"It's time, Second Princess."
Lei Mingxing nodded at the stonefaced guard as she rose from the ground after weeding the edges of Clear Pond Courtyard's walls, dusting off the dirt on the faded dress, although it didn't do much considering the various stains that no amount of soap would ever remove.
"Let's go."
Not sparing the guard another look, she marched in direction of the Main Palace, her back straight.
This was the day of her trial. A trial that was ultimately meaningless, regardless of the outcome, she would still get imprisoned either way if she stayed.
But that didn't mean that she would just give up without a fight!
The maid had informed her a few days earlier, so she had enough time to come up with a strategy. Although it mostly boiled down to denying everything and having hidden all evidence.
At some point, several guards had joined her entourage, as if she was some highly dangerous criminal. She almost laughed at how ridiculous that thought was.
That was just like her family, blowing some matters out of proportions and covering up the others.
Still, she kept her head held high, even when stepping into the brightly illuminated courtroom that seemed ever blinding because of the pure white marble. Finally, she stopped at the defender's seat, gracefully sinking onto the sharp-edged stone bench awaiting her, before raising her head.
Surrounding her on all sides were the most important figures of the royal court, her father, the Queen, the princesses and princes, Qingshui Kingdom's General, the head of the Royal Guard, several officials, advisors and other influential nobles.
And they were all bearing down on her. Only her fifth and sixth siblings were grinning in cruel expectation.
In the end, it was the Head Eunuch who was the first to raise his voice.
"We have gathered here to judge Princess Mingxing on account of her various crimes against the Royal Family and Nobility of Qingshui Kingdom. The crimes she has been accused of are, in order of severity: Causing physical harm to Royalty on several occasions, insulting the Queen and violating the terms of her engagement contract with Count Chai."
Lei Mingxing could almost hear the exasperation of the entire court.
These were almost laughable crimes compared to the royals standing trial before her. All of them, traitors, enemies of the state, conspiring against the king, staging a coup! And then there was her, just some low-born princess whose life and death did not matter in the slightest and whose biggest crime was some roughhousing with another sibling. Ridiculous! And to top it all off, the one to demand a trial was she herself!
"Do you plead guilty to these crimes?" , the eunuch sounded almost bored asking this question. After all, what was there to deny, they had witnesses for every single one of those crimes.
"No. I'm not guilty of any of these things."
Several members of the court rolled their eyes.
"Princess Mingxing, we have witnesses and evidence that invalidate your statement."
Lei Mingxing pulled up one of her eyebrows.
"You do? Well, let's hear them then."
Sighing, the eunuch beckoned a guard to bring out the first witness. A maid stepped out from a gate to the right, trailing anxiously behind a guard, occasionally glancing up, clearly feeling the pressure coming from the most powerful men of the kingdom. She came to a stop at the witnesses' stand, lined by two guards in case she was suddenly attacked by Lei Mingxing.
"Miss Li, you are one of Prince Haoran's personal maids, please explain once again what you saw," the eunuch motioned the maid to begin.
"Uhm, so, shortly after the news of Second Princess' return, my master and the Sixth Princess left to greet their elder sister. But after we arrived at Clear Pond Courtyard, the Second Princess began to hit my master with a leather whip and threaten him! She also harmed two of my fellow maids and frightened the Sixth Princess!"
The eunuch nodded, acknowledging the testimony, before shifting his gaze onto Lei Mingxing. But before he could get out even one word, the latter interrupted him.
"Alright, so where is this whip I used? And can you show me the whip marks on your master? Did anyone beside you maids and my siblings see any of this transpire?"
The eunuch was baffled at this shameless questioning.
"Second Princess, there are several witnesses of this event and of several similar occurrences."
"So? There is no evidence to support these so-called witnesses. Why should their word weigh more than mine? What if I said that it was the maids who held me down and it was my Fifth Brother who was trying to whip me? Honestly, isn't it ridiculous to think that I, a person without cultivation, overpowered a group of people on my own with just a whip? Including a Qi Gathering Cultivator? Also, dare I mention," Lei Mingxing's gaze moved to Lei Haoran, focusing entirely on him as she said this, "that said Qi Gathering Cultivator has been studying the whip since the day he started to walk?"
The courtroom stilled. Abruptly, all eyes were on the lone woman in the center. Her implications were clear. Some shifted their attention to see the Fifth Prince's reaction but most stayed fixedly on her.
At some point, a small smile had crept onto her lips, but it didn't reach her dark eyes.
"However, there is no hint of this whip, so unfortunately, neither of our testimonies can be verified. So, I would propose we drop this nonsensical accusation and move onto the next one."
The eunuch was speechless, just when he was about refute her and call for a more extensive search of her courtyard, he felt the bracelet hidden beneath his right sleeve vibrate twice. Throwing a puzzled glance at the Queen, the eunuch calmly swallowed his counterargument and instead motioned for the maid who had gotten paler and paler during Lei Mingxing's speech to leave the witnesses' stand.
Satisfied, Lei Mingxing watched the maid's cowering back. Only 3 more to go.