Chapter 535

"My Lord, it was impossible to verify the virginity of the victim given their background and the intensity of the claim." The Constable explained himself directly.

He didn't dare to make excuses or beat around the bush, because he knew he was fucked either way, whether she was still a virgin or not. Instead of digging a bigger hole for himself, he might as well appeal to conscience of the authorities.

The crowd who listened in nodded with the Constable, feeling pity for the man. He wasn't much of a corrupt fella, so there was no overt hate towards him and his force.

Even the Head Judge's stern expression softened. "Hm, understandable. Whatever the case, you have my backing now. Call one of your female medical officers to check immediately."

The Constable bowed and hurried away, while the sobbing lass still covered her face as she leaned into her mother, though she was busy thinking what to do now.

The moment Darius had pointed out such a simple flaw in her plan, she knew she had to alter things quickly.

Thankfully, the Head Judge turned to her and spoke. "Will the victim give a defense to the claim before the test is done?"

Seeing her chance, the Joan lass slowly broke off from her mother and wiped her face dramatically, doing everything she could to earn the sympathy of the crowd, a rather simple thing to do for someone of her beauty.

"My Lord, as I told the Constable, I had been invited to a party at the Royal Palace along with all the other prominent youths of our generation for a yearly get together. There, I met the man I was formerly infatuated with - she pointed at Darius - and we danced together."

"He eventually invited me for a private talk elsewhere, and being the infatuated fool I was, I followed him without questioning his motives. Not to mention that I believed in his valor, which he had proven to be staunch all this while."

She then blushed. "After some sweet words, I could no longer resist and found myself in his embrace. However, I soon realized what a problem it would cause if we were to go too far, so I tried to push him away and explain that I could only be his after marriage."

"I don't know if it was the wine or some other effect that forced him to ignore his better judgment and push me down, attempting to go all the way. He molested me in many ways, but I was eventually able to escape after he exhausted himself using my chest."

She then gripped her attire with trepidation. "I originally didn't want to report as this seemed like a moment of passion, but my mother saw my bruises and the remnants of his discharge and demanded the full story."

The mother beside her nodded with a sad and angry look in her face, but Darius could easily note that it was forced. She knew her daughter was lying for some reason, but as a parent she had to go on with this farce otherwise the price they would pay for this lie was not small.

The punishment for rape here in Ludo was castration and whipping, while the punishment for false accusation of that crime was Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced prostitution for 5 years.

She definitely did not want her daughter to suffer either punishment as they were brutal. She couldn't believe that the stupid girl had dared to try on someone like this!

If it was some lowly maggot with no background, they could easily push the case forward and win, but it had to be the Stone Eashira's Young Heir, a man who was in direct contact with the Crown Prince as his best friend!

If their Silica Eashira was a 5 in terms of influence, the Stone Eashira was a 9! It was like a rat trying to beat a dog to death!

The mother guessed that the pampered upbringing of their daughter and her sheltered life had not made her understand the predicament she would be in. After all, any trouble she got into during her earlier years had been waved away by her family with ease, so what was the big deal?

However, the collusion of mother and daughter won them back some territory, and especially won them the crowd's favor. The story was sympathetic and easy to follow, also very hard to prove since it had shifted to a matter where it was one side's testimony against the other's.

Whenever that happened in a rape case, all would usually side with the woman for the same reasons the Constable did not check her. It didn't seem worthwhile to lie for petty revenge considering the huge loss the lass would be taking in reputation and marriage value.

They looked at Darius with blaming gazes, considering him a beast that couldn't control himself. While he might not have gone all the way, he had rudely taken advantage of a young girl, one who had been in love with him no less!

The Constable soon returned and then was asked to verify Joan's story. To Darius' surprise, the statement given matched her story 1:1, instantly giving her credibility.

Even though her virginity was checked to still be there, it didn't have much effect except to immunize Darius from the punishment since what he did - according to Ludonian law - would be sexual harassment, something which for people of his level was usually brushed under the rug, yet no longer rape.

Darius was naturally surprised as the real Joan hadn't been this careful. She had just relied on some cheap tricks like bruises and faked messages to work as her evidence, but this one was clever with her story.

Right now, it became a case of Darius' word against Joan's, and she seemed to have the advantage at least in that her version had been somewhat verified. This naturally stifled the case and forced it to be adjourned to a later date, but everyone knew nothing would come of it anymore.

Interestingly - or rather, as expected - the Test of Fortitude did not end here. As stated before, it was not a Test of Deduction, but of the courage to carry on in the face of adversity of all kinds.

One could even say that the real Test of Fortitude had only just begun.