The Line Drawn Three Times

“...What?”

Flora was thrown into utter disarray by Karsein's blade-sharp line-drawing.

She had braced herself, to some degree, for him to berate her — but she had never imagined she would be cut off this cleanly, before she could even get to the point.

“Why? I'm — I'm trying to help you, and you're saying I'm not needed? If you put me on the stand as a witness, we could put an end to this whole thing right now!”

Flora asked through a choked voice.

And Karsein, as he always did, drove a dagger into her along with that frosty sneer.

“And I'm supposed to trust you how, exactly?”

“Wha—?”

“The incident in Chapelle Forest, where Radiel was stabbed. One word of your testimony, and I became the criminal. So tell me — how am I supposed to trust you?”

At those words, Flora bristled and readied herself to shout back.

But Karsein's tongue was quicker.

“That was when you didn't know a thing about the man called Theo Ramstair. This time you know everything, so it'd be fine, right? You didn't even know what kind of person Emma really was either. Is that supposed to hold up?”

Flora flinched, struck to the quick, her shoulders jolting.

“Don't waste your energy on theatrics. Go home, you stupid little brat. One testimony from you flipping the entire verdict is one time too many already.”

“...What is that supposed to mean? You think I'd actually side with Theo and Emma right now?”

“Yep.”

A single-syllable affirmation.

And once again, a blade-sharp answer.

Her blue eyes began to tremble.

“I said I'd help you! I swear I won't, so please, just...”

“Not needed. Flora Bagrand.”

As her plea was sliced apart yet again, Flora suddenly remembered her conversation with Camilla.

Flora had flinched at that moment.

Because that truly had been her intention.

That was what Camilla had said.

She'd spoken it with a blank expression, as if merely offering a footnote — but to Flora, every word had raked at her insides.

After that, she had snapped and fumed and flared up in defiance.

Just watch me.

These things happened because of me — so I'll be the one to set them right, properly.

Flora had shown Camilla that steely resolve, jaw set, and then left her room.

And yet.

Reality had been exactly, precisely as Camilla had said.

Water began cascading down from her jade eyes.

“Why-ee! I won't ever do it again, I told you! Why won't you truuust me?!”

Her choked voice had already given way to open weeping.

Wiping away the tears welling up in surges, Flora began to sob out loud.

“I mean it, I do! This time — this time I'll take your side! I know now, I know all of it, that Theo and Emma are bad people!”

She shouted it through her tears.

She hoped, desperately, that even a single word might reach him — that his heart might change.

“I'll never, ever do it again... I won't ever do anything bad to you again...! So please, let me...!”

“Not needed.”

Snip.

So cold was Karsein's voice that it might as well have been the sound of scissors cutting through her words.

Yet again.

He drew his line.

“Just a commoner the Duchess dragged in while she was ill with a mental affliction. Not family — not anyone worth your concern. A backward, lowly, filthy thing cluttering up a noble ducal house — how hateful that must be, right?”

Invoking his station, he drew the line.

The Bagrand Ducal House — and the child that had been scooped up by sheer luck. He laid out the iron logic that no one could possibly love such a thing.

“Come to think of it, who's to say I wasn't coveting someone else's family all along? And with a master who dared to stand on the same line as a commoner, it's only natural the maids and attendants would torment me, isn't it?”

Invoking the Recognition he had always received, he drew the line.

It was justified harassment.

Harassment that could well exist.

The kind of thing that could happen even without anyone ordering it.

“And that's where Theo Ramstair and Emma Urnen stepped in. They moved to deliver justice — to a commoner who was forever causing trouble and picking fights, shrieking her head off at every turn, and spewing lies the moment she opened her mouth. By mobilizing the maids and the knights.”

“What... are you... what are you saying?!”

By now, even Flora had caught on.

To what those three drawn lines meant.

Oblivious or indifferent, Karsein continued as though nothing were the matter.

“Looked at this way, you have nothing to do with any of it, do you? Flora.”

That Flora Bagrand had no connection whatsoever to this case.

That she had nothing to testify to at this trial.

He drew the deepest line of all.

“That's — that's insane... there's no such thing... You know, you know that I tormented you... you know all of it...”

As Flora reached out a trembling, tearful hand, Karsein asked with an air of utter indifference:

“Where's the evidence?”

Healed wounds could never prove harassment.

A throwaway remark from who-knows-when could never stand as testimony to a series of events that had erased a person's very existence.

The pain itself had long since lost even the power to stir feeling.

And the victim's unspoken accounts had become a massive barrier wall.

At last —

Flora Bagrand had been rendered entirely incapable of intruding upon this trial.

Just like that. As if nothing had ever happened.

As if it had never occurred at all.

“You have nothing to say on that stand. Nothing at all.”

Like Karsein's silhouette, which had burned magnificently in the sunset and then vanished without a trace, Flora lost every avenue of intervention.

Thud. Thud.

With each footstep, everything was erased.

Having now become someone with no connection to the case at all, all Flora could do was sit where she had collapsed and weep, endlessly.

Because of that deep, deep line drawn across her.

The moment Karsein's figure disappeared from view, Camilla — who had watched the entire exchange between the two from beginning to end — murmured quietly.

“That wasn't it, Lady Flora. What you truly needed to say to the young master was...”

────!

Flora's wailing began to spread.

“This is the cell.”

Three knights appeared at Emma's solitary confinement.

With the clank of iron, the cell door swung open, and Emma cried out in delight, thinking she was finally being released —

“Drag her out!”

At those words, she panicked and began thrashing wildly.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this! How dare you treat me in such a manner!”

“Save your breath and come quietly.”

“I am the Head Maid of the Bagrand Ducal House! I was even the wet nurse to Lady Flora! You knights are in no position to handle me this way!”

When she tried to intimidate them, the knights merely scoffed.

“We'll see about that. Though I'd wager 'criminal' fits you better than 'Head Maid.'”

“Wh-what did you say?!”

She was about to erupt again at the word criminal — but then she noticed what they were wearing, and went cold. It was something she knew all too well.

Full knights? Why?!'

If they had come to rescue her after Theo Ramstair had successfully driven Karsein out, it would ordinarily have been apprentice knights. Even if the matter were urgent, they would have sent trainees.

But full knights arriving meant...

The plan... has fallen apart?!'

It meant everything had gone sideways.

“Emma Urnen. You are to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠transferred to the courtroom!”

“Move, and move quickly!”

“Aagh! Stop it — stop it, I say!”

“Move it, come on, hurry up!”

“Aaaagh! My hair — my hair's caught!”

Emma shrieked as her hair snagged on the bars.

The knights paid it no mind whatsoever, hauling her along like a sack of luggage as they dragged her toward the courtroom.

The screaming continued a few times more.

Each one, deliberately provoked by the knights.

Emma was a wretched sight when she entered the courtroom.

Hair snagged, torn loose, hanging in wild disarray. Clothes filthy and scuffed from stumbling and crashing into things on all sides.

The woman who, even in solitary confinement, had kept maids waiting on her and maintained her appearance now looked no different from a common criminal.

Splat!

“Ugh! That hurts!”

The knights, having all but flung her to the floor, turned and walked away without so much as acknowledging her.

seated right beside her, Theo clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Head Maid. Stop groveling down there and get up, would you?”

“Theo Ramstair? You—!”

At the sight of a familiar face, Emma moved to shriek at him.

Theo clapped a hand firmly over her mouth and hauled her to her feet.

“Ow! Did you not see me just fall over?”

“Ugh, damn it. Now is not the time to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wrangle with you. Cooperate unless you want to be screwed.”

“What...?!”

“I'll keep it simple. We combine forces and bury that bastard Karsein in this courtroom, completely. If we don't, we're dead.”

“Don't tell me — the trial is because we're being accused?!”

“Yes!”

“But why?! I was locked in solitary confinement, that's all!”

“That's exactly the problem — he saw through it! Somehow, some way, he knew you placed the commission!”

“He...!”

“Forget the nonsense and just follow my lead. It's do-or-die now — if we can't shave down the sentence, there's no future for either of us!”

The moment he conveyed that they were well and truly cornered, the main doors opened.

People poured in in a steady stream. And spotting Karsein among them, Emma flushed crimson with rage.

But having brushed off the words no future as so much noise, she still lacked any real sense of urgency.

“Wh-what?! Princess Arcien?!”

Only upon hearing the name of the one who would preside over this verdict did her mind snap sharply awake.

This was not a person who could be bought with money, as before.

The House's influence would be rendered powerless in an instant the moment this judge appeared.

A chill ran down Emma's spine.

So Theo had been telling the truth.

That despicable wretch means to bring down the ducal house, whatever it takes!'

Ever since that wretch had arrived, the Bagrand Ducal House had begun to unravel.

Thanks to him, her own plans had gone awry more times than she could count.

If Karsein could not be driven out, she would lose everything. She could not give up the peaceful life she had built for herself in the ducal house all these years.

Worse still, the fire was now at her very feet. Only one option remained.

Overturn everything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with this verdict, walk free — and then eliminate him. That was the only way.

And yet, it was a blessing in disguise, in a way.

Did the fact that a trial had been convened not mean that, alongside proving her innocence, an opportunity had come to pin the whole affair back on Karsein?

Emma flashed a brazen smirk at Karsein, who gazed back at her with an expressionless face.

However.

“...?”

The moment a trial began over contents she understood not at all, her composure evaporated completely.

Vmm.

With the hum of the Orb of Judgment powering to life, the trial began.

The moment I stepped into the courtroom, Theo and Emma were already there.

Both of them were in a truly sorry state.

Theo looked as though he'd taken a beating in a mud pit — bruises marked his body, and there were shoe prints visible where his clothing couldn't cover them. Emma had evidently been dragged the whole way; the streaks of her being hauled across the floor were written all over the Head Maid's uniform, and the appearance she had so carefully maintained even in solitary confinement was in complete disarray.

Would anyone looking at the two of them right now believe they were a knight and the Head Maid of the Bagrand Ducal House? They looked like nothing more than prisoners.

The pair glared at me with murderous eyes — then scoffed.

Right. So you're confident about the trial, are you?'

Of course you are. After all, you've already beaten Karsein once before, haven't you?

But would you still be confident, facing this?'

The instant Princess Arcien's name rang out, Theo's eyes flashed, and Emma practically leapt out of her seat.

As Arcien took her seat and recited the charges, Emma began scurrying about, whispering frantically into Theo's ear.

She would be demanding to know what on earth this was all about, no doubt.

Well, naturally she would.

Arcien was an Imperial Princess of the Pecellos Empire — there was no room for protest the way there had been before, no crying foul over unfavorable charges.

She was the one who had reviewed both parties' arguments and framed the charges themselves. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instant anyone contradicted her, it would look as though they were questioning her very fitness to be Princess.

Then, as the Bagrand Ducal House and the Theresia Marquisate took their seats as well, I could practically hear them swallowing their tension, gulp by gulp.

For them, this was a risk entirely beyond their imagining.

Though I'm hardly in a position to relax either.'

People began filing into the courtroom. The reason I'd been so confident, of course, was that Theo Ramstair had rather extensive connections.

First, he was the son of Baron Ramstair — and from the position of Karsein, who knew none of the nobility's proper etiquette, every single misstep could be called out and held against him. Merely watching it unfold would have been crushing pressure.

In the end, I was alone.

Alone, I would have to prove everything.

To clear my name, I had no choice but to stand up to these cowardly, evidence-fabricating scum face to face — and beat them, fair and square.

Vmm.

“The Orb of Judgment has been activated. Before the trial begins, both parties shall swear an oath that not a shred of falsehood shall taint their words.”

““We so swear.””

Before long, Arcien reopened the proceedings, and only then did the trial truly begin.

“Sent back,” is it.

Call it a return all you like — if I go back, I die.

For all intents and purposes, the penalty for failure was death.

“Allow me to present my opening argument first, if I may, Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

“I do not intend to dispute the matter of the retrial itself. However, if attention becomes drawn to this charge carelessly, my own argument could be buried beneath it — and so I have the right to state my position before the deliberations proceed.”

“So you say. What think you?”

Arcien asked, looking at me.

Granting the first speaking opportunity meant handing over the initiative — the ability to seize the atmosphere of the courtroom and bend it to one's will. She was asking whether she should permit that advantage.

But that was a one-dimensional way of thinking.

For the side responding, it was far better for drawing out the opponent's trump card.

“I have no objection.”

“Ho. Very well.”

Arcien reopened the trial.

“First — Trainee Karsein received far too much during the induction period. While excessive, it was a situation suspicious enough to warrant suspicion of cheating. And that suspicion was, from the very start, created by his own hand. We were therefore left with no choice but to enforce our inspections far more strictly.”

Theo Ramstair produced the items he had submitted as evidence.

My pouch. And the bag I had brought with me onto the Training Grounds.

He opened the bag and pulled out a portion of its contents.

“The inspection was carried out as part of this process. Look for yourselves. Does this not emerge from it? The inspection can be regarded as legitimate action taken in the name of fair evaluation.”

The spectators began clicking their tongues.

“Well, he has a point. He did receive backing from the Bagrand Ducal House. It's certainly more than the other knights got.”

“Training is instruction, plain and simple. With that much handed to him, there's no way he'd build up the calluses and scar tissue that real experience carves into you.”

“Some of it draws blood — tears the skin open. Training in that state, with all that gear...”

Ding!

The choices appeared.

Here, I had to quell the spectators' murmuring.

I had already satisfied every condition — not a single option was disadvantageous, not one Dead Flag among them.

Still, if I had to choose...

This one's the best, I suppose.'

Whoosh.

Huh? Why did the choice just vanish?'

SLAM!

At that instant, a tremendous crash rang out, and a woman's voice shook the entire hall.

“And what would you people know about it?”

Beneath her pink hair, a face twisted with fury stood out vividly.

It was Claire.