[Yanfei: Looking at it this way, Fontaine's laws really are harsh!]
[Neuvillette: This shouldn't be right. This shouldn't be right.]
[Yae Miko: This twist is just too...]
[Amber: Let's hope the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale is broken!]
In the video.
Not only were the people watching the livestream dumbfounded, everyone sitting in the opera house was utterly shocked as well.
As Neuvillette's voice fell silent, an uproar swept through the audience.
"Did I hear that right?!"
"The... the... the... death penalty?!"
"The death penalty actually exists? I always thought it was just a legend!"
"The only death sentence in history has fallen on someone we always thought was a god. How dramatic..."
Paimon: "Furina was actually sentenced to death? No way, th-this... this... At first, we were only planning to bluff her into telling us what she knew... How did it get to this point?!"
From the very beginning, when Furina had chosen not to evade the issue as they had expected, but had instead reached straight in, this trial had already begun heading in a direction they could hardly have predicted.
Neuvillette: "This outcome is indeed somewhat unexpected... Under Fontaine's existing rules concerning justice and trials... surely the crime Furina committed should not warrant a sentence as severe as death..."
Paimon: "Right, even Vacher wasn't sentenced to death, and the case of the missing girls he caused created quite a stir."
Lumine: "But what's even stranger is... Neuvillette just said that the Hydro Archon was sentenced to death, not Furina!"
Neuvillette: "That's right. Furina absolutely should not be sentenced to death, and the purpose of this trial was to determine whether Furina was truly the Hydro Archon..."
"Now she has been found guilty, yet this paper issued by the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale still says 'Hydro Archon.' That seems somewhat contradictory!"
Questions arose in everyone's minds.
Suddenly, Freminet's voice rang out in the quiet opera house, somewhat breathless.
"Huff-huff-"
"Sorry to interrupt..."
"How far along is your trial?"
Seeing him, Lyney stood up and greeted him. "Freminet, you're finally here. Then I take it you've completed the task [Father] gave you!"
Freminet: "Of course. Since it was a request from [Father], it naturally took priority over everything else."
With that, Freminet waved his hand, and several Fatui worked together to carry a stone tablet up and set it on the stage with a heavy thud.
Paimon glanced at it and asked curiously, "Why does this stone tablet look so familiar? Could it be... the missing tablet we couldn't find in the ruins that day?!"
"I never expected [The Knave] to actually send Freminet specifically to look for this tablet!"
Freminet: "Of course. When Father said we would change the prophecy, those weren't just empty words. It took me a very long time to find it on the seabed, though most of that time was wasted avoiding dangerous waters..."
"Wait, from the looks of things, has your trial already ended? Am I... am I late? Oh no, have I disappointed Father..."
Lumine shook her head. "You're not late. We haven't resolved all our questions yet. You came just in time."
Neuvillette descended from his high platform and came onto the opera house's stage. He gazed steadily at the stone tablet before him, then said to Freminet, "Thank you very much, Mr. Freminet. The contents of this tablet are extremely important to us!"
With that, he turned to Lumine again. "Traveler, and Paimon, come over and take a look as well. After all, you've seen the other tablets."
Looking at the image on the tablet, Lumine fell into thought.
Paimon: "Hmm? What does the picture on this... mean?"
Lumine thought for a moment, then said with a hint of uncertainty, "This... seems to mean... that the former Hydro Archon used her divine power... to turn these Oceanids into humans."
Neuvillette: "I believe I now understand what the so-called [Hydro Archon's sin] identified by the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale actually is. This is the truth we have been trying to find all along."
"Huh, the truth? What does this have to do with the Hydro Archon's sin...?" Paimon was somewhat puzzled.
Paimon: "So the sin that the real Hydro Archon committed was what the Traveler just said?"
Furina remained seated in the defendant's stand, still just as she had been before, her head lowered without a word, as though quietly awaiting death, awaiting the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale's judgment. They had already gathered all the tablets. Even her own death could no longer keep these things from them.
[Yanfei: Wait, I've spotted a loophole. Since that machine in Fontaine said the Hydro Archon was sentenced to death, and Furina isn't the Hydro Archon, that means she isn't guilty of anything right now.]
[Hu Tao: Exactly. Right now, I don't want the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to get Furina's business at all!]
[Zhongli: Director, I believe you've misunderstood one thing. Regardless of what happens, Furina would not come here for our services. Fontaine has them too!]
[Hu Tao: Darn you, Consultant Zhongli. You've made this so awkward for me. I'm docking your pay!]
[Zhongli: ... (Completely unbothered, continues drinking tea!)]
[Tartaglia: It's just like, "You're looking for Childe, so what does that have to do with me, Tartaglia?" It says the Hydro Archon, not Furina!]
[Barbara: That's wonderful. It looks like there's still a chance.]
[Ningguang: Presumably, the secret Furina has been determined to keep will also be revealed with the arrival of this tablet!]
[Jean: I certainly didn't expect [The Knave] to actually work toward changing the prophecy. Generally, the Fatui's habit is to muddy the waters first.]
[Lyney: Father always keeps her word.]
Neuvillette continued looking at Lumine as he said, "The pictures on the four tablets should all correspond to events since you arrived in Fontaine."
"So how much can you understand now?"
Lumine: "The connection between the murals carved on the tablets and what we've experienced..."
Paimon: "Hmm, let me think. What was on those tablets we saw in the ruins again... You haven't forgotten, have you?!"
Lumine shook her head. "Of course not."
Paimon: "Let me think. The first thing was..."