The fated ones

Chapter 55

Dong hua wasn't exactly surprised on hearing the punishments lian song and cheng yu have been sentenced too. When si ming had told him what had taken place, he knew that hao de would use this as a personal vendetta to remove lian song from power, even though the man was his own son. Cheng yu though would only be the collateral damage here, which would be used as an example for dabbling with royalty in the future. So, the sentences were just hao de's way of making a statement about the absoluteness of his rule.

Dong hua mentally shook his head at hao de's ludicrousness, before he addressed the woman again, "and do you think the sentences were justified?"

Though the woman was trying to figure a way out of answering this question, the donghua's penetrating eyes floundered away all thoughts. She ended up spouting out the truth.

"I do not understand what crime were those sentences accorded for. So there arises no question of justification here."

Dong hua gave his sardonic half-smile as he turned his attention towards hao de on his right, sitting a step above on the throne. Facing him, he arched an eyebrow and said, "isn't this sad, hao de? Your subjects don't even understand the reasoning behind your verdict. I think some rectification might be needed here."

Hao de, on the other hand, was fuming in anger. Not only had his plan failed, now, he was also being ridiculed in front of his subjects. He knew he couldn't outpower dong hua but on his part, it wasn't out of lack of trying. Squeezing in his growing anger, he mellowed out his voice as he responded, "you are absolutely right, dijun. We can't have anyone questioning the king's verdict."

Turning his attention towards the court, he called out, "immortal god, cheng yu had been sentenced to the removal of her powers and immortality because of the indecent show she displayed in the middle of the heaven, midafternoon. Because she dared to falsely seduce and entrap the third prince, a member of the royal family, she was sentenced to a hundred mortal lifetimes as an animal. The third prince forgot the respect and grace required of his station and rank, so for this, his royal title and his status as a member of the royal family will be dissolved. He also showed betrayal towards the throne for which he had been sentenced to a century-long mortal trial; so, that he can reflect upon his actions."
Hao de felt good at the justification he had provided. He felt dong hua must be satisfied with the fine judgment he had passed and how resolute he had been. But ding hua was far from happy. He had been pushing hao de along just to get this statement out of him.

"seduction you say..." dong hua mused out loud. He slowly turned to face yang cuo as he asked him, "first prince, remind me again, who was the last person to be convicted with the same sentence for the seduction of a member of the royal family?"

The court fell silent as they remembered the person and the revelations of that day. Yang cuo though had to answer dong hua, "su jin, your majesty."

"and what were the crimes she had been found guilty of?" Dong hua asked him, again.

"she made a wooden figurine and bewitched it with dark magic to seduce the crown prince. She also faked sexual harassment at the hands of the second prince's son." Yang cuo answered in a slow voice.

Looking through the faces present in the court, dong hua deliberated out loud, "a public display of affection on one hand, and dark magic filled wooden figurine along with a fake sexual assault claim on two members of the royal family, separately on the other hand. Two different crimes but the same punishment. Maybe we need to go through su jin's case once again. We might have left something uncovered there."

Seeing the direction, dong hua was going in, hao de panicked. He knew if the matter of su jin was brought up again, he risked the revelation of his involvement in it. He couldn't let this matter escalate to that level. So, he interrupted dong hua mid-thought and said, "we don't need to open those hurtful cases anymore. Amendments can be made to this sentence only. Instead, we can reduce the sentence to have her immortality and powers striped along with a mortal trial of just one life, in human form."