in a kingdom far away, the reign of the great King Justice came to a tragic and untimely end. the people were very sad because King Justice had been a good ruler, and had created the court system that had greatly reduced personal conflicts throughout the land, and also because the Queen was pregnant with the King's first son.

the Queen felt that the knight, Sir Innoxius, with whom she had once quarreled, had to have murdered her husband, and accused him in the courts. However, all of the clerics in the kingdom ruled that the death of King Justice had been of natural causes, and there was no evidence that Innoxius had anything to do with it. He was cleared by the courts.

the Queen fell into depression, and wailed that her husband's murderer had been freed from justice by his own courts, and she went to the royal council and demanded that the courts be disbanded. but the royal councilors all said that they would support no move against the courts, that the courts themselves had become a foundational institution for the legitimacy of the kingdom itself. the Queen knew she did not have the power to force the council, but she was cunning, and she knew that after she had her son, and he came of age and took the throne, she could get her way through him.

and the Queen delivered the boy king, and kept him away from all others, and she ruled in his stead until he came of age. she crowned him on his twelfth birthday, King Listner. and the first official act of King Listner was to dissolve the courts. the boy king assured the royal council and all of the nobles that he would bring a new era of law and order to the kingdom, because he would believe victims. and he further assured them that it was extremely unlikely that any accusation could ever be untrue.

now, most of the nobles and the royal council were dismayed, but they would not openly defy the new king, and they satisfied themselves that he would soon tire of hearing all cases himself, and that experience in deciding cases would disabuse him of his belief in all accusations. and the king began to hold court with his two trusted advisors, Sir Miles Albus, his mentor and the only one he associated with when his mother had secreted him away as a boy, and his uncle, King Justice's brother, Duke Vertas.

the king listened to the victims who came to court and believed them, and dispensed the king's justice onto all of the accused. and all was well. one day a case came before the boy king involving an accusation of theft. a miller from an outlying village was accused of stealing a farmer's horse, but the miller insisted that he was only moving the horse to save it from a fire that had broken out on the farm. after reviewing all of the testimony, King Listner and his advisors were convinced that the farmer was telling the truth, that he believed the miller wanted to steal, but also that the miller was telling the truth, and that there had definitely been a fire, and his actions had saved his neighbor's property. the king dismissed the case and did not punish the farmer for bringing a false case.

Duke Vertas had been skeptical of the king's theories on justice since the beginning and saw his opportunity to make his point. "have we not just witnessed a case of a false accusation, my king?" he asked. but before the king could answer, Sir Miles Albus interjected, "no my lord, the facts that the farmer reported were correct. it is not up to a farmer to know what actions and mental states constitute a crime. you must continue to listen and believe, and not be deterred by a factual error. there is no such thing as a perfect victim." and the king pronounced, "victims deserve to have their voices heard. court is adjourned for the day". and so the king went on listening and believing.

and a case came to the king's court about boy who was accused of holding a girl against her will. and just before the king was about to pass sentence, the girl stepped forward, and admitted that she had made up the story to excuse herself from coming home late. she was very sorry, she said, but she had never thought that the constable in her village would identify any boy to punish. and the king dismissed the case and did not punish the girl for false claim.

and Duke Vertas brought up again the subject that was always on his mind, and asked that the king reconsider whether there could be such a thing as a false accusation. but Sir Miles Albus interrupted and pointed out that the girl had not named the boy. he was no more falsely accused than any other boy was by the girl. the king declared, "victims must be heard, court is adjourned for today". and he continued to listen and believe.

a case came to court about a milk maid who was accused of stealing some coins and smuggling them in her milk buckets. when all the evidence had been heard, the king was about to pass sentence when a villager stepped forward and confessed to the crime. "the local constables only thought she was guilty because the bucket was the only place they could think anyone could have carried the coins, but I cleverly hid them in specially made shoes. it was very painful, and I had to keep my face calm and not show my pain as I carried them away." and the king dismissed the case and ordered compensation for the coins' owner.

and Duke Vertas sat forward, but before he could speak, Sir Miles Albus said, "surely you're not about to bring up your continual skepticism now? we've just seen confession that this crime did occur. why do you not want to believe victims?" and the king glared at his uncle and said, "victims must all be listened to and believed. court is adjorned." and the king continued to listen and believe.

a case came to court about a cobbler who had murdered a boy in retribution for the murder of his son. and the king was at the point of pardoning the cobbler on grounds of mental anguish and pronouncing the deceased boy guilty when the constable of his village burst in to reveal that he had found the cobbler's son alive. and the cobbler's wife revealed that she had told the cobbler her son had been murdered because she thought the other village boy was creepy and suspected him when she couldn't find her boy. and the king dismissed them with a warning to the wife not to be so reckless and an order to the cobbler to pay compensation to the family of the village boy.

and Duke Vertas pointed out that this had been a false accusation. but before the boy king could answer, Sir Miles Albus argued back that the murder of the cobbler's boy had been reported to the cobbler, not to the constabulary. the cobbler's wife may have been reckless, and the cobbler quick to anger, but they did not involve law enforcement, and so no false accusation had been made. the king said, "all victims deserve to be heard. court is adjourned" and he continued to listen and believe.

and all the kingdom cried out for justice in the case of the poor girl, Jacqueline, when she told her local noble lady, Sabine Erdlemde who in turn, sent out carrier pigeons to hire all the town criers in all the villages of the kingdom, about a horrid tale of abuse and violence. young Jacqueline had been taken by a youth named Haven Mondragon to a meeting of his chapter of the stonecutter's guild, where she had been subjected to agonizing torture as part of an initiation ritual. all around the kingdom, the people understood that if such a thing were an initiation, then all of the stonecutters, especially in Jacqueline's village, had likely participated in satanic debauchery and torture. and all the guild halls suspended further activities and many stonecutters went into hiding. and there was a trial, and Haven Mondragon was found guilty in absentia and ordered to be castrated, and flogged and hung in a cage to starve to death as soon as he could be located, and an investigation was ordered.

and the constables investigated and reported to the king, that Haven Mondragon did not exist, and that there was no event at the stonecutter's guild on the night in question, and that the girl, Jacqueline made statements that were clearly untrue, and that no part of her story could be verified, and that much of her story was contradicted by other witnesses.

and Duke Vertas said that is was a horrible travesty, and that every stonecutter had been accused a hundred thousand times over, to every citizen within earshot of a town crier, of a horrible thing that had never happened. but Sir Miles Albus pointed out that the accused, Haven Mondragon, did not exist. therefore there was no false accusation, because there was no falsely accused person. and the king said, "this story has caused us to have an important conversation about the importance of believing victims. all victims must be heard and believed". and he continued to listen and believe.

and Sir Innoxius came to court. and he stated that the King Listner's own mother, the Queen herself, was a witch, and that she had caused her husband's death, and blamed Innoxius to hide her guilt.

and Duke Vertas said nothing.

and Sir Miles Albus said nothing.

and King Listner ordered his mother burned at the stake for treason and murder and witchcraft. and she was burned to nothing.

and he continued to listen and believe.