The audience seats were packed with people.
Almost everyone with any reputation or status in Fontaine was present.
In the front row, the old-money aristocrats had solemn expressions, whispering to each other and occasionally looking toward the defendant's dock with eyes full of contempt.
Merchants crowded the other side; the collapse of the Cabrerets Trading Company had brought forth a massive fortune, enough to drive many of them mad.
But at this moment, no one cared about that lethal Mora!
Their only concern was how to completely distance themselves from that demon;
And to offer their loyalty to the "Lady Furina" and "Lord Guardian" on the stage!
Officials from the Opera Epiclese, administrators from various districts, senior Equitable Judgment, heads of the Gardes... everyone was dressed in their most formal attire, their expressions grave.
Amidst the crowd, some more distinct and characteristic figures also appeared at this unprecedented trial scene—
Navia of Spina di Rosula, accompanied by her two bodyguards, stood silently by a pillar with a wide view.
This bold Demoiselle, who valued loyalty and friendship, now had her lips pressed tightly together, her expression incredibly sorrowful, while a raging fire burned in her golden eyes.
Beside her, Melus and Silver were equally grim-faced, their eyes Burning with anger.
"Scum... dying ten thousand times wouldn't be enough!!!"
[Ding! Detected intense anger and extreme sorrow from Navia, Emotion Points +15,000.]
The Duke of Meropide Hold, Wriothesley, was not wearing his usual attire.
Instead, he had changed into a crisp black formal suit, making a rare public appearance.
He leaned against the shadows in the back row, arms crossed, his grey-blue eyes slightly narrowed as he watched the stage.
As the man in charge of the prison, he had seen countless villains, but someone like Marcel, who packaged his evil deeds with such "deep affection," lasting for so long and using such heinous methods, was truly rare.
A cold curve formed at the corner of Wriothesley's mouth:
"It seems the Meropide Hold is about to gain another 'permanent resident,' and he will receive the most'special' treatment."
[Ding! Detected killing intent and anger from Wriothesley, Emotion Points +10,000.]
Beside him, Head Nurse Sigewinne nodded gently.
Those large eyes, usually so gentle, were now filled with pity for the victims and disgust for the murderer.
"We won't let him die easily."
"I will use all my strength to treat him, so that he lives for a very, very long time."
[Ding! Detected extreme sorrow, extreme killing intent, and extreme anger from Sigewinne, Emotion Points +30,000.]
The Fourth Harbinger of the Fatui, the knave Arlecchino, had already arrived; she had spent a large sum of money to book a VIP box on the second floor.
Arlecchino stood silently by the window, her short grey-white hair meticulously styled, her blood-red pupils reflecting the dark crowd below and the empty defendant's dock like ice crystals.
Behind her stood an angry Lyney and a Freminet who was so quiet he almost blended into the shadows.
Arlecchino's face was expressionless, but those eyes that could see through human hearts were filled with cold killing intent.
"Treating the lives of others as materials for a twisted obsession..."
"Heh."
"He doesn't even qualify as a 'Sinner'."
"Like 'The Doctor,' he is just pure garbage."
Her gaze swept across the judicial bench, lingering briefly on Neuvillette and Furina, before finally looking toward the entrance leading backstage.
King and Lynette should be there.
She hadn't sent Lynette to King's side solely out of consideration for her protection.
She hoped even more that Lynette could learn something from that "strongest man."
"Watch closely, child."
Arlecchino thought to herself:
"This is the end that those who trample on life deserve."
[Ding! Detected super expectation and intense killing intent from Arlecchino, Emotion Points +25,000.]
Near the entrance of the box, Lyney stood pressed tightly against the wall.
Today, Lyney was not wearing his flamboyant magician's outfit, but an inconspicuous set of black civilian clothes.
He had pulled his hat brim very low, and those eyes that always sparkled with a desire to perform were now filled with heaviness and fear.
He had learned all the details of Marcel's crimes from "Father" Arlecchino.
The thought of what those girls had gone through made Lyney feel a surge of nausea.
"If it were Lynette who was..."
In the depths of Lyney's pupils, a chill colder than the snows of Snezhnaya condensed.
"Such scum, actually daring to try and sugarcoat it with 'love'... it's truly disgusting."
[Ding! Detected intense anger and fear from Lyney, Emotion Points +10,000.]
Beside Lyney, in the furthest corner, was a shy and introverted youth wearing a diving helmet—
Freminet was uneasily fidgeting with his fingers.
As a diver who frequently worked underwater, he had a deeper connection to "water."
When he read in the newspaper that those young girls had been dissolved alive by Primordial Sea Water, an unspeakable sadness overwhelmed him.
Water is the source of life, a symbol of gentleness and purity!
How could it be used to carry out such a cruel atrocity?!
"Unforgivable..."
Freminet uncharacteristically looked up, peering through the glass of his diving goggles toward the judicial bench, and said softly but firmly:
"The ocean will never accept such a filthy soul."
[Ding! Detected extreme sadness and extreme anger from Freminet, Emotion Points +15,000.]
In the area near the main doors where the Special Patrol was maintaining order, Captain Chevreuse stood as straight as a spear.
Dressed in her sharp Special Patrol uniform, her long purple hair tied in a neat ponytail, her heroic face was covered in Frost, and her hand remained on the musket at her waist.
"Seventeen years, twenty-nine lives... right under our noses."
Chevreuse's voice was as hard as iron as she spoke to the adjutant beside her:
"This is an insult to Fontaine's justice!"
"After today, the intensity of the Special Patrol's patrols must be increased by a hundredfold!!"
"We must tell everyone through our actions—"
"Fontaine has no place for such demons. If there's one, we catch one; if there's a pair, we destroy them!"
[Ding! Detected extreme anger and extreme self-reproach from Chevreuse, Emotion Points +15,000.]
...Backstage at the Opera House, in the prop room.
King leaned against the cold wall, resting with his eyes closed.
In his mind, the system's notification sounds had merged into a continuous, faint hum.
A massive amount of Emotion Points poured into his system panel like a bursting dam.
Anger, sadness, expectation, admiration, fear, killing intent—
From characters both familiar and unfamiliar.
All these emotions eventually converged upon him, the "Exposer of Evil" and "Executor of justice."
[Emotion Points +10,000... +15,000... +20,000... +25,000...]
[Ding.]
[Current Emotion Points: 1,200,000]
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