dognovel Chapter 188: Transferred Engagement
Chapter 188: Transferred Engagement
Following a loud shout from outside the door, everyone in the courtroom, including John, turned to the door, especially the judge. He was already overwhelmed by the issues between the two parties, and now another person suddenly showed up. He wanted to see who was so bold as to be so rampant in front of him, the judge appointed by the king.
As the door was pushed open, a man familiar to John walked into the courtroom.
"Jules?"
John didn't understand why Jules knew that he was going to have a lawsuit today. What made him even more curious was what evidence Jules could produce to prove his innocence at this time.
"I am Jules Hohenzollern, deputy commander of the Order of the White Lion, directly under His Majesty the King. I am now going to submit a key piece of evidence to this case. Do you have any comments, Your Honor?" After Jules came in, he looked at the judge and spoke straight to the point.
"It's Jules..." The judge responded to Jules in panic. As a nobleman who had lived in Windham for more than ten years, he certainly knew who Jules was.
"Could it be that His Majesty the King is also paying attention to this matter? If I don't handle it well, won't I be punished by His Majesty the King?" The judge kept speculating in his heart. At this time, he had already turned this case into more than just a simple dispute among nobles. Assuming that the king was involved in this matter, the nature of it became part of a political struggle.
But Jules did not want to wait for him to finish thinking. Seeing that the judge did not react, Jules immediately walked forward. In John's eyes, Jules placed a yellowed paper on the table in front of the judge. After taking the paper, the judge looked at it for a few seconds, and his expression changed from nervousness to shock.
Then the judge said to the puzzled crowd:
"According to the new evidence provided by Deputy Commander Jules, it can now be proved that the case that happened that day was a violation of the personal safety of Earl John and Miss Matilda by Earl Hawes's vassal, and that what Earl John did was legitimate defense."
“That doesn’t make sense!”
As soon as the judge finished speaking, he was roared at by Count Hawes. Count Hawes did not believe that a piece of torn paper that he did not know where came from could lead to such a big change in the case that was still in stalemate. At this time, he was sure that the judge had reached some kind of deal with Jules, which made the judge who had agreed to favor him suddenly turn around and start to favor John.
"Can you, the judge, immediately make a judgment on the case based on just a piece of paper? Then why can't the confession of the soldier I submitted prove it?" Earl Hawes kept accusing the judge. However, the judge looked at Earl Hawes, whose face turned red with anger, with a complicated expression, and said calmly:
"The document that Deputy Headmaster Jules just submitted is the marriage treaty signed between the Hohenzollern family and the Reginale family twenty years ago."
"puff!"
John, who was watching the show nearby, was almost choked by the judge's words. Before he knew why things had developed to this point, the judge continued:
"In line with the attitude of mutual cooperation between the Hohenzollern Family and the Reginale Family, from today on, the two families will formally sign a marriage treaty. The second son of the Hohenzollern Family, John, and the second daughter of the Reginale Family, Matilda, will be officially engaged to ensure a closer connection between the two families in the future. - Spring 1428"
"What's happening here?"
If the judge's words before only made John confused, the marriage treaty he mentioned now really shocked John.
He kept searching through his memories of the past twenty years, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out when his father had met the nobles from Yoda's side. Even the matter of the engagement had not been mentioned to John by his father over the years.
At this time, Earl Hawes was also in shock, because he did not expect a marriage contract to suddenly appear. He immediately said to the judge:
"A piece of paper alone cannot prove whether a contract is valid. Your Honor, is there a noble seal on it as proof?"
"Of course." After the judge finished speaking, he picked up the document and showed it to everyone. In addition to what the judge had said before, there were two seals printed at the bottom of the document. John recognized at a glance that one of them was the seal of the Hohenzollern family, and the other seal was a bit similar to that of the Reginali Chamber of Commerce. John speculated that it was the seal of the Reginali family.
After seeing the seal, Earl Hoss had no reason to refute. The other party had formal documents proving the legitimacy of their marriage, while his was a marriage based on verbal promise. No matter how he looked at it, he would not win in the end.
After seeing that everyone present had no objection, the judge said loudly:
"After the court's trial, the verdict on this case is as follows: There is no evidence that the defendant John Hohenzollern restricted the freedom of others in this case, and his conflict outside the gate of Windham was legitimate defense, so John Hohenzollern is found not guilty."
After hearing the judge's verdict, even though John felt that the matter was extremely outrageous, he could only hastily agree after seeing that he had won the case. After all, if he raised any objections at this time, he would be making things difficult for himself.
Suddenly, John seemed to have thought of something, and said to the judge seriously:
"Because of the slander that Earl Hawes has committed against me in this case, I demand that Earl Hawes apologize to me and compensate me for the mental damages to be used to treat the trauma caused by this case."
After several hours of litigation, John and Jules left the court. Not only was John fine, but he also asked Count Hawes to compensate him with 500 gold coins as compensation for mental damage.
However, John still had doubts about the marriage treaty because there were too many suspicious points in it. So at John's invitation, Jules reluctantly followed John to a tavern.
"John, you drink too..."
After arriving at the tavern, as expected, Jules got drunk again because John was treating him. Seeing Jules in a drunken state, John asked Jules the question in his mind:
"Uncle Jules, I want to ask you something. How did you get this marriage treaty?"
"Ok?"
Jules, whose face was red from drinking, saw John asking him a question. After thinking for a while with his alcohol-clouded brain, he responded:
"I got this from Lady Reginale. That day... Lady Reginale came to me and said she was going on a long trip... She told me that if John became the defendant, I should take this treaty to the judge. At that time... I also wrote to my eldest brother to ask about it. He replied that there was indeed a marriage treaty, but he didn't tell us."
After Jules finished answering, John continued to ask:
"Then think about it. In your memory, have you ever had a meeting between my father and Noble Yoda?"
"Probably not." Jules answered immediately without thinking.
"My eldest brother...he was a knight at the time. Not to mention the Yoda noble, the highest-ranking noble he had ever seen was Count Milo."
After getting the clues he wanted, John connected these memories together, and finally he came to a conclusion: his father had reached some kind of deal with Lady Reginale and had a premonition that he would be targeted by someone, so he forged this treaty to prove John's innocence.
As for whether this treaty would be regarded as treason by some people with ulterior motives, it had nothing to do with John. Because although the Hohenzollern family was still united, according to the law, John and his father were already separated. Now John no longer belonged to the previous family because he had obtained new territory, so even if someone wanted to make trouble, they could only target his father.
After helping the drunk Jules out of the tavern, John looked up at the sky in the direction of the Hohenzollern territory. After sighing, "The world is so complicated and changeable," he got on the carriage and returned to his apartment.