The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Is Bazel being used as a pawn, or is he also a member of a potential interest group within the Fourth Prince's faction?

Regardless, the fourth prince Raymond must have been the driving force behind Bazel's interference with the coronation ceremony.

"Evans Betis, you murdered your king and father, a heinous crime. You colluded with evil spirits and harmed loyal subjects of the empire. How dare you now wear the imperial crown?!"

As Evans approached, Bazel simply held his staff horizontally, and an ice spike instantly condensed in mid-air, heading straight for Evans's face.

Ye Xiao, whose magical skills were not yet high enough, could not see the intricacies of this seemingly ordinary ice spike spell, but the knight commander Soren was immediately shocked and used his Instant Step to block Evans's path.

The greatsword was drawn from its sheath and slashed at the azure ice cone, frost bursting out and exploding into ice flowers along both sides of the blade in an instant.

A fierce wind, carrying shattered ice crystals, veered towards both sides of the throne, forcing all the royal guards to raise their large shields to block the exceptionally powerful fragments.

Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow. Even though the destructive power was mostly mitigated by the Knight Commander Soren, the aftershocks could still cause the royal guards who had retreated to the edge of the hall to fall over.

It's easy to see that Barzel's move was aimed at killing Evans.

"Are you out of your mind, old man?!" Sauron glared at Archmage Bazel. "To unleash a spell of this power in the royal palace? Are you trying to blow the entire Loren hierarchy to smithereens?!"

“Albert, I concentrated the penetrating power of the ice spike, and you split it open yourself,” Bazel said coldly. “You are protecting the Kingslayer. If you continue to be stubborn, don’t blame me.”

"Regardless of your slanderous words, even the real criminals must first be tried in court! How can you come up here and immediately target the king's life? It's utterly lawless! What do you take the laws of the empire for?!" Soren naturally wouldn't back down an inch.

"How laughable! How many people has your Royal Knights secretly murdered for the benefit of this regicide? And you still have the nerve to stand here so high and mighty?!"

"Old man, have you gone mad?" After his outrage just now, Soren has become somewhat calmer.

As the empire's strongest swordsman, he had dealt with the empire's supreme mage before.

Although the two men were at odds and held opposing political views, Bazeir had always been known for his composure and wisdom.

Of course, in Sauron's view, that temperament should be described as sinister and cunning, but now Bazel has lost even that characteristic and has become a madman who seems to be simply driven by anger.

"Your Majesty, I'll handle him. You and the other guards should leave this place first." Soren frowned, pointing his sword at the Archmage Bazel.

The Royal Knights were already fully prepared and surrounded Bazel.

Although the individual strength of the Knights is comparable to that of the Royal Guards, as the First Legion of Loren, the strength of their battle formations and their level of coordination far exceed that of the Royal Guards who are only responsible for daily guard duties.

"I'd like to see how you plan to leave!" Bazel sneered, raising his staff to begin chanting.

Just as a battle seemed imminent, a shout suddenly rang out: "Teacher, please calm down!"

This man was none other than the Fourth Prince, Raymond. Seemingly anxious, he disregarded the palace guards' attempts to stop him and ran towards the center of the hall, demanding, "Why did you do such a thing!?"

Ye Xiao, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but laugh when he saw this scene. If this guy really wanted to stop it, why didn't he do it earlier?

“Your Highness Raymond!” But as Prince Raymond approached, Bazel flicked his staff, and several thick vines intertwined, forming a green wall that stood between Prince Raymond and the battlefield. “This is none of your business!”

The entwined vines, like a dragon, plowed a deep furrow in the ground, causing the earth to tremble. The resulting shockwave knocked the charging fourth prince to the ground.

The palace guards who followed immediately stepped forward to shield Prince Raymond behind them, erecting heavy shields to form an impenetrable wall.

Prince Raymond's head peeked out from behind a group of large shields. "Professor Bazel, no matter what happens, I believe in you! You mustn't do anything impulsive that would lead to irreversible consequences!"

"It was him who made everything irreversible, that bastard Evans Betis!" Bazel roared, his white mustache trembling slightly with resentment.

“Teacher, I don’t understand whether my elder brother is truly the murderer who assassinated our father, but I believe in the wisdom and discernment of everyone present in the Empire,” Prince Raymond shouted. “The people in this hall are all high-ranking elites of our Empire, and countless people are watching this ceremony outside the palace.”

“We can sit down and resolve this dispute in a more peaceful and calm manner. If you can provide sufficient evidence to prove that what you said is true, then all the high-ranking officials and nobles of my Loren present will naturally be able to make a wise judgment!”

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Fictitious Assassination

Now that things had come to this, Ye Xiao understood Prince Raymond's plan.

First, they disrupted the ceremony to create chaos and forcibly grab everyone's attention. Then, through a back-and-forth, with one playing the bad cop and the other the good cop, they steered the event toward a trial regarding whether the eldest prince had murdered the emperor.

If the idea of ​​resolving the issue peacefully had been proposed from the beginning, it might have been fobbed off by the prince's faction of nobles using force, or even dragged out the outcome indefinitely. Just like now, the Knights and the Imperial Guards are still ostensibly investigating the assassin's origins, which seems to be a case of things being left unresolved.

However, if a hardline approach is taken and the military is used head-on, the Fourth Prince's faction, consisting of a group of scholars and emerging nobles, is still somewhat lacking in the ability to force the First Prince's faction, which controls military power, to submit.

Therefore, by using the name of the Empire's First Mage, Bazel, they made the ceremony as grand as possible, drawing the attention of the entire nation and bringing what should have been a clandestine affair into the public eye, thus forcing the military to submit.

The eldest prince, Evans, can still command the Royal Knights to forcibly kill Bazel to silence him, but if he does so, Prince Raymond will have ample reason to incite the other nobles and the crowd outside the palace who saw the projection to impeach him as king, which would also be tantamount to confirming that he committed regicide and patricide.

“Brother, I think we need to sit down and talk about this matter, to give a reasonable explanation to all the meritorious officials of the empire present and to the people of the city.” Prince Raymond looked at the eldest prince, Evans. “Do you agree?”

"I don't think there's anything to discuss about this ridiculous, fabricated projection." Before Evans could speak, the Knight Commander Soren interrupted, "Your Highness Raymond, now that the imperial selection is settled, there shouldn't be any more trouble that would needlessly damage the dignity of our empire!"

His words were a veiled reference to Prince Raymond instigating Bazel to fabricate incidents and create trouble, characterizing the matter as part of a scheme by Prince Raymond to disregard the overall situation and stop at nothing for the sake of the imperial election.

Prince Raymond naturally chose to play dumb. "I don't understand what Uncle Albert means, but I think that since Teacher Bazel has risked his life to speak out at the coronation ceremony, and there are many more people outside waiting for the palace's response, shouldn't we find out why?"

"You..." Captain Soren was about to respond when Evans patted him on the shoulder from behind.

“It’s alright, Uncle Soren,” Evans said softly. “Let’s see what my brother has to offer.”

"Raymond, is this all the tricks you have up your sleeve?"

……

The events that unfolded during the morning's foundation-laying ceremony took most people by surprise.

The projection of the eldest prince murdering his father, displayed to countless people on Valond Falls, quickly spread to every corner of Valond.

Not to mention the capital city, even the vagrants in the nearby settlements of Rom and the villagers of Liangqiu Village, all they heard were rumors about the eldest prince murdering the emperor and his father.

Rumors spread like wildfire throughout the capital, and the people were uneasy. After all, in the history of any country, the eldest son murdering the king and seizing the throne is a symbol of turmoil and misfortune.

However, it is difficult to reach a conclusion in just half a day whether the eldest prince, Evans, was the murderer of the king.

Such a controversy, which could change the course of a nation's destiny, could not be hastily decided by the opinions of a few people. To pronounce judgment on the crimes of a crown prince who was about to become the monarch would be a long process.

Therefore, the palace was immediately transformed from a venue for grand ceremonies into a secluded palace under martial law.

The royal family members stayed in the palace to rest, while the other nobles, after a tiring morning, took advantage of the lunch break to go back and recuperate.

The proceedings concerning the case of Prince Evans' regicide will officially begin its first phase this afternoon.

Winter is in full swing.

At this moment, in a meeting room in the palace, Princess Skadi was discussing the events of the morning with Ye Xiao.

"Ye Xiao, I have a feeling that there's something strange about the regicide charge against Evans's brother."

“Hmm…because Your Highness understands…” Ye Xiao’s voice was still weak and feeble, “…the old king’s soul…has long since dissipated, so how can there be any talk of him being killed…”

“But I don’t quite understand. If even I can find out, how come my brother Evans doesn’t know?” Skadi asked, looking puzzled.

"Maybe he knows...maybe he doesn't know..." Ye Xiao stood up shakily, intending to make Skadi a pot of tea, but was immediately stopped by her.

"Why don't you just sit here and let me go to the bar?"

"It's not that bad... Your Highness... I just caught a slight cold..."

"No, please sit down. I'm counting on you to help me analyze the situation. Don't let her accidentally fall and faint." The tall girl used her fingertips, gloved with red silk, to lift the lid of the teapot and used tweezers to put a few tea leaves inside.

"I'm not that weak... Your Highness..."

“Alright, alright,” Skadi laughed. “You know, just now, an uncle asked me why I had a knight next to me who looked like he had kidney deficiency, which almost made me burst out laughing.”

"..."

"Who is this old man? How can he speak so rudely?!" Ye Xiao cursed inwardly.

“Alright, enough joking,” Skadi ran her fingertip across the heating array beneath the teapot, “but I still don’t know what methods Brother Raymond will use to convict Brother Evans.”

"If the image crystal has been altered by magic of a normal level, the court mages should be able to identify it... but the problem is that the chief archmage, Bazel, is far more skilled in magic than other mages in the empire. If he has altered the image crystal, the mages may not be able to identify it."

"But this also means that if the photographic crystal is used as evidence, it is enough to attract the general public, but it is not strong enough to carry out a trial."

"Your Highness has quite a lot on your mind..." Ye Xiao said slowly.

(The following words by Ye Xiao are omitted with ellipses to make it less tiring to read, hahaha)

“I reckon Prince Raymond probably still has something, but it’s not conclusive evidence. After all, I don’t believe the old king’s body was destroyed by Evans.”

"Ah, why do you say that?"

Ye Xiao fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.

Ye Xiao wasn't sure how to explain this to Skadi, but in the parallel history he had seen using the Ring of Fate, the people believed that Ella was the murderer who killed the old king, while in the previous life, Raymond was the murderer who assassinated the old king.

These two points demonstrate that the identity of the murderer can be manipulated by a certain force, and therefore the eldest prince is most likely just forced to take the blame.

Since this event did not actually occur, how can Prince Raymond solidify his claim?

Ye Xiao thought of Isaac.

Last night, Isaac and Ella confessed that when he was on business at the palace that day, he personally witnessed the eldest prince entering the king's bedroom late at night and having an argument with him. The next morning, news of the king's sudden death spread.

Putting aside the fact that Evans doesn't seem foolish enough to commit patricide in the heat of an argument, where would the old king, who has only a body and no soul, normally get any independent consciousness to argue with others?

Therefore, it is easy to deduce that the mastermind behind using the old king's body as a puppet fabricated the whereabouts of a fake "Evans".

Whether it's disguise or magic, Ye Xiao figured it wasn't surprising to have such methods.

The evidence left behind by Prince Raymond also proves the whereabouts of the fake Evans that night.

The focus then becomes whether Evans at that point in time could prove that he hadn't been to the king's bedroom but was elsewhere.

Logically speaking, Evans should have been able to prove it under normal circumstances.

No matter where you go, as long as you can prove your alibi, the problem will fall apart on its own. This is the biggest flaw in this fabricated assassination case.

Why would Prince Raymond take such a big risk and take such ruthless measures, confident that this fabricated charge could be pinned on Evans?

Unless... Prince Raymond knows that Evans went to a place that cannot be proven.

What places have you been to but can't talk about or prove?

Suddenly, a place name I had only heard about last night flashed through my mind at night school.

Who tried to kill Isaac last night?

The patients at Samuel's clinic, and the adjutant to the commander of the Imperial Guard.

Which side are the Imperial City Guards on? They're from the First Prince's faction.

Does this mean that Prince Evans has a connection with Samuel Clinic?

If Evans had happened to be at Samuel's Clinic that night, he probably wouldn't have been able to prove the existence of this strange place.

In fact, if this is proven, it might be even worse than regicide.

This flaw will become the key for Prince Raymond to take down Evans by fabricating an assassination attempt!

Chapter Seventy-Eight Malicious Accusations

However, after Ye Xiao muttered to himself for a while, figuring out how to explain things to Skadi became another problem.

He pondered for a moment, then gave up: "Intuition, that's... the truth I glimpsed from fate."

“What nonsense,” Skadi scoffed. “You’re still trying to fool me at a time like this!”

"The matter of the riddle teller... how can you call it a bluff..." Ye Xiao said evasively, "Your Highness, please rest... you may have important matters to attend to this afternoon..."

……

The time soon came to afternoon.

The nobles gathered again in the palace hall, but the festive atmosphere of the morning was clearly absent. Each of them wore expressions of suspicion or confusion, and there seemed to be an undercurrent of tension in the crowd.

Prince Godwin took on the heavy responsibility of presiding over the trial, and he tapped the floor twice with his cane.

"I never imagined things would develop this way. Now we will officially begin the trial of the regicide case. I would like to ask all of you, the high-ranking officials of the empire, to witness this next step."

The eldest prince, Evans, claimed to be the defendant, but the Royal Knights protected him.

Ye Xiao even wondered how to bring Evans down, even if they could convict him.

This is probably one of the benefits of having military power.

“Prince Archmage of the Court, Mr. Boy Barzel,” Prince Godwin immediately looked at the Archmage who was surrounded by a group of court guards, who in some ways looked more like a defendant, “As the Supreme Archmage of the Empire, President of the Loren Arcane Research Society, and Dean of the National Noble Academy, your contributions to the Empire are evident to all.”

"Now the entire upper echelons of the empire are listening to your accusations, and the common people outside the palace are waiting for our response. We hope that you will take responsibility for your words and actions."

Bazel bowed slightly to Prince Godwin as a sign of respect; after all, the most respected elder in the empire deserved such a bow.

When his gaze turned to the eldest prince, Evans, who was surrounded by the knights in the center, he let out a cold snort. "Thank you, Prince Godwin, and I apologize to everyone present. But as everyone knows, I was a close friend of the late His Majesty Harold."

"Now that His Majesty Harold has been assassinated and his body is still warm, the mastermind behind the assassination is about to inherit his mantle and become the new king. I cannot tolerate this any longer."

“Professor Bazel, you are so certain that you accuse me of being the assassin. Shouldn’t you at least provide some reasonable evidence?” Crown Prince Evans said coldly. “As a member of the royal family, I believe I should follow the etiquette and morality of the Loren royal family as an example, and I also remember your teachings to us and your contributions to the empire.”