Stuck in a Chinese novel

The integrity of the Namgoong clan was in question. Either they handled the matter poorly, or it could be painted that they used their daughter to seduce the imperial prince for a connection at the imperial palace.

It was entirely possible and no matter what was done, the imperial family had enough power to paint the picture that way. That was exactly why they were asking about the full story and Tae Yong was backing them up because she wasn't on the Murim alliance's side.

But they forgot one thing completely. She wasn't on their side either.

I once again raised my hand and got the go from Tae Yong to ask my question. I turned to the elder from the imperial side and asked, "Before we get to that, can you tell me, tell us, about the nature of the victim? What was he like? What were his achievements? And whether to not he stood the chance of advancing to the throne."

"…" The old man remained silent and turned to Hua Luo, the current emperor. The emperor remained quiet and just shook his head. The old man sighed. He looked at me and said, "I don't think I should share such details with you, an outsider. Especially when it is a matter of Murim."

Stay out of it, was actually what he wanted to say but out of respect for the Cheonma, well, mostly fear, he treated me with respect.

But like I said, if he thought Tae Yong was on their side, they were sorely mistaken.

"I don't think we should start besmirching someone's name and make a decision that would be unfair to one if not both parties. So we will begin with information on the deceased imperial prince." Tae Yong said before she turned to the elder and said, "And I am a resident of Murim. And also the judge of this issue so share this with me."

The old man was left troubled. The trial stood very bleak for them if they were to release such information to the public. It wasn't a hidden fact how lecherous and scum of a person the fat prince was. But saying it out loud in front of everyone like this was admitting it. Akin to become a joke.

Seeing that there was no other option, the emperor himself spoke, "I think we all know what kind of a person my brother was. He wasn't the most noble person and he wasn't the most righteous person as well. However, all things considered, he didn't deserve to die."

He then turned to me and said, "I am simply trying to find out my brother's murderer. I do not wish to sully someone's name by doing that. But at the moment, that's the only option I am left with."

While he didn't deny anything, he didn't admit anything either. But on that fact, he was admitting that his brother could entirely be at fault, and from that point of view, while he deserved a beating, he certainly didn't deserve to die.

Well, if he knew what I knew, then he certainly deserved to die. I didn't just kill him mindlessly because he was the best bet to start a war. No, I did my research properly and I made sure to not do anything that would go against my morals.

"That doesn't answer the question, Your Majesty. Perhaps, now is not the best time to think about the honor of the imperial family. After all, you are asking for the Namgoong family to tarnish their own by themselves." I countered. As much as logical his reason was, I didn't care.

The criterion in the end was fairness. That was why they were there. While we didn't know the nature of the Namgoong woman, we were aware of the filthy nature of the assassinated prince so it made sense to start there.

The imperial side was now boiling in anger while the Murim alliance was somewhat confused with me constantly taking their side.

Well, I'd let that misunderstanding last for a while because they would be equally angry with me later. That was, however, entirely dependent on how the imperial side reacted.

"I understand," The emperor replied before he turned to Tae Yong and began to answer my earlier questions, "My brother was inadequate when it came to study and martial arts. He was… disrespectful of women and sometimes did things that were questionable… morally. And yes, he was ascending to the throne before his assassination."

"I see," I replied when he ended his explanation, "Then one final question," I prepared and asked, "How many of the imperial elders were in favor of the imperial prince Wang Luo?"

"…" Silence. No one answered anything. Even the emperor was silent because while this question was a bit too personal, it was also not for him to answer.

"None," The elder next to the emperor answered. "None of the elders or officials were in favor of him."

"I wonder why?" I asked. The answer to that would be the incident of three years ago when Wang Luo ra*ed an official's daughter on her wedding day. It was quite a big scandal and the position of the previous emperor, the father of the current one, was weakened quite a bit when instead of punishing his son, he had the entire victim family framed for treason and had them all killed.

Since then, while the elders remained in the court, they were never truly on the emperor's side because of how blind he was to his elder son. And not just that, they weren't on the side of Wang Luo as well, afraid that he might target them next.

That brought us to our current issue. If they were to reveal that matter, which the elders might, the case would be null and void because of the victim's nature. There was no telling that if he did that to one family, he might have done the same to many more.

With him having such a scale of enemies, anyone could have wanted him dead, and blaming it on the Namgoong family, the only family that stood up to him, would be morally wrong.

And also not something the elders would agree to because they had been through the same sh*t.

"That cannot be said," But the dead was dead. If they were to admit to anything, anything at all regarding that case. Then not only this case, but the reputation of the imperial family would be left in dregs.

Or maybe even more. No one could tell and even if someone could, the result would be nothing but catastrophic. So the best thing was to suck it up and keep this matter out of hand.

"While it is a fact that the imperial family is hiding things related to this trial, it also stands that the imperial family has answered some of the questions while the Namgoong family has answered none." Tae Yong said after she received the reply from the imperial elder.

She then turned to the Murim alliance and said, "The Namgoong family is to recount the incident that caused the Namgoong family to beat up the deceased prince, Wang Luo, in detail to the court."

"…" Silence from the other side as well. Namgoong patriarch wasn't willing to tarnish the reputation of his family in front of all of these people. Ten bucks he didn't care about the assaulted girl, but he did care about what that meant for his clan.

Yet the matter stood to be like this.

This was, in the end, a Namgoong matter. It made no sense for the Murim alliance to be involved but if they were to lose the Namgoong clan, their power would reduce by a lot.

I mean just this guy…

[Namgoong Yon Lv: 539]

He was well into the divine rank and a beginner transcendent realm martial artist. His power wasn't just amazing but it was also very crucial to the Murim alliance, hence their involvement.

And their involvement began right now.

"I would like to address the court and ask for some time to discuss this issue between us. As it stands, this is a rather sensitive matter, and no one would like it if it was dealt with so hastily." The platinum-haired woman politely said.

"As Lady Geum said," The Shaolin monk spoke, "We require more time to discuss this matter between us." Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

Everyone turned to Tae Yong to see whether she would allow it or not. This was, in the end, a trial. They could only request the judge and the judge would see it fit to allow time or not.

If Tae Yong wanted, she could easily allow this to continue or delay it for days at an end. The question was simply this…

What would she stand to gain if this extension was allowed? And would the other party be okay with this extension?

Tae Yong took a few moments and said, "The Murim alliance is to offer a thousand taels to the Cheonma sect and the Imperial family."

Yikes.

"Each."

Double yikes.

A hundred taels was about 1,000 dollars. Asking for a million dollars, each, was a pretty high price for this era.

Made sense that the Murim alliance was rattled over that. They looked at each other and then looked at the platinum woman whose surname was Geum. Geum nodded and replied, "The Murim alliance accepts this condition."

YES!