that. You have dedicated your life to this kingdom. You have spent more time protecting its borders than you have in your own home. You forgot to raise your child well, yes. But you have done more than enough for me, for this kingdom. And so, I do not have the right to punish you. But the ones who do," she said, her gaze shifting to Christina and me, "are these two."

I smiled, a slow, sad expression that was a masterpiece of calculated, manipulative grief. I stepped forward, my own eyes, I knew, shimmering with a convincing, if entirely fake, sheen of unshed tears. "Commander Erwin," I said, my own voice a low, emotional murmur, "the pain you have caused us is too much. You don’t know how broken I was when I heard of this. I... I was no help to Christina. She forced me to leave her side, to abandon her, because she didn’t want me to be hurt anymore. So I stepped back. But then, I realized... without her, I am not even myself."

Lilith, Christina, and her father all looked at me with the same, shared expression—a mixture of awe and a dawning, unwilling admiration, as if they were all declaring me the greatest actor of our generation.

Then, I added, my own voice a low, dangerous thing, "Death would be a small punishment for this crime."

All eyes were on me, shocked, a new, more dangerous tension filling the air.

"However," I continued, my own voice softening once more into a gentle, forgiving murmur, "I am with Christina again. And there is no joy in this world more profound than that. Everyone faces hurdles in their life, and I consider this to be just another one. And so," I said, my own voice a low, humble thing as I looked at the assembled nobles, "I only need everyone’s blessing. I am here not for vengeance, but for love."

Erwin, his own face a mask of profound, soul-deep shame, shook his head. "But our kingdom has always had rules of justice," he insisted, his own voice a low, desperate thing. "And I am the one who has committed this sin. I am deemed to be punished."

"Rules," I said, my own voice a low, confident murmur, "are made to be broken. And besides, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was your son. But if you truly feel guilty, you can provide us with mo—"

A jolt of pure, white-hot lightning, a silent, invisible thing, shot through my head, a sharp, painful warning from the System.

[System: Don’t mess this up. You are on the right track. You are destroying everything.]

’Oye, System,’ I thought, my own mind a chaotic battlefield of conflicting emotions. ’I needed money. And isn’t it a good practice to ask for a dowry in marriage?’

[System: You fool. If you do not make a good, genuine connection with Christina, I swear I will make you suffer.]

Wtf? What is happening? I am being controlled by this shitty, sentimental System.

I didn’t have time to argue with the damn thing. I needed to complete my sentence, to salvage the situation.

"—I mean," I continued, my own voice a smooth, confident thing, "you can punish your son. By sending him to a rural, forgotten place, with no money, no backing, just his own two hands. It is not a punishment, to be honest. It is a chance for him to see the real world."

Erwin looked at his son, who was standing a few feet away, his own face a mask of pale, desperate denial. The boy, who had been so confident, so arrogant, so sure of his own power, was now just a broken, pathetic thing.

And in that moment, a new, more profound, and far more satisfying plan began to form in my mind. A plan that was not just about revenge, but about a cruel, and very deserved, justice.