"Our plan is simple," Hikari explained. After he'd bullied Mingzhe into a chair and poured him tea. "The High Court's investigation will focus on the rumors about you."
They would find the same things Eirian did over the coming weeks. That they had started barely a day after the ambush, that they had started in his own ranks, and that most of the Camelia was split between complete disbelief and unforgivable betrayal.
"Then they will dig into the relation with Beng Shai."
Which they wouldn't find any support for. The communications that Chenzhou and Henri had found would be discussed, but some were missing. The compromised messenger system was discovered by Captain Li cast doubt on anything that had travelled through it. Henri's sworn testimony about his own attempt to notify the Camelia about the messengers that cast doubt on Mingzhe's communication with Beng Shai going missing, while also impossible to prove, led to the High Court dismissing any evidence related to communications or letters. It was the first solid victory for Mingzhe during the trial.
But it also seemed to be the Yangs.
"Once the High Court has decided that such an essential arm of the Crimson Army and the Camelia has faltered, they will begin to investigate why. Focus will shift from you to the Camelia itself."
The depths of the High Court's investigation revealed a core group of messengers who'd been willing to accept bribes from the highest bidder, running back years now and casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the entire group. The High Court had ordered that only Sparrows be used until a way to ensure the reliability of human messengers was discussed and implemented, with a note that Lord Ye should not have allowed human messengers at all without considering and putting into place safeguards for this outcome from the beginning.
Chenzhou, embarrassed and hurt, hadn't even bothered pointing out that it was a practice that had started several generations before him. Or that it was used throughout Sorrow and the other kingdoms of the Rock alongside the Sparrows.
"The investigation into the messengers will lead to an investigation into the guards."
Captain Li had been the one wall the Yangs had never managed to pierce around Chenzhou. Uncorruptable and too steady to disrupt. The High Court would discover that several of his guards had been bought off instead, but the goal behind that was murky, as none of them had provided the access that could do real damage. Li had caught on too quickly, and the methodology behind his guard rotations meant even those trying to do harm were never alone.
"Which will lead to the Vault."
The Vault was Li's only true failing, but even the High Court, which toured the tunnels Finn and Yuze had discovered and mapped extensively, could not assign total blame for the failure to the guard Captain. Some of the tunnels predated Li's own birth, and the logs Finn had kept about what was missing detailed thefts that had occured well before Chenzhou or Mingzhe's. The thefts from the Vault were determined to be done by the hands of multiple parties located in the Camelia, according to the High Court, which demanded a separate investigation dedicated solely to discovering who and recovering those artifacts.
Chenzhou hadn't argued. It had always been the plan once they had time. The High Court's insistence simply meant they would assist, and it would go much faster.
"Which will lead to two things," Hikari held up two fingers, and Mingzhe tried to ignore the feeling that he was being treated like a child. "That the Bandri managed to cross our walls."
How the fuck did they know about Fox, Mingzhe wondered wildly. Chenzhou had kept everything about him quiet out of respect for Yuze. How the hell had the Yangs managed to find out he was a member of the tribes? Or that he'd been involved with the thefts from the Vault? Only Emmy had actually seen him with the artifacts, and only Yuze had seen him with the tribes.
"And to the Wens."
Mingzhe had to force his mind to shift directions. The Wens were longtime allies of the Yangs. In fact, the Yangs had been instrumental in their rise to noble status.
The High Court's investigation into the Wens would reveal a significant number of illegal activities, not limited to the sale of artifacts from the Vault, the collection of magical artifacts not from the Vault that the City of Illumination claimed belonged to them, but also a large number of transactions coinciding with friends or enemies rising and falling accordingly among the ranks of the Crimson Army. Their investigation would shift its focus from Mingzhe to the Wens, causing a violent falling out among the noble families of the Camelia that even Chenzhou couldn't contain.
The Yangs claimed they had been betrayed by an allied family, a teacher whose student turned their back on them.
The Wens claimed they'd been raised as a sacrificial lamb. That the Yangs' seemingly benevolence had simply been a mask for their ill intentions the entire time.
The High Court refused to make a ruling on which was true and which was false, but recommended further investigation before any action was taken.
Chenzhou had barely managed to keep from exiling both families from the Camelia in his rage, and the High Court demanded a break to the proceedings until he calmed down.
"Once the High Court has determined there's so much more to investigate," Hikari's face transformed, a smug smile that made Mignzhe's nerves sing in warning. "The focus will shift to Lord Ye's failures. Everything investigated before will become part of the case to remove him as the leader of the Camelia."
~ tbc