Everyone sat down in the king's court awaiting his arrival. Dariel and Endrick remained standing in the midst of them all.
Dariel cursed under his breath, how come they did not get to sit down as well? He was not a young man, his back was aching, however, he would not allow them be aware of his pain, he had to make them all pay.
Endrick on the other hand tried to subtly crack his back. He too had an ache and was cursing the fact that he had to remain standing as well. If anything the accused, his nonsense brother had to be the one to stand continuously, not him.
Dariel scoffed, it was day three of his hearing, he only had one more day to go before this matter was to be settled indefinitely.
He wondered what nonsense accusations his half brother had cooked up ready to throw at him today. Cleary, the fact remained that he would not win this case that easily, what he was being accused of was a usual occurrence frequent among those they deemed illegitimate children.
If they wanted to weed him out, they would have to do the same to many high ranking officials in the kingdom, which would not be an easy feat.
"I apologize once more for my tardiness, something important came to my attention." Phillip said as he walked into the court, Lord Endron following closely beside him.
"Now, this matter has dragged on for long enough, let us just get to the bottom of it." he said as he sat down.
"Viscount Dariel, do you have anything to add before we begin?" he asked as Dariel shook his head.
"No sire, I am certain the truth will speak for itself." he smiled.
"Alright, Lord Endrick, the court is yours."
Endrick smiled as he looked around, no one was quick to notice the brief yet focused gaze he and Lord Endron faced.
~~~~~~
Late last night.
Endrick waited in the garden, the moon was bright in the sky. He sighed looking up, he wondered when he would arrive.
Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him.
"I thought you said you would be here in twenty minutes?" he asked.
"I am a very busy man, take what you get or leave it." the man replied as Endrick turned to face him.
"Lord Endron, this matter is making me very upset, I thought you said that the king would grant my request?" he whined.
"I never said anything of that sort, you asked for an audience with the king and I granted it to you. All in return for your daughter's hand in marriage." Endron sternly reminded him.
"Alright, alright, but as you can see, I am not winning, if anything, that my stupid half brother is!"
"I have to commend Viscount Dariel, if we poke at his weaknesses, he is going to poke at every single one of our weaknesses as well, a wise move if I do say so myself." Endron admitted.
"You know the king well, tell me, is he on my side?" Endrick asked helplessly.
"No, if anything, you have just shown yourself to be an idiot, the both of you have." Endron replied eliciting a groan from Endrick.
"Then, what do I need to do to get him on my side? I beg of you, I really need this to work." he pleaded.
Endron sighed, if not for what he would get out of this, he would never have convinced Phillip to hear this matter in his court.
"Look, we all know the one thing our king cannot stand and that is crime."
"So what you are saying is I can win this case indefinitely if I prove that Dariel committed a heinous crime, an unforgivable one." Endrick smiled.
"Basically yes." Endron replied.
"Wonderful, it is settled then, I have proof of how vile my half brother is." a baleful smile graced his lips.
"That remains to be seen Lord Endrick." Endron scoffed.
"Oh, and let this be the first and last time that we meet covertly as if there is anything between us." Endrick could hear the definite tone in Endron's voice, however, he could not care less, tomorrow, all his problems would be settled.
"It it settled." he just smiled and with that Endron turned around and took his leave.
~~~~~~
"My honourable members of the king's court, my wonderful king, I apologize for how this matter has dragged on." he began.
"But I am certain that what I have to say today will settle all your doubts once and for all."
"We all know that this man standing before us today has committed several heinous crimes that he has never been convicted of due to lack of evidence." Endrick said.
"I know my king, that if you were to grant him his desire, you would believe that you make the right choice." Phillip narrowed his eyes at Endrick, wondering what he was playing at.
"But before you make that choice my king, let me just inform you that the man you see standing before us all today is a murderer—A bloody murderer!" Endrick declared as confused gazes filled the room.
"In what way Lord Endrick? I will not allow baseless accusations to be spoken in my court." Phillip said sternly.
"Oh but my king, this is not a baseless accusation, this man killed my wife, my first wife Andria while she was with child!" Endrick shouted pointing at Dariel.
Gasps of shock rang around the room. Dariel stayed completely still, he was stiff, his eyes were unfocused, he lost his composure for a few minutes.
"Lord Endrick, I will not tolerate such a grave accusation!" Phillip shouted, now Endrick had definitely gone too far.
"But it is not an accusation but the truth, I have a letter from her to prove it." Endrick said pulling out a letter from his pocket as he raised it in the air.
"My first wife was heavy with child when she died, and he killed her, we have not been able to find her body till this day!" Endrick shouted, tears streaming from his eyes.
"This letter is from the day she disappeared, she had gone to look for Dariel since he left the house angrily, she left me a letter telling me where she was going and when she would return, alas, she never returned, and the bloody murderer has been able to live in peace for more than twenty years!" Endrick said vehemently.
The entire court was silent, almost everyone knew of the disappeared first wife of Endrick, however, they never could have imagined in their wildest dreams that Dariel would somehow be tied to it.
"Look at the murderer! He is silent because he knows he is guilty!" Endrick shouted.
Dariel felt his throat dry, he was unable to speak, sweat streamed down his face.
"Lord Endrick, that is enough, Viscount Dariel, is what he is saying true?" Phillip asked turning to Dariel.
Dariel quickly composed himself, he had to snap out of whatever daze he was trapped in.
"My king, of course this accusation is absurd, even more absurd than the last accusation that was thrown at me." he replied clearing his throat.
"He lies, he knows the truth, he is the one that killed me wife, he knows where her body is!" Endrick declared, Dariel found himself unable to come up with something tangible to say in response.
"May I see that letter?" Phillip asked as Endrick nodded and walked to give him the letter.
Phillip read the letter in silence. Endrick glanced at Dariel, clearly he was destabilized, which was wonderful. Had he known that this was all it took to get Dariel to stop his facade he would have brought this up a long time ago.
"I need more context Lord Endrick." Phillip said.
"Of course my king, on the day that letter was written, my wife had gone in search of Dariel." he began.
"Why?" Phillip asked.
"Because he had ran away from home with no reason at all."
"Were your wife and Viscount Dariel that close? Because it makes no sense to me why she would go and look for him." he replied.
"No, we were not close at all my king." Dariel quickly replied before Endrick, if he allowed Endrick to continue to have everyone's attention, he would be backed into a corner.
"We were only in laws, and even then, being my in law, I do not know why that woman would come and look for me." he said. "On the day in question, I never laid my eyes on her."
"You lie! You bloody liar, you saw her and you know it!" Endrick chided.
"I do not, you are the liar, accusing me of your wife's death!" Dariel responded vehemently.
"Order in the court" Lord Endron called as silence reigned once more.
"Lord Endrick, this letter proves nothing, it does not state that Viscount Dariel killed her, all your wife said was she would be on her way to look for him." Phillip said.
"And she never returned your majesty! She was with child, our first child, both she and my child died and I still do not know what happened to them till this day!" he shouted as a guard handed him back his letter.
"I understand your agony Lord Endrick, and I sympathize with you." Phillip said sincerely. "I really do, what happened to your wife and the unborn child was indeed a tragedy, however, trying to tie your half brother to their mysterious death is unjust."
Phillip said this, yet everyone else in the room thought otherwise. Definitely there was something left uncovered, but no one had the courage to pry more. The Rivethans family was definitely a family of secrets.
"But my king—"
"But nothing Lord Endrick, this has gone on long enough, I will not tolerate any more false accusations." Phillip said sternly.
"We will meet tomorrow morning for the conclusion of this case and that is final." And with that Phillip exited the room.
Dariel instantly took his leave as well, allowing Endrick to brood over his failure publicly.
"Just you wait Dariel, I will make sure you pay for everything you have done to me and my family." he vowed almost insanely.