Chapter 40: The Advent of Princess Praetor Mia and Her Golden Masterstroke...Does Come to Pass

“Huh? Uhhh... Hmm. Hm hm hm. I, uh, see...”

Mia made an effort not to look too clueless, but on the inside, she was in full panic mode.

Yeep! What is even happening?

The shift in the conversation was so sudden it’d given her whiplash. She’d astutely recognized that Lorenz’s revelations had fundamentally changed the nature of the proceedings. This was no longer a trial of Lorenz and Citrina to determine their personal guilt. There was no guilt to speak of. They hadn’t directly killed anyone. Instead, they’d been protecting important figures from the Serpents. If they deserved anything, it was praise, not penalty.

But this was still a trial. And there was still guilt to be examined. A guilt so great in scope it made her head spin. The issue Lorenz now placed under examination...was whether children should shoulder blame for their parents’ crimes. The guilt he questioned was that of his parents, and their parents, and the generations of ancestors in the Yellowmoon bloodline. Should the punishment for the past actions of his cursed clan be suffered by its modern descendants—him and Citrina.

And he’d posed this question to her. She, who would be in a very awkward position if ancestral guilt could be inherited. After all, it was old Tearmoon the First who placed this cursed burden on the Yellowmoons to begin with, forcing all successive generations into the sinful service of the Chaos Serpents. If the Yellowmoons were crooks, then the first emperor was the granddaddy of all criminals. If Lorenz and Citrina bore the guilt of being descendents of conspirators, then Mia... Well, she belonged to the lineage of the principal freaking offender!

No longer was she a casual bystander, content to watch from the gallery with juice and snacks. She was sitting smack dab in the middle of the courtroom! This was no time to be entertaining fantasies about Empress Magistratuses and hammer-wielding.

I-I thought I was supposed to be a spectator. How did I end up in the defendant’s seat? Hnnnngh, stupid ancestors and their stupid ideas!

After going on a mental tirade against the first emperor, she forced herself to think, for her next move now demanded considerable caution. Even if she did want to see them get a good flogging, a severe sentence was now out of the question, because whatever punishment she handed out would come right back to her. That kind of careless decision-making would be pretty much asking for a Serpent intervention. They’d doubtlessly start stirring up discourse about how Mia deserved the same penalty as the Yellowmoons.

So, no flogging then. Not that she wanted to do so in the first place. The better—and trickier—question was how far should she go in the other direction? Letting them off scot-free wasn’t exactly an option either. Her personal opinion was that inheritable ancestral sin could go choke on a rock fungus. She couldn’t care less what nonsense her forebears had been up to, and she wanted to say so to Citrina and her father, but the situation didn’t allow it. Her own potential implication in the matter meant that if she gave them a quick and easy pardoning, it might be interpreted as a desire to save her own skin. Again, careless decision-making, Serpent intervention, et cetera.

Ugh, stupid Serpents! I just know they’ll make a big deal out of this! The sadistic smile she’d seen on Barbara’s face moments before was proof enough.

She also felt the excruciatingly intense gazes of Sion, Keithwood, and Monica on her back, all waiting eagerly to hear her ruling. A half-baked verdict would surely provoke a flurry of complaints.

There was no room for error. She needed a perfect answer, one that would at least be tolerated if not welcomed by all parties. And she needed it now. The only problem was...

Hnnnngh... This is a tough one... This is a very tough one!

...Her brain wasn’t playing ball. Still, she kept thinking. To save Citrina...and more importantly, to make sure she herself didn’t end up collateral damage. She thought and thought, and just when she thought she was about to pass out from all the thinking she was doing, the spirit of Empress Magistratus Mia descended once again! Imbued with her judicious wisdom, she spoke.

“You have made your case, Duke Lorenz Etoile Yellowmoon, and I have heard it.”

The spirit-infused Mia raised in one hand her proverbial hammer of justice...

“So...basically...what you’re saying is, neither you nor Rina have ever done the deed yourself. Hm, hm. I see. Very interesting. In that case...”

...And with the other hand, gingerly placed the chisel of justice against the issue. Then, with the most timid of clinks, she began chipping away at it, hoping to sculpt a compromise that everyone could stomach. Strike by nervous strike, she probed its texture with the touch of a sculptor being forced to perform surgery.

“Please, Your Highness,” said a disgusted Barbara. “You aren’t seriously going to believe the rubbish they’re spewing?”

Mia paid her no heed and continued to prod the conversation along with the utmost caution. Lorenz, she figured, had little reason to lie. Even if he managed to temporarily deceive her, he’d only be delaying his inevitable ruin. It’d also spoil everyone’s opinion of him, possibly placing him in an even worse situation down the road. Therefore...

“Ludwig, just to make sure, I’d like you to ask Bisset for information regarding the people he sent abroad and to try and make contact with them.”

“Already done, Your Highness. The envoys are on their way.”

“They are? Good. Your foresight is impressive as always.”

Proof was forthcoming, so for now, she decided to reserve judgment on the veracity of Lorenz’s claims.

“If Rina and Lorenz have not dirtied their hands...” she said probingly, “then it seems to me that neither of them are guilty.”

That was the easy part. If they didn’t do it, they weren’t guilty. The hard part came next.

“But I believe it is difficult to argue that the House of Yellowmoon...and therefore, Lord Yellowmoon...is completely free of guilt.”

Families and lives had, in very real and tragic ways, been ruined by what the House had done. If harm had been done, then the Yellowmoons couldn’t be handed a verdict of complete innocence. Therefore...

“Lorenz, you are the Duke of Yellowmoon. As its head, I believe you have a duty to take responsibility for the actions of your House. That is why...”

She paused. In the ensuing silence, she closed her eyes and, with the air of a sculptor appraising the quality of a work nearing completion, considered her next words. Then, raising her hammer and chisel of justice once more, she began chipping away at it again, with all the grace and confidence of a nervous chipmunk, hoping to finally mold it into a shape that would make everyone happy.

“It is my belief,” she said in an outwardly dignified manner, “that in order to atone for the harm the House of Yellowmoon has done to its victims, you should make every effort and do everything in your power to save and protect those who have been harmed by the Chaos Serpents.”

Which sounded like a very noble and principled thing to say but, examined more closely, all she really demanded of Lorenz was a goal. Note the “make every effort” and “do everything in your power,” which was language more befitting a New Year’s resolution than a courtroom verdict. In other words, she’d left him the “things didn’t work out but I tried my best” excuse.

The value in this arrangement was, of course, its reciprocity—whatever she dictated to Lorenz would apply to herself. This way, if anyone tried to fault her for the first emperor’s antics, she could just throw her hands up and say, “I tried my hardest to fix things, honest! But this is all I could manage!”

“Also, make absolutely sure to conclude your atonement in your lifetime. Under no circumstances should you leave any residual guilt to be shouldered by your daughter. I repeat, under no circumstances should Rina ever be burdened!”

It was important, maybe the most important, so she said it twice. Even if the first emperor’s guilt could make its way down the family tree, it should stop at the current emperor’s generation. By no means should his poor daughter be forced to deal with that nonsense.

And so, after much meticulous chiseling, the self-serving compromise of a verdict she’d crafted stood tall like a golden Mia statue, radiating its egocentric glory to all who laid eyes on it. Behold! In the statue’s right hand, the scale of justice! And in its left, a bunch of sweets! Which signified wisdom! Probably!

Then came her masterstroke—the finishing touch that would breathe bright, light beam-emitting life into its eyes.

“The first emperor—rather, my ancestors have, throughout the long history of our empire, burdened you with a great deal of tribulation. But the days of being beholden to ancient pacts are past.” She proceeded to emphatically announce, “The cursed oath of old between my lineage and yours, Duke Yellowmoon, is as of this moment, officially annulled! I, Mia Luna Tearmoon, declare it so!”

Her bold voice carried through the courtyard. As it faded, she let out the kind of satisfied sigh heaved by those who felt they’d done a very good job. Now, if the Yellowmoons did anything crazy in the future, she wouldn’t be tied to it. They could assassinate all the people they wanted, and she wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep.

Phew... Finally, I can have some peace of mind...

Her breath of relief was met by one of poignant emotion, as Lorenz beheld her with eyes welling with tears of gratitude.