Chapter 9 - The Tribunal of the Damned
The morning of the emergency tribunal arrived under a suffocating gray sky. The High Council Chamber was packed to capacity with the most powerful oligarchs and nobles of Oakhaven. Lord Sterling stood at the center podium, his expression smug and victorious.
Evelyn sat at the defense table, no longer as a judge, but as the accused. Arthur stood beside her, his arm tightly bandaged from the assassination attempt, while Mia sat quietly between them, holding her mother’s old tin box in her lap like a shield.
"Chief Justice Vance," the Council Leader announced, his voice booming through the sound-amplifying brass horns. "You are charged with judicial misconduct, sheltering a fugitive, and harboring stolen state property. How do you answer these grave accusations?"
Lord Sterling stepped forward before Evelyn could speak. "Mords, the evidence is undeniable. Evelyn Vance has allowed her personal sentimentality for her late, disgraced daughter to cloud her judgment. She has brought a common thief and a gutter child into our sacred halls. She is unfit to wear the robes."
The crowd murmured in agreement, the tide of political opinion completely turned against her.
Evelyn did not look defeated. With immense dignity, she used her arms to push herself up from her seat, standing tall on her trembling, useless legs, gripping the edge of the table to keep from collapsing.
"I admit to all of it," Evelyn’s voice rang out, clear and powerful, silencing the room. "I shielded Arthur Pendelton because his only crime was trying to save his dying wife. A wife who died from a disease this very council manufactured!"
A collective gasp echoed through the chamber.
"Silence!" Sterling shouted, his face turning crimson. "This is slander! Delusions of a desperate woman!"
"Is it?" Evelyn countered, pointing a finger directly at him. "Three nights ago, an assassin bearing your family's crest broke into my home to murder my granddaughter. Why? Because you fear the truth she carries. You fear this!"
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Evelyn reached down, took the “Ne Pami” box from Mia’s hands, and held it high above her head for the entire council to see.
"This is the prototype balm synthesized from the Celestial Core," Evelyn declared. "My daughter Clara stole it twenty years ago to prove that the cure for the creeping rot exists. You hid it from the people to maintain your monopoly on life itself. You are not judges, Sterling. You are executioners of the poor!"
