"Are you calling me a liar?" the queen asked incredulously, momentarily stunned at being called mother instead of Your Royal Highness, but Caellum continued sobbing gently while observing and running calculations in his head.
When he had planned for all the contingencies he could think of, he began acting in his self-directed play.
The first act was-
"What do you have against me, mother? What have I done to wrong you so much that you would falsely accuse me of hurting the father of our nation? I understand that I'm not your child. After all, you only care about the 12th prince who came from your loins, but does that mean that I'm expendable? Does that mean I'm worthless? Because I don't have a mother? Or is it because I lack backing that you heap dung on my name, that you destroy my reputation in front of the highest authority in our kingdom, that you urge me to give a false testimony just to satisfy your need to be right? Mother! Tell me! I can take it!" Caellum wept dramatically as words surged out of his mouth.
"What are you talking about?! Heap dung on your name? You were caught in the king's kitchen, slipping poison into his food. You were captured while resisting the guards and dragged here! Have you lost your mind?" The queen couldn't help but yell in surprise.
She didn't understand what was going on with the 13th prince and why he was so eloquent all of a sudden, but what did that matter?
Since he had so foolishly tried to kill the king, she would use the chance to get rid of one of the variables in the way of her son's journey to the throne.
The first act was to gather information.
Now that Caellum knew what had happened, the next step was to-
"I wasn't trying to poison the king! How could you believe that I would do such a thing to the king, mother!"
Deny! Deny! Deny!
No matter what the body had done before he got into it, it had nothing to do with him.
His conscience was completely clear!
No matter what the queen said, and as long as Caellum was able to speak, he would continue to tell the truth, deny everything, while crying pitifully.
This was all to target someone's sensitive heart, drag down the queen's credibility, and lighten the mood.
After all, who could take the situation seriously when the queen was childishly arguing with a teenager?
Making sure he put on his most pitiful expression, Caellum focused back on the queen, whose face was slowly turning red from anger.
"I didn't do it! I wasn't trying to poison the king!"
"What do you mean you weren't trying to poison the king? You were captured with a bottle of poison in your hand! When the poison was tested on a pig, it died in a horrific manner! You were clearly trying to poison the king!"
"I wasn't!"
"You were!"
"I said that I wasn't, and I can prove it right here and right now if given the opportunity! And if I can't, I'll slam my head into that pillar and immediately kill myself. You won't even have to send me to the execution grounds; I'll die here. However, if I do prove it, the person who is falsely accusing me has to pay the consequences and get punished! I ask the king to punish them just as severely as you want me to be punished!" Caellum suddenly wiped his tears as his eyes became serious.
"Bbpph- what?"
As the members of the royal family stared at the usual mouse-like 13th prince, who had suddenly become eloquent, and the usually eloquent queen, who had suddenly become tongue-tied, Belladonna, the beautiful dark-haired woman who was the mother of the 9th prince and the king's favorite concubine, became a bit interested in the situation.
With a seductive glance at the king, she decided to speak up, not because she truly supported the 13th, but because she was enjoying the interesting show happening, and wanted to see her enemy, the queen, get knocked down a couple of pegs if the 13th prince was proven right.
"Wait, Esmeralda. The 13th prince seems quite confident that he didn't do it. Since that's the case, shall we see the proof that the 13th prince mentioned? What do you think your royal~ highness~." The concubine ran her fingers gently over the king's arm, and he quickly kissed it before nodding in approval without once looking at Caellum.
"Whatever the lady wishes. Speak."
Regardless of the reason for the concubine speaking up or the king approving it, it was what Caellum wanted.
Wiping away his tears with one hand, he pointed his finger at a particular chair.
"I'd like to briefly speak with the 9th prince. He's needed for me to prove it."
The moment he did that, the dark-haired concubine's smile immediately disappeared.
And she immediately shut him down with a cold look.
"Absolutely not."
No matter how much she wanted to see an entertaining scene, she didn't want it at the expense of her beloved son, or to see him involved in whatever play was going on between the queen and the 13th prince.
But Caellum didn't look at her; he kept his gaze on the 9th prince while continuing to speak urgently.
"I swear to the God of Eternal Flame that I didn't poison the king and that I absolutely need to speak with the 9th prince to prove it. If any word that I say right now is false, may I be struck dead with my soul burning in everlasting fire. You have my word that I am not telling a lie."
Click.
As Caellum said the words, he felt his body flash with a brief heat, along with a familiar locking sensation.
Realizing what it meant, he watched as the 9th prince's eyes widened subtly before he regained his normal expression.
"I said, I'm innocent! Brother! Help me! Please!" Caellum pleaded while staring directly at the 9th prince.
Activate that goody two-shoes conscience of yours and come and help me!
"You good for nothing fool! Not only did you attempt regicide, but now you're blaspheming god!? You just shut up and stop speaking nonsense! Guards. Seize this fool!"
The queen yelled at him once more, and the concubine opened her mouth to speak, but before either of them got a word out, the 9th prince spoke first.
"It's fine. I'll speak to him, Royal Mother."
"Emrys!" the black-haired concubine screamed the 9th prince's name.
"It's alright, mother. All my younger brother wants to do is speak with me. Since that's the case, I don't mind. It would be a shame if an innocent life were lost when I could have prevented it. I can tell his words are true."
Standing up with a gentle smile, Emrys, the 9th prince with the uniquely colored hair, walked over to Caellum, kneeling on the ground.
When Emrys reached Caellum, he held out his hand, and when it was grasped, he gently but firmly pulled him up, leaving Caellum standing on shaky feet.
Honestly, Caellum's legs felt a bit numb from all that kneeling, but falling over now would be quite undignified, so he did his best to subtly shake his legs out.
"Are you alright?" Emrys asked gently, looking into Caellum's teary eyes.
Although he had no interaction with his youngest brother, seeing his pale, bloody, and teary face was a bit heart-wrenching.
"Yes, thank you for asking, big brother," Caellum whispered in a gentle tone as he rubbed his eyes repeatedly.
From the outside, it looked like he was trying to wipe away his tears, but only he knew he was attempting to use friction to force more tears to fall.
After all, if he pinched himself any harder, he might actually start bleeding from his thighs.
"What did you need to speak with me about? How can I help you prove your innocence, brother?"
"Do you mind if I whisper it to you? I don't want anybody else to hear." Caellum whispered softly as he sent a fearful glance at the queen before looking away.
"Go ahead."
Emrys lowered his head toward Caellum, so his ears were by the smaller teen's lips.
Emrys expected to hear the soft, gentle voice that had been whispering this whole time, but instead he heard a chilling, cold voice.
"Help me get out of the situation. Otherwise, I'll be sharing something with our lovely family. How do you feel about that little-"
Caellum whispered one word in the prince's ear.
'Saint.'
As he felt the 9th prince immediately tense up, Caellum clutched Emrys's shoulder so he couldn't move away and continued whispering harshly while keeping his expression gentle.
"Fix your expression and play along with my words to help me get out of this situation, and rope your mother in as well. Otherwise, I'll sell out all of your secrets to the queen to save my life, starting with that one. Got it?"
Gently releasing the 9th prince's arm, Caellum wiped his eyes until they began tearing up before asking softly.
"What do you think, elder brother? That proves my innocence, right? Everyone will believe the story because you'll back me up, won't you?"
At the seemingly innocent words combined with a vicious gaze, Emrys felt a chill go down his spine.