Chapter 178: Chapter 178. Lie For Lie, Part IV
Editor Group: Liber Reverie
“That… that…!”
Mielle shook her hands and stuttered. Her clear green eyes were filled with tears. Her lips quivered to make excuses, and the seat where Isis had left was full of chill. Her departure meant that Oscar could also leave her.
‘I don’t even have a father to protect me anymore, so what do I do…!’
The eye of Mielle, who was on the verge of losing everything, was on the other side of Aria and Asher. Her forehead, which was stained with cold sweat, heated up at the sight of a mother and a daughter, who were relying on Asher. It was all because of the Crown Prince, who had suddenly appeared and disappeared with Aria.
‘The Crown Prince who had suddenly appeared like a vision and disappeared with Aria.’
She didn’t want to mention that because she couldn’t bring the Crown Prince into the affair, but she was currently not in a position to hide it anymore. So even though she knew that it was not smart to mention the Crown Prince, her mouth began to mention him by itself.
“Well, come to think of it, I saw the Crown Prince in the mansion…!”
“… Me?”
“Your Highness… Your Highness disappeared with my sister, who fell on the floor! You showed up all of a sudden! Like a vision!”
“Ha… You’ll really just say anything, don’t you?”
As he laughed in vain like he was bewildered, Mielle sought consent from the young ladies who had become witnesses.
“I-is that, right? “Lady Median and Lady Wendy?”
It was bizarre that she burst into tears as she walked on an irreversible path.
“… Yes?”
There was no way to say yes. There was no one in the world that could get back onboard a ship that had already sunk. ‘And he appeared like a vision? What a strange world this is!’ So they shook their heads, and Mielle screamed and burst into tears. It had been a long time since her body collapsed under the chair.
No one supported her. Mielle’s condition was very strange, and they were afraid that they might be wrongly linked and severely punished by the Crown Prince.
“Why, why… why don’t you believe me? I saw her. I really saw her… Please someone…!”
Asher, who clicked his tongue at the cry ringing in the court, asked Frey for her psychic feelings.
“… Psychic feelings?”
“I think she’s pretty crazy. She can’t talk like that without it. Look at her condition now.”
“… It’s certainly strange.”
Frey who was positive, and Aria, who blushed with tears this time, said, “… I think you’ll need to check the psychological feelings of the young ladies who were in the mansion. Apparently, I wasn’t there, but they kept saying that they were watching me. Ah! Come to think of it…”
The audience’s curiosity poured on Aria, who opened her eyes wide as if she had thought of something.
“Maybe it was a different party than a tea party. Otherwise, they can’t have a strange memory as a group… I heard that apparently, they stayed in the mansion until late at night, but it’s strange that the underage ladies had been partying so late…”
While staring at Aria, who continued to talk carefully, Asher mentioned the word ‘hallucinogen’. Hallucinogen was not difficult to obtain because it was consumed in secret among some nobles.
Of course, the punishment was strict because it made the mind and body impoverished, but it was not easy to catch them, and there was no attempt to catch them because the imperial family had low authority.
But now… The situation was different since he regained the authority of the royal family with Aria on his back. The mere punishment of little girls was enough with a few instructions, just like now.
“When the trial is over, I’ll have to ask them to investigate first.”
Even before the end of his speech, many of the young ladies, who pretended to not know anything, expressed surprise by swallowing their breath or dropping their fans. Some of them even voiced their opinions, saying, “That’s not true at all.”
“Your Highness! I’m not really! If anyone drank a hallucinogen, they’d be Lady Median and Lady Wendy, who saw Lady Aria!”
“That’s right! I have nothing to do with it! I’ve only seen Lady Aria entering the mansion! It’s true, isn’t it?”
Median and Wendy, who were accused of taking hallucinogens, also began making desperate excuses.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen Lady Aria!”
“Well, me too! I just saw someone’s hair. She’s blond…! I think that’s why I’ve mistaken her for Aria! If you were not in the mansion, it must have been someone else! ”
“Are you saying that you made a mistake because you saw someone with blonde hair?”
“… Yes, yes! I seemed to make a mistake! ”
Wendy replied, nodding hard, as he asked back.
“The other one with blonde hair, who was there… There was only one. Was she really blonde? ”
Wendy realized who she had sold to avoid the situation, and with her palm on her mouth, she swallowed her breath. The cry of Mielle who controlled the court stopped clearly. The corner of the mouth of Aria, who was watching everything, went up a little. The situation turned out better than she had thought.
“Do you mean someone with blonde hair pushed my father…?”
Aria asked back with a surprised face. Her red-glowing eyes looked very sad for some reason. It seemed that she was grieving about the situation and her father.
“Yes…? That, that’s…!”
Wendy, who was pointed for her hasty mouth, hesitated to answer. If she had said she had just misjudged, it would have been okay, but she was questioned as she had mentioned she saw someone who was blonde.
“Lady Wendy…?”
“Please tell me what you know.”
“That’s…”
She hesitated for a long time, but soon she could not help it, nodding her head faintly, and everyone’s eyes turned to Mielle.
“… That can’t be, right? Why are you looking at me?”
Mielle, who stopped crying, countered with a grimace. It was a face they had never seen before from her. Nobody did mention her, but they were driving Mielle to a real criminal.
The number of blonde aristocrats was quite high, but at the time the Count had fallen down the stairs, the golden-haired lady on the third floor was only Mielle. Mielle strongly denied it, but she raised her voice toward the eyes that did not fall off.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m sure you saw her!”
“Mielle…”
Cain, who knew that the real culprit was Mielle, silently closed his eyes and lowered his gaze. All the circumstantial evidence pointed to his sister as the culprit, so he couldn’t open his mouth otherwise.
In addition, if he said something wrong, he would be accused of a claim like Mielle’s. He could not open his mouth as it appeared that the Crown Prince decided to put Mielle in a corner.
“Did you see the face?”
When Frey asked, Wendy, who glanced at Mielle, shook her head calmly. Even if she didn’t say that far, they were able to guess who the real criminal was. However, that didn’t mean the crime would go away.
“I see. That means you framed Lady Aria that had blond hair and a faint shadow. The first testimony you gave said you saw clearly who was going down the stairs.”
“… That’s…”
Perjury was being charged heavily. Many people were imprisoned for making false statements even though they knew. This was because testimony made the greatest contribution to a trial.
Even in light cases, the charge was heavy, but they did the false statements in an attempted murder case that could ruin a person’s entire life. Although the correction was later done, it was obvious that their intentions were highly malicious, so it was clear that they could not avoid a great punishment.
It would be considered if they had done perjury by circumstances beyond their control. However, Median, who was beside Wendy, was trembling and terrified. She suddenly rose from her seat and shouted, “The truth is…! I didn’t say that because I wanted to!”
Median was quite frightened when she said so. At this, Mielle’s face cooled down. Mielle looked like she would not let her go if she said one more word.
When Frey looked at her and asked, “What does that mean?” Median was frightened. She glanced at Mielle. She hesitated and then continued to speak, “It’s… it’s what Lady Mielle told me to say, so I’m forced to…!”
“What are you talking about?”
Mielle, who sprang up to her seat, shouted, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Median crouched and trembled. Wendy was beside her and was also terrified. She began to burst into tears.
Aria was astonished that the two could actually betray Mielle. She covered her mouth with her palm, and the Countess’s eyes rolled back as if she was going to faint.