Meeting the Accused

In the last two days, Ark had made a few discoveries. 

The first and the most important one was that apparently, his acquaintance was being accused of poisoning the lord these people served. 

Her uncle had taken over power as well and locked her up in one of the mobile prisons. 

The funny thing was that the fact that they had one in the first place, meant that the entire scenario was most likely pre-planned. 

Ark was not the only one that thought that way…

Discontent was brewing amongst the regular guards at the inhuman treatment of their lady, but it was more or less subdued. 

If anything, it was his friend who he now knew as Michael that was the main activist in this situation, sometimes speaking as though he did not fear retaliation from the new lord's personal guards. 

Currently, Ark was gathered with the rest of the guards off duty.

The carriage had not moved since the death of the lord per his brother's orders. 

Some would think it was just to mourn him but Ark suspected why… he could not return back to the city with Lady Agnes (his acquaintance) alive. 

He might have the guards here under control but the people in the city would see through his scheme. 

He was going to kill her before they left, Ark was very much sure of this…

There was a raging fire in their midst, swaying slightly wherever the frigid winds would blow past. 

A calm sound of crackling wood filled the air as the logs were consumed by the fire, the smoke from the flames drifting softly from its tip. 

He had a bowl of stew in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. They had recently gotten a good hunt so their portion of meat was very generous today. 

The rest of the large buck had been stuffed and buried in the snow in order to preserve the meat.

Michael dropped his finished bowl and stared into the fire. His fists tightened slightly until they were white. 

"They really think they can do as they please."

Of course he was once again talking about Agnes, Ark was beginning to wonder if he had a crush on the girl. 

Another man who seemed to share his views stared into the fire. 

He lowered his voice to avoid being heard by one of the senior guards. 

"We all know Lady Agnes could never have done a thing like that! Everyone knows, but what can we do?"

Michael looked distraught, that was how he always looked whenever someone asked for a solution. 

In the end, he seemed just as afraid as the rest of them. There was no telling what would happen if they were to speak up. 

After all, saying Agnes was innocent was as good as calling her uncle a liar. Whoever did so would not survive long. 

Ark remained quiet, observing everything from where he sat. 

Then he slowly got up with his bowl in hand and tapped Michael on the shoulder. 

"I'm going to get some air."

In the last few days, Ark had discovered that it was not that the archive was not giving him information on less important characters, it was that the archive was giving him no information whatsoever. 

Maybe it was a side effect of entering someone's trial, maybe it was another thing entirely, but the fact was that he now had to rely on himself to gather information. 

The man Michael seemed to be close friends with Curt, the man he was playing in this Trial. And Curt was a rather reclusive but pleasant individual. 

Michael nodded and Ark began to walk away from the campfires. 

He went farther away from them, to a place where there were no fires save for a lone torch shining in the distance, making the area far colder. 

Ark kept walking until he finally got to the lone carriage. 

For the past two days, he had been trying to find a way to meet the girl but he was on duty and could not leave his post. 

During the first few days, her carriage was also well guarded, it seemed the new lord had been afraid of an uprising among the lower guards.

But two days had passed without so much as a peep, it was very obvious that no one was willing to risk their life for the sake of a noble who did not even know their name. 

As a result, he recalled his personal guards and set one of the lower guards to watch over her, prioritising his own life. 

A slender man with rough hair and a shaggy beard walked up to Ark as he approached the carriage. 

His sword was already out of its sheath and he was watching Ark warringly until he stepped closer to the fire. 

"Oh, it's you. Son of a b—"

"Is she awake?" Ark asked, cutting the man off. 

He scratched his beard before answering. 

"Yeah, sure."

"Good."

Ark dug his hands into his jacket and pulled out a coin purse. From the purse, he procured two silver coins and placed them in the man's hands. 

A couple of the lower guards were mercenaries with no interest in nation politics, all they cared about was money. 

That was why the old man had placed him here, and yet the new lord was a stingy old bastard. He had not even bothered to pay the man extra money to keep him diligent. 

A fatal mistake when it came to handling mercs. 

At least that was what Ark could deduce, it's not like he had dealt with them before but there were good examples of such situations in the slums where he grew up. 

The man stuffed the money in his pocket and began to walk away from the carriage. 

He had five minutes. 

Ark opened the large doors to reveal a dimly lit room, the first thing he noticed was the stench.

He would have moved the torch to get a better view but if he did people at the distance would be able to easily spot the moving flame. 

Instead, he relied on the little light entering the room. 

The floorboards squeaked as Ark stepped foot into the room causing a figure to skid backwards until she was at the edge of her cell. 

She was in a deplorable state, she had gotten new bruises on top of the old ones she had, her clothes were dirty, the white gown becoming more brown than actual white. 

It was as though the prison had never been washed before because there was a faint odour in the room and a bucket had been given to her to serve in place of a toilet. 

For a second, Ark wondered if this trial they were facing was once someone's actual life experience. If it was, how did it turn out? 

Was the girl able to escape or did she end up like her father? Killed and forgotten…

The girl squinted her eyes slightly, trying to figure out who it was. 

It only took a short time for her to realize that it was him, and yet she still stuck close to the wall. 

Her voice came a second later. 

"You… You are from the center."