Chapter 26 The Culprit

Everyone was shocked by Elesa's sudden appearance as she wandered around her.

"Are you okay princess?" Pearce asked so he got Elesa's attention.

"Uhm…"

"Now, appearing to our right we have the electric princess, Princess Elesa," the attorney started so everyone turned their attention to her which surprised Elesa. "Since you are new here electric princess, I will explain everything that has happened while you were sleeping—"

"Ikaw (You)," was Elesa's angry response that made the attorney stop and the others were shocked. He looked at her and grinned.

"Yes it's me," he answered.

"Elesa, you know him?" Yani asked so Elesa looked at her, shocked.

Elesa did not speak immediately. “I-I…” she stammered.

"You see, dear princes and princesses," the attorney said interrupting. “The reason why the electric princess appeared on the right table of the judge is because…” he turned to face Elesa. "…she's also a defendant, accused also of being a troublemaker of your nation."

They were surprised by the attorney's last words. "In fact, she's the root of all of this," he added as they wondered while Elesa,

“Wha-what are you talking about?” she stammered. “I-I didn't do anything wrong.”

"Did you really not do anything, Elesa?" the attorney asked, so she was shocked.

"I… I cut off from the deal…" she added. “…a-after I finished making what you want.”

"Deal?" said a princess so they looked at her. "What do you mean cutting off from a deal?" Femme asked in astonishment.

Elesa was speechless at her question.

"Glad you asked, water princess," the attorney said. "So why don't we interrogate her for us to know?"

No one was able to rebuke the attorney because they knew themselves, they were wondering when Elesa mentioned about a 'deal' so the attorney continued to silence Elesa and the trembling was obvious in her hands because of that.

"So let's see your personal information," at the same time he was holding a paper that contained her personal information. “So your name is Elesa and you're 20 years of age. You also came from the country of the Philippines so you're a Filipino. Your hobby here is to make stuffed toys out of metallic thread so that you can install electricity in it and control the toy to whatever you like with it. You came from a family of scientists but at a young age of 16, you were kidnapped to be sent here in this nation.”

“So far, for the record, there's nothing really wrong with your past. Most of the people present here today have been through that and no one even accused you for any wrong doing so why are you sitting there as a defendant, huh Elesa?” the attorney asked.

Elesa didn't answer him and just gritted her teeth because of her anger at him and no one knew why but the attorney gave her back a smirk.

“Why don't we go back to that day of the Tradition, specifically, that time after the Electric Challenge…”

Elesa will not be surprised by what the attorney said because she knew that was coming but some were shocked when the attorney mentioned that. Yani even bowed her head because she knew what the attorney was referring to.

"So, rather than state what really happened at that time," the attorney continued. “…let us hear it with the defendant herself. Surely if I do state what happened that time, you might all think that I'm just making up that story so let her state the truth…”

In part, Elesa is a smart person and all she has to do is close her mouth and not say anything but she wrongly challenged the blue shadow because he came prepared.

“But if you don't tell the truth princess…” the attorney added. "…the price will be pain…"

"Go ahead," Elesa replied. “Go ahead and hurt me if you have to. I will never talk about what happened at that time.”

The attorney smirked. “Okay. As you said so,” at the same time he took out a knife and pointed it… rather than Elesa…

"Ready to get hurt, Pearce?" the attorney asked to everyone's surprise.

“NO!” Elesa shouted. “What do you think you're doing? You're pointing the knife at the wrong person!”

"No I'm not," replied the attorney. "I made myself clear that if you don't tell the truth, the price will be pain princess and I didn't say that it was you…" the knife was still pointed at Pearce's face. “…someone will pay the price, Elesa.”

Elesa was shocked to hear that. She could not speak and she was very nervous about what was happening. She’s starting to get confused because she is starting to pick, tell the truth or Pearce's life?

"So princess…" this time, the attorney pointed the knife at Pearce's neck. "…are you going to talk or not?"

"Okay, okay here goes," Elesa surrendered and let out a sigh.

“Last Tradition, after the Electric Challenge, I called Yani to come with me to go talk to Zoltar about…” she paused and looked at the prince and princess that she mentioned. "…about my feelings for him."

Everyone who didn’t know what happened to what Elesa said was surprised, including Zoltar because he remembered that time, but he didn’t know that was her purpose.

“At that time, when Zoltar just asked Yani about Femme's name since she's a part of her team, I thought she could have let me finish confessing my feelings to him before she could answer Zoltar but I was about to confess when she butted in and told Femme's name.”

“Yeah it's just a simple gesture but being Zoltar's assistant for 3 years, I have known him for long and seeing that look he gave when Yani just mentioned Femme's name, it hurt me because through that look, I realized he already has feelings for her. I was so jealous and angry, especially towards Yani and I felt betrayed that it made me cry so hard…”

She paused but over time,

"Then what happened?" Donna asked.

"…while I was crying alone," Elesa looked at attorney first who is only giving a serious look at her. “…he came.”

When she said that, everyone looked at the attorney.

"He came to me and comforted me like he knew what really happened and suddenly proposed to help me…"

She stopped at that point and that left everyone hanging but the attorney butted in.

“Okay. Let's pause first and continue by introducing a witness,” he said. “Please proceed to the witness box.”

Everyone was surprised by what the attorney said but one of the princes was surprised because the speed at which he was transported to the witness box surprised him.

"Now we have here the air prince," the attorney said. "So for your question—"

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Turuki rebutted immediately.

"Yes prince," the attorney replied. “You're just being interrogated. Just answer the questions I will ask honestly and in no time you will go back to your seat.”

Turuki was speechless and nodded his head to agree but he was obviously nervous.

“Good. Now, I will show everyone evidence in Elesa's crime,” the attorney said and suddenly a clone of blue shadow entered again and gave him something like a photo.

When it was given to him, Turuki saw it and was surprised when he recognized it. He showed it first to everyone and they were also surprised, even the very person in that picture.

"So, air prince, who gave you this photo of Pearce?" he asked.

Turuki paused but he also looked in Elesa's direction.

"It was her," Turuki said.

"It was who, prince?"

He bowed his head first. "It was Elesa, Sir."

"That's right," and Turuki was teleported back to his seat. “Thank you for your—”

"But you gave me that photo!" Elesa retorted so everyone’s attention was caught when she said that.

The attorney just grinned at her after that. "I will not lie to that, darling because yes I did."

He faced everyone. “I know everyone is starting to think that this is actually all my fault but what can I say, I'm the bad guy here so it's obvious.”

"But here's the point, princess," and now, he faced Elesa. "You're still at fault here because you made that mistake when you took that photo from me."

Elesa was speechless when he made his point. He raised the photo for everyone to see.

“Yes I gave this photo to Elesa and for the rest of the story, she followed my instruction on giving it to your air prince because as is your tradition of recruiting members for this nation, you need photos in order to kidnap them. Now, it boils down to a question. Since I gave the photo, it was my intention for you to kidnap Pearce and why is that? ”

The attorney glimpsed at Pearce first giving him a grin before looking back at the princes and princesses. “My reason has a lot to do with this young man and his so-called… 'foster family'.”

This statement shocked everyone, especially Pearce.

"Yes you all heard me right," he continued. "They may not be his family biologically, but he did have a family that he can call one."

He looked at the shocking faces of each and every person present in the room.

“Shocked are we? Yes he has the same stories as you, young princes. Aren't you wondering why?”

This time, the princes were surprised by what he said.

"Mysterious isn't it?" he looked back at Pearce. "But in every mystery, there's a story untold."

Pearce was shocked again and could not speak.

“Should I continue, Pearce? To tell them how mysterious you are…” and smirked again through his eyes. "…and your tragic past..."

"Stop!" Elesa replied so they looked at him. “We are not here to talk about that.”

At that statement, the attorney smirked at her. “My oh my, princess. What's this? You know what I'm talking about?”

"No," Elesa answered. “But I know this is not the right time for that. Revealing his past is not anyone's job but himself.”

“Wow. Frankly speaking princess, I'm impressed. Trying to defend your companion as troublemakers. You're amusing me.”

Elesa did not speak after that.

"But yeah, we're going out of topic so where were we?" The attorney looked at the photo he was holding. “Ah yes, the photo. Well, after giving this photo to Elesa, in case you all didn't know, I was aware at that time about this young man's curse…” and he smirked again. “…and told how that curse works to Elesa…”

At that last statement, everyone was surprised again, even with the male defendant. Elesa's nervousness returned but this time, she seemed to be panicking at her seat because she seemed to know what the attorney would say next.

“After telling Elesa all about Pearce, I instructed her to use that curse so he can break the powerful relationship of the water princess and the electric prince. So you see dear royals, Elesa used Pearce's curse and with every human present here with their feelings, who wouldn't be offended for being used right?”

No one spoke because… what he said was true.

“Also, another offense she made… remember the cages that all of you have been into? The cages that I call 'Cages of Love'?”

No one spoke and the others just bowed their heads and just listened to him.

"I know you all do," the attorney answered his own question. "You see those cages were actually made by Elesa…" he said to their surprise again. “I instructed her to make that so that after the water princess and the electric prince break up, she can be with her prince all the time in that cage and she will have her very own fairy tale and her happily ever after with her beloved prince. Am I right Elesa?”

"No," replied a princess, so they looked at her. “That can't be. Elesa would never do that,” Femme stated. “Tell him Elesa. Tell us that he's lying.”

Elesa just looked back at Femme with shame on her eyes and only looked away from her telling everyone that she admitted her mistake that surprised Femme.

"No…" sobbed Femme. "…Elesa wouldn't…"

None of them spoke but everyone had their own faces after that was revealed. Some have their pity and judgments on Elesa but both Yani and Zoltar are shocked at the revelation. Both are even starting to blame themselves after that.

"Well, the truth hurts, doesn't it?" and the attorney even looked at where Pearce was but his head was only bowed down and no one in the room could know what he was thinking, even Elesa who had been looking at him ever since at the beginning.

"Now that's over…" the judge said so most of them got their attention. "…based on the accusations, it has been proven that the defendants, Pearce and Elesa have both caused trouble in Eullenuum Nation and for that, both are guilty as charged…"

“But…” and that one word, all the princes and princesses looked at the judge in no time. “…since there are two defendants, I, the judge, will give the princes and princesses of this nation to plead and pick one of the defendants to rather die, he or she will live. That means, one will live, the other one will die.”

"So before we proceed to the deliberation, do the defendants have anything to state?"

…

In silence they thought no one so the judge was about to speak,

"Kill me," one whispered, but just enough for those in front to hear.

"What is that, Pearce?" the judge asked. “Please state it louder.”

Pearce lifted his face full of anger and tears streaming down his eyes that surprised everyone, even Elesa.

“Kill me. I should be the one to die,” he declared.

Everyone was surprised again by what he said but the judge was only looking back at him.

"My my, what a declaration," he stated. "Are you even sure of what you are saying?"

"I think the one who is hesitating here is you," Pearce answered back and faced him. “I volunteered myself and surrendered my whole being for being guilty to be punished by death so why are you hesitating?!” he exclaimed.

Even though he was shouted at, the judge didn't say a word. Pearce bowed his head while sobbing.

“What’s the point of living now?! Thanks a lot for revealing that to me because I now realize everything and I have only one purpose and that is just to ruin other people's lives! That's an unforgivable crime so you have all the means to kill me!”

“No please…” Elesa was sobbing.

Most of the princesses are crying while the princes have all their pity to see him like that, with his heart wrenching face telling everybody his struggles.

“Wow. You got everybody on the show,” the attorney said. "But as much as I want to grant your request, and watching you struggle like that amuse me," the judge said and smirked. "…where's the fun if I do end your life right here, right now?"

Pearce stopped when he stated that. He gave a smirking look at all the royals of this nation.

"I want the show to be ongoing and never to ruin the plan that I have worked on," the attorney said. “Since the two defendants stated themselves, let's now turn the decision on our juries, and those juries are the 16 of you, the princes and princesses of Eullenuum Nation. Their fate is in your hands.”