"Inviting me to the royal castle at this point of time?" Marquess Corvus Goldenshield, head of the House of Goldenshield, murmured under his breath as he read the letter in his hand.
His eyelids were still heavy and his hair was a mess. He had just been woken up by his servant by delivering this letter to him.
And now the letter is telling him that the Royal King requests his presence at the castle as soon as possible, without any prior notice or answer as to why.
"How troublesome…" He clicked his tongue, pulling himself up from the bed to prepare.
Well, at least whatever it is, it surely couldn't be worse, right?
———
The throne room was filled with a few people. Usually, at this point in time, only royal knight patrols are roaming around the castle but tonight, everyone is awake.
The King sat on his golden throne with his wife, the Queen beside him who was carrying a sleeping Lily in her arms. His two advisors, who were still rugged and groggy after being abruptly pulled out from their beds, read the papers in their hands, eyes laser-focused on each written text.
On the other hand, an extra chair with a covered wooden fence built around it was placed on the King's side.
While the center of the room was filled with several chairs separated by two main sections—with each section having a long table at its front.
The doors to the throne room were pushed open and the three concubines, still in their nightwears, entered with frowns and grogginess on their faces.
"What is the meaning of this? What is going on that requires disturbing our peaceful rest?" Victoria Goldenshield, the most bitter and spiteful of the three as of now due to her son's current situation, instantly complained while glaring straight at Henry.
Before Maximus could speak to answer, Henry already beat him to it, "Lady Victoria, everyone knows how I truly want you to rest in peace." There was a short snort from behind while he continued, "Unfortunately, there are certain matters regarding your son that require your presence."
Victoria frowned at the mention of her son, not even noticing the disguised jab towards her, "And what of Timothy? Did you do something to him?"
"This court understands your concern but perhaps your question will be answered later on. For now, let us wait for the rest."
The moment the three concubines heard the word 'court' their eyes instantly widened in surprise. They're aware of that word and how it is a place where crimes are judged, no matter your status or reputation.
It is what Henry quoted as 'A place of equal justice to all manner of lifeforms.'
In layman's terms, even animals would get equal rights and status once they're inside the court.
"My King?" Victoria turned to Maximus, if there is someone who could possibly help her son, it could only be the King of Lioncrest himself. So she mustered as much courage as possible and even with the Queen's glare on her, Victoria tried to give the King her tantalizing eyes followed by a heavy breath to push her chest.
These are, after all, what made the King in his younger days find her a better fit as his concubine than her sisters.
Unfortunately for her, the current King is no longer the person she first met and is definitely not the previously youthful teen that is easily attracted to women with big breasts.
As a reply, Maximus simply gave her a cold look before shifting his head to his son, Henry, "Let's finish this fast, Henry. Your mother and I have matters to take care of later tonight…"
Crack!
There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere as the three concubines gritted their teeth and clicked their tongues. Of course, they know what Maximus was implying, they're not idiots.
The doors to the throne room were pushed open once again and this time, a familiar-aged face greeted Victoria.
"Father?!" Her eyes widened in surprise and quickly turned around, "Maximus! What is truly going on here?"
"Good evening, Marquess Corvus. Please take a seat in the chair on your left. You can choose any of the chairs." Ignoring the woman, Henry gave the old man a courteous smile, which the latter took with creased brows.
Still, he heeded the words and found a chair to sit on—the furthest one to the right end corner, a clear distance away from the front.
Henry ignored this and soon enough, the doors were once again opened and this time, Liam entered with three handcuffed men in tow behind him while Liam's retinue followed closely from behind.
When Corvus saw this, his eyes widened in surprise. His own grandson was in shackles, a royal prince. Obviously, he had heard of what happened and even sent the King a letter asking for clarification regarding the matter but was ghosted.
However, he didn't expect it to go beyond and even have the Kingdom's royal prince in shackles.
"Your Grace, may I ask why my grandson, your own son in blood, is in chains like some sort of criminal? This is impertinent for someone of royal blood!"
He turned to Liam and snarled, "Remove those shackles this instant, Ser Liam!"
The old man's domineering tone was instead, met with a dull stare from Liam, "I don't take orders from you, only from the King and the Crown Prince himself. Now please excuse me and I have criminals to deliver to the court." Without much more being said, he harshly pulled the single chain on his hand, tugging the three linked chains on Timothy and the other two criminals.
Corvus bawled his fists as he watched his own grandson walk forward with unsteady steps. The glow in his eyes was dimmer than the last time he saw him and his body looked thin and malnourished while his eyes were sunken and bloodshot as if he hadn't slept for days.
The three criminals were settled in the front of the same half section that Corvus was sitting on, which prompted the Marquess to leave his chair and move forward, sitting as close to his grandson as possible.
While the old man tried to talk to his grandson, a few more guests arrived, first was Samantha, next was Flynn, and last but not the least, someone who made both Samantha and Timothy's eyes widen in surprise and fear.
It was Isabella and she was striding towards the court with a serious expression, when her eyes landed on Timothy, they hardened.
"What is she doing here?" Even Corvus was nervous. He had heard of Timothy's meticulous plan of taking out Henry through the shipwreck and even applauded his methods, insisting that the boy inherited his wit and strategic mind directly from him.
He was, after all, the one who funded almost every attempt that Timothy was making towards Henry, whom the latter simply deflected or sometimes even luckily survived without a scratch.
"She's here as a witness…Is there something wrong, Marquess Corvus?" Henry glanced at the old head, once again giving him the same courteous smile as before, which had turned eerie to his eyes.
Corvus gulped a single mouthful of saliva, "N-Nothing. I was just curious what made her a witness regarding my grandson's supposed crimes?"
"Oh she is a witness alright, and you'll find out about it soon enough."
With that being said, once Isabella took her seat in the front of the other section of the court, opposite to where Timothy and Corvus sat, Henry raised his hand to silence the crowd, though there wasn't any noise to begin with but he just felt like doing it anyway.
"Let the court hearing begin! Marquess Corvus! You shall serve as Timothy's defending lawyer. Whatever accusation is thrown at him, you must be there to protect him and his rights, understood?"
Taken aback, it took Corvus several blinks before nodding his head, "I understand…"
Henry then pointed to himself, "And I shall serve as my little sister's defending lawyer along with myself as a similar victim…" The last few words caught everyone in the room except a few by surprise.
"Wait, what do you mean by yourself? My grandson has never done anything wrong against you! As a matter of fact, he didn't even do anything against Lily!" Corvus immediately stood up to retort.
Maximus, who had already been taught personally by Henry himself and even read through the details indicated in the book that Henry wrote for him titled as 'Court Judge Simulator'
He grabbed the small wooden hammer and slammed it slightly against the flat but small table in front of him, "Order in the court!"
Corvus stopped and turned to look at the King in confusion. Fortunately enough, he seemed to understand the words and sat back down, though he was curious about the purpose of slamming a small hammer on the table.
'I'm liking this quite a bit already.' Maximus admired the little hammer in his hand, flipping it a few times in succession.
"First of all, I'd like to present myself as both a victim and my own defending lawyer for myself and my little sister. I'm sure all of you have heard of my recent accidental shipwreck. I am, truly lucky to have survived such a grave tragedy." Henry made a gesture of clutching his own chest and feigning pain on his facial expression.
His enemies just watched him with monotone expressions, clearly aware of how he was just faking everything. As for the others, especially Ser Liam's retinue, they were wiping off the tears on their faces, nodding their heads towards their Prince with a proud smile on their faces.
Even Queen Olivia discreetly wiped her eyes.
'What in god's name is going on around here?' Corvus's lips twitched several times.
"If you excuse me, Prince Henry. But before you throw such grave accusations towards my grandson, would it be kind of you to provide a valid, and solid evidence and not just…some words?" While saying so, he glanced at Isabella—he already predicted the purpose of her presence in the court.
And he wouldn't allow her to have her words be used against his grandson. He's aware of what Timothy made her do and even threatened her by holding her siblings hostage.
'Just you wait, traitor. Once I'm done with this matter, you can kiss your brothers and sisters goodbye.' He murmured under his breath, still unaware of the fact that he no longer had the power over Isabella, all thanks to Henry.
To his surprise however, Henry calmly nodded his head, and took out several familiar documents and even a certain notebook that made Princess Samantha gasp and stand, "Wait that's my diary! How did you get hold of that!?"
There was a surprise on Henry's face at first, raising the notebook and asking, "So this is yours?"
Samantha snorted and crossed her arms, "Of course it's mine, I'm sure of it!"
Henry beckoned for her to come close, "Princess Samantha, I can't just take your word for granted. Can you please come closer and confirm if this is truly your diary?"
Samantha frowned and did as told, murmuring under her breath while doing so, "What's your problem? You're the one who made that diary for me, don't you remember?"
The instant Corvus, who had been confused about what was happening, registered Samantha's murmur, his eyes widened in realization, and he reached forward to try to stop the princess.
Unfortunately, he was too late. Samantha grabbed the diary, flipped the pages around before nodding her head, "This is my diary, alright. It must've gotten mixed up with all those papers, I'll take this back with me."
"Please wait for a bit, Lady Samantha. That diary that you claimed to be yours, is currently part of the evidence…" Henry held out his palm and gestured for the girl to hand the diary back to him.
"What?" Samantha tilted her head in confusion, though her hand was already giving it back to him, albeit subconsciously.
"It's evidence and I'll prove it to the court." Henry gladly accepted the diary back before dropping it at the top of the stack of papers on his table.
"All of this here is the solid and hard evidence that the court has managed to gather against not just Prince Timothy, but also the House of Goldenshield, more specifically the head of the Goldenshield family."
"The court has ruled Corvus Goldenshield, Timothy Charming, Victoria Goldenshield, and Prince Alexander who is unfortunately not here with us right now, to be colluding against the crown and its successor."