48 hours to fall in love

Part 43

The lower and middle class crowd was already gathered in anticipation of the royal trial, the witnesses were in their respective seats, and the royal judge, Jempier occupied the main seat on the dais, in his hand rested the gavel, and in the other hand, a blue ink pen. In the royal seats were Elizabeth, Fabius, King David and Queen Vilma.

-Good morning, royal family and public in general, let's begin this royal trial, let the first defendant, Koda, come in.

Some guards came in, but they did not bring Koda with them.

-Koda is not here, we have just checked the cells. He has disappeared," said one of the guards.

A murmur of astonishment spread throughout the plenary.

-What, how is that possible? -Isabel wanted to know.

-Yes, it has disappeared," he answered.

-Send all the guards to search for him throughout the kingdom immediately," she exclaimed.

Koda was searched all over the kingdom, however, he was not found. It seemed that the earth had taken care of him. They checked the security cameras and discovered that a hooded stranger had released him. The closet keepers woke up, and came out. They were thrown out, but they too did not know where Koda had gone or who the mysterious person was who had freed him. Vilma, for her part, kept thinking that Koda's escape was closely related to David, but refused to believe that he would be capable of such a thing.

The trial had to continue so Elizabeth ordered that the next to be tried should go through. So they proceeded directly to the second and final case of the day, where German and his parents would be tried.

-Hey, where is Greta? -David questioned quietly.

-My mother told me that she is still very tired and just wants to stay in bed, she doesn't feel up to it," explained Vilma, with a condescending tone.

-I understand," answered her husband, as he drank some water.

The audience was anxious to know who would be judged next.

-Well, now, we will proceed to the second and last real trial of the day. Please bring in German, Otilio, and his wife, who are charged with the kidnapping of Princess Greta, who, thank heaven, is safe and sound in the castle," exclaimed Judge Jeampier.

How was it possible that Princess Greta had returned? So the funeral they had held for her twelve years ago was a farce? How had they managed to find Princess Greta's whereabouts after so long? All kinds of questions populated the minds of those present, however, now the witnesses were about to speak, and it was of utmost importance to keep absolute silence to hear their statements very well.

Five officers were bringing Otilio, his wife, and German with their hands tied behind their backs, the people were booing them, hurling shameful insults at them to humiliate them as much as they could. They were the ones who had kidnapped Princess Greta, and they deserved all kinds of scorn and mockery.

-Please be quiet," ordered the judge, giving three blows to the lectern.

The judge gave the floor to the first of the witnesses, who was Jimmy.

-Good morning to all of you, what I am about to say will be brief, but substantial. Many years ago, when I was still a child I set out to find the lost princess, to find her whereabouts, to find out what had become of her, honestly I was prepared for everything from finding a simple corpse, or even never finding out the mystery of her disappearance. But thank heavens, I was able to find her, and there is nothing that makes me happier than that. I have been a neighbor of Otilio and his wife since I was born, I never had a relationship beyond neighborly with them, I never considered them my friends, but I didn't dislike them either, once I overheard a suspicious conversation when I was near their house in which it was heard, explicitly, that Princess Greta was hiding in the castle of the kingdom of Empress. When I was old enough to be able to apply for a job as a guard at the castle, I did not hesitate to do so, for I knew that this was where I would find all the answers to the questions that for twelve long years all the inhabitants of the kingdom of Empress had been asking themselves. So, as a royal guard, I investigated, investigated and searched everywhere, hoping to find a clue, a sign, that would help me to find Lady Greta's whereabouts. After several months, I finally found her, who was kidnapped by German, and his henchmen were her parents. She was held captive inside the multimedia room for twelve years, and was the victim of the perverse plan of these three undesirable people," declared Jimmy, thus yielding the floor to Judge Jeampier.

-Now, having heard the witness statements, I would like you to please play the recording that you have prepared of Princess Greta. She, for reasons of indisposition, is not with us today, but because the statements of Princess Greta are extremely important, so she agreed to give her testimony through a video, please start the statement," requested the judge.

The video began, and the inhabitants of the kingdom of Empress turned their attention to it. A short video, three minutes long, in which Princess Greta would reveal all the secrets, the mysteries and the calamities she suffered during these long twelve years she was absent.

-I... I am Lady Greta, the lost princess, and I want to testify against Jimmy, the manager of the multimedia room, because he, when I was ten years old, kidnapped me while I was playing in the park of the kingdom, he did it with the help of his accomplices, his parents. And he deprived me of my freedom for twelve long years, in which not a single moment I saw the light of day, in which I experienced despair and desolation, and in which I received a treatment that, truly I tell you, no person deserves to receive, and if looking at my face is not enough to condemn those three antisocial psychopaths to death, I don't know what could be enough - exclaimed Lady Greta and the video ended.

The whole audience stifled a scream when it ended. A sepulchral silence settled in the courtroom, and Judge Jeampier took the floor.

-I have already made my decision, based on the accounts of both witnesses and also what I have been able to observe, I have determined that both German's father and mother are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of complicity in the commission of a crime, please, officers, take them away, -he ordered.

When the guards were taking German's parents out of the pulpit the people booed them, insulted them and also celebrated that they would rot in jail.

-Now, well, once the officers have left with German's parents, it falls to me to announce German's sentence. Who is accused of the crimes of kidnapping and deprivation of liberty of Princess Greta during the last twelve years, Mr. German is condemned to the death penalty, which will be carried out immediately, the session is closed," said the judge and, banging his gavel against the base, concluded the trial.

A trial that lasted only a few minutes, but in the life of Princess Greta that stage that was closing, truly, would never be closed, she would always be traumatized by the events of the last years, and nothing and no one would change that. The royal guards forced German to walk along the pulpit until he reached the rope. As he walked, many thoughts swarmed through German's head, among them the inevitable fact that he would never again see the light of a new day, that he would never again feel the sun on his skin, the wind ruffling his hair. In reality, none of that mattered to him, he had already fulfilled his purpose, those twelve years that he kept Princess Greta prisoner would be indelible in his memory and how much he enjoyed them, nothing and no one could take them away. There would not be a single day in which he did not remember the moments of suffering lived in that small cubicle. And, even though the price to pay was his life, he did not care, for revenge had already been exacted, and that was all he had wanted.

The guards took the rope, put it around German's neck, the people booed and hurled expletives at the condemned man, making him feel like the trash he was.