Chapter 20 — Kneeling before the Queen and Duke

Dai Ly Temple's public hall that morning was filled with people. The whispers and gossip spread from row to row before they had time to subside when three blasts of the drum rang out decisively, cutting off all remaining sounds. After the big case involving Tuong Ba Khiem was completely resolved, now with all the evidence of the poisoning plot fully verified, and the cross-testimony between Tu Bach Quan and Tham Nhuoc Lan, each of whom tried to blame the other, Dai Ly Tu quickly completed the case file and presented it to the Holy King to determine the final punishment. Both were arrested immediately after Tuong Ba Khiem's capture and imprisoned in two separate prisons to prevent them from colluding and changing their statements.

Just a few days after the file was completed, the trial was held publicly in front of Dai Ly Tu, attended by Khinh Vu as the plaintiff, and many royal officials as witnesses. Tu Bach Quan, when being escorted to the front of the public hall, his face was completely haggard compared to the image of a wealthy young man, he knelt down as soon as he saw Khinh Vu, his trembling voice begged for mercy.

"Princess," he said, tears welling up in his eyes, "I know I was wrong, I cruelly harmed you because of my own greed and selfishness. But please think of the three years we have been husband and wife, of what I have done right, and lighten my punishment."

Khinh Vu looked at him, his heart no longer had any emotions like what Bach Quan hoped. "Those three years," she replied, her voice was cold but not losing her composure, "I gave my whole heart and sacrificed countless efforts to nurture our family, but in return, you colluded with my adopted sister, poisoned me, and buried me alive like a damaged commodity that needed to be thrown away. You don't deserve to mention those three years to beg for my mercy."

Bach Quan bowed his head, not daring to say another word, he could only tremble on his knees and wait for the court's final verdict. Tham Nhuoc Lan, when being escorted, had a somewhat different attitude. She did not beg and cry like Bach Quan, but stood straight, cold eyes looking straight at Khinh Vu, as if she had already accepted her fate.

"I have nothing to justify," Nhuoc Lan said, her voice strangely calm. "I was planted in the Sam family from a young age to spy, that is a fact I cannot deny. But I also want you to know, even though at first it was just an assigned mission, the years we lived together, at least for me, there were moments of genuine sisterly love, before jealousy gradually overcame everything."

Khinh Vu looked at her silently for a long time, an indescribable sadness rising in his heart. She believed that perhaps what Nhuoc Lan said was not a complete lie, but that could not erase the crime she had committed. "No matter how much true love there is," Khinh Vu replied, "you still poisoned me, pushed me into a cold grave. Love cannot be a reason to justify crime."

During the trial, Dai Ly Tu officials also showed all the evidence they had collected, from the forged death certificate signed by the anonymous physician, to the family transfer documents that Bach Quan hastily executed just a few days after the fake funeral, and the detailed testimony of butler Binh about the unusual changes in the behavior of both defendants for many months before and after Khinh Vu's fake death. Each piece of evidence and each statement made in front of the public hall made the witnessing crowd shudder at the cruelty and cold calculation of the two people who were once considered the closest people to the victim.

In particular, when the physician's testimony about the special poison was read, describing in detail how it caused the drinker to fall into a prolonged state of pseudo-death, enough to bypass normal tests but not necessarily take away life immediately, many officials present involuntarily hissed, shook their heads, and some even lightly slapped their hands on the scroll in front of them, thinking that this was one of the most cruel and sophisticated plots they had ever witnessed throughout their career as officials. deserves the most severe punishment according to imperial law.

After hearing the full testimony and defense of both defendants, Dai Ly Tu and the trial officials conducted deliberations. Considering that Tu Bach Quan was the direct mastermind of the original plot, and also betrayed his accomplices to avoid responsibility, along with arbitrarily transferring Khinh Vu's entire estate immediately after committing the crime, the recommended sentence is death penalty, beheading as a deterrent. Tham Nhuoc Lan, although also a direct accomplice in the poisoning, but considering the situation of being manipulated by Tuong Ba Khiem since childhood, not having the right to decide his own fate for most of his life, the sentence was reduced to exile, forever not allowed to return to Khanh Duong capital.

Before the official verdict was read, the presiding judge also asked Khinh Vu, as the plaintiff, if he had any comments he wanted to add. Khinh Vu stood up, his voice echoed throughout the street, without any tremor. "I do not ask for excessive cruelty towards these two people, but I also cannot accept leniency beyond what justice allows. Please, officials, based on imperial law, conduct a fair trial, to set an example for others not to dare repeat similar crimes in the future." That short but majestic statement made the whole palace silent, further reinforcing the image of a princess who was both kind and sharp in the eyes of all the officials present.

When the verdict was read, Bach Quan almost completely collapsed, screaming and begging but could not change the decided outcome. Nhuoc Lan just silently bowed her head, her lifeless eyes looking down at the ground. Perhaps in her heart she had already somewhat predicted this outcome since she decided to confess part of the truth in the hope of having her crime reduced.

Khinh Vu stood still, watching the entire scene unfold before her eyes. Her heart did not have the feeling of joy and happiness that she had imagined during the long nights of holding grudges during half a year of convalescence at the royal palace. Instead, there was a feeling of emptiness mixed with relief, as if a burden that had been weighing on my shoulders for many months had finally been lifted. She understands that justice had been completely served, but the deep emotional wounds she had suffered over the past months and years will probably take a lot more time to gradually heal completely.

Old lady Tu, upon hearing that her only son had been sentenced to death, fainted right at the palace amid the lamenting cries of the surrounding servants. After regaining consciousness, she cried bitterly, begging to be allowed to go to prison to see her son one last time before the fateful execution day. Khinh Vu, despite all the suffering caused by Bach Quan, still could not bear to refuse the request of her ex-mother-in-law who had treated her kindly, personally allowing and arranging that final meeting to take place in private, as the last bit of humanity she could give to a family that once, however briefly, gave her the feeling of being loved before everything fell apart.

The tearful final meeting between mother and son took place in the gloomy atmosphere of a dark prison cell. Old lady Tu hugged her son, choked up and speechless, only caressing his disheveled hair like in her childhood days. Bach Quan knelt before his mother, for the first time in many days he really cried, not because of fear of death but because of late regret when thinking about the suffering he had caused to both the wife who had devoted herself to him and the mother who had worked hard to raise him. He whispered sorry to his mother, sorry for causing her to have a bad reputation, having to suffer the pain of losing her child at an early age, and asked her, if possible, to forgive him for his irreversible mistakes.

After that meeting, old lady Tu returned to the palace in a state of complete collapse, her health becoming increasingly weaker. Khinh Vu, even though he no longer had any obligations to this family, still silently sent someone to bring medicine to take care of her, an action that surprised many people in the court at the tolerant heart of the young princess, who had gone through so much suffering but still maintained kindness in the way she treated people, not letting hatred overshadow her inherently good nature.