The Commoner Consort: The Country's Respected Empress

"No! You can't punish me! I was just interrogating her!"

Xavier nods and smirks "Yes. For you, destructively, Sir Peterson. You shouldn't have believed those ridiculous rumours. Lady Maya, the Queen Consort is one of The Royals of The Northern Realm now. And you dared to ridicule a Royal in this hearing. You haven't asked a single question regarding the incident by the way. Which makes it very clear that your sole purpose of the investigation is just to humiliate Her Highness. You will pay for the consequences".

"No! You can't!-"

Xavier doesn't need to do more as the soldiers of The Northern Realm drag the clerk immediately. 

Xavier looks at the Imperial Judges and explains the whole scenario. It took him an hour to explain everything with all the evidence and the witnesses he presented to prove Maya not guilty.

When he finished talking, he noticed Maya was in a daze and her eyes were on him. He is amazed as he knows her eyes were on him since he opened his mouth to speak.

"...?!" This woman… Does she not fear anything? How could she… 

Xavier's ears turn red and he controls his flustered expression.

"Madam Maya, do you agree with what Prince Xavier has stated?"

Maya snaps out hearing a judge's voice and blurts "Yes, I do. It's the truth… whatever he said".

She mumbles the last sentence and feels so embarrassed as she lost control of herself while staring at Xavier for so long!

'This is embarrassing'

She looks away from him and turns when she is asked to go back to her throne. She didn't fail to notice his flustered face too.

'Is he… blushing?'

Xavier again takes her hand and leads her to her throne.

Maya notices something in front of her and frowns.

Her throne was equal to Kalki's. She wonders if it's just a coincidence.

Xavier's throne is placed a step down from theirs.

Even though she didn't pay attention to these details in the past, she can swear on her life that her throne was never placed equally to Kalki's before!

Unbelievable!

The hearing came to an end. The judges already heard every witness. The Imperial Doctor's, the maids who served that day and even the soldiers who guarded Xavier's sick chamber too were summoned. Everything proved Maya was not guilty and since the culprits were already dead, there is nothing much to do now. .

Strangely, The Northern Realm never exposed the culprits' identity! 

Maya couldn't help wondering about this. Even though Xavier has been too much of a distraction from her thinking, she still wonders about the reason behind concealed information. 

When the Imperial Judges decided to end the hearing, a cold voice made them freeze.

"Not yet, Your Excellency".

Everyone turned their heads towards Kalki's throne.

Maya too looks at him and waits for his words. She knows they have forgotten to speak about the ownership of The Countryside Pavilion too.

She amuses 'Do they think they can avoid this? The ownership can't be changed till they speak about The Wish Ride Contest. Their actions are surprising! They accused me of the conspiracy that happened in the Contest but they don't want to talk about the wish! Are they afraid to even mention it? Didn't Alex say it's difficult to get it from The Imperial Court's hands? Why do I feel like they fear this Crown Prince? Of course, they will be so scared!'

She notices his usual cold demeanour and suppresses her smile.

Kalki stands from his throne slowly and announces "The Queen Consort is proved not guilty. Then I should grant her wish".

"Impossible! The Countryside Pavilion doesn't belong to the Northern Realm in the first place to give it to her!"

A man's voice echoed inside the huge hall loudly. 

No one dared to even breathe loudly after the man spoke. And all of their eyes focused on the man who is one of the Imperial Judges.

Maya gets stunned hearing the judge talking to Kalki in this manner. She senses this strangeness and notices Kalki being dangerously calm. It's as if he is luring the prey to kill it ruthlessly.

She felt bad for the judge as he has to face the aftermath of his actions today.

Kalki smirks as he hears one of the Imperial Judges roars in rage. He was just waiting for the right person to speak. And he finally did!

'Finally…'

Kalki pretends to be shocked and asks "Oh? It's Sir Cedric. Since when did The Countryside Pavilion not belong to The Northern Realm? As long as I remember, that pavilion was built by The Emperor".

Kalki's voice remained unchanged when he lied so effortlessly, shocking Maya.

Maya purses her lips and blinks dumbly 'Why is he confusing me? Didn't Alex say that the Countryside Pavilion doesn't belong to the Northern Realm? What's the actual truth?'

"The Northern Realm Emperor might have built it but it was decided that the pavilion would remain out of your grasp! It was decided to prevent you from waging a war on the weak ones but you still neglected the agreement and attacked The Southern Realm!" 

As if they are well prepared or already took care of everything. They are too relaxed to be accused. 

Kalki asks "Since when the Imperial Judge started talking without evidence? Did we attack The Southern Realm? I have no clue what Your Excellency is talking about. Why don't you bring a shred of evidence?"

Maya is the one who got shocked first "...?!"

She looks at Kalki with her wide eyes and blinks her eyes in disbelief!

'What in the heavens is he spouting?! It's a huge lie! I have never seen such a shameless person like him! He lies through his teeth after killing that huge pile of people! Ah! He is unbelievable!'

The man sneers "How could anyone escape from your battalion there, Crown Prince? Do you think you can escape if you cover your misdeeds? Do you not fear The Almighty who is watching all your sins?"