Chapter 123
Hadel waited until all the nobles had examined the secret agreement, then finally spoke.
“Very well. Since you plead so earnestly, we will verify this for the sake of fairness. There’s no need to drag this out, so I’ll send someone to the ducal residence immediately to retrieve the verification solution. Any objections?”
The final question was directed at the nobles. They maintained a quiet silence.
“I see none. Then, in two hours, we shall resume the trial.”
“Y-Your Majesty… I am deeply grateful, Your Majesty!”
Nella wept tears of joy. Little did she know what awaited her.
After declaring the recess, Hadel immediately hid himself and headed to the Duke’s residence. He intended to seize the “real seal” while the Duke was busy handing the solution to his servant.
However, Hadel returned not only with the seal but also with shocking news.
“It seems Duke Balkyrino has disappeared.”
“…What?”
“There wasn’t a single person in that massive ducal residence. We could probably find traces if we looked, but I didn’t have time for that, so I just came back.”
Hadel delivered the shocking news with a serious expression.
Hearing his words, I fell into deep thought.
The Duke’s disappearance at this timing—what could he be thinking?
Moreover, the fact that everyone in the household had vanished was beyond strange.
“For now… let’s deal with the immediate issue.”
There was no time to be shocked by Hadel’s news.
I extended my hand to him.
“Did you get the seal?”
“Of course. Here. Are you going to work on it right away?”
“I have to.”
Taking the “real seal” Hadel pulled from his breast pocket, I transformed the forged document into an authentic one.
‘The Duke’s disappearance was unexpected. Perhaps this charade is no longer necessary.’
[We found traces of large-scale military exercises after searching the southern islands thoroughly.]
Rahu’s words flashed through my mind. If it was all true, if it was connected to the Duke’s current disappearance… then this forged document would likely become useless.
Still, since human affairs are unpredictable, it’s best to be thorough.
Soon after, the servants and knights who had officially gone to the Balkyrino ducal residence returned.
They had gone to retrieve the special solution to determine whether the seal on my document was genuine or fake.
To cut to the conclusion, they returned empty-handed.
Entering the courtroom with urgent expressions, they prostrated themselves and shouted loudly.
“Y-Your Majesty! The Balkyrino ducal residence is completely empty!”
For a moment, the nobles just blinked, not understanding what this meant.
I, too, would not have understood had Hadel not told me beforehand.
“What do you mean? Empty?”
At Hadel’s question, the servant explained in more detail.
“When we knocked on the door of the ducal residence to receive the solution, it was eerily quiet. Following Your Majesty’s command, we entered without the head’s approval, but…”
The servant paused and swallowed hard.
“Duke Balkyrino and his servants were nowhere to be seen!”
“…So you’re saying there was no one in the ducal residence?”
Hadel, though already aware, pretended to be surprised as he asked.
The servant nodded and answered.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Therefore, we could not bring back the solution. The situation was suspicious, so we searched thoroughly, but couldn’t find anything.”
Only then did the nobles begin to stir.
While Lady Balkyrino was on trial for attempted assassination of the imperial family, the Duke who should have been protecting her had suddenly vanished along with his servants.
In this situation, there was only one conclusion to draw.
“S-surely not…!”
“Has he abandoned the Lady?”
“That aside, where on earth did they all go?”
“Leaving a ducal residence in the capital without the Emperor’s formal approval is a serious crime!”
“The Duke has gone mad, absolutely mad.”
“If the Lady is convicted, even a ducal family won’t escape responsibility.”
“But wait, wasn’t the ducal family’s seal on that document earlier? Then this wasn’t the Lady’s solitary act…!”
All kinds of speculation ran rampant.
As the nobles’ voices grew louder, Nella visibly panicked, her eyelids trembling.
I let the commotion continue for a while, then signaled to Hadel.
It was time to begin. If my prediction was correct, time was of the essence.
Hadel’s pink eyes swept over the nobles. His gaze eventually turned to Nella, who was at a complete loss.
“Lady Balkyrino, you have more to explain now. Where has the Duke gone, and why has he disappeared?”
“I-I know nothing… nothing at all, Your Majesty!”
Nella collapsed to the floor and burst into tears.
The vicious expression from moments ago had completely vanished. Now she wore a glass-like face that triggered protective instincts.
“Your Majesty! Please consider this girl’s innocence! Sob Sob I truly knew nothing about this! Please believe me…!”
Chicken-pea sized tears rolled down Nella’s pale cheeks, leaving marks on the marble floor.
Seeing only this scene, one would feel compelled to embrace her shoulders and comfort her.
Even the nobles who had been frowning at Nella just moments ago now wore expressions of pity.
“Since the Lady appears so wronged, perhaps she truly knew nothing.”
“Indeed. Thinking about it, the Duke of Balkyrino might have orchestrated everything—it would be difficult for a powerless young lady to undertake such a serious matter.”
“So the Duke Balkyrino planned everything and framed his daughter?”
“That makes sense, doesn’t it? The Duke has disappeared. He’s clearly cutting her off like a tail and plotting something else.”
“But I don’t understand what kind of scheme he could be planning at this point. Hasn’t his crime been fully exposed?”
Amidst the nobles’ whispers, Nella had somehow transformed into a pitiful, wretched woman.
She remained prostrate, shoulders heaving as she continued to sob.
At this rate, the Balkyrino ducal family would face extinction—what could she possibly be relying on?
‘Surely she isn’t foolish enough to think Hadel will actually save her?’
Until now, Nella had been an easy person to read. But her current behavior was utterly incomprehensible.
If the ducal family fell, so would Nella. And vice versa. That was the natural order of things when bound by family.
If Nella went down, Duke Balkyrino couldn’t escape unscathed either.
Nevertheless, they both seemed intent on abandoning each other.
<We need to locate the Duke first.>
I signaled to Hadel again.
Hadel nodded slightly and looked down at Nella.
“You know nothing… But your signature is on that document as well, Lady Balkyrino. Yet you continue to claim ignorance?”
“It’s forged, Your Majesty! I swear I never wrote such a thing!”
Nella’s tearful outburst began again. Her trembling purple eyelashes looked so pitiful they could wrench the heart of any onlooker.
But Hadel responded with a dry expression.
“Then we need to verify whether it’s forged or not. But currently, there’s no one at the ducal residence, is there? I’m at a loss for how to verify this.”
His voice didn’t sound troubled at all.
His expression remained rigid and utterly indifferent.
After Hadel’s words, silence fell over the courtroom. With only Nella’s occasional sobs breaking the quiet, I slowly rose from my seat.
Feeling all eyes turn to me, I spoke in a solemn voice.
“Your Majesty, may I say something?”
Hadel’s pink eyes filled with warmth as he looked at me. He answered with a gentle smile.
“Of course.”
“Actually, after exposing Lady Balkyrino’s crimes…”
I glanced briefly at Nella before continuing.
“I also wanted to accuse Duke Balkyrino. The charges being—”
I took a deep breath. The words about to leave my mouth would cause quite a stir.
“The assassination of the late Emperor and the imperial family, and framing the Deache family for it.”
For a moment, time seemed to freeze in the courtroom, and not a sound could be heard.
A fleeting moment where even breathing seemed cautious.
I coldly recounted Duke Balkyrino’s crimes in detail.
“Ten years ago, to cover up this crime, the Duke tried to kill me as I was heading to the imperial palace. Attempted noble murder.”
I had already secured all the evidence.
Originally, I had planned to only accuse him of framing the Deache family and attempting to kill me.
However, at Marquis Melliot’s residence, I discovered something even more shocking.
That it was Duke Balkyrino who had killed the late Emperor and all his direct imperial family members ten years ago.
It was clear that regicide was a far graver crime than attempted noble murder.
An incomparable act of high treason.
So I mentioned the imperial assassination first to shock the nobles.
‘The result is… a great success.’
I controlled my face as I watched the nobles still reeling from the shock.
The corners of my mouth kept trying to curl upward.
I continued:
“Furthermore, the Lady also… tried to poison me recently. It seems the Balkyrino ducal family harbors great resentment toward me and the Deache family.”
I casually added the Deache family.
It wasn’t untrue. Without Hadel’s protection, the entire Deache family would have been executed ten years ago.
The nobles still sat there with blank expressions, unable to say anything.
Some had their mouths agape in disbelief—these were likely those with no connection to the incident ten years ago.
The families that had cooperated with the Balkyrino ducal family. I had secured their names, but seeing them with my own eyes made it even more certain.
When I finished speaking, Hadel finally opened his mouth.
“Yes, so that’s what happened…”
His words were thick with murderous intent. Whether he failed to contain it or chose not to, I’m not sure, but the anger and bloodlust that leaked out caused all the nobles’ faces to turn deathly pale.
‘You’re overdoing it, acting this shocked when you already knew.’
He seemed to be trying to intimidate the nobles…
That’s when it happened. Who knows where she found hope, but Nella suddenly brightened her eyes and began crawling toward Hadel’s feet.
“Y-Your Majesty! Ah, Your Majesty…!”
“…?”
“Did you hear, Your Majesty? I, I am innocent!”
What is she talking about now?
I don’t understand how she reached that conclusion.
Hadel looked down coldly at Nella who had approached right in front of him.
Despite this, Nella, pleased about something, smiled with the corners of her mouth and grabbed Hadel’s hem.
“Everything was a plot orchestrated by Duke Balkyrino, Your Majesty! I knew nothing! I was merely used… sob!”
Just as Nella’s tears were about to fall to the floor after rolling down her cheeks—
Without a moment’s hesitation, Hadel removed his outer robe.
As the red robe fell with a thud in front of Nella, both she and the nobles widened their eyes, not understanding the meaning.
“Y-Your Majesty…?”
Nella’s questioning purple eyes alternated between the robe and Hadel.
Hadel spoke with disgust in his voice.
“I value cleanliness, you see.”
Nella’s eyes grew larger, and she gripped the clothes more tightly.
“Something dirty touched it, so I must discard it. Trash belongs in the trash can.”
No one in the room failed to understand Hadel’s casually dropped remark.
“Y-Your Majesty…! How, how could you do this to me! Your Majesty cannot treat me this way!”
Shocked, Nella trembled with rage and shouted. As if betrayed by someone she had trusted.
Hadel, without showing the slightest emotion, gestured to a servant.
“Used and knew nothing, you say. Deril, bring that man in.”
