<h4>Chapter 152: The Court Case XV</h4>


    A deadly silence descended in the room, so quiet that it could be likened to a graveyard. It was obvious the people hadn’t expected Fiona to turn her wicked ws on Ewan, who had been her ardent supporter since day one.


    Shock rendered them speechless, numbing even their minds; they had never seen wickedness disyed in such a fashion. Wasn’t he her fiancé for whom she was fighting so fiercely?


    Ewan was the numbest of them all. His eyes were so fixated on the projector, and he looked like a statue. Aiden felt a wave of pity for him wash over him.


    Sandro rising from his seat broke the trance to some extent. "Athena, what is this? How..." He stuttered and shook his head as tears of anger burned in his eyes. "Is this the reason for the ckouts?"


    "ckouts? What is he talking about, Athena?" Elder Timothy asked, finally finding his voice.


    Over twenty years of ruling the elder council, and he had never witnessed evil disyed in such a way. What breed of people were Alfonso and his daughter? They should be in the same gang as Morgan!


    Athena sighed and moved to the next slide, which disyed someb results. Of course, most of the people in the hall didn’t understand what it referred to, so she had to exin.


    "More than a month ago, while verbally attacking me in my office and defending his fiancée, Ewan had a ckout. During some tests while treating him, I discovered an abnormality in his brain. Yet, I kept quiet until thest test, which was more of a confirmatory test."


    She paused and faced the audience, not sparing Ewan, whose posture and facial expressions remained unchanged.


    "Some of us, if not all, are aware of Ewan’s drowning episode while growing up. That incident messed up a part of his mental faculties, which could have been easily remedied if he had received the right treatments. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The doctors kept misreading his system and misprescribing drugs. Although those drugs did more harm than good, they shouldn’t have caused the extent of damage I witnessed in his brain scan."


    A slight pause.


    "To confirm something, I gave him a particr drug that, while not harming him, would help identify what was wrong by reacting with the unwanted substance. The second test brought it to light."


    Another pause, during which she reverted to the elders. "It is possible that Ewan has been poisoned since he was little, with the Avanti drug..."


    "And what’s that?" Elder Timothy asked, folding his arms across his chest.


    "It is a drug that inhibits brain processes and prevents one from remembering if thetter has amnesia. Further confirmation came when he had an episode at my ce on Christmas Day. Why Fiona would feed Ewan this drug, I do not know, but it’s obvious that she doesn’t want him to remember something important. If this poisoning has been going on since he was little, it would mean that Alfonso and his wife orchestrated it, most likely after his parents died."


    Margeret shifted on her feet as she became the center of attention. Even those sitting around her shifted away, having been doing so ever since Athena began presenting her evidence.


    "Margeret, are you aware of this?" Elder Timothy’s intense gaze made her jerk in surprise.


    Margeret had no choice but to nod somberly. Hadn’t she vowed to be a changed person after her near-death experience?


    "You mean Doctor Athena is right about her diagnosis? You and your family have been poisoning the sole survivor of the Gietti family?"


    Margeret nodded again, shutting her eyes as a wedge sandal struck her cheek. She felt her nose begin to run with blood.


    "It wasn’t meant for him to die, but for him to forget. We didn’t know it would cause other harm to his body."


    "What were you people trying to make him forget?"


    Margeret paused her lips as Alfonso turned to face her with softened eyes.


    Should she betray her family in such a way? She noted Fiona’s stoic back, her body marked with red scratches from various shoe throws. They were already doomed to suffer from the evidence Athena had presented. Should she then proceed to drive another nail into the coffin?


    "To make him forget the drowning experience. It kept bringing up nightmares for him."


    "So, the ckouts weren’t enough telltale signs that something was wrong?" Athena took over the questioning, sensing that Margeret was lying about this particr question.


    "Not at all. If we had known, we wouldn’t have continued..."


    "But Fiona was present when Ewan cked out in my office. And this video was just taken a few days ago... what do you have to say then?"


    Margeret fell silent, but Fiona seized the opportunity.


    "I thought the ckout was from the drowning incident, not from the drugs," She said, ready to capitalize on the out her mother had given her.


    For a moment, she shifted her curiosity away from how Athena had managed to film within Ewan’s mansion. "But since I know now, I wouldn’t give him the drug again..." She added meekly, as if her previous misdeeds hadn’t beenid bare for all to see.


    Sandro hissed loudly. "Again? Fiona, there will be no chance for that! I don’t want to see you near Ewan again!"


    Athena sat down then, dramatically shaking her head. "So, Elder Timothy, tell me," She began somberly, ignoring the nk state of Ewan, who bowed his head and was staring at his fingers.


    "How can I trust my children to a foolish man blind to the evilness of his fiancée, who could not even heed his friends despite their warnings about this wicked woman? Who is even nonchnt about his own health?"


    Silence engulfed the room again.


    "Let’s take, for example, the party where I was almost poisoned. It was clear to everyone that Fiona was part of the scheme. It was clear to everyone that Fiona had sacrificed those girls to be ughtered, and yet he defended her, choosing to remain blind to her antics at every turn! Why? Because she is his savior..."


    Athena chuckled softly, shaking her head once more.


    "If she truly saved him years ago, she wouldn’t be alive today, or maybe she would have been mentally unsound!"


    Athena unplugged the projector and gathered her things into her bag.


    "With all this, Elder Timothy, I am sure I am done with this case."