The Trio Odyssey

Part I: Soul to Soul

Chapter 19: The Princess of Insanity V

His Majesty, Hotavar, stands up, stating his word.

“Well, it’s great you confessed, Your Highness. Then, elucidate.”

This time, the silence persists inside the courtroom. 

And, the Princess whispers to the armored men who are watching over her, with only her lips moving when watched from afar. 

A few minutes flew by.

After one of the armored men left shortly and came back. 

The same Clairvoyancer back in the room of shackles steps into the courtroom into the line of the witnesses. 

He addresses the Sovereign and His Majesty, Hotavar, with a slight head bow.

“Your Majesty, Souht, and Your Majesty, Hotavar, should the commencement of the Soul Diagnosis occur?”

While the Sovereign nods, His Majesty, Hotavar, answers.

“Go on.”

As the knife flies back to the hand of the men in robes, the same horrifyingly disgusting Chimeric back at the room of shackles emerges from his right arm, with its crazy multiple eyes gazing at the Princess behind the cage. 

But she doesn’t seem to fear it as much compared to when she first saw it. Although, she trembles a bit. 

And then, he goes to the plinth with the orb and takes control over the display panels after the men in the robes passed it to him.

The panels change from displaying the information of the investigation reports to a live, soul to soul view. 

The Clairvoyancer clarifies to everyone inside the courtroom as the panel loads the upcoming information, showing the Princess’s shackled body from the front view. 

“According to the system, the color that represents the soul of the Princess is blue, while the color that represents the soul of the stranger, called Maia, is red.”

A crushing, internal sensation presses the Princess, although nothing is hitting her, but only the stare from the Clairvoyancer’s Chimeric.

‘What?! I feel like I might throw up—… No, something is pressing my body from all directions!’

While that, the Sovereign and the Queen Consort look downcast, staying quiet with distress written on their face. 

The Princess groans in agony, rewinding about the diagnosis. 

“Argh—!”

‘The diagnosis hasn't given me anything like this before!’

However, after the panel successfully loaded, the color shown inside the Princess’s body represents the color of purple. 

Then, the internal, crushing sensation stopped, leaving her taking a lot of breathing after that. 

“Ha—argh…! Huff—! Huff—…”

The chatters during the trial become worse than before as the truth unfolds.

The prosecutors react. 

“Huh, purple?!”

“It’s purple!”

Then, the comes more from the juries. 

“Not a single trace of separated blue or red is even displayed.”

“There must be an error occurring inside the system.”

His Majesty, Hotavar, orders.

“Too much ambiguity. Repeat.” 

Then, both the eyes of the Sovereign and the Queen Consort widen in terror by the judgment. But they chose to keep silencing themselves. 

The Clairvoyancer reloads the system promptly, while keeping his Chimeric stares into the Princess’s eyes. 

The same crushing pressure comes to the Princess, opening her eyes clearly and losing her breath. 

“I repeat: the system displays the color that represents each one of the souls. The soul of the Princess is blue, while the color that represents the soul of the stranger, called Maia, is red.”

Nevertheless, the same purple color is what comes as a result.

The same prosecutors react. 

“What?!”

“It’s truly proven!”

The juries react too. 

“Their souls are merged.”

The inquisitor of the Court of the Federation, interrogates the Princess directly. 

“How did this Maia come into your body?”

After the internal crushing sensation disappeared again, she fell her head toward the ground, vomiting her gathered saliva spilled onto the rocky ground. 

The Princess takes about a minute to respond behind the cage, looking back up after taking a lot of breaths and coughing during the moment of silence.

“I had—… no clue either…”

His Majesty, Hotavar, shifts his gaze from the Princess to the witness line in general, speaking again. 

“Witnesses.”

Then, Professor Tacha stands up, reading the documented records of the evidence that she brought. 

“According to the record of the Queen Consort’s activity history and networking, none was found to be near the time She went to the Blacksmith Sector in Heto Palace.”

The prosecutors from the Court of the Federation comment.

“Presumably, the Princess chose to take Her own life?”

“This is unbelievable! Who dared giving her the idea of comitting suicide?!”

Afterward, the Court of Yotalis Palace is filled with clamors. Especially the jury from the Court of the Federation.

“We need to track down the record of anyone who committed suicide at least over the past year.”

“How so?”

“Her Highness might have seen someone else’s doings, and be prone to follow after.”

While, down there, in the cage, the Princess faces down, zoning out in the distance.

Like she had lost herself, her eyes are pale while her body starts to shake a lot, especially her hands, rustling the chains.

Her Majesty, Raesha, stands up in the middle of the cacophony, defending her daughter via her statement.

“The records of the Princess’s atmosphere were clear, if it was either influential or taught, there are no records regarding it.”

“I also believe, the Princess’s attempt on committing suicide was neither originated from any brainwashing nor Her being directly controlled by the Spiritual Faction,”

“as there were no records from the Spiritual Faction visiting her both directly and indirectly, except for her soul diagnosis lately, regarding her soul merged incident.”

His Majesty, Hotavar, speaks his sentence of verdict for the trial, raising his voice in conclusion and silencing all clamors in the courtroom. 

“That should close this trial with clear evidence:”

“Maia, despite the origin remaining unknown, is still labeled as an infiltrator, residing within the Princess’s body. Such an act is an illegal act.”

“Put Her Highness in suspension of the act temporarily and exorcise Maia under a strict subjugation during the suspension.”

The Sovereign shouts out of the blue.

“Your Majesty, the exorcism cannot be done as it will dispel Her Highness’s soul altogether! For Her Highness, exorcism also means death sentence!”

The cacophony of the chatters return in a short span of time.

“You heard that statement?”

“Yes, that was unanticipated.”

“Her Highness’s soul will be dispelled alongside Maia?”

“This case was too unprecedented.”

After the long pause, His Highness, Hotavar, resumes with a high tone. 

“Retrial.”

Thunderous reactions come, like gasps with the judge’s decision, except a few of them including the Clairvoyancer and the Sovereign.

The Sovereign releases a hushing noise out of his exhalation, while the Chimeric of the Clairvoyancer shrinks back to his arm.

This time, the men in the robes begin with their prosecution.

“Her Highness, Raeké Issocelle Cazdae, is believed to have her soul merged with a soul called Maia.”

“Maia is also found unrelated to the Spiritual Faction. Yet, the case that Maia came from the Cazdae Empire remains unknown too.”

Not long after that, the inquisitor of the Court of the Federation, yells his words out. 

“What origin could she be from? An infiltrator or an uninvited, trespassing stranger should be purged away from the Federation in an instant!”

The other prosecutor states. 

“Her Highness is known as the Princess of Mixed Blood, with her immense, dual birthright between two empires. But now, she’s no longer a human!”

The jury also comes out. 

“Both Her Highness and Maia carry their merged soul altogether. So, if exorcism is not the way to rid Maia, then, I assume that executing her would be possible due to her double soul might be keeping her from death once.”

In a split second, Her Majesty, Raesha, blurts out, fighting with the juries to defend her daughter. 

“Think again! Humans only have one life, even if it were in this merged soul case. So, don’t take it so far as to say that She has two lives, if She were to die once!”

His Majesty, Hotavar, shouts.

“Witnesses!”

After that, the Sovereign proves during the retrial.

“Her Highness cannot be saved in any way. Neither the exorcism and the execution, nor the other possible ways are able to purge Maia.”

“She has the condition as such due to the ‘Merged Death Covenant’. Whereby, if Maia’s soul dies, then the Princess’s soul, too, dies. And so the other way around.” 

His Majesty, Hotavar, silences himself, staring into the Sovereign’s eyes.

The conflict between the Reigning Kings are so tense that the silence drags for about a minute long with no one ever being brave enough to talk anymore. 

His Majesty, Hotavar, asks the Sovereign with narrow eyes. 

“Regarding the Merged Death Covenant you mentioned, an explanation posthaste, is required.”

The Sovereign resumes calmly. 

“The covenant has drawn new boundaries for Her Highness’s actions. Specifically, She cannot violate the laws placed upon Her, and must abide by it as stated.”

“One: She is no longer allowed to use and be affected by any Occult Ability from the Spiritual Faction.”

“Or else, it will result in her soul shattering. And thus, her death becomes inevitable as both souls completely shatter.”

Just from listening to the rule, the Princess looks up flabbergasted. 

“Huh—?”

The Sovereign continues with his evidence.

“Two: Should She use and be affected by any Occult Ability from the Physical Faction, will her body become more frail than ever before.”

“To some degree, her bones might break, or her flesh might bleed or burst. And, her death comes directly as she weakens, with both of the souls dying.”

The Princess mumbles with an unexplained confusion sitting deep inside her chest.

‘Dad…’

The Sovereign resumes.

“Whatever the case, She is still bound to be a human if she abides by these two conditions within the Merged Death Covenant.”

The Sovereign murmurs by then, giving off a concerned look.

‘Yearn, my child. Yearn.’

As the tense silence extends, one of the men from the prosecutor's line interrogates more.

“What exactly is a Merged Death Covenant?”

The Sovereign answers with his witness from the documentations in his hands, serving the evidence to the Court of the Federation.

“Merged Death Covenant is a covenant that adds a certain flaw to the Occult Ability of an Occultist.”

“While death is the repercussion for breaking the flaw placed onto the Occultist under this covenant. Even so, death from this covenant comes by chance.”