“What did you dare say about my daughter?” Kamila had also gained enhanced hearing due to Awakening and Elysia’s growing strength.
“The truth, Baroness Verhen.” The Grand Duchess said with the condescending smile she used to address the dumbest members of her house staff. “Can you deny being an oath breaker? That the child you carry is a hybrid? I don’t think so.”
“I can’t.” Kamila nodded. “Just like you can’t deny that one of your sons needed a Royal Pardon to get out with his skin from those rape charges. Or that one of your cousins has been caught for embezzlement and fraud. Do you want me to continue?”
The Grand Duchess went pale, losing her hilarity. The bigger and older a noble family was, the more dirt they had. Kamila was a Constable and could have gone on for an hour about the crimes of her relatives.
“I guess that an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, or in your case, the whole tree is rotten. As for you, dear Marquess…” Her lips were curled up and her teeth exposed, but the thing on Kamila’s face was no smile. “I heard you are under investigation for high treason.
“Rumors say that after Thrud disabled the six great academies, you went this close to switching sides. Did you fall in love with one of the Mad Queen’s Emperor Beasts or are you just an opportunistic coward?”
“How dare you?” The Marquees said while straightening his back to tower over Kamila. “The Grand Duchess’ son received a Royal Pardon so his crime is like it never happened. As for me, I did no such thing as treason!”
“Well, I got pardoned as well but you didn’t seem to care.” Kamila clicked her tongue in disgust. “As for your crimes, I’d wait until the end of the trial before showing my face in public if I were you.”
“Watch your tongue, child.” The Duchess said. “Your ignorance of Court etiquette is excusable, but only up to a certain point. You shouldn’t speak of what you don’t know.”
“What I know is that while my husband was risking his life for us all, all of you so-called nobles and your families were hiding like rats in the farthest corners of the Kingdom from the conflict.
“The Verhen Household sent every single Mage they had to fight the Mad Queen and her army. Lith, Tista, and Solus have stood by Sylpha’s side until the end. What about you?
“How many Mages have you sent? How many members of your families volunteered for the battle and how many have relinquished their duties leaving a coward’s brown trail in their wake instead?” Kamila replied, putting way more than those three noble Households to shame.
“If you can’t take a blow, dear, Grand Duchess, you’d better not start a fight because I’m not going to let you and your friends run your mouths wild.”
“You’d better apologize or-“
“Or what?” Kamila cut the Grand Duchess short. “Do you dare violate the peace of the King’s Court and threaten me? Or maybe you want to hit me? Because I’d love to see how that goes.”
Grand Duchess Cranst had already opened her palm for a slap when Kamila’s words reminded her of the day of the Black Sun. The details of the attempt on Baroness Verhen’s life were a state secret, but its consequences were public knowledge.
The quakes, the blotted sun, and the storms were still vivid in the minds of everyone who lived in Garlen.
“And so would I.” Lith stepped forward, putting himself between Kamila and the Grand Duchess.
He took off one of his white gloves and slapped the noblewoman in the face as gently as he could.
“This woman has slandered my name, my wife, and my child. Therefore, I demand justice. I invoke the right of Blood Judgment.” Lith said.
It was an ancient trial by combat established by the First King himself in order to allow nobles to settle disputes without the need for wars or getting the Crown involved.
Each side would pick a champion who would fight until the first blood was shed or the opponent surrendered.
The ritual forbade the use of any kind of magic, even chore magic, and artifacts. It allowed households who lacked the talent or the money to have a powerful mage among their ranks to defend themselves and also to avoid casualties.
To avoid one challenge triggering another, Valeron had decreed that killing the opponent resulted in a defeat and that to issue a Blood Judgment, the offended party had to provide solid evidence of the damage suffered.
All those near the Grand Duchess and her group had heard her words first and then the quarrel with Kamila. Lith was among them and so was the King who was glaring at the three nobles in contempt.
‘Dammit, we should have been more careful.’ Marquess Lamonia thought. ‘Even if the rest of the room sided with us and claimed to not have heard anything, they will never risk calling Meron a liar.
‘The fate of Grand Duchess Cranst and that of her households lay in the King’s hands. Let’s hope that after suffering so much from his health and the war he has softened up and doesn’t want to ruin the Gala with a duel.’
The Marquess had every reason to be worried.
Losing a Blood Judgment meant not only being forced to publicly apologize to the winner, but also being banned from all kinds of social events for a year and paying half of the household’s annual income as compensation.
Becoming a social pariah would cause the loser to remain out of the loop and to be cut out of the major business enterprises. It would cripple both the loser’s wealth and influence in the long run.
Even worse, it would mean being kicked out of that very Gala in front of everyone and also being excluded from the government procurements for rebuilding the areas of the Kingdom involved in the war.
There was a river of money to be made and dozens of cities to repair yet if the Grand Duchess were to lose the Judgment, the ban from social events would make her and in turn all of her associates into black sheep.
At that point, no one would do business with the three noble Households to not taint their own name as well.
On top of that, the Crown would pay the penalty up front, so that the defeated party would not be indebted to the winner, but to the Royals. Not paying a gambling debt would worst-case scenario incur reproach, whereas not paying what was akin to taxes meant having their assets seized.
Valeron had devised Blood Judgment to be as unpleasant as possible so that no one would invoke it without a very good reason. The deeper the pockets of a noble were, the less inclined they would be to put their wealth at stake on a whim.
“I allow it.” Meron said only three words yet they silenced the room and made even the bands of musicians freeze.
“Your Majesty, I may have used blunt words, but nothing I said was a lie or slanderous. Even Baroness Verhen admitted-“
