Next To You

Ch.8~ Manipulation & Justice

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*Saeroyi sat upon her thrown anxiously waiting on Akire and Syder's trial to commence. Nothing else came to her mind but that, as she held crowned request early in the day and hand wrote back to some kingdoms requesting her for events they held. The Cryo Palace was the place to be when it came down to large events. They would request wedding ceremonies, birthdays, and even funerals to be held in the largest ballroom in the land. Saeroyi made sure when rebuilding it that it would hold max capacity as she dreamed of the day that she would have her crowing ceremony and invite every single person in the land to see it happen. That along with fulfilling her father's wishes is all that she could day dream about.*

*Zeno entered the room smoothly, and gave a deep bow as he approached the throne of her grace.* "We are ready to begin the trial, your grace." *He says with a calm voice, although he could feel his skin vibrating and hands shaking. He was just as anxious as Saeroyi was. But, with years of training they were able to hide this easily, not leaving a noticeable trace of fear in their auras.*

"Bring them in please. To the men that chose to be in this room-" *As she told them before the crown request began, there would be a trial with dangerous men in the room. If things were to go wrong, they could lose their lives in the process. She granted those who would rather not die a pass to leave the room yet most stayed, except 3 newly trained knights. They'd apologized with a deep bow and parted ways, heading to the stay quarters where all of them resided.* "I will again remind you that your life may be in danger. I express my deepest gratitude as you do not care what the cost may be to keep me safe, I will also give my life in return to keep you safe."

*The men hummed and shouted their solider chant to their queen, then bowed deeply to her. Zeno waved to the guards at the door to open them as the men in question, along with 5 other soldiers come in together. With bags on their heads and rope tied around their wrists, they slowly walked them to the center of the throne room. The ones watching Syder threw him to the ground on his knees. The cloth bags were pulled off their heads revealing their faces to Saeroyi. Akire didn't move an inch, looking down at the ground, while Syder moved his head loosely then looked up at her.*

*Saeroyi began to focus her anxiety into royal power. This is her home, and no one will ever harm it again.* "Good evening gentlemen. You've been bought here for trial of the three deaths of my men." *This toll rose after finding the solider who accompanied Zeno and Neil during the morning. He was found by a villager's cottage with wounds in his chest, broken jaw and ribs, and cuts on his face.* "First I would like to ask, why are you here? This is not your kingdom, and knowing our past history it is not amusing to see the Sun Kingdom infiltrate our town. You are only welcomed under my word." *Her words pierced like daggers into their ears, with a bit of dislike behind her demeanor. They stayed silent for just a moment, until Saeroyi's patience thinned faster than they could begin to speak.* "Speak, or you will end up where you were last night."

"Your... grace..." *Akire spoke with struggle, he hasn't said a single word since he had been taken into the Cryo Prison. He tried to warm his voices up to speak.* "As... I said... to... Sir... Zeno... I... was... leaving the... kingdom... a... villager... granted... me... a place... to... stay."

"And-" *Syder quick to jump into the testimony of his lord.* "I was just protecting him from anyone who might try to harm him during the night, we were set to leave the next day until Sir Zeno disturbed our peace for something we didn't even do. I find this highly disgraceful, just because we come from the Sun Kingdom he believes we are the ones that killed your men."

*Zeno stood originally close to the stairs of the throne, watching patiently and listening. Until Syder spoke, he began to walk closer to them slowly, standing only 7 feet away. In range to do a sweeping move to behead Syder in an instant.* "I will not tolerate lies on my name. 'Sir' Syder, you appeared when I found my greatest solider lying on the ground, blue and purple in the face as if he was poisoned. You threatened me-"