Harold turned his attention to Lance before he sat down at the head of the table while the others remained standing, except for Lance, who moved to sit down, but when he noticed everyone else was still standing, he paused mid-air before straightening himself back up.
"You didn't answer my question," Harold said to him, making Lance's heart skip a beat.
He had thought that Harold had forgotten about him. Lance swallowed as he avoided eye contact with Harold. There was only one wise answer to give right now.
"No. I don't think she did it," Lance said, and Harold raised an eyebrow.
"Why not? I can understand why everyone else might think that. But you are not close to her enough to think that way," Harold said, making Lance's heart beat even faster. He really didn't like being put in the spotlight like this.
"Everyone says kind things about her, and I don't think she is strong enough to defeat a Beta like Belt—"
"BETH!" Susan and Williams' corrected at the sa ti. For the umpteenth ti! While Alvin, Harvey, and Luciana held back their laughter.
If even soone as stupid as Lance thought so, why did the mbers of the assembly not consider that? Why had they all been in a hurry to sentence her? Harold thought with annoyance.
Seeing how Harold's intense gaze was still on him, Lance sighed in frustration.
"Okay... I was annoyed at Be–th. But I did not kill her. In case you think I have a hand in this."
"How do we believe you when you don't even rember what happened?" Luciana asked, still suspicious of him.
"How do you believe Princess Amber is not responsible when she doesn't rember anything and her clothes were covered in blood when she was arrested?" He snapped back.
"How did you know about that if you were not there and you were locked in your chamber the entire ti?" Luciana asked back, engaging him in a quarrel.
"People talk! The news has been everywhere. And I had a long discussion with my father. Do you know how my father almost killed just because of my involvent yesterday? I can't believe you are doubting !" He scoffed in disbelief.
Yes, his father had almost killed him. But at the sa ti, his father was grateful to him for interrupting at the right ti. Because what would Harold have done to all of them if she had died?
Talking about his father seed to remind Alvin about Benedicta, and he looked at Harvey, wondering how his sister was doing after the incident yesterday. He hoped she would remain unconscious for a few days. He didn't like seeing that lady at all.
Lance looked at every one of them that were still looking at him as though they suspected him, and he sighed loudly.
"I told you before. I didn't kill her. I know I hit her during the day on that day, but that was because I was already in a bad mood before I bumped into her harassing so maids about Princess Amber. I beca angrier because she is a maid. So why was she treating other maids as if they were a lower class than her when they were all the sa kind of people?" Lance asked them all, as though he was waiting for them to support his statent, but when no one said anything, he went on, "Also, Princess Amber was a little nice to and seed to adore since she knows how important my family and I are to this kingdom. She even gave those biscuits, so I felt I should just use the opportunity to pay her back in a good way."
"If I had known those biscuits would cause this trouble, I wouldn't have taken them from her," he muttered the last part.
Or rather, he wouldn't have tried to bully her in the first place. His nosiness had gotten him involved in all this now, and there was no way he would be able to get out of this easily.
Everyone just listened to him, but no one said a word as they waited for Harold to speak.
"Sit," Harold said, and they all sat down hesitantly, while Harvey looked at him curiously.
"What about you? Do you think she did it?" Harvey asked, making everyone look at him, wondering if he had a death wish.
"She didn't do it," Harold said with so much confidence that everyone looked at him with interest.
"How did you know?" Susan asked, forgetting her fear for a mont.
"She said she didn't do it," Harold said, even though he knew they were not exactly expecting an explanation from him.
After hearing how they had all tried in their various ways to help his wife, he felt that he owed it to them to be open.
They had thought that maybe she had rembered sothing, but hearing the vague answer made them almost sigh in disappointnt, but they didn't dare try it.
"Has she regained her mory?" Williams asked curiously. Maybe if she had, then this answer would have made a lot of difference.
"Does that an the biscuit was not poisoned? Then what happened to us?" Lance asked without waiting for an answer, and they all looked at Harold as though he had the answers to all their questions.
"I can't answer your questions. At least not yet. We will have to wait until Princess makes a full recovery," Harold said, and no one missed how he had referred to her. Why did that "Princess" sound so much different from the normal "Princess"?
"What are you going to do now?" Luciana asked quietly, and Harold looked at her curiously, wondering why she was taking Alicia's side.
Even though he understood that she was currently on bad terms with Ivan, he knew that she would still benefit more from Ivan being king than from him being king, so why was she taking this risk? Was it just because Alicia had been good to her? Or was she trying to get back at Ivan by taking their side?
"For now..." Harold started before looking at Alvin, who ca forward and dropped five little new daggers on the table in front of them, as well as a small bowl.
"Swear on your lives," Harold said as he waited for them to pick one each. He would have used just a dagger and made them all share it just like it was normally done, but if Alicia heard of it, she would resu those boring lectures and berate him for sharing sharp objects just like she had done in the past. Sothing about contagious diseases.
He didn't want that.
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