Chapter 45 - The Matriarch's Extradition
"Let the sealed archive be examined," the Chief Magistrate ordered.
A clerk in white cotton gloves took the envelope from Richter, broke the wax seal with a silver blade, and placed the parchment sheets beneath an optical scanner that projected the documents onto the towering stone walls of the hall.
The handwriting was unmistakable: it was the angular, elegant script of my grandfather, Arthur Vance Senior. Dated three days before his mysterious death in Salzburg, the document was not a medical file—it was an affidavit of criminal discovery.
"Read Section Seven, if you please," Richter said smoothly.
The Chief Magistrate adjusted his spectacles and read into the microphone: *"I, Arthur Vance Senior, hereby state under oath that Eleanor Montgomery has systematically attempted to falsify the biometric registries of the Vienna Council. Fearing the birth of any heir that might displace her administrative control, Eleanor submitted fraudulent medical profiles for her daughter Sarah from the hour of her birth. I hereby declare Sarah Vance to be of pure, legitimate lineage, and I strip Eleanor of any authority to challenge the paternity, maternity, or bloodline of any issue born from Sarah’s womb."*
The words crashed down upon the assembly like a tidal wave. Eleanor stumbled back against her podium, her face turning an ashen, sickly grey. "No... that was destroyed! I burned those papers in Salzburg!"
"You burned the copies, Eleanor," Richter said, his voice dripping with icy contempt. "Arthur was five steps ahead of you until his final breath. He knew you were capable of murder, which is why he gave the originals to me."
"Murder?" I gasped, the word tearing from my throat before I could stop it.
The entire courtroom fell dead silent.
Richter turned to the bench. "We submit into evidence the toxicology report from the Salzburg police archive, classified under red seal for twenty-five years. Arthur Vance Senior did not die of hypothermia in a blizzard. He was incapacitated with a high dose of digitalis—a heart medication prescribed exclusively to Eleanor Vance Montgomery."
Gasps erupted throughout the gallery. Eleanor’s lawyer took three steps away from her, visibly recoiling in horror as if she were a plague carrier.
May you like
"Lies! All lies!" Eleanor screamed, clawing at the brass podium, her eyes bulging with sheer madness. "He was an old man! He was holding the family back! I did what had to be done to preserve our power! You cannot judge me! I am the blood of Montgomery!"
The Chief Magistrate struck his gavel three times with brutal force. "Eleanor Vance Montgomery. By unanimous consensus of the High Chamber, you are stripped of your surname, your assets, your citizenship, and your liberty. You are sentenced to lifelong detention at the Alpine Redoubt, without parole, without audience, and without mercy."
