Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Rubette's Perjury
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Lark hurriedly cut off the recording crystal and asked,
“What is it?”
His expression was clearly flustered.
“Did it record properly just now?”
In contrast, Rubette calmly pointed her chin at the recording crystal as she asked.
*Thud.* Lark snatched the vial out of the air and barked while checking it.
“What is this?”
“It’s a weight-loss potion. A gift from Princess Lizbet.”
“What?”
“By any chance, have you found a good solution? I heard the princess can’t avoid being dethroned.”
“......”
Lark calmed his agitation, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and spoke.
“We can’t even be sure the real culprit exists. It’s nearly impossible to catch that sorcerer before the council’s final debate next week.”
“Then the princess’s dethronement is confirmed. Could a harsher punishment come down?”
“We have to block that somehow. For now, house arrest has the majority in the council.”
“House arrest? But the princess is innocent.”
“Damn it, I know that.”
Lark, who had been struggling to maintain his composure, finally broke. Clutching his head with trembling hands, he gasped raggedly, looking utterly pitiful.
“Dethronement is unavoidable. But if we catch the real culprit later, we can reinstate her.”
“How long will it take to catch the real culprit? A month? Two? A year? Ten years?”
“......”
“I hate to say this, but in the future I saw originally, the sorcerer’s whereabouts remained unknown forever. If the princess is dethroned this time, there’s no way she’ll be reinstated. We have to assume the worst.”
She wasn’t wrong. Lark closed his eyes tightly and took a breath.
Rubette looked at him pityingly and pulled over a blank sheet of paper and pen from the desk.
“There’s no way for the princess to avoid responsibility. So from now on, we need to aim for a way to at least prevent her dethronement—by seeking mitigation.”
“......What?”
“Is it okay if I write on this?”
Lark nodded, and Rubette swiftly wrote something on the blank paper without hesitation.
A witness to prove the sorcerer exists.
“The princess says she got poison from the sorcerer, but since that sorcerer vanished into thin air or burrowed into the ground, and it’s unclear if he even exists, her claim is being dismissed.”
“......”
“So we just need to create one fake witness who claims to have seen the sorcerer.”
Lark’s eyes narrowed.
He’d considered something like that. But...
“A witness who personally bought medicine from the sorcerer would be even better.”
Rubette added as she scribbled with the pen again.
Circumstances showing the princess didn’t seek out the sorcerer first, but met him through the witness’s introduction.
“The witness introduced the sorcerer to the princess, and she just met him because of that introduction.”
Rubette set the pen down with a *thud*.
“This should be enough. It proves the sorcerer exists, and shows the princess didn’t seek him out on her own.”
“......”
“Anyway, most council nobles won’t believe the princess did this of her own will. What would a child know? But someone has to take responsibility for this incident, and she’s the only one, so it’s frustrating.”
“......”
“The way to turn this around is to split the responsibility between two people. Set up a fake witness to share the princess’s ‘mistake’ and take half the punishment.”
Rubette picked up the pen again and wrote a few more words.
Minor.
Acquainted with Princess Lizbet.
“A fake witness who’s a minor would be ideal. If it’s a child who doesn’t know better, it can be considered a mistake. And since they need to testify to introducing the sorcerer to the princess and going to his shop together, they should have some acquaintance with her.”
“Duchess.”
“Yes.”
“I understand what you’re trying to say.”
Lark snatched the paper away. It was a somewhat angry gesture.
“In short, you’re saying to set up an innocent person to commit perjury in order to mitigate Lizbet’s punishment?”
“Yes.”
Lark stared at Rubette with cold eyes and added,
“And make it a child.”
“Yes.”
“......”
“......”
“I misjudged you, Duchess.”
*Grind.* Lark ground his teeth and avoided Rubette’s steady gaze.
“If I were willing to make an innocent lie to resolve this, I’d have just created a fake sorcerer and put him on the guillotine.”
“......”
“There’s a limit to leniency for minors. Commoners get no consideration at all—same crime, much harsher sentence. Just for perjury about introducing the sorcerer to Lizbet, that poor witness would get the death penalty.”
“That makes sense.”
“I’m Lizbet’s brother, but I’m also this empire’s crown prince. I value my sister, but I weigh each imperial citizen’s life equally.”
Rubette met Lark’s resolute gaze head-on, then lowered her head with a slight smile.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“You came all this way with good intentions to help me, so I’ll gratefully accept the thought. Now go.”
Angry, Lark averted his eyes.
“I’m not evil enough to push an innocent person onto the guillotine instead.”
“......”
“The person who best fits the witness conditions I thought of. Someone who can share the crime with the princess without facing execution. A noble from a family with some power, around the princess’s age, a foolish young lady—that would be perfect.”
Rubette picked up the vial rolling on the desk and added,
“And I’ll do it.”
“......What?”
Lark scowled deeply and glared at her.
“This is a weight-loss potion, for sure. I looked into it—it’s made from herbs that aid digestion. In simple terms, it makes bowel movements smoother. Usually, you see some initial weight loss from these.”
“......”
“The sorcerer sold the princess this convincingly effective potion first. To gain her trust.”
Holding the vial upright before her eyes, Rubette met Lark’s gaze through the transparent glass and continued.
“I was obsessed with losing weight at the time, too. I found the sorcerer’s shop in the capital first, bought the weight-loss potion, saw results.”
“......”
“If I say I recommended that shop to the princess, whom I was already friends with, there’s no suspicious part at all.”
“You’re saying that now...”
“Yes. I am.”
“Ha.”
“Can you come up with a more perfect alternative than my plan by the final council meeting next week?”
“......”
“You can’t? Then do as I say?”
“No. I can’t let you take responsibility for something you didn’t do. As you say, you wouldn’t get death, but you can’t avoid trial. You’ll get some punishment, heavy or light. And...”
Lark rubbed his forehead in confusion, meeting Rubette’s unwavering gaze.
“I just can’t understand it. Why go this far for me? I never pressed you to help or sacrifice yourself, so why every time, so unconditionally—”
“I feel responsible. The future changed, and Princess Lizbet got framed because of my actions entirely. Because I made a different choice from the original.”
“No, please. Let me make this clear: do not feel needless responsibility or guilt. This is my stupidity, all my fault.”
Lark bit his lip hard.
For him, unfamiliar feelings of self-loathing and helplessness surfaced starkly on his tormented face.
“From the moment you confirmed my political enemy as the 2nd Prince, I got hasty. I acted foolishly without caution—”
“In the end, it was me who moved you, Your Highness.”
Rubette chuckled lightly and gently stroked Lark’s clenched, trembling fist as if soothing it.
“Arguing more between us is pointless. I already tipped off my dad that I was about to cause trouble. So...”
“......”
“Right now, I’ve spent days agonizing and came to turn myself in. To the crown prince, head of this incident’s investigation.”
Pointing her chin at the powered-off recording crystal, Rubette smiled brightly.
“So turn it back on.”
* * *
“Damn it.”
Sitting in the corner of the empty training grounds as dusk fell, Lark cursed himself over and over.
Helplessness and guilt tormented him to the point he couldn’t think straight.
“Ugh, it is kinda scary. Please pull some strings so I get the lightest punishment possible, okay?”
For a full hour, Rubette had given perjured testimony for Lizbet in front of the recording crystal and left.
Her frightened expression, trembling voice, even choking up mid-testimony—it was so convincing no one would dream it was perjury.
Lark couldn’t fathom how much she must have agonized and prepared alone to stage this.
‘She’s just a young girl who knows the future...’
Rubette seemed like someone who had lived through decades and returned.
“Hey, why the long face? It’s basically solved now. How can the one who should be happiest look so glum?”
She even made him, standing before her, feel like the child.
“Smile. Smile big!”
Remembering how she had coaxed his pathetic, self-reproaching self before leaving.
Lark twisted his face in self-mockery.
“Haha... Really, if you do this, I...”
What should he do with you?
“Brother, the evening wind is chilly.”
Just then.
Lark slowly raised his head, which had been bowed to the ground, at the familiar voice from behind.
‘Nathan.’
Lark’s face, turned away from him, was terrifyingly contorted with surging rage.
Soon, Lark slowly stood and turned around.