Chapter 22: The Massive Fine
“That Kant Debbs must be the third son of the Debbs family.” Clyde said softly to Linley beside him, smiling lightly. Linley nodded in agreement. Linley and Clyde merely watched the events unfold, while the members of the Debbs family felt a growing terror.
Many among the Debbs family members in the spectator seats began to tremble nervously.
“Clang!”
The sound of chains striking echoed. Under the escort of two soldiers, a pale, gaunt, golden-haired middle-aged man stepped into the courtroom. The eyes of everyone in the courtroom gathered upon him, including Bernard, Kalan, Nimitz, and the others.
Seeing the golden-haired middle-aged man appear, Bernard let out a low sigh and closed his eyes.
“It really is the third son of the Debbs family, Kant!” A murmur arose from the spectator seats. As the third son of the Debbs family, most nobles of Fenlai City knew Kant Debbs.
At this point, further denials from the Debbs family were useless.
Merritt, seated in the chief judge’s position, looked at Clyde. Clyde nodded slightly.
“Bernard.” Merritt looked at Bernard. “At this point, do you have anything else to say?”
But Bernard didn’t look at Merritt. Instead, he turned his head to look at his third brother, ‘Kant,’ his gaze burning intensely. Kant likewise stared back at his elder brother ‘Bernard.’ The two brothers simply gazed at each other.
“Third brother, why did you do this?” Bernard’s eyes held disbelief, and his entire body trembled with pain and anger.
“I’m sorry,” Kant said softly.
Bernard gave a bitter smile and shook his head, speaking solemnly: “You’re not sorry to me, but to the entire Debbs family. Our Debbs family, for so many years, through the hard work and management of how many generations of ancestors, achieved what we have today. Yet you, you…” Bernard was in too much pain to continue speaking.
“Thump!”
Kant knelt heavily in the courtroom, tears streaming down his face.
“Big brother, I deserve to die!!!”
He struck his own face hard with his shackled hands, sobbing uncontrollably: “Big brother, I’m sorry. It’s my fault. It was my insatiable greed, my dissatisfaction with the little power and little wealth I had in the family. That’s why I embezzled the family’s money for smuggling. It’s my fault, big brother. It’s all my fault!”
This scene stunned the crowd in the spectator seats.
Linley and Clyde also raised their eyebrows. Even Merritt, in the chief judge’s seat, frowned.
“Things have come to this point,” Bernard said, looking up, forcing back tears, his entire demeanor desolate. “Third brother, it’s no longer a matter of whose fault it is. What you’ve done has plunged our entire family into an unprecedented crisis. I, Bernard Debbs, as the patriarch of this generation, even if I die, I cannot face our ancestors.”
As he spoke, tears still slid down Bernard’s face.
Bernard suddenly looked at Clyde and knelt directly towards him, weeping bitterly: “Your Majesty! Our Debbs family has produced such a traitor to the kingdom; it is our Debbs family’s misfortune. I, Bernard, as the patriarch, cannot escape the blame. I, Bernard, am willing to die, begging Your Majesty to spare the rest of our Debbs family. After all, the vast majority of our family members are innocent!”
Clyde looked at Bernard.
Then he looked at Merritt and nodded slightly to him.
Merritt understood Clyde’s intention and immediately announced loudly: “The court is now adjourned. The final verdict will be delivered in fifteen minutes!”
…All the nobles in attendance had to leave the courtroom one by one, only allowed to re-enter after fifteen minutes. The situation was now clear. The final judgment on the Debbs family’s smuggling crime was entirely up to Clyde.
Such a major smuggling crime could easily implicate the entire family. Even exterminating the Debbs family would be justified.
Of course, Clyde could also show some leniency, merely punishing the Debbs family enough to allow them to survive.
The outcome was entirely Clyde’s decision.
*******Outside the courtroom, Duke Bonner was with Linley, chatting.
“Linley, did you see that? The direct descendants of the Debbs family are really something. That Kant was actually caught a few days ago, but he didn’t commit suicide. He waited until the trial to put on this act,” Duke Bonner said with a smile.
Linley nodded in agreement.
“If Kant had killed himself, the Debbs family’s situation would have been even more passive,” Linley said with a smile.
If Kant had committed suicide, his corpse would have been evidence of the Debbs family’s involvement in smuggling, leaving them unable to defend themselves. But now, Kant admitted it was his own doing, giving the Debbs family a sliver of hope.
Of course, whether they lived or died ultimately depended on His Majesty Clyde.
“Kill them all, kill them all,” Bebe, on Linley’s shoulder, bared his teeth and transmitted to Linley’s soul, “This Debbs family is too good at acting. Even I, Bebe, can’t stand watching it.”
Linley couldn’t help but smile upon hearing this.
“Creak~~~”
The doors of the courtroom opened. The fifteen minutes were up. The nobles outside filed in one by one and sat down calmly in the spectator seats. During the recess, only His Majesty Clyde, Merritt, and a few others had remained inside the courtroom.
“Linley, can you guess what my verdict was?” Clyde said to Linley with a smile.
“I can’t guess,” Linley replied bluntly.
Clyde smiled mysteriously.
“All rise!”
Merritt stood up and said solemnly. Everyone in the courtroom immediately stood. Merritt, holding his head high, announced in a serious, clear voice: “This court hereby pronounces its verdict: The Debbs family member ‘Kant Debbs’ openly engaged in large-scale smuggling of aquamarine ore, involving an extremely large amount. He is sentenced to death by hanging, to be carried out on October 11th.
“The value of the smuggled aquamarine ore in this case is nearly forty million gold coins. Therefore, the Debbs family is ordered to pay a fine of double that amount, eighty million gold coins. Bernard Debbs is to be released immediately. This concludes the verdict.” As Merritt spoke these words, Bernard, Nimitz, Kalan, and the other Debbs family members breathed a secret sigh of relief, but at the same time, they felt utterly helpless.
Eighty million gold coins!
What a terrifying number!
The total assets of the entire Debbs family were only around one hundred million gold coins. And that included all their fixed assets. To pay this massive fine, they would definitely have to sell off many fixed assets. Selling on such a large scale would inevitably lead to buyers driving down the price.
Their fixed assets totaled nearly eighty million gold coins, but whether they could actually sell them for eighty million gold coins was highly unlikely.
“Linley, what do you think?” Clyde looked at Linley.
Linley nodded with a smile and said, “Impressive, truly impressive.”
Clyde had set the fine amount very cleverly. Because the Debbs family’s fixed assets were only around eighty million gold coins. If Clyde had truly sentenced them to ‘extermination,’ he would have gotten nothing.
The Debbs family’s liquid assets—Clyde wouldn’t have gotten a single gold coin.
If the fine had been set too high, the Debbs family might have chosen to let their members die rather than pay.
Eighty million gold coins was just right—not too much, not too little.
“Father.” Kalan and a few others immediately came to help Bernard up.
But Bernard looked at his third brother, ‘Kant Debbs.’ Kant’s face was gloomy, and he just nodded at Bernard. Ever since the smuggling was exposed, Kant knew he was doomed. Now, dying for the family, the family would likely take care of his wife and children in the future.
Bernard also nodded at Kant.
The two brothers understood each other’s thoughts just from their gazes.
“Let’s go back,” Bernard said with a sigh.
After this incident, the Debbs family was severely crippled. Their economic strength would likely be left with only ten percent. From then on… the Debbs family fell from the ranks of the top noble houses of the Fenlai Kingdom, becoming merely a moderately wealthy family.
*******At Linley’s estate, in the Spring Water Garden.
Linley sat on a chair, staring blankly into space.
“Linley, what are you thinking about?” Doehring Cowart emerged from the Coiling Dragon Ring.
Linley glanced at Doehring Cowart and sighed: “Watching the trial of the Debbs family case today, I suddenly thought of my own family. My family once dominated the Yulan continent, but now, generation after generation has died. My father is dead, my mother’s fate is unknown. Little Wharton is in the O’Brien Empire now. In the entire Sacred Alliance, I have no one.”
Linley felt a strong sense of loneliness.
His parents were both gone, and he was now engaged in a secret endeavor—revenge!
On the path of revenge, Linley’s heartstrings were tightly stretched every day, not daring to relax for a moment.
Doehring Cowart looked at Linley, a pang of pity in his heart. Although Linley appeared mature on the surface and could deal with high nobles without stage fright, he was only seventeen years old! He had just graduated from the Magical Academy not long ago.
“Linley, relax. Don’t put too much burden on yourself. You have plenty of time,” Doehring Cowart comforted him.
Linley looked at Doehring Cowart. On this lonely path, he was fortunate to have Grandpa Doehring and the playful, mischievous Bebe by his side.
“Grandpa Doehring, thank you,” Linley said gratefully.
Doehring Cowart smiled.
“I really want to find out about my mother soon, and kill that Clyde as soon as possible.” Not to mention why Clyde had kidnapped his mother back then, but the mere fact that he had separated his mother from their family for over a decade, ultimately leading to his father’s death—that alone was enough to sentence him to death.
“I wonder when that ‘Sith,’ the King of Killers, will deliver the poison formula,” Linley thought anxiously.
…Linley hoped every day for the arrival of the King of Killers, ‘Sith.’ But days passed, and Sith never came. Before they knew it, it was already October. For nearly a month, the Fenlai Kingdom had been relatively peaceful. The main event was the Debbs family selling off their assets on a large scale.
Many families took the opportunity to drive down prices, but the Debbs family’s fixed assets were indeed valuable, and many families needed them. So the selling price wasn’t too low. The fixed assets, originally estimated at eighty million gold coins, eventually sold for over seventy million gold coins.
After paying the eighty million gold coin fine, the Debbs family barely escaped disaster.
But after this, the Debbs family’s wealth had shrunk by nearly ninety percent.
…On October 10th, the day before Kant’s scheduled hanging. Linley was cultivating as usual in the Spring Water Garden.
“Lord Linley, Lord Sith has arrived!” A maid outside immediately called out loudly.
Linley had instructed that he be informed immediately whenever Sith arrived.
“Sith is here?” Linley immediately grabbed a coat and rushed out of the Spring Water Garden. With Linley’s speed, he reached the living room in less than ten seconds. Inside, Sith, still wearing his loose robe, was sitting with his legs crossed, drinking tea.
“Mr. Sith,” Linley called out from a distance. In a few quick steps, he entered the living room.
Seeing Linley arrive, Sith’s eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up: “Master Linley, my apologies for only coming today.” As he spoke, Sith took an envelope from his bosom. “Linley, this is the prescription I mentioned. Here you go.”