Chapter 33 Inevitable Mutation (Part 2)

**In the central hall of the court, people were swaying everywhere. Slaves holding files were shoulder to shoulder, shouting to pass them up. Although Cicero and Lepidus shirked their duties as judges, they still paid close attention to the case. They sat at the top of the audience seats, surrounded by dozens of selected elders and knights. In fact, they were also broadcasters. Regarding the content of the trial of this case, their words after going out complemented the publicly posted Akuta.

"Who is the prosecutor?" After sitting down, Lepidus asked Cicero beside him curiously, but Cicero remained silent. Lepidus asked again, but only got the answer of "no comment". The high priest was obviously getting angry and began to turn to the elders around him. At this time, one of them finally whispered to the high priest's left ear and told him the name of the plaintiff - "How could it be him?" Lepidus said with great shock and annoyance - which aroused the sighs of the elders around him again.

And Cicero still sat still, like a statue.

In the dim side room, the young man who was deprived of the name of Caesar the Younger and turned back into Turinus, with messy hair and bloodshot eyes, supported his bearded face with his hands and squatted on a short chair. The room had empty walls on three sides, and only one door facing outside. Four centurions stood there expressionlessly, and there was also a freed slave with a golden wristband. He was responsible for the "communication" between the defendant and the jury. A chaotic shouting and discussion from outside kept coming in, mixed with the sound of the followers knocking on the floor to ask for a clean-up.

Soon, everything slowly became quiet. After the four centurions nodded to each other, they rumbled and closed the only door. Turinus was drowned in the darkness, with only a little sunlight leaking in from the seven narrow windows as high as Roman feet, becoming the only lighting in the room.

He had no idea what was being said outside. This unknown state was the most terrifying, as if a beast or killer would suddenly appear from any dark corner and put him to death.

"Don't be afraid, calm down, Turinus, you are Caesar the Younger, you are the successor of Julius, these rats will never do anything to you? Even if he is a guardian, he must consider Corinna's request." Turinus kept cheering himself up.

In front of him was an hourglass with a slight hissing sound, and about a whole day, the door opened again, and Turinus used his hand to block the stimulating light. The clerk was released from slavery and came in, handing him the tablet with words engraved on it. "You can read it yourself. If you have any arguments, you can write it yourself or dictate it and I will write it for you."

"No, I will write it myself." Turinus looked at him with distrust and snatched the tablet.

It contained the testimony of Centurion Syphax, saying that he and another Centurion Bitheas were the masterminds who instigated the Twin Legions to attack Lilybius and attempt to kill the son of the high priest. However, Syphax also confessed that his superior was the military tribune Fonteus.

Fonteus, who was also a tribune of Caesar's Tenth Legion and now his military academy, rolled his eyes at Turinus as he held a tablet covered with the seals and signatures of confessors. "I deny these absurd accusations. All the information I have now shows that the mutiny of the Twin Legions was just the private behavior of several centurions. The only connection between them and me is that they are all veterans of my adoptive father, His Excellency Caesar. But how can I convict them based on this alone? Am I responsible for the crimes of all my adoptive father's veterans in the future? This is completely illegal and will be the greatest shame of civil law if it gets out." After carefully considering the words, Turinus licked his cracked lips and handed them to the man who was convicted. The high priest asked the slave to be released and sent to the jury. He also made a request, "I am very thirsty now, please give me water."

When Turinus' request was passed to the audience, the high priest suddenly cried. He quickly asked the slaves to bring in water, wine and wheat cakes. Then he stood up and asked for a temporary adjournment to give his children and guardians appropriate treatment, but Cicero also stood up and retorted, "High priest, I must warn you that you are just an audience. The progress and trial of this case have nothing to do with you and me!"

The whole court suddenly quarreled. Finally, Bisso knocked on the table and said, "The defendant can be given a quarter of a second to rest." Only then did it quiet down.

After a while, a new witness came on stage, and the door of Turinus' room was opened again. Turinus raised his face with hope, and then the freed slave handed him a brand new tablet.

The seal of Fonteus' confession was engraved on it, which made Turinus feel like he was hit by a club. He almost lost his grip on the tablet. He seemed to remember that all the people around him were traitors: Maecenas was an open traitor, and Fonteus was a secret traitor. Didn't this man and Avinus join his army at the first time because they were instructed by their guardian? Later, Avinus died in battle, and he always regarded Fonteus as the person he trusted most, but now he felt that he was wrong. Both Fonteus and Avinus had been deprived of their military positions and insulted by their adoptive fathers. Perhaps in their hearts, they only hated the Julius family, but this hatred was cleverly disguised in Fonteus.

Fonteus confessed: He had received sufficient funds, which he used to bribe two centurions and the twin legions, and to attack the city of Lilybi.

However, Fonteus did not say that he had a higher superior, or rather, he took all the blame on himself without revealing any additional people, which finally relieved Turinus. He was even more puzzled about Fonteus's position afterwards.

"I have no idea about Fonteus's behavior, and what he wants to do has nothing to do with me. In addition, as far as I know, he was dismissed by my adoptive father for inciting a mutiny. Perhaps mutiny is his greatest hobby and interest in his life?" Turinus engraved these words on the back of the tablet again and handed it to the freed slave.

"What's your name?"

"Diros, my lord."

"Is it the hometown where Apollo was born?"

"How should I know? I know a little Greek, so my master released me and gave me this name." Diros placed the pitcher on the ground, then took the tablet and walked out.

Turinus lay on the pitcher and drank it in big gulps. After drinking it, he began to cry. He missed his mother and sister. Of course, what Turinus feared most was that he would be betrayed and interrogated. What role did Corinna play in it?

He just passively thought about it.

(End of this volume) (To be continued..)