Descending On France 1780
Chapter 289 - 282 Majority Justice

Chapter 289: 282 Majority Justice

At the café near Parliament, Robespierre, Dan Dong, and Anning were changing clothes.

While changing, Robespierre murmured, "Are you sure even we need to change costumes?"

"Of course, I only followed suit after you both changed, mainly it’s for you two.

"Maximilien, even though you’re not wearing that green coat anymore, in essence, it’s no different than before, because you come to Parliament every day in the same outfit!"

Dan Dong, pointing at Robespierre, said to Anning.

"You should talk to him; he’s got his Parliament allowance and could wear different clothes if he wanted, but he still chooses that one set every day!"

Robespierre: "It’s not the same set; I bought many identical ones to rotate through. You can ask my landlady Claire if you don’t believe me."

Anning: "Shall we ask that pretty lady? I tell you, Dan Dong, Robespierre has really good taste in picking landladies."

Dan Dong laughed loudly.

Robespierre frowned slightly: "I don’t have any such thoughts!"

"We all know you don’t," said Anning, "but, Maximilien, friends tease each other about such things. If you really can’t stand it, raise the issue formally, and naturally, we will stop mentioning it. Do you object?"

Robespierre hesitated and finally shook his head: "No, let it be. You can tease if you like; it’s not like Paris is short of people who talk about such things."

"So, you’re aware," Anning teased.

Dan Dong: "Just about every man with a wife or fiancée knows; ladies in social circles are very well connected. Maximilien, you should also capitalize on this intelligence channel."

Robespierre: "Alright, are we done changing? Let’s go, take Andy to see Paris’s courts."

Anning looked at himself in the mirror: dressed in a sans-culotte’s common outfit, wearing a liberty cap with a crooked tricolor cockade.

Dan Dong commented, "Not bad, just like a real sans-culotte!"

Anning: "Have you forgotten that I’m actually a leatherworker?"

Robespierre: "If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten that a leatherworker has become the most educated among us. This is the miracle of the Republic."

No, actually it’s the miracle of time travel.

Dan Dong also mocked: "The era he grew up in was the Kingdom Era! Sooner or later, some people will use Andy to argue that the Kingdom Era was better than the Republic."

Robespierre: "I won’t let that happen, because I will eliminate all enemies."

"Yeah right, your Public Security Committee is bankrupt."

The three of them teased each other like this as they left the café.

Before leaving the café, Anning worried that someone would steal his uniform to do evil deeds, but suddenly Vanni appeared: "Leave it to me, there won’t be any problems."

Anning looked at Vanni hesitantly: "Where the hell did you pop out from? Did you just refresh?"

"I’ve been following you the whole time; you just didn’t notice."

Are you an assassin? Quick, show me your hands and prove you’ve not cut off your ring finger!

Dan Dong: "Miss Vanni! Long time no see. By the way, Andy, do you think your Vanni is prettier, or is Maximilien’s new landlady prettier?"

After seriously considering it, Anning thought Vanni was adorable, but Maximilien’s landlady had a figure.

Anning: "Maximilien’s landlord is good-looking."

Dan Dong whistled, and Robespierre urged impatiently, "Alright, let’s go, let’s go to the courtroom! To give Andy as real an understanding as possible, let’s head to the court in the Saint Anthony District!"

**

Thus disguised, the three Jacobin giants made their way to the courtroom in the Saint Anthony District.

Anning had initially worried whether the three, lacking identification, could sneak in, but both lawyers laughed off his concerns.

Later, Anning realized he had indeed been overanxious.

There was absolutely no identity check at the courtroom, and anyone could enter.

The three giants blended into a crowd and squeezed into the courtroom, where Anning found that there were already a hundred spectators inside, with many more outside, some of whom were peering in through the windows.

The sun had not yet set, but the courtroom had already resorted to lighting candles due to too many people crowding the windows.

In the center of the courtroom was a small open space, beside which several wig-wearing individuals squeezed together behind a small table—those were probably the judges and the clerk.

A woman who looked to be the landlady of a tavern was delivering an impassioned speech in the open space: "This man is the nephew of the Marquis of Evrymon! The Marquis himself, when ruling his domain, took sadistic pleasure in the wanton slaughter of his serfs!

"They once captured a brother and sister, tormenting them to death in their castle! After the revolution, the Marquis was retributed by the locals, gutted and hung at the gates of his castle!

"Such an evil family, every member of the household must pay with their lives for their sins!"

When the woman finished, the surrounding crowd angrily chanted, "Death penalty! Death penalty!"

After the chants subsided, the woman continued: "We are being very merciful now, actually, we should follow the locals’ treatment of the Marquis, gutting him as well! Because that’s how the Marquis treated his own people!"

The crowd once again cried out: "Death penalty!"

The judge had to knock on the table many times to quiet everyone down, then asked the defendant: "Do you have anything to say? According to the laws of the Republic, you can defend yourself!"

Defendant: "I am indeed the Marquis’ nephew, but I have long detested their deeds and have severed ties with my family!"

Suddenly, someone shouted: "He admits to being the Marquis’ nephew, death penalty!"

A tidal wave of death penalty cries drowned out everything.

The defendant’s defense couldn’t be heard by anyone, nor did anyone care.

Then the judge directly struck the gavel: "Death penalty!"

The crowd burst into cheers.

Anning was deeply shocked.

Robespierre: "Do you now understand why I had to establish the Public Security Committee? Having a serious and stern institution judge these cases means much lower rates of wrongful convictions compared to this kind of kangaroo court."

Anning: "Why didn’t you just tell me that?"

"How could I possibly say something like ’We’ve killed too many by mistake, so let’s stop’? No, it’s impossible; it would saddle the Republic with original sin. But I do think that this nephew of the Marquis might not be innocent. Even if he is now, in the future, he could become an enemy of the Republic." Robespierre finished speaking and glanced again at the defendant.

The defendant had already been taken away, and as he was led through the crowd, many spat on his face, and some took advantage of the chaos to brutally punch his head.

Robespierre: "Do you want to keep watching? We might encounter a situation where everyone shouts innocence. From my observation, it’s about fifty-fifty."

Anning: "No, I’ve seen enough once. Let’s go drink at the Jacobin Club instead."