"That's correct. No violence had occurred before that night."

"Did the crowd give any indication of what had inspired them to come surround your home and murder your family?"

"They yelled that we should bring out the devils."

That's — that's wrong, she thinks, it's wrong to kill a seven-year-old even if they're a Hellspawn noble boy who's going to one day be a Hellspawn nobleman. Killing someone who hasn't done anything yet isn't vengeance, it's just murder. 

She's angry at the rioters for killing a child instead of just sticking to the Evil nobles — they didn't even kill him, from the sound of it, they just killed the child, they couldn't even do that right. She's angry at the Hellspawn nobleman for being an Evil Hellspawn nobleman going around serving the Thrunes, and for letting his nephew get killed in his place instead of just listening to Valia when she said to go to the Worldwound, and for being here and alive when so many innocent people aren't. She's angry with the prosecutor for trying to tell everyone that this is what Valia said to do when it wasn't, it would've been illegal to say everyone should kill all the Evil nobility so they didn't say that, and he's lying because he wants an innocent person dead.

Her head is foggy and her heart is pounding and they just keep going, they keep lying about Valia, they keep blaming her for things other people did, it's not enough for them to get away with all the horrible things they did under the Thrunes, they want Valia dead because she told them to stop hurting innocent people—

Well, maybe trials have a purpose after all, in persuading you that you do deserve to die. Valia wishes she could say something to the man. She wrote something, about how she'd wronged him, when she'd thought they might let her speak before the trial, but she can't say it at trial, it'd sound like she was defending herself. It would sound like she was only sorry now, that it had caused her trouble. It surely wouldn't be reassuring to him. Probably if she broke down crying he would only be angry at her, or imagine she felt sorry for herself. 

....no, maybe there's something, because the prosecutor isn't bothering to ask questions that touch on one of the most important betrayals here - 

"I denounced him falsely," she says, as loudly and clearly as she can, which is quite loudly and clearly actually. "He had repented. He had sought the guidance of the Church. I didn't know, but I should have. Priests of Iomedae died defending him. It would have - it would have been a great Evil done even to a guilty man, but he was a repentant one."

"The accused will remain silent until questioned."

If he were repentant he wouldn't be trying to murder Valia for telling him not to hurt people. She should have — she doesn't know — she should have done something, instead of spending hours writing to paladins, should've found a way to save Valia, should have found a way to stop her blaming herself for what this Evil Hellspawn did, she wishes the mob had managed to kill him — she'd be dead but maybe Valia wouldn't be—

Valia, shut up.

"The Defense apologizes for Disrupting the Proceedings, your Honor. It will not be Repeated."

"I have no further questions for this witness, your honor, and submit them to the court."

Llei looks at the Select for a moment when she speaks, startled, and then looks back to the prosecution.

He will... figure out how he feels about that later.

The Court of course knows which author said "if you are a devilspawn, you need not be afraid because you are a devilspawn" and which author wrote "hack every tiefling limb from limb", but counsel has a duty to point this out on the message, and does so.

Beyond that she'll just prepare mentally for the embarrassing, drawn-out suicide of Valia Wain. That's where the trick was after all.

"The court has no questions."

"The prosecution calls as a witness the Countess Eulàlia Avaricia de Seguer."

She is very delighted to help get Valia Wain killed. She will go up to do that.

"Do you swear before the gods of Good and Law, and before this court, and before your Queen, that every word of your testimony is true, and that your integrity as the Countess of Seguer may be verified by magic, should any call it into question?

"I do."

"Were you present for Valia Wain's speech before the convention?"

"I was."

"What was your impression of it?"

She was unsure whether it was the will of the Queen or not. But now she knows the answer to that. "It did not seem to me to be the will of the Queen, but instead an argument that people ought to rebel against her."

"Were you among the categories of people that Wain denounced?"

"...not by a strict reading of her words. I never gave any oath to the evil Thrunes, and do not worship Evil gods, or seek Evil for our country. I have only ever served our noble Queen. But - I imagined that probably everyone seems Evil, to a priestess of Iomedae, so I was still afraid."

"That evening, were you affected by the riots?"

"I woke up to the sounds of the crowd surrounding our manor. They negotiated with the servants, said they were only there to kill all the nobles. I'm a wizard, so I changed my face and slipped out and went to summon the help of the Archduke of Sirmium, who came to disperse the mob and arrest the instigators, though they had killed half a dozen people by the time we returned to stop them."

"Did you hear the mob say anything about what they wanted?"