With a reverse step, I tilted my head back, dodging the horizontal cut that almost hit me. I felt the weight of the moment, the tension in the air heavy as a sharp blade. I took a lateral step and, with concentrated force, delivered a direct punch to the representative's mouth.
Dang!
The sound of the heavy gauntlet crushing his skull echoed through the room. He fell backwards like a felled tree, his front teeth scattered on the ground.
In an instant, the weapons were unsheathed, and everyone's composure vanished. The courtroom turned into a jumble of menacing looks and hands at guns.
But I smiled, because at that moment I felt alive.
"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN IMMEDIATELY!" The judge shouted, but no one seemed to hear him.
"Please get him out of here!" he ordered loudly to the Violet house committee.
Two warriors descended and grabbed the representative, who now sported a crooked smile and profuse bleeding where his front teeth had once been.
It took a few minutes for the tension to subside. The weapons were still in hand, the atmosphere still charged.
"Please, I beg you! Everyone, calm down! This is a holy place!" the judge's voice sounded almost imploring.
I took a deep breath, taking advantage of the tenuous calm to speak, raising my voice for everyone to hear:
"Judge, I felt offended and threatened"
I stared at every face in that room, leaving my voice steady as a rock.
"I demand compensation of 10,000 gold coins for this attempted aggression. I am here unarmed, unprotected, while a member of the external delegation invaded this place with a knife trying to take my life"
My voice wavered only slightly as I spoke my mind.
"I'm shaken psychologically and emotionally. I no longer feel confident to participate in this trial with my physical integrity intact. Until justice is served, I demand time so that I can breathe and calm my debilitated feelings"
I could see the referee squirming inside. It was almost comical. A man of his stature, with the toga weighing on his shoulders as if it were the very symbol of authority, looking at me as if I had spat on the altar. He couldn't believe what he had just heard—and honestly, it was to be expected. For him, a brute like me should not have the vocabulary or the boldness to use the laws to my advantage.
I had just almost pulled the teeth of a nobleman there in front of everyone and now I said that I felt pressured, emotionally shaken and threatened. I knew what I was doing, and from his shocked look, he knew it too.
The eyes of the entire court fell on me. Intense, judgmental, and maybe even a little scared. The revelation that my family had support from Casa Violeta completely changed the game. The three opposing families tossed and cradled in their seats like restless snakes, and the seven representatives looked like they were about to suffer a stroke. They didn't know what to do. I destabilized them, and it was intentional.
Now it was the referee who was in line. If he ignored me, even after I had almost been killed there by an impulse of anger, his impartiality would fall apart. And I would demand another break, maybe even another judge.
More than that—his reputation would be threatened. He could be accused of espionage, or worse: of having been bought.
Then he relented.
"Due to the flagrant lack of respect shown against Casa Violeta during this trial, I decree the immediate stoppage for two months" the judge declared, in a firm and authoritative voice. "In addition, compensation in the amount of fifteen hundred gold coins shall be paid to the Udrak House for moral damages caused in this court"
He hit the gavel twice. Dry and firm. A sound that cut through the air like a final sentence — and that was exactly it.
For a moment, the court sank into dense silence. Soon after, came the murmurs. First soft, like a collective whisper, then growing in intensity like a tide of confused and indignant voices.
I stood, motionless, watching the seven representatives rise, their faces cold, rigid as statues. None of them deigned to write a letter or send a messenger. No. They set off in person, riding their horses as if they were fleeing a fire. Their cloaks fluttered in the wind, but their eyes... Those eyes looked like ghosts. Too busy staring into emptiness.
The Violet House, on the contrary, remained there. Silent. Steadfast. As if defying his own verdict with the sheer force of presence. I saw the Udrak leaving, chests puffed out as if they had won a war. Maybe, in the end, they really did.
I left the hall shortly after, feeling all the eyes burning my back. He didn't say a word. There was nothing more to be said. Justice had been sealed—or whatever that spectacle pretended to be.
As I passed the marble column near the exit, I heard Victoria's voice, low, almost like a thought slipping through her teeth:
"That guy is too smart for his own good"
I didn't turn to her. But inside, he smiles.
Intelligence, in this place, was a weapon. And I had just shown her.
She needed to find out how I knew. The way he looked at me in court... It was as if everything inside her was falling apart. And rightly so.
That information—its true origin—was a carefully guarded secret, hidden even from members of the very empire she pretended to serve. Few knew that Victoria had come from another country, under the pretext of studying, but with the real purpose of collecting essence for her awakening.
After all, this could not be done in his home empire. To arouse suspicion there would be the same as signing one's own death warrant. For this reason, the Violet House, as discreet as it was gloomy, maintained branches scattered throughout the continent. In each one, its members infiltrated, fulfilling purposes that would never be declared out loud.
And now... This secret had been revealed. For me.
Soon it would be on everyone's lips—nobles, soldiers, even merchants at the fairs. The fall of Victoria's mask would be faster than the flow of wine at a banquet.
She knew that. And she was terrified.
Two possible scenarios were running through his head—I could see it in his eyes.
Or I had some direct connection with the mages of the continent, which would make it all the more dangerous, because your mother would never accept to get involved with a problem on this scale. Or else... I had gotten this information from someone with even darker intentions.
Both paths led to the same destination: she could no longer remain here.
After the trial, she would have to return home.
I watched as she pulled a handkerchief with trembling hands, hiding her eyes and rubbing them as if she wanted to erase what she had just heard. He sobbed discreetly. He staged. But even feigning imbalance, it was obvious that there was something much deeper there—a mixture of fear, frustration... and humiliation.
"Don't worry, Miss Victoria. I will renew your honor... By the court or by blood!" declared the young man next to me, his voice full of conviction and pride.
I watched him carefully. There was something fascinating about the way he carried himself: his body erect, his chin raised, his hand resting firmly on the hilt of his sword—as if he were ready to draw it at any moment.
He was the best horse Victoria could have found in this region — and I don't just speak out of loyalty, but out of merit. A true warrior of the Spear family, a lineage from the north of the empire, known for its sons molded in steel and duty.
He was only twenty years old, but he already held the title of master of combat—a feat that few achieve before the age of thirty. In his family, men who attain such status at nineteen leave their homeland and spread out across the world. Not in flight, but on a mission: to seek experience, forge alliances, and honor the tradition of the Lances.
These men become wanderers of justice, like living pieces of an imperial chessboard. They offer their fists and swords in the name of causes they consider noble, participate in duels, get involved in political disputes... always with the name of their house echoing wherever they go.
They don't talk about personal glory — they talk about legacy. And that, I confess, impressed me.