Katrina entered the room, which was larger than all the others she had been in before here at the court. Her eyes first went to the king, who was seated on the sidelines, then to the three n seated in the middle of the room. Katrina didn't want these three n to decide her fate. Why not Mark, who had been dealing with her cases?
"You are a tricky woman," Howard Norman, the court man in charge of assigning punishnts, said as he flipped through the records of information gathered on Katrina. "With the position you are in, I shall refer to you as Ida. It is your birth na. What is your family's na? The man Randall said he wasn't given that information when you were sold to him."
Katrina kept her mouth shut, not wanting to speak about that person she had forgotten about so long ago. She was Katrina now.
Howard looked up from his papers at Katrina, who was choosing to be stubborn. "You're already in a bad position. Not speaking won't make it good for you," he advised her.
"I will speak if you will not have killed," Katrina said.
Howard looked to his left and right at the n beside him. "Unfortunately, the others do not agree with your request. You are in no position to make any demands. Quite frankly, a bit of remorse for your actions would place you in a better position. To be so bold as to stand before us and even King Tobias himself, and refuse to answer us shows that you are deserving of your punishnt."
"The king is good friends with Edgar Collins. Whatever punishnt he has thought of for is to get revenge for his friend," Katrina argued. Everyone knew that aside from his family na, Edgar was untouchable because of his long relationship with the king. Edgar would use that to have her killed.
"I always get a good laugh when soone speaks about the duke and the king. The sa duke that helped save your court. When you ntion Edgar Collins na in the court, so sigh and so get excited because, like his father, he has done good for the kingdom. A little trip back to the books would have inford you that the court was created to avoid kings making judgnts on personal issues. There is a vote that cos with deciding punishnts, and the king only gets one vote," Howard explained.
There was no denying that if Edgar were to ever have to face a punishnt, the court would be faced with a problem. First of all, Edgar wouldn't be willing to walk into the court and to get him, they would need the king's army to go up against Edgar's own. It didn't help that Edgar had a friendship with the man who led the knights. He would be a difficult person to capture.
Over the years, Howard noted how smart Edgar was at covering his tracks if he were to kill soone. They were still trying to figure out what he had done with William Lancaster. Howard knew that he would never have Edgar standing before him where Katrina now stood.
"There was a majority vote on what your punishnt would be. Your punishnt could change if you were a bit remorseful, as I said, but I don't see that happening. The king is here to sign off on your punishnt. Nothing more. Now that we should all understand how the court works, let's get back to the task at hand. Randall was helpful to list out the things you have done for him," Howard said, looking back down at what he received from the n who dealt with Randall.
There was also information gathered by Edgar.
"We were told you approached Randall with the idea to sleep with n and rob them-"
"Why do all of you continue to point fingers at , but the n who made my life hell get to be free? I am a victim of being sold to the red light district when I was young. Taken advantage of and had to use all that I had to survive. Those n I stole from were not innocent," Katrina said, taking a step forward, but the n beside her yanked her back.
"It is unfortunate what happened to you, but those n are not standing before . You are here because of your actions. You killed n. From what Randall said, there were more than we know of. You set a ho on fire where the children lay so they could be left with nothing like you were. You even saw to it that one of those children who ended up in the red-light district was abused. Just as soone hurt you as a child, you have hurt others!" Howard yelled, hitting the palm of his right hand down on the table.
The brother of one of the n she killed was left to take care of the children. He had to spend years trying to rid his niece of the sight of Katrina waking her up to tell her about her father's deeds and then stumbling upon her dead father.
"I have not even gotten started on what happened to your stepdaughter while she was in your care. The answer is never to turn into the monster you always feared. I will not waste the court's or the king's ti on you. We shall read your punishnt," Howard said, standing up with the two n beside him. "Katrina, for all of your cris, the court and the throne sentence you to death. You shall be hung at the palace walls for the town-"
"I am all that my daughter has left. You must not kill . Imprisoned . I shall look over my actions and ask for forgiveness," Katrina said, pleading with the court to take back their decision.
"You did not care for the children you hurt," Howard replied, having no sympathy for Katrina. If he had t her when she was younger and she had told him her story, he would have looked to help her. Get justice for her against those n. "Your daughter is old enough to take care of herself. Take her away to be hung with the man she worked with."
Howard could not have much sympathy for Katrina because of the fact that she and Randall created a business where they would take won in the red light district and have them go after wealthy n. To either try marrying, being a mistress, or just stealing from them. The sa dirty business that had Katrina poisoning the n she slept with.
"Wait!" Katrina's voice broke as she yelled. Once again, she tried to walk forward to talk with them. To plead her case. They needed to hear that Kate only had her. That there was sothing wrong with Kate and she could not be left alone.
"Now you wish to speak," Howard said, shaking his head. He looked at Tobias, who also stood and straightened out his clothes. Howard ignored Katrina's pleas and walked over to Tobias to have him sign and put the mark of the royal seal on the paper. "Your Highness. I am sorry you had to witness two cases leading to deaths today. We are ant to be celebrating the queen's blessing."
"I like to call it my blessing too," said Tobias. He would rather get this case over with so the news about his unborn child and his festival could bring a bit of peace to the kingdom. Now that Katrina was dealt with, there was no big case the court was working on aside from getting children out of the red light district. "Has the butler been sent off to the dungeon?"
Tobias witnessed Jas admitting to his part in killing a man who worked for Katrina. The body was not yet found, as they were only told where it was placed by Jas right before Katrina's trial started. Jas earned himself plenty of years in the palace dungeon. Just like Katrina, he tried telling the court there was soone he needed to take care of. His mother, who had no one else.
"He will be taken there after Randall and Katrina have been hung. We will start addressing her as Ida now since that is who she truly is," Howard answered. All the information they had about Katrina would be replaced with the na Ida.
The na that Katrina tried her hardest to forget would not be spread around the town or perhaps the kingdom, as word of a forr baroness being hung would travel around quickly.
"Good. When the town guards send you a report about the cook's body, send it to right away. Simon's body is also being burned before the town today. It is about ti I got that rotting corpse out of the palace. The church claims it is the best way to get rid of the evil inside him. This should satisfy the town," Tobias said, hoping those who were angry about Simon's death would now stop pointing fingers.
Tobias heard so were gathering wood to keep the fire going much longer and torture Simon's soul.
"I have to be on my way now, Howard. I have my own battles in the palace I must deal with," said Tobias.
Howard wondered what it could be since Grant was dead and many of his followers were imprisoned. "Are there still enemies going after you and the queen?" He asked.
"Oh no. I was speaking about the queen and her temper these days."
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