The trial of Judah Hunt’s murder was the first to commence, and still, the question was whether Neil was involved in the murder or not.

Did he order the murder, or did the bodyguard act on his own? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

As long as it remained unproven that Neil was involved, he would be able to walk away without facing any punishment — at least from this specific case.

It was the legendary lawyer who needed to prove that Neil was indeed guilty.

Thus, he was allowed to proceed.

He called Neil for questioning, much to everyone’s surprise.

"Mr. Neil, your bodyguards killed Miss Judah. Were you unaware of it?" he asked.

Neil shook his head. "No, I was aware. Deputy Chief Karter informed me about the matter after a month of Judah’s death."

"Oh?" The lawyer’s brows raised in surprise. "You were aware of it, and yet you remained silent about your bodyguard’s crime. Shouldn’t you have reported him?"

Neil nodded. "I should have, but... he is loyal to me, and I decided to let the matter slide."

"I’m ashamed," he lowered his head.

"But isn’t it strange, Mr. Neil?"

The lawyer rubbed his chin with a perplexed expression.

"Your bodyguards murdered someone who used to be your secretary, and yet, you weren’t aware of it for a month."

"I don’t pay attention to what my bodyguards are doing all the time." Neil answered nonchalantly, "I’m not their babysitter."

He paused before adding, "And as the chairman of a major talent agency, I remain quite busy. Do you think I have the time to bother with the news of my former secretary’s death?"

The lawyer nodded in agreement. "Hmm, your words aren’t without reason."

He then asked a different question.

"Mr. Nathan Rave, who claimed to be the spy of the former CEO, said that the former CEO confronted you over the murder of Miss Judah."

"What do you have to say to that?"

"It’s all a lie," Neil said calmly. "How can Aren, my friend and the late CEO, confront me for something I didn’t even do? I think this is another tactic to slander me."

The lawyer smiled and asked, "Then how do you explain the video evidence?"

"If Mr. Nathan recorded the video, he must have shown it to his employer, the former CEO, correct? It doesn’t seem far-fetched for the CEO to confront you even if you didn’t order the murder."

"Cough! Cough!" Neil began to cough loudly. "Water, cough."

Neil’s lawyer immediately rushed over with water and then requested the judge for a 2-minute break to help Neil recover.

The judge allowed it.

After two minutes, Neil returned and began answering the question that the lawyer had previously asked.

"You asked why Aren didn’t confront me, right?" Neil spoke confidently. "I don’t know. He never came to me. As for the reason, I have no idea."

Actually, this was the answer his lawyer instructed him to say in that two-minute break.

If Neil claimed that Nathan wasn’t a spy employed by Aren, then he would have fallen into a trap. It was easy to prove that Nathan was indeed employed by Aren.

So what was the best answer?

I don’t know.

This simple answer could save Neil from any trouble.

The legendary lawyer continued to ask questions that would suddenly feel like a trap, and whenever that happened, Neil would just say that he doesn’t know or either cough loudly and ask for water.

Even if the Judge refused to allow him to take rest, he would still have some time to think before answering.

Like this, the first trial was adjourned to the next week, unable to reach a consensus.

After a thirty minute break, the second trial would begin.

In those thirty minutes, the internet buzzed with posts and comments.

[AAAHHH! This is so infuriating. This case is so obvious and yet, you can’t punish the criminal in front of you.]

[Man, even with the evidence video of the murder, the criminal is still so difficult to punish.]

[This is so unfair! Every time the lawyer managed to stump Neil Valcourt, this bastard would cough and take a break to think of the answer.]

[Yeah, it’s so obvious he didn’t have any answer to some questions, and then he would start coughing. It feels like he is mocking everyone with that pathetic act of his.]

["I don’t know." Really? How can you just say I don’t know every time a difficult question is asked? This answer shouldn’t be allowed."

[Petition to ban "I don’t know" as the answer.]

Then, the second trial commenced.

This trial seemed more hopeful since there were new witnesses who had come forward after watching the downfall of Titan Crest Entertainment.

These witnesses were a few of Aren’s bodyguards who had been fooled by Juan Moss into following him, abandoning Aren to die.

All of them confirmed Arol’s testimony.

"So it was Juan Moss who forced all of the bodyguards to leave Mr. Aren alone in his house, correct?"

"Yes," the bodyguard nodded. "Some of us even wanted to remain behind to protect the boss, but he kept insisting on taking all of us. In the end, we had to follow his orders since he was our assigned superior."

Afterwards, the legendary lawyer called Juan Moss for questioning.

Since the list of witnesses had been submitted already, Juan Moss had received summons by the court to appear to testify.

Similarly, Neil’s side were aware that Juan would be summoned, and thus, Neil’s lawyer had already instructed him on how and what to answer to every possible question he could think of.

Juan, a man in his early forties, with green hair and a rugged face with freckles. He stood confidently.

The legendary lawyer asked the first question.

"Mr. Juan Moss. Why did you betray your employer?"

"No, I didn’t!" Juan immediately said in protest. "I would never betray him. He was like my elder brother, someone I considered family."

"Then how do you explain the testimonies of other bodyguards who were present that night?"

The lawyer narrowed his eyes and continued:

"You fabricated a kidnapping call. You forced each and every bodyguard to leave alongside you. Then you wasted hours, keeping them occupied while searching random areas. And not once did you call Mr. Arol. He was the one taking care of Miss Ariana after all, so shouldn’t you have called him to confirm if she had really been kidnapped?"

-----------------------------------

(A/N -Thanks for reading. ^..^)