“You two… You’re friends of Christian. Why do your faces look like that?”
Swallowing their saliva nervously, the friends quickly explained,
“We were assaulted trying to stop Christian’s wrongdoing.”
“What wrongdoing are you referring to?”
“Because he was drunk… he murdered a servant and disposed of the body in the river.”
“!!”
Count Kazar staggered, his face turning pale.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s true. We’re sorry! We tried to stop Christian, but we were powerless.”
Count Kazar covered his face with his hands.
After a long silence, unknown to anyone, the butler Cox exchanged glances with Christian’s friends.
‘Well done.’
It was all going according to Butler Cox’s plan.
But why?
The friends flinched and averted their gaze.
Though puzzled, Butler Cox was too happy by the thought of Christian’s downfall to think deeply.
‘Just as ‘he’ commanded, I’ve finished off Christian. Now, I will receive a great reward.’
That person.
Butler Cox concealed a sinister smile.
He feigned concern and said to Count Kazar,
“…What should we do about the young master? This situation seems too serious to overlook.”
Count Kazar spoke gravely,
“Bring Christian to the immediate court. I’ll be the judge myself.”
* * *
Christian was soon standing in the courtroom.
All the key members of the noble family were present.
“Here is the young master.”
Knights had brought Christian to the courtroom.
But the appearance of Christian surprised everyone.
He was unusually clean.
No sign of drunkenness, not even the trace of the dissolute behavior he had exhibited recently.
Rather.
‘Similar to when he was sober?’
Some of the nobles thought so.
Count Kazar gritted his teeth and asked Christian,
“…Is it true that you committed murder?”
Before answering, Christian looked at Count Kazar.
His eyes clear, as if he had returned to a previous state.
“No.”
His answer was firm.
Count Kazar’s eyes wavered.
“Are you lying? There are witnesses.”
“Witnesses? Who do you mean?”
The friends who had testified stepped forward, pale-faced.
“It’s, it’s us.”
“I have a question for you, Count. Are these witnesses reliable? I mean, is there evidence to their testimony?”
Count Kazar was rendered speechless.
“There are witnesses who saw you taking the maids to a secluded place.”
Count Kazar had not only heard the testimony but had also investigated the circumstances and confirmed that after Christian took the victim to a secluded place, the victim went missing.
“Hmm. It seems there might be some misunderstanding.”
Christian shrugged and then said,
“Let her in.”
“!!”
Another figure appeared in the courtroom, and Butler Cox’s eyes widened in shock.
The girl who was supposed to have been killed by Christian and disposed of in the river was alive!
“Ah, what?”
“How can this be?”
The girl spoke with a trembling voice,
“The young master felt pity for my situation and gave me money to go away quietly without anyone knowing. He did no harm to me.”
“So it seems.”
Christian smirked.
“How could this have happened?”
People were stunned.
Christian’s innocence was proven cleanly to the point of absurdity.
Eyes turned towards the friends who had borne false witness.
“If I am innocent, then there must be a reason for this commotion.”
Christian spoke coldly.
“They have conspired against me.”
“!!”
The atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically.
Count Kazar shouted angrily,
“Make those scoundrels kneel!”
“We, we…!! Ah!!!”
The Knights forcefully made the friends kneel on the ground.
With ashen faces and tears swallowed, they knew they were as good as dead for having tried to frame the count’s son.
There was no way out for them.
But they also had no choice,
‘We didn’t want to do this either!’
In fact, this was a staged drama concocted by Christian.
They had acted under Christian’s orders.
But they couldn’t refuse either.
The Mark of Binding.
The curse Christian had imposed forced their actions.
Controlled by that curse, they spoke against their will once more.
“We were just following orders.”
“Orders?”
“Yes. We were instructed to defame the young master.”
Count Kazar’s eyes blazed with explosive anger.
“Who is the despicable person responsible?”
All eyes focused on the friends.
Trembling, they looked up at a figure just as pale as they were.
“It was Butler Cox.”
“!!”
Everyone was shocked.
It was an utterly unexpected accusation.
Count Kazar, in particular, looked stunned.
Butler Cox had been a loyal servant of the Count’s family for many years.
Especially trusted to manage the household whenever the Count led his knights into battle.
How could someone he trusted so deeply have orchestrated this?
Butler Cox immediately protested vehemently.
“This is absurd! No, this is… obviously a cruel prank concocted by the young master and his friends! To think, young master, that you would stoop to such a horrific joke!”
Butler Cox keenly sensed that the situation was a setup by Christian.
He reacted fiercely, showing his fangs.
“After all I have done for the young master! To frame me like this! Even if the young master is a scoundrel, there are things that are acceptable and things that are not!”
‘I must somehow insist that this is a wicked false charge by that scoundrel!’
Butler Cox thought desperately to himself.
It seemed a plausible strategy.
He had built up long-standing trust, but that scoundrel had always been distrusted by others.
Somehow, if he insisted, he could pin the wrongdoing on the scoundrel.
But Cox hesitated.
Because Christian’s gaze was completely unshaken.
As if he had anticipated Cox would react this way.
His guess was correct.
Christian thought to himself,
‘Did you think I wouldn’t foresee you reacting like this?’
“Count, as a victim in this case, may I request one thing?”
Christian asked Count Kazar in a formal tone.
“…What is it?”
“May I, with your permission, personally interrogate Butler Cox?”
Interrogation.
Meaning he wanted to question Cox directly about this incident.
Count Kazar fell silent for a moment.
‘…What exactly?’
Count Kazar looked at Christian’s face.
He didn’t trust his son.
Naturally.
Yet still.
What was with that gaze?
A gaze as arrogant as it was confident, it shook his heart.
Count Kazar made an incomprehensible decision.
“…Very well, I leave it to you.”
“Count!”
Butler Cox exclaimed in shock.
“However, should any inappropriate action or statement occur, you will immediately be stripped of your authority.”
“Do not worry about that.”
Christian smirked.
“It will be over quickly.”
Everyone watched Christian with perplexed expressions.
“As a representative of the great ruler of the Magic Empire, on behalf of His Majesty the Demon Emperor, and as a steward of the Eastern Wing of the Southern Magic Kingdoms, I, acting on behalf of Count Kazar, will question the defendant.”
Those listening were involuntarily impressed by Christian’s words.
He had no experience in conducting a trial, yet his phrasing was impeccably accurate.
“Defendant Cox, do you swear to speak only the truth in response to my questions?”
“…I swear.”
“As a representative of the Demon Emperor, I ask again. Defendant Cox, do you swear to speak only the truth in response to my questions?”
“…I swear.”
The repeated oath.
It was a customary vow for a psychological tactic, yet Christian’s mouth curled meaningfully.
“Then I ask you. Have you ever orchestrated a scheme to defame me?”
“No.”
“Can you swear to that fact?”
“…I can.”
“I ask again. Can you really swear to it?”
It was just as Cox was about to affirm again.
His pupils hardened.
‘What? Why can’t I speak?!’
An incomprehensible phenomenon.
He tried to speak, but his tongue wouldn’t move.
In his eyes, he saw Christian’s face, wearing the smile of a victor.
Cox realized that what was happening to his body was somehow related to that scoundrel.
“What have you… what are you doing to me…?”
“What am I doing? I’m merely helping you to tell the truth.”
Christian extended his hand forward and opened his palm.
“Didn’t you just swear to me? To answer only with the truth.”
“!!”
The People around gasped in horror upon seeing the symbol that appeared on Christian’s palm.
“The Mark of Binding!!!”
It was a dreadful dark magic curse that could control others like slaves under certain conditions!
A four-star dark magic spell, but how?
“No, it’s different!”
“Could it be, a modification? Who could modify it like this?”
People were in disbelief, unable to imagine that Christian could have accomplished this.
Modifying a four-star dark magic spell would require a Dark Magus Family of even higher mastery.
Of course, Christian was an exception.
‘If you understand the principles of the magic perfectly, you can modify it even if your own level is lower. However, the power is much weaker.’
Christian grinned smugly.
Originally, The Mark of Binding was a level of dark magic beyond his ability to use.
His magical power was insufficient, and his mastery of dark magic was lacking.
Thus, he had modified it in his own way.
He drastically reduced the effect to lower the consumption of magical power, and he tightened the ‘conditions’ for the curse to take effect so it could be used despite his lesser mastery.
This was the result of that modification.
‘With two oaths, I can force you to comply exactly as sworn.’
Christian’s modified Mark of Binding couldn’t manipulate someone freely like the true Mark of Binding.
It could only make the subject follow the exact terms of their oaths.
And not just one oath—two were necessary.
That’s why he had arranged for this occasion.
In a courtroom setting, it was customary to swear twice.
‘Now, he can only respond truthfully to my questions.’
Realizing the situation, Butler Cox’s face turned ghostly pale.
“This, this can’t be happening.”
Butler Cox summoned his magic.
He was a skilled 3-star mage in his own right.
He was trying to break the curse.
Suddenly, the curse Christian had placed thrummed.
‘Will it hold for 1–2 minutes?’
At best, being a 1-star curse, it could only last that long.
But that didn’t matter.
One minute was more than enough time to extract all the truths.
