The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness

Faced with Pink Bear’s sudden, serious questioning, Trasweir’s beard trembled. His slightly dark lips wriggled a few times, but the words were stuck in his throat, and he choked up for a moment.

He suddenly felt an inexplicable absurdity.

As the Empire’s most senior Grand Judge, he had spent his entire life working to uphold the Tribunal’s sanctity, and now someone was saying that he... had defiled all of it?

Who am I, where am I, what am I doing?

Wasn’t the one saying that the one who had it backwards?

But the thing was, he couldn’t refute it for the moment.

He couldn’t even refute being called “kid.”

After all, the other party was a grand-uncle of the imperial line, with a terrifyingly high generation rank. If that person scolded him as a “grandson,” it would still look like he was trying to cling to the royal family.

Besides, calming down and thinking carefully, that kind of “looking down on” evidence really was biased behavior for a Grand Judge.

“Then... tell me. What exactly does this piece of evidence have to do with Muen Campbell?”

After he smoothed his emotions a little, Trasweir straightened his black robe again and asked seriously.

A brief lapse in composure wouldn’t affect anything. As long as he pulled things back onto the track in time, this trial would still be another dazzling jewel on his crown of honor...

“Ah, that.”

Pink Bear put the spiked club away again and scratched the head.

“You’re right. It really doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Wh—You!”

Trasweir’s eyes bulged. The moment those light, casual words fell into his ears, his blood pressure almost doubled again on the spot.

What did “really doesn’t have anything to do with it” mean? Then what was that righteous, solemn act just now?

Were you deliberately playing with me?

Trasweir clenched his teeth. If he weren’t so old that he’d already prepared the coffin, he would have lunged forward and strangled this bastard to death.

“Hey, hey, hey. Let me tell you—this sacred Tribunal doesn’t allow fighting!”

Pink Bear hopped away in one jump, guarding the chest with both hands in alarm.

“Watch it, or I’m calling someone!”

“You... I...”

“Don’t rush, don’t rush. If you get so mad you die, I can’t afford to compensate you. Let me explain it slowly.”

Pink Bear leaned in again, as if the conflict from just now didn’t exist at all, threw an arm around Trasweir’s shoulders, and flipped open the album with a cheap grin.

Trasweir found it disgusting beyond words, but couldn’t push this damned bear away, and could only watch as that filthy photo collection was placed in front of him again. Pink Bear pointed at one of the pictures of a maid girl and asked:

“Recognize this face?”

“This face?”

Trasweir frowned. He hadn’t noticed earlier because his emotions were running too high, but now that Pink Bear pointed it out, it really did look familiar.

“Looks like some Saintess?”

“Yes. That’s the appearance of the Saintess from a long, long time ago. Looks like your memory isn’t too bad, kid.”

Pink Bear continued, “Then do you think Her Highness the Saintess would wear something like this?”

“No.”

Trasweir shook his head almost reflexively.

What a joke. The Church of Life’s holy and noble Saintess, revered by countless believers—how could she possibly wear such shameless clothes and do such shameless things?

He’d rather believe Her Majesty would do it than believe the Saintess would.

“Good. She wouldn’t. In that case, looking at the photos on here—do you understand now?”

“Understand what?” Trasweir asked, still frowning and a bit blank.

“Photos can ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) be faked, you idiot!!”

Pink Bear slapped the half-destroyed long table and said seriously,

“A photo made through magical imprinting, like the one earlier—I can forge ten of those in a minute. Do you think that kind of thing has any credibility?”

“Seems like... that’s true.”

Trasweir nodded unconsciously. There really was some sense to it—so long as the methods were skillful enough, photos really did have the possibility of being forged.

Tch... no, wait. Determining whether evidence was genuine was part of the later trial process anyway. There was no need to specially hammer it here...

“Tsk tsk. You don’t even understand something that basic.”

Pink Bear clasped both hands behind the back, tilted the head up at a forty-five-degree angle to stare at the sky, and paced back toward Muen with a face full of sentimental sighing. Then Pink Bear turned back and gave a contemptuous smile.

“And someone like you can still worm your way into the Grand Judge seat? The Empire’s finished!” ℯℯ𝘭.

“You... bastard!”

Trasweir was finally completely enraged. He no longer cared about anything else. He grabbed the gavel in his hand, about to expel Pink Bear on the grounds of disrupting the trial.

But...

Right before the gavel came down—

“What Royal Grand-Uncle said makes some sense.”

That cool voice made Trasweir’s motion freeze.

“Magic has grown ever more flourishing in recent years. Twenty years ago, Master Tropol of the Tower of Origin created an image-magic that can be completely indistinguishable from the real thing. Although an ordinary imitation-learned spell certainly can’t reach that level, if the person himself were to act, then there would be no way to distinguish the authenticity of this photo.”

Celicia propped her chin, pinched the photo between two fingers, and tossed it aside casually.

“Therefore, using this kind of thing as evidence really is a bit inappropriate. Seniority really is important, but for a judge, shutting yourself away and working behind closed doors is a major taboo. If you don’t even know news like this, how can you bring about a fair trial? Isn’t that right, Grand Judge Trasweir?”

“...Y-Your Majesty is correct.”

After a pause, Trasweir took a deep breath and forced out that sentence almost from the lungs.

Although everyone present knew that with Count Bugaard’s family, it was impossible to invite a master like Tropol, Pink Bear’s shameless twisting just now really did point out a weakness in that evidence.

And justice that cannot convince others is not justice.

That was the deeper meaning—and warning—in Her Majesty’s words just now.

...

“So, how was it?”

Pink Bear and Muen slapped hands in celebration. Pink Bear asked smugly.

“Full marks.”

Muen gave a dead-serious review.

“Then... the payment?”

“You won’t be shorted.”

Muen leaned to Pink Bear’s ear and said in a low voice, “I know where that kind of stuff is sold!”

“Really?”

Pink Bear’s eyes lit up. Pink Bear felt the trip truly hadn’t been wasted.

This kid’s solid!

And while feeding Pink Bear that bait, Muen didn’t forget to sneak a look at Celicia.

Celicia’s cool, aloof look right now, in his eyes, was practically like an angel descending to the mortal world.

And as for the other two—Senior Sister and Liya—neither had done anything strange from beginning to end. They were only like invisible arms, silently protecting him.

So you really did come to save me?

Sorry. I apologize for having such despicable thoughts earlier. You’re all my wings—how could you really do anything to me?

Muen was so moved he almost teared up, and once again showed that serene smile like someone attaining Buddhahood.

Now... he could relax.

...

...

“The photo’s authenticity cannot be distinguished, therefore... it cannot be used as evidence to prove Muen Campbell colluded with an Evil God!”

Trasweir brought the gavel down and completely sealed this short farce.

“What?”

Count Bugaard stood there stunned. He hadn’t expected that what he had prepared so carefully would be dismissed so lightly, with Pink Bear and Her Majesty singing in tandem like that.

By his calculations, that photo was supposed to be an extremely important link in forcing Her Majesty. If it failed going downward, he might not be able to force Her Majesty at all, while going upward...

...would be total mutual destruction.

And now...

Count Bugaard stole a glance at Celicia. She was still expressionless, calmly watching this grand show. Yet Count Bugaard felt as if a trace of mockery could be read in her eyes.

That kind of composed, looking-down-at-ants-struggling...

Mockery.

So Count Bugaard couldn’t help feeling a chill down the spine.

“Count Bugaard, can you provide any new evidence? If you cannot—”

“I—I can, of course I can!”

Trasweir’s voice snapped Count Bugaard awake, and Count Bugaard answered in a panic.

That’s right. It wasn’t over yet.

Having come this far, how could he possibly be frightened by a blond brat?

Since you want to play, I’ll accompany you to the end!

“This is my new evidence.”

Count Bugaard took out a container wrapped layer upon layer in magical patterns, then opened it in front of everyone.

And what was stored inside...

...was actually an eyeball!

That eyeball was far larger than a human’s, likely from some kind of beast. What was startling was that even though only an eyeball remained, with the container’s support, everyone could clearly sense the eyeball still had astonishing vitality.

It even occasionally shifted the pupil and made eye contact.

“What is this?”

Having been taught a lesson by Pink Bear, Grand Judge Trasweir was much more cautious this time.

“As everyone can see, it’s an eyeball. But it isn’t an ordinary eyeball—it comes from a rare magical beast called an Eyedemon!”

“Eyedemon?”

“Yes. I believe with the Grand Judge’s knowledge, you’ve heard of this beast. It can temporarily store, inside its eye, the images it has seen, the scents it has gathered, the afterwaves of aura, and even... the residue of some kind of power.”

“Such an ability does exist.”

Trasweir nodded. Eyedemons were rare, but they were not some new species that had only appeared in recent decades, so there was no chance of another “shut away for decades and knows nothing” situation like before.

“To be frank, the photos just now also came from images recorded by the Eyedemon. But since you don’t trust photos like that, then I can only bring out the most convincing thing...”

Count Bugaard lifted the container high and swept his eyes across everyone. The gaze lingered on Celicia for a moment longer before continuing.

“That is the residue of an Evil God’s power still remaining within it!”

Everyone’s eyesight far exceeded ordinary people’s. Following Count Bugaard’s guidance, they quickly saw that within the eyeball’s crystalline lens, there really was a trace of...

...bizarre pitch-black.

“So it really is like that?”

Muen’s gaze sharpened.

From the moment those photos appeared, he had suspected it was something like leftover monster scrap that slipped away during his fight with the little girl, but now, the truth was far more terrifying than monster scrap.

An Eyedemon.

Among the thousand-plus kinds of beasts the little girl had stitched together, there was no way he could distinguish this one.

Maybe Count Bugaard had been monitoring the little girl to prevent a loss of control or accidents, and deliberately added something special like this among the beast parts. That wasn’t beyond expectation.

He just hadn’t expected it would be used like this in the end.

So, in the final analysis, it was still his control over power back then that wasn’t enough. With his mental strength overdrawn, he hadn’t noticed the traces of the Black Sun’s power leaking outward.

“Nonsense! Just one big eyeball, and you say there’s residue, so there’s residue? Are you mocking the courtroom?”

Pink Bear reacted fast and immediately jumped out, wanting to slap a label on Count Bugaard first.

But Count Bugaard wasn’t Trasweir. Count Bugaard understood Pink Bear very well, so Count Bugaard didn’t even bother responding, turning instead to look at Celicia.

“What does Your Majesty think?”

“Why does My beloved minister ask me?”

“I only want to know whether Your Majesty believes it or not.”

“Is believing or not important?”

The corner of Celicia’s lips hooked up.

“Isn’t the so-called trial about the truth?”

“I see...”

Count Bugaard also smiled, but that smile still carried a frenzied undertone.

“Then there’s no way around it.”

Count Bugaard suddenly lifted his head and shouted:

“Since there are still people who don’t believe the authenticity of this thing, then I request testing!”

“Oh? Who do you want to test it?” Trasweir asked.

“Hmph. Does that need much thought? I went to great lengths to bring about this three-party joint hearing for exactly this!”

Count Bugaard looked as if confidence had returned, and announced with a ringing voice:

“I request that the authority on Evil God-related affairs, the Empire’s special institution—the Silent Bureau—conduct a thorough on-the-spot test of the power inside this eyeball!”

“...”

The moment the words fell, the room instantly went quiet.

Everyone’s gaze fell on Count Bugaard—and on the young girl at the side, who was idly toying with a strand of hair.

“You want to request testing?”

Pink Bear asked blankly.

“That’s right!”

“Have the Silent Bureau test it?”

“Of course. What, you’re scared?”

Count Bugaard gave a cold laugh.

In truth, this demand had been considered deeply.

The Empire’s side definitely wouldn’t work. From what just happened, that empress was determined to protect her nominal fiancé.

The Church of Life would also have to drop it after thinking—because in the earlier developments, Muen Campbell clearly had close ties with the Church. Behind several operations, there had been the Church’s shadow.

Therefore, this task could only fall to the most mysterious—and most brutally ruthless toward Evil God remnants—Silent Bureau.

From the rumors that even eggs at an Evil cultist’s home would get shaken until the yolk broke, passing dogs would get slapped, and even earthworms would get dug up and cut vertically into two halves, even though he didn’t know the Swordbearer’s temperament due to the Bureau’s extreme secrecy, he believed the Swordbearer would absolutely not cover for Evil God remnants.

So this was the best choice!

“I see...”

Pink Bear looked like Pink Bear finally understood, nodding nonstop.

“Scared. I’m scared. Scared to death...”

As Pink Bear spoke, Pink Bear grabbed Muen’s shoulder and started laughing...

“Pfft...”

“What are you laughing at?”

“I’m not laughing.”

“Lies. You’re clearly laughing—you haven’t stopped at all!”

As Count Bugaard spoke, Count Bugaard frowned and looked at Muen, who also couldn’t hold it in:

“And what are you laughing at?”

“Pfft... I’m not laughing either.”

“Do you think I’m blind? You clearly—”

“Enough!”

Trasweir struck the gavel, signaling everyone to be quiet.

“Since that is the case, then we will proceed as Count Bugaard requests. We will have the Silent Bureau examine whether there is any residue of Evil God power inside the Eyedemon, and if there is, whether it is connected to Muen Campbell.”

Trasweir looked at Anna. The tone softened a bit, and this time he did not forget her status:

“May I ask if that is acceptable?”

“Of course. I’ll be happy to help.”

Anna smiled faintly. With a curl of the finger, the container rose on its own and landed in her hand.

She toyed with it for a moment, then flicked her eyes sideways and shot Muen a look full of charm.

Muen’s bones practically went soft. So he lifted his chest and raised his head even more, staring at the still-bewildered Count Bugaard, cold laughter surging in his heart.

Hmph. Every judge here is on my side. How are you going to fight me?