In search of a fair trial, Carrouges traveled to Paris to appeal to the King himself. Knowing that his case depended solely on his wife's testimony and was therefore weak, Carrouges developed a plan: Instead of proceeding with a normal criminal trial, Carrouges would challenge Le Gris to a judicial duel, the survivor of which would thus have been deemed by God to have been the rightful claimant. Such trials-by-combat, once common in France, were rare by 1386 and the chance of one being permitted by the King unlikely. Nevertheless, Carrouges saw this scheme as his best option of procuring justice and redeeming his wife's reputation. A few days after his arrival in Paris, Carrouges was presented to the King at the Château de Vincennes in order to make the first official appeal in the lengthy trial process. In doing so, he captured the imagination of the French court, which later become so fascinated with the Carrouges-Le Gris trial that it would shape its schedule around watching the culminating combat.