"Your Majesty, don't remove the bolt!" the Left Minister hissed urgently, his voice trembling as he leaned close to the throne. "That man will turn into a Titan the moment his gag is undone! If he does, he might eat you!"
The king, who had been slouching lazily, suddenly straightened his back, putting on an exaggerated look of authority.
"That— that cannot be allowed!" he declared solemnly.
The Left Minister's shoulders relaxed, relief washing over him. He turned toward Commander Zachary and announced proudly, "Did you hear that? His Majesty disagrees! There's no need to remove the gag. We'll pass judgment based on the Survey Corps' report alone!"
Then, without missing a beat, the minister spun back toward the throne, raising his voice to stir the crowd.
"Your Majesty! Zeke Yeager is far too dangerous. Once transformed, he devours humans without hesitation! If such a creature is allowed to live, he will bring ruin upon us all before we ever defeat the other Titans! I beg you, Your Majesty—please, for the safety of humanity, sentence Zeke Yeager to death immediately!"
"Your Majesty, please sentence Zeke Yeager to death!" shouted someone from the stands, igniting a wave of echoing cries.
The courtroom erupted into chaos.
People stood, fists raised, voices cracking from fear and rage.
"Kill him!"
"Don't let that monster live!"
"Before he eats our families next!"
Among the noise, Annie, Bertholdt, and Eren tensed simultaneously—hands rising instinctively toward their mouths, ready to bite down.
But then—
"Why don't you ask the people of Shiganshina District for their opinion?!"
Erwin's roar cut through the chamber like a cannon blast.
The echo silenced everything.
Every head turned toward him. Even the king blinked.
Erwin stepped forward, his commanding voice steady, each word hitting like a hammer.
"I know that most of you here have never seen a Titan. You fear them because of stories told since childhood. But the people of Shiganshina District—they have lived through the nightmare. They've watched their homes burn and their families devoured before their eyes!"
He scanned the crowd, his gaze piercing.
"Are we—safe and untested—qualified to call Zeke Yeager a monster? Or a hero? No! Only those who survived that hell have the right to speak!"
The audience froze. Even the nobles hesitated.
Annie's fingers slipped away from her mouth.
Bertholdt exhaled.
Eren slowly lowered his hand, eyes narrowing in thought.
Erwin's words made sense—but Eren knew the truth beneath them.
It won't be enough, he thought bitterly.
Shiganshina was gone. Its survivors numbered only in the thousands—a fraction compared to the millions within the walls. Their voices would be drowned by the outrage of the nobility and the fear of the civilians.
Eren remembered history—his future.
Back then, when humanity had already lost Wall Maria and half its territory, the people were desperate, terrified, vengeful. They'd seen Titans with their own eyes. When Eren blocked the gate of Trost as a Titan, those same people who feared him called him their savior.
But now… things were different.
Only one district had fallen. The rest of the human world was still comfortable, still ignorant. Zeke's deeds—his sacrifice—would never reach their hearts.
He saved tens of thousands, Eren thought, but he lost the support of millions.
No one here cared about a handful of refugees.
He sighed inwardly—until movement caught his eye.
A few people were pushing through the crowd, stepping toward the front of the courtroom.
Eren froze.
That silhouette… those faded golden epaulets… the faint scent of roses drifting from the worn uniform—
It couldn't be.
A memory surged up unbidden.
The smell of dust.
The shadow of a Titan looming over their burning home.
A voice shouting:
"Watch me! I'll avenge your mother's death!"
Uncle Hannes.
The man who had once carried him and Mikasa away as their mother was eaten alive.
The man who had spent five long years haunted by that moment—haunted by his cowardice.
He had once told Eren:
"You couldn't save her because you had no strength.
I couldn't face that Titan because I had no courage.I'm sorry."
And now, here he was—standing tall before the court, before the king, before all of humanity.
Eren's hand trembled. "Uncle…" he whispered.
But Hannes didn't look back. He walked straight to the center of the hall and raised his voice so all could hear.
"I, Hannes, from the Garrison Regiment of Shiganshina District, have something to say!" he declared.
The crowd went silent again.
"I believe Zeke Yeager is no monster, but a young man like any of us—someone with a family he loves and a heart that wants to protect them!"
Gasps rippled through the nobles' seats.
Hannes' eyes swept the hall, fierce and unflinching.
"On that night, when the Colossal and Armored Titans destroyed our walls, we all thought we would die. But Zeke Yeager appeared—not as a beast, but as a savior. He fought those monsters to protect us. He saved thousands!"
He placed a hand over his heart.
"And now, before our king and before all mankind, I ask that you let us—the survivors of Shiganshina—tell you the truth about what Zeke did for us that night!"
The courtroom buzzed with whispers again.
Eren clenched his fists.
For the first time since this trial began, he felt something stir deep within his chest.
Not hope.
But a spark—small, fragile, and dangerous.
A spark that whispered:
Maybe the truth can still change something.