The Truth
Scully glared at Lorraine with displeasure but before he could reply Queen Pearl said, “I have no objection to answering any of the young lady’s questions.”
Scully turned to look at the former Gondorian Queen in the witness box next to him. The queen had a serene look on her face as she smiled at Lorraine and for the first time Scully realised that he was no longer in control of the situation. He had no idea where this would end and that was never a good thing but there was now no reason to reject Lorraine’s rude demands to question the queen. Turning back to Lorraine he said, “Very well, please continue.”
“Thank you, your honour,” Lorraine said dismissively as she focused her attention on the current object of her rage, Queen Pearl.
Strolling up to the witness box so that she was only inches away from the tiny Gondorian, Lorraine said, “I would like to thank your majesty for giving me the opportunity to defend my client by asking you a few simple questions.” Queen Pearl smiled at Lorraine but made no attempt to reply, so Lorraine pressed on. “Earlier you testified that you instructed your grandsons to never disagree with a lady about her looks. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Queen Pearl agreed.
“And you also testified that the reason was because your grandsons are handsome and popular, and you don’t want them to get into any trouble. Is that right?” Lorraine asked smiling calmly.
“Yes, that’s right,” Queen Pearl replied with an equally calm smile.
Lorraine turned away from Queen Pearl and looking directly into Bishop’s eyes, she took a deep breath and said, “But Queen Pearl, isn’t it true that the real reason you felt the need to instruct your grandsons like that was because you know that perversion runs through your family like a river of blood?
Pandemonium broke out in the auditorium, drowning out Sandwich’s outraged objections. Several people fainted whilst others gasped and gossiped. It was at least five minutes before Scully was able to bring the proceedings back to order.
No sooner had silence descended on the auditorium than Lorraine began hammering on with her case, “Queen Pearl, you’ve yet to answer my question. Are your family perverts?”
“No,” Queen Pearl replied, the smile remaining firmly on her face.
Scully’s eyes slid to the side. He had not expected Queen Pearl to reply to Lorraine’s impertinent question but now that she had engaged with the girl, there was no reason that stop Lorraine. The former monarch clearly knew that she was doing.
“Really?” Lorraine asked smiling viciously, “Is your eldest grandson Prince Amber not in a perverted, illegal marriage with a female android who looks exactly like him? Is your second grandson Prince Onyx not the deranged criminal who raped Elladora Henhex? Is your third grandson Prince Diamond not a notorious wh..?”
“Objection, your honour!” Vinod shouted, jumping angrily to his feet. “This is an outrage! The purpose of this trial was to establish if Prince Moonstone had insulted Lady Primrose and despite Lorraine’s theatrics, we’ve established that the entire fiasco was actually some part of a deranged plot by the supposed victim. There’s absolutely no reason for the Gondorian Royal family to be insulted in this manner.”
“Shut it perve,” Lorraine snapped. “You’re only defending them because you’re a rapist too.”
“Lorraine, what’s happened to you?” Ta-Shra asked, a dumbfounded expression on her face. Ta-Shra had hoped to take Lorraine outside and use her abilities to calm her best friend down but she had not had the chance. No matter what happened next Lorraine’s career as the President of the Student Council would be over. There was simply no coming back from this outrageous behaviour.
“She was rejected,” Queen Pearl replied in response to Ta-Shra’s question.
Scully shook his head as if to clear his mind so he could understand what he had heard, “Pardon me, your majesty. What did you say?” he asked.
“I said that Miss Leydon was rejected,” Queen Pearl said turning to Scully with a radiant smile that lit up her face.
“Rejected?” Bishop mumbled, almost imperceptibly. “What?”
“Miss Leydon’s vulgar, Jorge Show appearing mother approached our family for a marriage alliance with our beloved Prince Moonstone, the moon of Bim.” We rejected the proposal through Krumpus, the Greatest Grandfather, using Moonstone’s betrothal to Princess Lavender as an excuse. The truth is we simply wanted to spare the girl’s feelings. The connection with her was far too low so you see this disrespectful, insane behaviour was actually because we were too kind to Miss Leydon and allowed her to believe that, if not for Lavender, she might have had a chance when in fact she had none.”
Despite himself, Scully’s mouth dropped open. He had wanted Lorraine to be exposed as an evil meanie for making his dear little grandson cry, but he had not expected that the girl would be exposed to humiliation that would last a lifetime. The judge was just about to speak when Queen Pearl started talking again.
“As for that other girl, the Lady Primrose, I truly feel for her. Her father and his cousin King Hughard approached my son directly to request Moonstone’s hand in marriage and since my dear little Moonstone had previously expressed his interest in the girl, we did consider accepting the proposal, but before we had a chance to ask Moonstone his opinion, Queen Lovelia of Bim and Emperor Ankh of Duat registered their interest in our dear boy for Princess Lavender. The connection with the royal families of two top tier planets was immaculate. I don’t believe I need to explain any further.
“Bishop liked me?” Primrose asked, genuinely astonished.
“Of course,” Lorraine replied rolling her eyes in disgust. “Why do you think I set this entire trial up? I planted the files for that idiot Vulpesia to find so that there would be a trial, and if that nosey old man over there hadn’t stuck his oar in, I would have been the judge.”
“But what good would that have done?” Ta-Shra demanded, looking at Lorraine as if she were seeing her for the first time. Ta-Shra had been the one to suggest an alliance between Bishop and Lavender. She had thought that it would be a good match since Bishop was her boyfriend’s best friend and Lavender was her newly discovered niece. Ta-Shra had not been aware of Bishop’s interest in Primrose or anyone else or she would never have presumed to match-make. She had not even been aware that her own best friend was interested in Bishop.
“To punish the girl my grandson liked. What else?” Queen Pearl replied with a deep sigh. “This is why I told my grandsons never to disagree with a lady. I wanted to protect them from vicious conniving girls like Miss Leydon.”
Scully nodded as he surveyed the scene in front of him. Lorraine was glaring at the former Gondorian queen as if she wanted to tear the older woman apart whilst Primrose seemed to be on the verge of tears and Ta-Shra, confused and exhausted. The three girls had worn their hair in similar hairstyles no doubt to portray unity. but they could not have looked more separate if they had actively tried.
At the defence table, Sandwich and Vinod appeared to be equally stunned and Bishop was clearly embarrassed that his personal feelings had been exposed so publicly. In the witness box, Queen Pearl was still smiling.
“Well it seems that all of the evidence and arguments have been provided and I believe that we can forego any sort of closing arguments, so I’ll ask the jury to go and deliberate now,” Scully sighed as the twelve students who had been selected to sit on the jury were lead from the stage by a teacher who had been standing by. Scully had no doubt what the conclusion would be. All he had to do was wait.
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