"Oh dear," Manuel's mind calmed slightly after lynching the Janissaries General. "That was a mistake. Normally, I should have handed him over to the dark department for disposal. There was no need for me to personally kill him. I really let my temper get the better of me this time. I need to be more careful in the future; it's best not to do such things myself."
However, the expression on his face remained as usual, though he imperceptibly shook his head. After his guard reported that the Janissaries General was indeed dead, Manuel calmly turned to Badars, "Badars, there's no need to keep these captured Janissaries alive. After extracting all useful information they possess, let them take a bath in the Black Sea."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Manuel nodded with satisfaction, then left Yuzhne Prison without looking back, as he had more important matters to attend to.
It was already evening when he returned to Mangup. However, he did not go directly to his bedroom but deliberately detoured to his usual office to begin examining and contemplating the tasks ahead. "Did I spend too much energy on those captured slave soldiers today? Never mind, I'll have to face the remaining rebels anyway. I need to think about how to deal with them." Thinking this, Manuel leaned back in his chair, feeling a bit tired.
"The traitors' fate will certainly not change, but how can we prevent such rebellions from happening again? Can harsh punishments only suppress them temporarily?" Suddenly, Manuel remembered something. "What if we hold a public trial, and then find theology to endorse it at the end? After all, this was a common method of the Roman Empire, only becoming rare due to Constantinople's decline."
Thinking of these things, Manuel became energized and immediately got up to consult books, hoping to hold his own in the public trial he envisioned.
The next day, in the Hagia Sophia Church in Mangup, he accepted his father Alexius's appointment as co-ruling Prince of Theodoro Principality.
And on the morning three days later, the grand trial of the rebellious nobles, excluding Isaac, was held in the central hall of Mangup. Manuel had made extensive preparations for this trial, bringing in the Principality's remaining high-ranking officials, striving to thoroughly discredit and defeat these rebels in all aspects. Of course, he had also considered what to do if a major error occurred; if things really came to that, he planned to directly escort irrelevant people out of the trial and then sentence them to death as quickly as possible.
As for why Manuel had even prepared for the contingency of errors, besides his vigilance against the rebels, it was also because the Romans, or rather the former Romans, had always possessed a respectable tradition of jurisprudence. Although it was unknown how much of this tradition remained in the Theodoro Principality, which had already devolved into a classic Eastern European feudal system, before 1204, or even later, citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire highly valued legal education. When there were no schools, parents took on the task of educating their children about legal knowledge, teaching by example, cultivating their children's good character and sense of social responsibility, and imparting the knowledge they had learned and the experience they had summarized.
And after schools appeared, to promote legal concepts, urban schools not only offered law majors but also arranged courses in peripheral subjects such as debate and public speaking, guiding children to study law. During this period, many famous jurists and educators also emerged, elevating Roman law from a purely practical profession taught by apprentices to a scientific discipline, and making teaching gradually systematic and theoretical.
However, as mentioned before, these were all things of the past. After the collapse of order several centuries ago, this foundation had changed considerably. But since the nobles on trial included a large number of old local aristocrats, Manuel was unsure if their legal and logical acumen would cause him unmanageable trouble.
Therefore, in this situation, Manuel boldly applied his theodosian code to this actual trial in advance. However, due to personal reservations, he did not directly serve as a judge in this court. Instead, he had Isaac Arno, whom he had trained in Theodosia and who was also familiar with this code, serve as the judge, while he himself acted as the jury, overseeing the trial.
The trial lasted for quite some time, and by the afternoon, Arno, as the judge, finally delivered the final verdict, "…In summary, Andrea Raus, Nikiforus Volor, Mikhael Radios… and 20 other individuals are found guilty of blasphemy, treason, lèse-majesté, premeditated murder… for multiple offenses, their lands, titles, and property are confiscated, and they are sentenced to execution by cannon."
As soon as the verdict was announced, these rebels were all shocked. They had not expected Manuel, who had just accepted the appointment as co-ruling Prince, to be so ruthless, offering them no way out.
"This isn't what was agreed upon!" one of the accused roared in Manuel's direction.
However, Manuel ignored him, merely smilingly gesturing to Arno, indicating that it was time to conclude. If nothing unexpected happened, this grand trial would end here.
But at this moment, Raus, from the defendant's stand, raised his right hand and looked coldly at Manuel, saying, "Your Highness, the Co-ruling Prince, I have something I wish to ask you."
"I am not the judge. If you have something to say, please appeal after the verdict has been delivered." Manuel responded with a malicious smile, intending to continue leaving.
"Don't pretend! Isn't this unjust trial orchestrated by you? The law used is your new law, the judge is your man, and you even summoned all the high-ranking officials of the Principality to humiliate us!"
"I want to tell you, you have no right to deprive us of our land, property, status, or even our lives. These are gifts from the Holy Father, protected by the Holy Mother. Even if you are the Crown Prince of the Principality, you cannot…" At this point, Raus, who had been full of momentum, was so flustered that he could only try to refute the verdict from a theological perspective.
A fire ignited within Manuel. Since this fellow had openly torn off all pretense in court, Manuel would not even leave him the moral high ground of theology. "No, you have a serious misunderstanding." He smiled calmly, "How do I not have power? The power of the monarch itself is bestowed by the Holy Father. I already rule here with divine authority. As the Prince of the Principality, I have the right to strip rebels of everything, whether it be land, status, or life."
These words enraged Raus, who was like a trapped beast in court. "Power, where do you get your power from?!" he roared.
Manuel was provoked by his attitude. He now looked directly into Raus's eyes, "This is the Lord's will. In other words, my power as monarch is infinite!" Then, he spread his arms and shouted, "'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"