“Enough!”
Baron Jim slammed the table once more.
The sound of his fist colliding with the wood echoed through the hall, forcing the room back into silence.
Shu Yue turned to look at him, her gaze playful.
She remained silent, a faint smile playing on her lips.
‘She wasn’t stupid, and she certainly wouldn’t follow his rhythm.’
In such a situation, she had to maintain control.
As long as she didn’t fall into the traps he had prepared in advance, Shu Yue was invincible.
Baron Jim gritted his teeth secretly.
He knew that trying to use authority to pressure Shu Yue was useless.
He had underestimated this country noble.
He glared at the composed Shu Yue, let out a cold snort, and then turned to the elderly judge seated high above.
“Mr. Dulles, let the witnesses come forward.”
“Indeed, I was thinking the same.”
The old judge nodded.
He was no longer as aggressive as he had been during his confrontation with Shu Yue.
Instead, he transformed back into a refined, gentle old man.
The speed of his change was staggering.
The spectators below began to whisper among themselves.
Although they tried to keep their voices down, the collective sound in the enclosed environment grew into a form of invisible pressure.
An ordinary person would have felt oppressed facing such whispering, but Shu Yue completely ignored them.
Most of them were there to support Jim, so they naturally favored him.
They spoke disparagingly of Shu Yue, and many were quite sarcastic.
Soon, the so-called witnesses came up—three people in total.
The first was a cowering man of small stature.
He looked chronically malnourished, with messy hair.
He was a textbook example of a commoner, radiating an air of inferiority that caused several noblewomen present to cover their noses with fans in disdain.
The second was a beautiful young girl wearing a gaudy dress.
She carried a suggestive air about her, though her complexion was pale.
She kept her head lowered as she walked, appearing extremely sensitive to the gazes of others.
The third was a sycophantic fat man with a dark complexion and shifty eyes.
His sharp, glinting eyes shifted between Baron Jim and the judges, clearly showing his desire to please them.
Shu Yue didn’t recognize the first person.
She recognized the second, who was the girl from the Early Spring House who had luckily escaped that night.
The third was the owner of the hotel where she had stayed previously.
She hadn’t expected them to find him so quickly; she had slightly underestimated a baron’s influence.
The individuals walked to the front of the stage and were signaled to stop.
The old judge’s gaze swept over them.
After looking at each one, he spoke in a flat voice, “Tell me, what did you see last night?”
“Yes, My Lord Judge,” the fat man spoke up first.
“Last night, this Lord White rented a guest room at my hotel. After learning of his arrival, I wanted to introduce myself, but I discovered that Lord White was not in his room at all. He didn’t reappear until the following day.”
The old judge turned to Shu Yue and said, “Liya White, do you admit that you disappeared for a period of time last night?”
He used her name properly now, blocking Shu Yue’s path of using “lack of etiquette” to evade the question.
However, to the judge’s surprise, Shu Yue denied it without a hint of hesitation or embarrassment.
“No, I was in my room from beginning to end.”
“…”
Looking at Shu Yue’s confident expression, the old judge couldn’t help but shift his gaze back to the fat man.
The fat man’s expression remained unchanged, and he offered no further explanation.
Seeing this, the old judge allowed the next person to speak.
This time it was the small, trembling man.
He looked terrified by the setting.
He forced himself to look up at Shu Yue but didn’t dare hold the gaze for long.
He lowered his head again and spoke in broken language, “My Lord Judge, it was him. I saw him at the intersection by the Early Spring House. I… I was begging for money at the time. This lord was kind-hearted and even gave me a silver coin.”
Shu Yue curled her lip inwardly.
‘Since when was I ever that generous?’
She didn’t even know she was the type to give away silver coins.
Wouldn’t that money be better spent on a good meal?
After the man finished speaking, he instinctively looked at Shu Yue.
He happened to meet her icy, amber eyes.
Seeing him look over, Shu Yue slammed her fist onto the table in front of her.
“Lowlife, are you slandering a noble?”
Shu Yue had been cursed at like this before, so she imitated it perfectly.
The person who had cursed at her back then had his teeth knocked out.
She hadn’t killed him not because of kindness, but because he had a high-level guard protecting him.
At that time, Shu Yue had barely managed to defeat that Tier 1 combatant and didn’t have the strength left to finish the job.
If it were her current self, she would have cut him down on the spot.
Now that the tables were turned, she spoke those words with the added weight of Dragon’s Majesty.
The effect was immediate and profound.
The man was so terrified he wet himself on the spot.
He collapsed to the floor, shaking uncontrollably, his mouth stammering out apologies.
“Mercy, my lord! Mercy! It was… someone, someone told me to…”
“Guards, drag this lowlife who defiles the court away!”
Baron Jim reacted quickly.
He knew that this false witness he had found was about to become a liability.
He made a decisive call to have the man dragged out.
He was even prepared for Shu Yue to stop him, but she simply watched with a playful expression, making no move to prevent the man from being taken away.
Once the man was gone, Shu Yue turned to Baron Jim.
“Lord Baron, I can’t help but feel that someone is targeting me. Who could it be? I wonder.”
Her implication was obvious.
Everyone sitting there had at least some level of intelligence.
Baron Jim’s expression shifted between cloudy and clear, but he remained silent.
The old judge didn’t give her much time.
He immediately seized control again, shifting attention to the woman from the Early Spring House.
“Next.”
“My Lord, I… I was at the scene yesterday. I truly saw Lord White with my own eyes.”
The woman put on a pitiful face, her delicate appearance quite endearing.
Many of the men present felt a stir of pity, but the noblewomen looked at her with disdain.
They loathed these types of seductive “vixens” who were skilled at enticing men.
A harlot is a harlot!
Even if Shu Yue hadn’t become a girl, she wouldn’t have felt any “tender pity for the fairer sex.”
To her, whether man or woman, everyone was fundamentally a human being.
If anyone bullied her, she would retaliate.
She watched their performance quietly, not feeling the slightest bit of fear.
This court couldn’t actually convict her of any crime.
Baron Jim had only summoned her here to intentionally humiliate and distress her.
Seeing that Shu Yue didn’t interrupt, the old judge immediately followed up, launching a verbal assault against her.
“This woman says she saw Liya White at the Early Spring House. This means you were already there before Simon Jim was murdered. This suggests you are heavily involved in the death of Simon Jim!”
“…”
Shu Yue raised an eyebrow and said calmly, “Are you slandering me?”
The old judge remained composed.
“Liya White, stop being difficult. The testimonies of these three people all indicate that there is a massive problem with you. You refuse to explain because you have no explanation!”
“Heh.”
Shu Yue laughed and turned her head to look at the woman.
“Have you considered the price of slandering me?”
“…”
The woman’s body trembled, but she kept her head lowered, not daring to face Shu Yue.
“I… I am telling the truth…”