Translator: Nox

Chapter 9

There was some debate, but in the end, everyone had no choice but to agree that this was the only way.

A short while later.

"The holy trial will resume tomorrow."

Ruelian declared.

Murmurs arose from the gallery, but who would dare argue with the judge's decision? The spectators dispersed, looking forward to the next day.

The Rosen Duke Family's lavish carriage also returned home.

"His Grace the Duke has returned!"

The atmosphere had been chaotic due to the young miss's trial, but the servants quickly pulled themselves together.

They kept their mouths firmly shut and resumed their duties. A tense silence hung over the main building and annexes alike.

In the suffocating atmosphere, a grumbling voice came from one corner of the greenhouse.

"Ugh, damn it! When the hell can I quit this?"

The novice gardener boy, who had been sweeping the floor, threw down his broom.

He had perfectly completed the job he was hired for, yet he still hadn't received his final payment. He was told to lay low until the duchess was definitely executed.

"Damn it!"

Frustrated, he kicked the broom hard, when suddenly he heard footsteps.

The boy hurriedly picked up the broom and pretended to sweep.

But the footsteps grew louder, turning into the sound of someone running hurriedly.

"Who's there?"

The moment he turned around, knights from the duke's house emerged from between the trees.

The boy was startled and tried to step aside, but he couldn't dodge in time and was shoved to the ground.

"Oof, sorry about that."

The knights helped the boy up and grabbed him. The boy gaped, unable to speak...

"You should've been more careful."

He froze in that position at the sudden voice.

Someone appeared from behind the knights.

Blonde hair and rose-colored eyes. A noble lady with a face like a work of art sculpted by God, wearing a venomous smile as she approached lightly on her feet.

It was a sight that would wake anyone in the mansion even from sleep.

The boy was dumbfounded.

'What? Why is the duchess here? Isn't she supposed to be detained at the Holy Church right now?'

Duchess Aristina stared at the boy with eyes blazing with venom before lowering her gaze.

His knee below his shorts was scraped and bleeding profusely.

The duchess furrowed her brow.

"Oh dear, you're hurt. It's your fault, so hurry and treat him."

"We don't have any medicine. Ah, this guy happened to have some."

One knight picked it up from the floor. At that moment, the boy's mind went blank.

'Why is that coming out here?'

An opaque square glass bottle with a yellow label reading 'Antiseptic.'

After completing the job, he had thrown that fake antiseptic bottle in the trash.

Yet it had come back. As if possessed by a ghost.

He pinched his cheek, but it was definitely the bottle he had discarded.

When the duchess tilted the bottle toward the floor, the dripping liquid was undoubtedly 'that.'

"Noah Mayer. That's your name, right? Why are you so flustered? This is medicine. The exact antiseptic you used to treat Serene. Now, let's treat your wound."

The duchess already knew everything.

The boy's mind went white with terror.

With her red lips curled up and her gleaming eyes wickedly wide, the approaching Duchess Aristina looked like the devil incarnate.

And that devil was about to pour poison into his wound right now.

"Aaaagh!"

Thrashing while held down, the boy screamed.

"Spare me! Spare me! I don't know anything! Someone just gave me that medicine and told me what to do, and I followed orders!"

"Who was it? The ceremonial maid, right?"

"Yes! B-Brrien..."

At the boy's confession, Duchess Aristina whipped her head around.

A voice echoed from the other side of the greenhouse.

"He says so, Brrien?"

The voice belonged to Duke Karnel.

The curtains draped like interior decor between the trees were pulled back, revealing another scene.

Duke Karnel and two holy knights from the Holy Church sat drinking tea.

Among the twelve ceremonial maids attending them, one face had turned completely pale.

"What do you think, since that criminal says so? Brrien?"

Duke Karnel asked quietly, eyes fixed on the maid.

In the suffocating silence, only the clinking of teacups rang out. Ceremonial maid Brrien's hands trembled uncontrollably.

She finally opened her mouth.

"...I know nothing about it."

"Know nothing? Why are you suddenly playing dumb? You met me behind the carriage unloading area this morning and talked!"

Excited, the boy shouted in his rough slum accent.

"You can't just leave me to take the fall so you can save yourself! You pulled strings to get me hired without anyone knowing and gave me this bottle! You told me exactly which part to injure when the pretty duchess entered the greenhouse and how to do it! You said to pour plenty so it soaks in well while pretending to treat it!"

I won't take the fall alone. That fierce determination showed on the boy's face.

"Here, here. This is the money that woman gave me as payment. This is half, and the other half was to come after your family's duchess was executed. When I said I didn't believe it, that Brrien wrote an IOU in her sibling's name. Here it is."

Irrefutable evidence poured out one after another.

'Ha, really...'

Duke Karnel was astounded.

He was impressed that his daughter's plan had succeeded so neatly, but on the other hand, he was furious beyond endurance at the culprit's brazen face.

"D-Duke, please have mercy..."

Ceremonial maid Brrien trembled so violently before Duke Karnel's lethal gaze that she could barely stand.

The duke didn't even glance her way as he spoke.

"With evidence like this, we have no choice but to investigate."

"Yes!"

The knights rushed off and returned shortly after.

"One of the floorboards under her bed in the dormitory seemed loose, so we lifted it, and found this."

They presented a brick to the duke.

It looked like an ordinary brick at a glance. But when thrown to the floor and shattered, a gleaming gold bar was revealed inside.

"What is this, Brrien?"

I walked over and said coldly.

"Did Father not pay you enough? Huh?"

Brrien, who had been barely holding on, collapsed at the sight of me, her legs giving out.

"S-Spare me!"

Possessing a villainess who got cursed no matter what she did had felt hopeless, but now I saw there were advantages.

This face was extremely useful for interrogating criminals.

I thought so myself.

These eyes that shone rose-colored in natural light but red in the dark—anyone facing them would surely flash with ultra-high-definition visions of all the cruel and horrific things awaiting them, right?

In that case, I should deliver the fitting line.

I reached out and gripped Brrien's chin.

"Dragging this out will only prolong your suffering."

"...Hic!"

In terror and despair, Brrien finally broke.

"I'll confess everything."

The ceremonial maid, trembling like an aspen, spilled it all.

"......"

Duke Karnel and the observing holy knights' faces gradually hardened as they listened.

* * *

The courtroom was as noisy as a marketplace.

'Aristina clung to Serene again yesterday, causing a commotion, so even the great Ruelian Rackroitz had to declare a recess. But the investigation showed Serene was innocent as expected, and today Aristina won't escape.'

With rumors like that and unlimited public admission, all the noble ladies and young lords who hated Aristina had flocked there.

They stared intently at Ruelian, slouched crookedly in the high seat. Finally, he spoke.

"On the night of July 13th, Duchess Aristina Bianca Rosen trespassed into the sanctuary without permission and plucked the sacred Amarancia flower, committing blasphemy. The sin is immeasurably grave."

Finally! Everyone watched with bated breath...

Unexpected words came from Ruelian's mouth.

"However, according to the duchess herself, this was done deliberately to inform of a revelation from God regarding the attempted poisoning of Duchess Serene Hyperion. She submitted evidence provided by God and claimed her innocence, which revealed the full truth of the incident. Accordingly, the duchess was framed."

What?

Everyone gaped. Ruelian shrugged once.

"Right before the tea party on the day of the incident, Noah Mayer, a thug disguised as a Rosen Ducal House employee, approached victim Duchess Serene Hyperion and deliberately injured her. Then, under the pretext of treatment, he poisoned her with a substance that reacts with blood to become a lethal toxin and infiltrates the body."

He flipped through a few pages of documents.

"This was a scheme to frame third party Duchess Aristina during the subsequent reconciliation ritual. The one who hired Noah Mayer was ceremonial maid Brrien Evans from the duke's house. And the one who bribed Brrien Evans was..."

There, Ruelian scanned the gallery briefly.

"Charlotte Remiel."

Everyone turned to look in one direction as if on cue. A noble lady stood there rigidly.

Her face had already turned ashen since the full story began to emerge.

'The real culprit has finally appeared.'

I stared straight at her.

The eldest daughter of the prestigious knight family Remiel.

Wearing a modest violet dress with her silk-gloved hands demurely clasped, an elegant and refined noble lady.

This Charlotte Remiel was the mastermind behind it all.

She shouted brazenly.

"This is absurd slander!"

"Who are you talking to? I just made that judgment. Are you saying I'm slandering you? Add contempt of court."

Ruelian slammed down the stack of documents with a thud. His attitude was businesslike yet menacing.

"It's all here in the evidence. The maid confessed everything. She was originally an old employee from your house, right? Thanks to her experience serving in a prestigious knight family, she was hired as a ceremonial maid in the Rosen Ducal House. All the records of where and how you two met to plot are inside..."

He flipped through the documents casually.

"Based on that movement, we investigated, and already three witnesses have come forward? One is the black market merchant who sold you the poison. The owner of the 'Blue Windmill' tavern by Lucia Bridge. Who would've thought? The daughter of a renowned knight family associating with such scum."

They'd even done a full background check already.

I was impressed. Recruiting Ruelian was truly a divine move.

With astonishing drive and focus, gathering all the evidence and pinning the culprit down like that.

No wonder his followers worshipped him like a god.

"......"

As irrefutable evidence poured out, even the last trace of color drained from Charlotte's brazen face.

She could no longer hold out and collapsed, her legs giving way.

Ruelian ordered.

"Bind her."

"Yes!"

The holy knights stepped forward.

From here on, it was no longer religious jurisdiction but legal. The real culprit was to be tightly bound and dragged to the security bureau.

At that moment.

"Wait."

I shouted.

"I have one question for the culprit."

Relief washed over me as the one who tried to frame and destroy me was caught, but at the same time, I was puzzled.

'Why on earth?'

Among the countless enemies I'd have to draw numbers to line up for, Charlotte Remiel wasn't someone I remembered.

'I focused intently even on passing extras.'

Under everyone's watch, I approached Charlotte and asked.

"Why on earth did you do this to me?"

"Why?"

Charlotte jerked her head up. Her eyes burned with hatred.

I flinched inwardly. But I couldn't back down.

'I'm really curious.'

For survival, collecting and analyzing past cases is crucial.

Why did this person harm me? I need to know to inform future strategies.

With fierce determination to extract information, I pressed her even more venomously.

"Spit it out! There must be a reason you framed me so viciously!"