"Lies! I did not do anything about it at all!" Raya felt like the world was about to fall on her shoulders when she heard the witness's testimony.
"Heh! You are still thick-skinned to deny?! The witnesses are all here! The evidence is all here! There was no other person who touched the violin other than you! Say, are you not ashamed? Hah, so much for being the Seirende Second Queen's student!" The teacher bellowed at Raya as she looked at her mockingly.
"Watch your mouth, Madam. Even if you are the ones that were inconvenienced, you have no right to carelessly trample on the honor of her Highness Second Queen." Suddenly a strong authoritative voice disrupted the discussion.
Everyone looked at the direction where the voice came from and realized that the owner of the voice was Eli.
Eli looked at the woman and the students accusing Raya and continued in a frigid voice, "Remember two whose territory you are standing right now. I get that you are in trouble but this is no place for you to tarnish the Second Queen's dignity."
For a minute there was silence, no one could break free of Eli's intimidating aura. Even Athena, Raya, and Lainie took a good few seconds to recover.
This was the first time seeing the legendary inventor get angry! She was not far from how Leon would conduct himself, they were truly a couple!
The old woman was next to recover her senses. Her expression turned grim again and looked at Eli in distaste. In her eyes, the woman was only wearing a typical uniform of a Farauld Faculty member.
"Who are y-!" She was about to retort her words when Dean Athena called her name,
"Counselor Eli!"
"Counselor Eli? Could it be the legendary inventor?"
"Is she the genius young lady?"
"It seems like she is, look at how she carries herself! No doubts, she's the one!"
When everyone heard Dean Athena call her name, hushed discussions started around.
The old woman also thought twice before she continued. She did not miss the depended look on Dean Athena's face. It seems like the lady in front of her is not ordinary! She is the real deal, the Genius Inventor Eli!
However, she had to stand her ground, for it was the mission she was given at hand. If she successfully did this, she and her student will have the chance to join the Vanderford institute!
"Even so, it could not discount the fact that she definitely did something malicious! I was merely lamenting on behalf of the Second Queen to have such a student! I have not an ounce of intent to slander the Queen." The old woman finally retorted with the most careful words she could think of.
Then the old woman turned to the jury and demanded, "Your excellencies we already brought you the evidence and witnesses, I implore you to decide on this matter!"
The jury discussed it for themselves. On the onlookers' side, there was irrefutable evidence and there was no need to doubt that Raya was indeed guilty.
But the head jury and the members still did not dare to become hasty at the moment, and so they still gave Raya a chance to speak for herself.
"I really did not, if you need it I can make a heaven's oath that I am not lying.." Raya was already shaking and on the verge of collapse, if not for Lanie and Dean Athena constantly protecting her side by side she would have long fainted in so much pressure and humiliation.
"See? Till the end, this girl still chose to lie! What oath of the heavens? Are you not just trying to sway the jury's thoughts to your side? How shameless!"
"This… I am afraid you cannot prove your innocence then we are helpless too. The evidence pointed to you…" The jury looked at Raya in regret, they actually recognized the girl because she had performed outstandingly not only earlier but during the first round of auditions.
They could not believe that such a good contender would be eliminated in such a manner like this.
"I apologize young lady, but we have no choice but to revoke your spot in the finals." The head jury closed his eyes and uttered weekly.
"No! This can't be!" Dean Athena and Lainie were the ones who exclaimed, for Raya was no longer in the right condition to take in everything. The poor seventeen-year-old girl was too shocked to even understand what would be the aftermath of this incident in her future as a musician.
A flash of triumph appeared on the teacher-student duo, there was also a flash of relief from the witnesses' reaction.
"Not so fast, respected juries." Just as the commotion was about to die down, Eli stepped forward to hide Raya behind her.
"What are you up to, lady? Did you not hear the jury's decision?" The old woman gloatingly uttered.
"I heard it loud and clear. But I want to appeal." Eli replied calmly.
The old woman raised her brow and challenged her, "Trying to prove the innocence of the guilty? Young Lady, I heard that you are a genius, could it be that you are a genius in vilifying the malicious too?" She mocked, deliberately raising her voice for everyone to hear.
"No, I will always stand on the side of the innocent." Eli did not care about the woman's blabber but instead looked at the four students.
"I will ask you once again, are you sure that our student Raya tampered with the violin? And to the three of you who stand at witnesses, have you seen it done by Raya in your own eyes?"
"Y-yes… we saw it with our own eyes."
"Well that can't be helped." Eli shrugged. The others were shocked at her words.
'Aren't you trying to appeal to your students?'
'That can't be helped?'
'It seems like the genius inventor knew her limits too.'
But just as they were thinking about Eli's action, her voice rang in the hall once again, "Just a few months ago, I had dabbled upon a certain invention secretly."
Then she took out a tiny piece of gemstone and a tablet, which resembles the modern-day Ipad.
Then she gave the 'tablet' to the jury and placed the tiny gemstone in her hand.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "You see, this invention is quite unique… The jury, can you place a little bit of mana on that tablet?" Eli asked as she lifted her palm that carried the tiny stone forward.
"What are you up to…" Everyone could not help but curiously watch her. They did not understand how Eli's demonstration of her invention was related to Raya's crime.
Ding!
Instantly, an image appeared on the tablet - it was the faces of the woman and the accusing students!
"Oh heavens!" The jury holding the tablet was shocked! The tablet was displaying the images in real-time.
"Isn't it amazing? This is one of my newest and unreleased inventions which I planned to release after the busy tournament! I called it a surveillance camera with a portable display monitor!"
"You can monitor any place installed with this tiny dot realtime, anywhere within a 50-kilometer radius!" Eli proudly announced, while she was saying this, her hand was hovering around her, proving that the 'camera' was functioning in real-time.
"50 kilometer radius? That's as big as the entire Farauld Magic Institute!"
"Amazing!" The juries could not help but twinkle in excitement as they watched the footage on the tablet.
What an honor to be the one to hold the Genius Inventor's newest invention!
While everyone was elated, an ominous feeling was looming on the accusing student-teacher tandem and their accomplices. "Let's get out of here…" The teacher grabbed the hand of her student intending to run.
"Woah, not so fast, madam. I am not yet done with a lot of you." Then Eli gestured to the organizers to block their way.
"Let us go! The matter is done and the verdict is pronounced!" The old lady put on a tough facade and declared righteously.
"But I remembered, and now I shall prove my student's innocence." Eli smiled cunningly.
"I know that by this time, you already knew where my actions lead to next. With this surveillance camera, invented months ago, this technology was already being used by our institute. You know what I mean…" Eli looked at the group mysteriously.
"You…"
"Yes… There's a camera installed backstage in the hall. Not only that, in all the public places too. This is to ensure that no one was doing 'something malicious' around the campus." Eli flashed an evil intimidating smile.
"So I am giving your students a chance before I would have to pull the strings and submit the footage directly to the Emperor to judge since Her Highness Second Queen's name was also tarnished by your accusation…
This will easily escalate into a national issue. And of course, the entire commotion was also recorded earlier, you cannot take back the words you all have said!" Eli threatened.
With her words, the students panicked, and even the old woman staggered in fright!
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