“Lady Alira von Blackburg, you stand accused of organising the assassination attempt on your brother Irwyn von Blackburg,” the thin man spoke in a deep voice. His tall figure was covered in snow white robes while his chiseled face maintained a deadpan expression “prosecution, you may bring forth your evidence.”

“Your honour,” Lucas, who was for once wearing formal clothing, stood up from his stool and firmly answered. They were currently inside a large courtroom which currently hosted a crowd of at least a hundred seated nobles and important officials. Despite the size and presence the decorations were surprisingly humble: There were no masterfully crafted chandeliers or artisan painting and statues; instead the entire place was a built of hollow stone illuminated by undecorated radiance magic. Even their chairs were simple stools without even pillows “I will first ask whether lord Irwyn von Blackburg himself may act as a witness.”

“Allowed, he may step forward,” the thin judge on the elevated platform announced to the room. Irwyn quickly stood up from beside Lucas and in swift strides arrived at a different platform directly opposite to the judge. There he placed his left hand on a red glittering gem, perhaps the only truly expensive item inside the room; it gave off an audible hum that Irwyn clearly felt through his skin.

“I solemnly swear that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” Irwyn announced and the stone gem hummed in approval.

“Then you may begin. You accuse your sister, Alira von Blackburg of arranging an attempt on your life; what do you base those accusations on?”

“Your honour, the first ignition of my pursuit had happened on the day of the attempt. The assailant, ranger known as Tora Black, made an attempt on my life. When she was at a point certain of my doom she had confessed that she did those actions for my sister, Alira von Blackburg.”

“Question,” an older man in a suit spoke. While Lucas and Irwyn were originally seated on the left side of the room this man was on the right side. There was also a silently sulking young girl seated next to him.

“Granted,” the judge allowed.

“The documentations you provided clearly state that Tora Black had reached the third tier over a year before this incident. Yet you are merely in the first tier; I find your survival of an attempt on your life doubtful.”

“She pinned me to the ground, interrupted the flow of mana in my limbs and taunted me when she thought me powerless,” Irwyn nearly retorted as his expression and voice turned grim “in a moment of desperation I utilised something incredibly dangerous which barely allowed me survive with grievous wounds.”

“You do not seem badly hurt after just two weeks of treatment,” the man pushed further.

“Eyes may deceive, but the price I had to pay is undeniable. My organs we seared by magical flame forming wounds irreparable by anything less than an awakened healer and my dominant hand was charred black. I lost my consciousness not long after,” there was a moment of silence in the room as everyone stared at the platform as if they expected a change to happen. But nothing was out of the ordinary even after 4 seconds.

“I will consider your confession under an oath as evidence,” only the judge eventually interrupted it.

“Thank you, your honour,” Irwyn gave a polite bow and returned to his chair. He suppressed a sigh of relief. The judge could had asked him specific questions that he couldn't afford to answer. In that case he would be forced into tampering with the gemstone: Something much easier said than done right under eyes of someone who freaking Awakened through the Truth of justice.

“Our next evidence is this letter,” Lucas stated “it is signed by lady Alira von Blackburg and directed to the ranger Tora. It clearly states her hatred for Irwyn and her wish for his death. Our witness is the man who found it while searching through the woman’s room.”

“The witness may step on the platform.”

“Yes, your honour,” a man, in far too simple clothes for the occasion, stood up from behind Lucas. Now that he was no longer seated he obviously stood out from the crowd which was mostly filled with Imperial nobles, important officials, prominent mages and combinations of the 3. This man was unmistakably just a guard; not a run of the mill one, but still just a guard.

“I solemnly swear that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” the man clearly pronounced his oath after he touched the same gemstone, but Irwyn was now too far away to hear its pleasant hum.

“It was said that you found this letter. Is that true?”

“Yes, your honour. We were sent by master Lucas to search the room. It was pristine and empty, but we stumbled upon a loose brick behind which was this letter as well as other handwritings of lady Alira von Blackburg.”

“Were you told where to look for said stash?” the judge immediately asked an unexpected question, but the guard wasn’t informed of any such thing and even the letter was something ripped out of Alira’s diary which made it mostly real. It was the right thing to ask, but this was not the first time Irwyn had framed someone while keeping truth spells in mind. Well, it technically was, but Irwyn had given up on that sort of ‘technically’ long ago.

“No, your honour,” the guard admitted without any problem. When the stone didn’t react to his statement the judge raised an eyebrow and stared at Irwyn. It was not that surprising that the judge got a wind of something being up, but Irwyn’s expression betrayed no information. Irwyn was far too young to be such a decent actor according to common sense, which lead the judge to perhaps believe, that the plot laid elsewhere.

“Then you are dismissed. Next I would like to ask lady Avys von Blackburg to step forward,” and there was after all only one person in this room the judge could suspect. Irwyn had no confirmation, but he was certain that someone as important as the 2nd imperial judge himself would no doubt have at least an inkling about her background. Someone who married the head of a duke house was after all more than worth a throughout background check.

And Avys indeed stood up from within the crowd. She was rather inconspicuous until now despite her amazing beauty thanks to a modest black dress and shawl. Irwyn of course knew exactly where she was seated and that she was right to her husband, Ezax. He even tried to keep an eye on them as much as he could, it would not do to underestimate a mainlander’s schemes even if they had mere hours to craft them.

“I solemnly swear that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” she pronounced after she touched the ruby like object, but unlike those who stood on that platform beforehand her tone sounded almost mocking. The sudden frown on the judges face indicated that he was irritated by that gesture. Was there perhaps some sort of history between the duo?

“Tell me: Did you directly or indirectly assist either side of this trial or did you anyhow manipule the evidence?”

“No, I did not,” Avys immediately proclaimed with a wide smirk on her face. And the platform still didn’t react. This caused the judges eyes to go wide. A natural reaction of course, the man was probably used to his hunches and assumptions during trials to be correct. In the end, it was the nature of his awakening. And his hunch told him there was something amiss while his experience told him Avys had to be involved. Being so young was perhaps the best stealth tool Irwyn had at his disposal in this situation. Reincarnators were so rare that few people even knew they existed, much less suspected they met one.

“I see, thank you. Another question, do you believe that you allowed someone to remove a portion of your memories?” the judge could simply not let things go like this, especially since Avys looked so awfully smug. That seemed to be the answer he found in that moment on how Avys bypassed the restriction of the truth spell within that stone. There was merit to what he asked, the gemstone operated on personal beliefs and memories; because of that people could not intentionally lie unless they wanted to trigger it, but they could not lie about not doing something if they themselves didn’t remember the event. Those were of course not foolproof: messing with memories was dangerous and would leave traces, traces that someone like Avys would definitely spot and come to a conclusion.

“No, I do not,” Avys giggled in her alluring voice. She also knew exactly what the judge was trying to do and seemed far too happy to prove him wrong.

“I see. You may return to your seat,” the judge muttered, still frowning. He was now uncertain; not in control. Playing around with awakened was dangerous, but there was one thing that always put them off balance: When they had no idea what was going on in their own game. Irwyn had enough experience under his belt to pull that off, even if with risks and variables like in this case.

“In that case, I will summon lady Alira von Blackburg to the stand to attempt explaining the letter,” the judge eventually decided to carry on with the trial.

“Ye-s, your honour,” the girl stuttered as she walked up to the platform and placed her hand on top of the very same jewel like everyone before her

“I solemnly swea-r that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing b-ut the truth,” she wasn’t able to keep her composure. Despite her desperate attempts to maintain a still hand and solemn expression she was failing horribly. With every breath she shook and her eyes reflected fear deeper than the most abyssal crevice of the oceans. Irwyn saw her immense dread and felt a surge of pity rise within his very soul, but a moment later it was all crushed to dust. All that was left was once again his merciless determination and that conviction of his: Ends justify the means.

“Please, lady Alira,” Lucas used the opportunity to claim the initiative “can you swear while under the oath that you never wrote any such thing?”

Alira froze on the spot. She could not deny it and she was fully aware. She recognised it as an entry into her diary from over a year ago. She was currently likely being crushed by regret over her childish meaningless blabber as well as her ever increasing fear.

“N-no I cannot. B-” she appeared to be about to explain herself.

“I see, I have no further questions,” but Lucas quickly cut her off, Irwyn had to admit that his teacher might be weak in might, but he was among the most capable mortals in the second tier he ever met. There was a split second of silence, but Alira was unable to speak again after that.

“May I speak?” it was in that absence of sound that Irwyn decided to make his move. Now was his opportunity to end this whole trial before things could go wrong. It was a risky thing to do, but so were his other options.

“I will allow it,” said the judge.

“Alira, despite all the evidence against you, despite all of the things that I heard and the events happened to me: I want to believe in you,” Irwyn lied through his teeth as a tear surfaced on his face; a bit sooner than he intended it to “you are my sister and I am willing to discard all that I have gathered if you are willing to do just one thing for me.”

“What thing?” Alira found a glimmer of hope in that sentence. She needed exactly that, something she could cling to in this moment of despair. She was in the end just a desperate child who would cling to any lifeline.

“I just want you to repeat after me while you are still under the oath. I want you to say: I had absolutely nothing to do with the assassination of Irwyn von Blackburg,” more tears now ran down Irwyn’s cheeks. Only about three quarters of them dishonest. Alira still high on her newfound glimmer of light immediately opened her mouth and wished to speak when the realisation hit her. And then all hope left her eyes.

“I…I-I” she struggled to speak or even think as she was suddenly paralysed by her brutal realisation. If she was perhaps a bit more slow witted she could have spoken the sentence while she still believed it to be truth, but now it was too late. Just by looking at her Irwyn could imagine what was going on in her head: She was replaying the conversation they had shortly after Irwyn’s return. Irwyn had clearly told her that Tora attacked him because of her.

“Please Alira,” Irwyn did not relent as even more tears ran down his cheeks “if you are truly innocent than just say those words. Say that you have absolutely nothing to do with the attempt on my life.”

“I-I” Alira was unable to muster anything more as the sweat on her forehead became visible even from where Irwyn sat. She was now clutched by desperation as she just witnessed her glimmer of hope vanish, a grasp of terror which difficult to escape. She could still rephrase that statement; tell everyone that she never gave Tora such command or that she never planned any sort of assassination attempt. A small fragment of thought inside Irwyn hoped she would do so, even if it would ruin his schemes. That the innocent girl would escape his entangling grasp.

“I had..” but in a moment like this Alira was simply not capable of logic or reasoning. Feeling hopeless and betrayed she instead relied on faith: Faith that her innocence was enough to bring her salvation “...absolutely nothing t-to do with the assassination attempt on Irwyn von Blackburg.”

there was a moment of silence, but truly only brief moment of respite. Faith was not a reliable thing.

“BEEP” the platform on which Alira stood shone with brilliant shades of scarlet. And as that light radiated through the room any chance that Alira had was vanquished.

“I see... “ Irwyn was the first to speak, the tears much fewer yet his expression now portrayed far deeper emotions “your honour, may I leave? I suddenly don’t feel well.”

“You may,” the judge allowed. And that was a checkmate. Lucas was unaware that Alira was framed, even if he had an inkling it was far from knowing. And Irwyn left no loose ends. The moment he left the judgement hall there would be nothing in this world that could save Alira. Even if she managed to claim she was innocent it would be dismissed as twisted interpretation of justice combined with noble’s arrogance. He could save her; and part of him perhaps wanted to, but the times where he would act purely based on his conscience were long gone. There was no doubt in his mind that before the sun set Alira would receive her death sentence.

Everyone in the hall witnessed as his expression changed while walking through the audience towards the exit. His tears disappeared and his visage became eerily tranquil. So tranquil it made a chill run down everyone’s spines. He did this for a reason: To send a message that anyone and everyone who messed with him would pay the price. He wanted them to be afraid to even speak ill behind his back. For that pitiful reason he will have sacrificed an innocent child. It made something inside him sick. Perhaps it was the newly awoken conscience of Irwyn von Blackburg or perhaps it was a remnant of what was once upon the time the kindest soul of Ignis Lumen. Either way that sickness would not remain for long. Pity was weakness. Conscience was fetters. And so he repeated those words like he did at least trillion times before.

Ends justify the means.