episode_0046

046 – Rust takes the stand #1

Florence was a big city.

A large plaza where nearly a thousand people gathered.

I felt those eyes turning towards me in an instant.

The same was true of Archbishop Coramdeus, who was fat and bearded.

He looked at me with a slightly tired face and asked, resting his chin in front of the podium.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Monk Hyde! And I think the defendant Milione Archibald’s death sentence is completely unfair!”

I was confident in my voice.

My name and meaning must have resonated from every corner of the people gathered in this wide square.

“Wooden monk?”

“A lowly person has raised an objection to Archbishop Coramdeo’s ruling now?”

Sloppy-.

People began to chatter at my sudden intervention. Coramdeo asked as their every word washed over our heads like rolling waves.

“Monk Hyde, it sounds like you are saying that you will be in charge of defending the defendant, Miss Milione Archibald. Is it wrong?”

“It’s literally like that! Your Majesty Coramdeo, I have no doubt that this ruling was a mistake by the court!”

Sze-.

I followed the naturally formed path of the crowd to the court. Milione was still being held between the soldiers, and she looked like a subdued animal.

“Hey! Hyde! Why are you talking so freely! Yeah kill it! Try the death penalty or something else! I didn’t even want to live anyway!”

Milione was angry.

It seemed like he had given up somewhere.

It’s like being abandoned by your parents.

Since I was abandoned by my parents since I was born, I couldn’t understand the feelings of a woman who heard the words “I don’t have a daughter like you” in the middle of my life.

In many ways, Milione seemed to have let go of various things out of desperation.

As always, you are a crazy bitch.

“Kill me—! You killed me─!”

“Ugh, I’m out of my mind.”

“Even if you go crazy, you have to go crazy in a nice way.”

People frowned at the sound of pure evil. Being a beauty means that all the emotions shown are amplified.

With Milione by my side, I picked up a stone that had fallen on the floor. Then Judge Coramdeo looked at me and opened his narrow eyes.

“Why pick up rocks? Surely only the innocent would say something boring like “Throw stones at Milione?” How many lawyers do you think have ever said something like that?”

What’s wrong with saying that only innocent people should throw stones?

I wonder if there is any other word that penetrates the core as much as that.

That we are all sinners.

However, this time, Coramdeo’s opinion was also correct.

“Suppose I throw this rock at His Majesty Coramdeo. If this stone hits His Majesty Coramdeo’s flat forehead and breaks His Majesty’s head, whose fault is it?”

Twitch-.

Coramdeo’s forehead twitched.

He stroked the beard he had grown like a piece of equipment and looked down at me coldly from the high platform.

That gaze seemed to warn me, “How dare someone like you speak of my death?”

So what, what?

Everyone dies.

With that feeling, I opened my mouth wide again and shouted to those around me.

“Respected Judge! I believe that the judge will wisely decide between right and wrong if he were to be stoned to death!”

“Of course.”

“Then, isn’t the biggest sin in that situation the judge’s failure to avoid the stone? Judge, you must be found guilty, right?”

“You’re talking stupid. In this case, isn’t there an unconditional fault on your part for throwing the stone? Why should I be found guilty for getting stoned? The logical structure is strange!”

“That’s right. So how much is this rock’s fault? In fact, it wasn’t me who hit the judge’s head and killed him, but it was this rock.”

Sze-.

I showed the stone in front of everyone.

Then, one by one, people started laughing as if they were shocked.

“Stupid guy.”

“What’s wrong with the rock?”

“Wooden monks do that.”

“It seems like he wanted to be famous in a gathering of people, but it ended up being that way.”

In an instant, the public courtroom became noisy.

Bang, bang, bang, it became quiet only after Coramdeo hit the table with his fist.

Soon Coramdeo spoke.

“What crime is there in the thrown stones?”

“That’s exactly what I said. Miss Milione Archibald was the stone in this cathedral arson incident. A rock thrown at a man named Rust!”

“What?”

“Mr. Judge, why do you sentence an innocent stone to death? Driving an innocent person to death is murder! Can you bear that sin?”

Murder.

Innocent.

execution.

Each story was enough to heat the ears of the crowd. In a situation like this, the stronger the words you want to say, the greater their power.

As I spoke, the people sitting on the jury looked at each other’s faces. Their expressions began to change with interest and confusion, which was a good thing for me.

“Is there any evidence?”

Then someone spoke to me.

He was a knight in a yellow cloak wearing a long-brimmed hat.

This is Parmas of the Knights Templar, wearing a gold cross around his neck.

“The story of Lady Milione getting into all kinds of accidents is already a famous story in Florence. Couldn’t this incident have been an accident of such capriciousness? Rust manipulated Milione—is there any evidence of that?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Heung-.”

Parmas was snorting with a face that said, “Okay then.”

I didn’t miss that moment and shouted loudly.

“But we can get the evidence! Give me four days! If you give me four days, I will make Rust, the real culprit of this case, sit as a defendant!”

“Hoo?”

Archbishop Coramdeo’s expression twitched strangely.

He got up from his seat and slowly walked out to the court and stood in front of me.

“How are you saying you’re going to put that horrible Rust in the defendant’s seat?”

“That’s because Rust is chasing me! That’s because I’m the only good person in the world who can deal with that man! Because I’m so great!”

It’s not a lie.

The only one who can stop Rust is me, Hyde.

I shouted to those around me.

“Home of the Crescent Sisters! And Agarpe territory! Baron Voltaire’s wedding hall! All the way to Daeseongjeon! Rust appeared everywhere I went! This is proof that he is chasing me!”

My argument just now was a double-edged sword.

For those who are quick-witted, “Rust and Hyde’s movements overlap. Rust is a man whose identity is unknown. Perhaps we can deduce that Hyde is Rust?”

Soon, Sir Parmas stood up, slamming the table.

“Hyde! You are Rust!”

look-.

Actually, that was the intended story.

The interrogation just now is a huge boon to me.

Parmas, like his disciple Selim, is a person who cannot escape expectations.

“Can I show you proof that it’s not Rust? Let’s read my novel “The Village of Back-Alley Nymphs”! I wonder if someone as evil as Rust could write such an innocent story!”

Sze-.

I submitted the novel I wrote as evidence to the trial judge.

At that time, people were in an uproar.

“What will happen to Milione Archibald’s execution? Why is there a story about a novel all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know either.”

“But they say you can put Rust in the defendant’s seat. Is that real?”

Palak, Palak-.

The jury, including presiding judge Coramdeo and Parmas, began reading my novel. Now you will know my greatness.

After about 10 minutes, Judge Coramdeo asked Parmas.

“Juror. Sir Parmas, please present the correlation between the evidence you just read and Rust!”

“「The Village of Back Alley Nymphs」 is a very childish and deceptive story. Rust is a writer who uses high-level vocabulary. Hyde and Rust are not the same person.”

Childish and deceptive?

This fucking guy.

It was nice to get the words notarized from the mouth of the gold-plated knight that Rust and Hyde were different people, but I was angry.

Let’s wait and see, you bastard.

Soon the judge, Coramdeo, asked me:

“Can we really put Rust in the defendant’s seat?”

“There may be various conditions. But your honor. Think about it. In addition to saving Miss Archibald’s innocent life, this may be an opportunity to catch Rust, a heinous criminal.”

# # #

“The handcuffs on your hands and feet look great.”

I looked at Milione Archibald, who was imprisoned in a temporary prison cell. The guy’s hands and legs were covered in sturdy cast iron handcuffs, which looked very nice.

How pretty are you to be so calm?

However, Milione Archibald was angry.

“Hyde, you did something useless! When did I ask you to defend me?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why did you do that! Even if you hadn’t helped me, I could have survived somehow!”

That was correct.

Milione Archibald wouldn’t have died even if I hadn’t saved him. He could have saved his own life.

He must have torn apart the guards, impaled the soldiers with his hands, and then fled.

But in fact, it was the same as the end of a woman named Milione Archibald.

When that day comes, Milione will disappear and only anger will remain in the world.

“Milione. I will save you.”

While staying with Milione, I felt and planned many things. But it was painful because it wasn’t clear, as if I was walking through a hazy fog.

But now I felt good because it felt like it was the moment when what I had planned became clear.

I will save Milione.

Not Lass, the Great Sin Seat.

If we save Milione Archibald, who is at least a good person, and educate and inspire her, there will be no need for ‘Las’.

In that case, it would be the same as capturing and killing the one person who was more difficult than anyone else in the future.

No one in history could have achieved such a feat.

I am a genius after all!

Of course, that wasn’t the only thought.

“Miglione, the death penalty is excessive for your punishment. I think there might be a political reason. In fact, this punishment is probably aimed at Archbishop Archibald, not you.”

I found out today.

The relationship between Archibald and the six knights, Parmas and Archbishop Coramdeo, was not good. It’s probably because Archbishop Archibald has so many enemies.

Soon Milione was laughing.

“Do you think our old friends will even blink if I die? No, he is not that kind of man. What doesn’t everyone know? So what is the old man doing?”

“Well. I’m thinking of going to see you now.”

“Then tell me this.”

Sze-.

Milione raised her middle finger at me.