Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

When the side door of the courtroom was pushed open again, Marcel was escorted in by two guards from the court. His hair was much thinner than when Fanes had last seen him at the general store, and his temples were already white. He walked with the respectable demeanor of an ordinary merchant, until he saw the data storage device that Fanes had placed in front of the clerk, at which point he suddenly slowed down.

Navelette didn't say much, but simply manipulated the terminal a few times, projecting the contents of the storage device onto the display panel above the judge's bench. The images played frame by frame, and the audio was played out segment by segment.

Marcel stood there, watching the data recording his crimes over the years being dismantled and displayed to everyone. His face changed from a dignified composure to something pale and quiet, like a thin shell left after all the supporting framework had been removed.

"Mr. Vasher."

Violet's voice was neither loud nor soft, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Marcel opened his mouth. It was as if he was preparing to pour out all the accusations and defenses that had been brewing for a long time, as if he wanted to leave something behind before being completely defeated.

At that moment, Fañes stood up from the first row of the audience, walked down the aisle to the inside of the defendant's dock, and stood in front of Marcel. Then he did something very simple—he reached out and, less than an arm's length away, pushed Marcel's chin up, silencing him.

"Damn, you want to give an acceptance speech before you die, huh?"

Fanes withdrew his hand and took a half step back. "A wicked person like you deserves to be beaten to death. Drag him out."

On the bench, Navelette's gaze shifted from Fanes to the defendant's dock, without intervening. Fryna sat in the water god's seat, her hands clasped on her knees, a faint smile playing on her lips, as if she were secretly savoring something from an angle that shouldn't be noticed.

Marcel was lifted up again by the guards and dragged out along the side door. His mouth was still open, but no sound came out from the gap, as if the last unfinished syllable had been cut off at the end of the fuse and never got a chance to be lit.

The verdict was handed down that afternoon. Vasher wouldn't be able to leave Melo Petersburg for another twenty years—if he could hold out until then.

Twenty years is a long time for anyone in that kind of place, and for someone who is already old and not in good health, the chances of living through those twenty years are not high.

Of course, this is the official response. As for whether anyone sought revenge, that remains to be seen!

Fanes stood for a while on the stone steps outside the courtroom. The afternoon sun in Fontainebleau shone on the steps, making the ridges worn smooth by countless footsteps. Just as he was about to take his hands out of his pockets to stretch his fingers, he heard footsteps behind him—Kares and Navia emerged from the side door.

Kares was still wearing that coat, with a dark, not-yet-dry stain on the cuff where Navia had grabbed it, but he looked significantly more relaxed than when he was inside. He stopped in front of Fanes and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'll remember this favor. If the Rose Society ever needs any help in the future, just let them know."

Navia stood beside her father, her eyes still slightly red, but her expression had improved considerably. She looked at Fanes, her voice still hoarse from crying, "That evidence you just presented… how long did you prepare it?"

Fanes stretched his shoulder slightly, shifting his stance: "I don't remember the exact time, but it took some days from starting the underwater investigation to gathering evidence. But I need to make one thing clear—what I just did only represents my personal opinion. I also have a nineteen-year-old friend who had an old file that didn't belong to him unearthed, which had been marked as pending investigation on Zhi Dong's criminal record for almost a year. I just deleted it as well." (He couldn't exactly say it was the future Dada Duck, could he?)

When Fanes mentioned "a nineteen-year-old friend," the image of Tatalia's eager, ready-to-fight face flashed into his mind. "Also, if you're going to write a thank-you note or anything, please make sure to put me in the center."

Navia stood there in silence for a moment, as if trying to discern whether the "center position" was some kind of expression she had never encountered before. Then she smiled, a smile that came quickly; the redness in her eyes hadn't completely faded, but the corners of her mouth had already curved into her usual smile.

"Anyway, let me thank you properly. Are you free tonight? I'd like to treat you to dinner. I've already decided on the place—that highly-rated restaurant near the port."

Fanes looked at her calmly, his tone carrying a "let me confirm" quality: "I'm a decent person, really, I'm a decent person."

Fanesn paused for a moment. "By the way, is there anything I need to bring? Or have you already prepared it?"

Navia stood before him, the same smile still playing on her lips. She tilted her head slightly, her golden curls cascading over her shoulder as she did so. "I was talking about eating. Are you talking about eating too? Are you really talking about eating?"

Fanes nodded, his tone still calm: "That's right, I was talking about eating. I usually bring my own cutlery when I go out, that's right, I bring my own cutlery when I go out."

Navia looked at him with a suspicious gaze—a gaze that seemed to have thoroughly analyzed the intersection of his expression and his previous words, then temporarily stored the result in the "to be verified" section. She nodded slightly.

"It's settled then. 7:30 tonight, at 'Egret and Seagull' by the harbor. I'll make a reservation in advance, you just need to bring your people."

Fanes nodded: "Okay."

Navia turned slightly toward Kares, and the two walked down the stone steps. When they reached the bottom of the steps, her silhouette was drawn into a pale golden outline in the afternoon light of Fontainebleau, gradually shrinking along the street and blending into the crowd at the street corner.

As Fanes turned around, he saw Fenina standing by a pillar near the side entrance of the courtroom, holding a steaming drink she had somehow obtained. Her gaze fell on Fanes over the rim of the cup.

"What do you mean by 'center position'?"

Fanes walked over to her and stopped beside her: "It's in the most conspicuous spot. Right in the salutation or the middle of the signature line on the thank-you note."

Funina lowered her head and took a sip of her hot drink. When she looked up, a faint trace of water remained on the rim of the cup above her lips. "Then please tell Navia for me that if she needs the official seal of Fontainebleau to affix to her thank-you letter, I can provide it."

Just as Fanes was about to answer, footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

Clarinde walked in from the side corridor, her steps steady, the scabbard at her waist swinging rhythmically with her pace. She paused near Fanes and Frinina, then nodded slightly towards Fanes: "The way you closed Vasher's mouth in the courtroom... you did it quite skillfully."

Fanes turned around and nodded at her in response: "Next time I encounter a similar situation, I will try to shorten the time even further."

Clarind's lips twitched slightly, as if she had accepted the outcome. She didn't linger and continued walking down the corridor. Her steps were perfectly in sync with her arrival, the sound of her boots on the stone floor even and clear, like a metronome that had been calibrated many times.

Arecino was leaning against a window at the end of the corridor, flipping through a book that wasn't closed yet. Her gaze lifted from the pages and landed on Funina's profile.

"Lord Water God, there's still plenty of time for afternoon tea. I've prepared a nice tea set and some pastries at the Hearth House."

Furnessa paused slightly in her hand holding the hot drink. Her fingers tightened and loosened in turn, like checking each item on a to-do list that was not yet fully sorted. She turned her head slightly towards Arecino.

"I have a meeting this afternoon... and I've seen that tea set before. The embossed patterns on the cups are indeed very exquisite, but the accompanying tea snacks are a bit too sweet."

Arecino remained leaning against the windowsill, her voice steady: "Then I can choose a different dessert to accompany the tea. The kitchen at the fireplace house can adjust the sweetness if you let me know in advance."

Furina glanced down at the glass in her hand, then looked up at Arecino, as if unsure where to place her next: "...My schedule is indeed quite full today. Next time, I'll let you know in advance so you can prepare more."

Arecino didn't press the issue, simply closing the book and tucking it under her arm: "Then next time. I'll keep the tea set."

Arecino walked leisurely down the corridor toward the fireplace house. As she passed through the light at the end of the corridor, the soft gold lingered for a moment on her shoulder before being taken over by the wall at the corner.

Fanes stood beside Fernina, watching Arecino's figure disappear at the end of the corridor. He turned to look at Fernina: "You just said her tea set was nice, and then said the cake was too sweet. Are you looking down on our servants' little cakes!"

Furnessa gently placed the paper cup on the windowsill, leaning against the edge of the window frame. "The pastries at the Hearth House are indeed more refined than those from bakeries, but some of the recipes don't quite suit the tastes here in Fontainebleau. You said you brought your own cutlery with you when you went out; where did you bring it?"

Fanes pulled a folded cutlery bag wrapped in velvet from the inside pocket of his coat; he could feel the outline of metal through the fabric. "Keep it with you."

Funina glanced down at the velvet cover, then carefully put it back into the inner pocket of her coat: "...You actually brought it."

Funina withdrew her gaze, turned, and walked in the opposite direction along the corridor. After a few steps, her voice returned from a distance of several meters: "7:30 pm, Egret and Seagull. That shop makes really good crab roe pastries, you can try ordering one."