00:00Marcus had said. The study fell silent. King Frederick rose slowly from his chair, fury replacing the exhaustion that had
00:08carried him through the last several days. The appointment traces back to a judicial oversight committee, one that, until three
00:16days ago, was still chaired by Lord Bertrand Voss, even in custody. That man is still reaching into this family's
00:24affairs.
00:25The committee wasn't dissolved when Bertrand was arrested. Lord Bertrand's replacement, Lady Harvors, said grimly, having been summoned the moment
00:34Marcus' discovery surfaced.
00:37This judge, a man named Corwin Ellery, was confirmed only days ago, with almost no scrutiny, given everything else happening
00:46at the time.
00:47Can we challenge the appointment before tomorrow? We can try, Lady Harvors said, but legally, we'd need cause. Simply disliking
00:57who appointed him isn't sufficient grounds.
01:00Marcus spent the remaining hours of the night digging into Judge Corwin Ellery's background, cross-referencing every available record against
01:08the sprawling web of connections they'd uncovered, linking Victor Ashworth to decades of quiet influence.
01:14He's clean on paper, Marcus said, finally. Frustration evident in his voice. No financial irregularities, no obvious ties to the
01:24Ashworth family, nothing that would give the council grounds to block the appointment.
01:29Then either he's genuinely independent, Isabelle said, or he's simply better protected than everyone else Victor has used.
01:37There's one thing, Marcus added slowly, pulling up a final record. Fifteen years ago, Ellery presided over a minor trade
01:45dispute case.
01:47The defendant was a small shipping company that later became one of three holding entities eventually absorbed into Victor's larger
01:55network.
01:56Ellery ruled in the defendant's favor.
01:58That's them. It's what we have.
02:01Maybe we're thinking about this wrong, Maya said, having joined the late-night strategy session after finally getting Tommy settled
02:09for the night.
02:11We can't prove Ellery is compromised before the hearing even starts, but we can make certain that whatever happens in
02:18that chamber, it isn't the only record of the truth that exists.
02:22What do you mean, public broadcast, Maya said, the same way the family's address worked against Bertrand's referendum campaign?
02:31If the hearing is broadcast publicly, live, to the entire country, Ellery can't quietly bury testimony or manipulate proceedings without
02:41the whole nation watching him do it in real time.
02:45Lady Halvers considered this carefully.
02:47Sentencing hearings aren't typically broadcast, but given the unprecedented public interest in this case already, I believe I can petition
02:56for an exception on transparency grounds.
02:59It would be unusual, but not impossible.
03:03As dawn approached, Marcus' phone buzzed with an encrypted message from one of his few remaining trusted contacts still embedded
03:11within Victor's wider network.
03:13A contact recruited quietly in the days since Victor's identity had first surfaced.
03:19Victor knows about the broadcast request already, Marcus said, reading the message grimly.
03:25He's filing an emergency objection, citing witness safety concerns given yesterday's attack on Whitmore.
03:32He's using the attack his own people committed as an excuse to keep the hearing private, Isabel said disgusted.
03:40It's clever, Marcus admitted, and it might actually work.
03:45A judge sympathetic to witness protection concerns has a legitimate reason to deny a public broadcast, regardless of who benefits
03:53from that decision.
03:54Then we need another safeguard, Adrian said, something that doesn't depend on Ellery's ruling either way.
04:01Reverend Cain, recovering quietly in the palace guest wing, offered a suggestion when Edmund visited him that morning to check
04:10on his well-being.
04:11In the old tradition, Cain said, testimony given before a religious witness, properly documented and sealed, carries weight in Belmore's
04:20courts, independent of the presiding judge's discretion, a remnant of centuries-old ecclesiastical law that predates the modern council system
04:30entirely.
04:31Few people remember it exists.
04:33You're saying we could record formal testimony with you as witness, Edmund said slowly, before the hearing even begins, creating
04:42a parallel record Ellery couldn't simply dismiss or manipulate.
04:47Precisely, Cain said.
04:49It wouldn't replace the hearing's legal outcome, but it would ensure the truth exists somewhere beyond a single judge's ruling,
04:57regardless of what happens in that chamber today.
04:59Through the early morning hours, Reverend Cain formally witnessed and sealed statements from everyone willing to give them, Marguerite's full
05:08confession, Daniel's 23-year account of the original fraud discovery, Priya's detailed testimony, naming Victor directly, and Whitmore's account of
05:19both his own role 30 years earlier and yesterday's attack.
05:22Each statement was signed, sealed, and copied three times, one copy remaining with Cain, one delivered discreetly to Lady Halvers
05:32for the council's permanent archive, and one sent, via Marcus's most trusted contact, to an international press consortium with instructions
05:42to publish only if the sealed envelope remained unclaimed after 72 hours.
05:48Another contingency, Marguerite observed, watching the process with something like grim approval.
05:54I suppose some habits are difficult to abandon entirely.
05:58This one's different, Adrian said.
06:01This one belongs to all of us now, not just you.
06:04By mid-morning, the relocated hearing convened in a smaller, unfamiliar chamber across the capital.
06:12Judge Corwin Ellery, presiding with careful, measured formality that gave away nothing about his true loyalties.
06:20Marguerite sat composed at the defendant's table, Edmund and Adrian seated in the gallery, alongside Isabel, Meyer, and the rest
06:29of the family.
06:29This hearing will determine appropriate sentencing for Marguerite Hale, Ellery announced, given her confessed involvement in numerous offences, including fraud,
06:40kidnapping, and manipulation of crown succession proceedings.
06:44Given the defendant's own stated request for maximum sentencing, I would normally expect this to proceed swiftly.
06:50He paused, studying the courtroom with an unreadable expression.
06:55The entire gallery went still.
06:58However, he continued, new information has reached this court overnight that complicates that expectation considerably.
07:06This morning, Ellery said, my office received a sealed envelope containing formal testimony, witnessed and notarized by Reverend Aldous Kane,
07:17detailing an extensive criminal network operated for over two decades by a man named Victor Ashworth, previously believed deceased.
07:26Adrian's heart leapt.
07:28Marguerite sat perfectly still, watching the judge with cautious, uncertain hope.
07:33I want to be transparent with this court, Ellery continued.
07:37I was appointed to this position days ago, under circumstances, I now understand, were deliberately arranged to compromise these proceedings.
07:45I had my own suspicions about the nature of my appointment.
07:49This morning's testimony confirms them.
07:52He looked directly at Marguerite.
07:54Miss Hale, before this court proceeds with your sentencing, I believe the record deserves to reflect exactly who orchestrated the
08:02circumstances that brought you here.
08:04The courtroom doors burst open before Marguerite could respond.
08:08Palace security rushed in.
08:10Lady Halvers, close behind them, her expression tense with urgency.
08:16Your Honor, she said, forgive the interruption, but this court needs to be informed immediately.
08:22Victor Ashworth's holdings were raided this morning following the sealed testimony's release.
08:27Crown forces attempted to apprehend him at his primary residence.
08:31And Lady Halvers hesitated, glancing toward Adrian and the gathered family before continuing.
08:39He wasn't there, she said.
08:41The residence was abandoned sometime in the last 12 hours, but we did find something else.
08:46She held up a tablet, displaying a security photograph taken inside Victor's empty estate.
08:53It showed a single room, walls covered in photographs of Marguerite, of Edmund, of Isabel, of Adrian, of Maya, decades
09:03of careful surveillance documented meticulously.
09:06And in the center of it all, a single recent photograph that made Maya's blood run cold.
09:12A picture of Tommy, taken just that morning, walking to breakfast inside the palace itself.
09:18Coming up in episode 41, Inside the Walls, with proof that Victor's surveillance has reached directly inside the palace this
09:27very morning,
09:28the family must determine who among their own trusted circle is still feeding him information.
