Vanessa was being stared at by Alex's cold eyes.
She knew that her speech had to be very logical and convincing, otherwise he would dismantle it into pieces, and she would have failed.
"I'm sorry for betraying your expectations, Alex. I know the trial's result wasn't what you hoped for," Vanessa began.
"No shit, Sherlock," Alex cut in.
Vanessa held back her reaction; she knew the words came from frustration. She continued carefully.
"But it wasn't the one I expected as well, or the one Marina did, what I mean to say is that this trial was poisoned by our method of obtaining evidence." She was walking on eggshells.
Alex looked at her, tilting his head slightly sideways, as if analyzing her words.
"I've talked with my mother, and she explained to me that the nobles were highly against the way we operated, as most of them had something to hide, and proposed that we make our approach more subtle and investigative, instead of breaking everything and capturing the dude in his house."
"Do you realize that the investigative way is the method that actually exists—and the one that isn't working?" Alex countered.
"Yes, but we didn't have you, or your information network. You see, the royal guard can't investigate every report they receive."
"How so? Isn't that their only job?" Alex once again cut in and asked.
"Yes, but the number of reports that come from commoners is astronomical. The guards must first filter out nonsense, then categorize the serious ones by the accused noble's name, and only when one noble has enough credible reports on him, they start the investigation, and by doing it that way, they never catch an innocent noble, and the trials run smoothly."
Alex wasn't dumb enough to deny that false reports could indeed happen.
"Now, this is where you enter," Vanessa continued, "The information network you have can lead us directly towards a guilty noble, but I propose that, instead of knocking everyone out, we sneak in, and after checking if the letter is true, we head back out and let the royal guard investigate it seriously."
She hoped it was enough to regain his trust—enough for him to give the system another chance.
"So you expect me to hop in, see how people suffer miserably, do nothing at all, and then leave it to the royal guard for investigating it during weeks or even months, just so the other nobles don't get scared enough as to sentence one man to death?" Alex asked.
"I think not."
"Alex, you can't return to your old way. The moment a noble dies, they'll look for you, and you'll spend the rest of your life imprisoned without me or anyone being able to help you," Vanessa said, realizing too late that she had overlooked his strongest objections.
"You know… I didn't know what to expect. But hearing wanting to let commoners suffer so that justice could work and seeing every noble place commoners so low? That I didn't expect. We're done." Alex turned to leave.
Vanessa realized things were spiraling down quickly, so she tried one last time.
"So—how about another approach?"
Alex stopped. He waited.
"Instead of beating the hell out of the noble, what if you entered, confirmed the crime, rescued the victims, and left the noble untouched?"
"And how exactly do we do that if we're not allowed to break in?" he asked. This suggestion, at least, had potential.
"Well—who would report it? Certainly not the noble. Admitting someone broke in to rescue slaves means admitting you had slaves. And after that, a small royal-guard team could wait for him to slip up or make a mistake, then arrest him properly."
Alex looked to the ground, thinking about the possibilities.
'Now that I can teleport, I could simply buy and learn a wide area teleport, so that way, I can go in and out, but that means that I would have to neutralize the mages.'
After a long moment, he concluded it was worth trying.
"Fine. We'll do it your way—one last time. But you'll get me a wide-area teleport spell. That's the only way this works," Alex said.
Vanessa nodded, relief washing over as Alex seemed to give her another chance.
'I've never been so nervous speaking to someone…'
Just a day or two ago, Sylvana had reminded her—and her mother—that they needed to secure Alex to the palace. Stating that a healer and skilled alchemist with high potential was extremely valuable for the nation, and once he reached higher levels, he would become priceless.
Her mom agreed and tasked her to accomplish it, since they were tied by contract.
They were also already drafting a more binding contract—better benefits, more obligations.
"If that's all, I'd like to return to my painting. And please—I want to be left alone," Alex said.
"Alright. I'll see you later then," Vanessa replied, then turned to leave.
He had given her another chance, but the distance between them was obvious now. Only success—trial after trial—could close it again.
Back at the palace, Vanessa found her mother and aunt deep in discussion.
"Vanessa, how did things turn out? Did you manage to convince him?" Sylvana asked.
Vanessa nodded. "Yes. But I was more nervous than I've ever been while talking to anyone." Then she detailed the specifics.
"His condition is reasonable," Alicia said. "You did break a promise, so this is basically getting away with it."
"I know. And after what we discussed these past days… even more so," Vanessa said.
"Use this chance well," Sylvana advised.
She'd been investigating Dionysus—the ancient group Alex had knowledge about—and the more she learned, the more dangerous they appeared. They needed him. If this last chance failed, Sylvana was seriously considering pushing Vanessa to seduce and marry him if necessary.
She also needed to find someone capable of digging into his past on Tessara.
'How unfortunate, Alex. You woke me to fix something—but almost every solution requires you to stay here. I can't let you go.'
He tried to set everything to avoid political entanglements, yet his actions meant a lifetime of the very thing he wished to avoid.