Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Challenge, Reverse Trial! (1)
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At Count Yoter’s words, Sien smiled brightly and replied.
“That saying—mind if I throw it right back at you?”
“What?”
“Just kidding. Then let’s get going!”
Her attitude was irritatingly perceptive, as if she knew every last detail.
Count Yoter furrowed his brow and glared at Sien.
But Sien simply kept her beaming smile.
***
The scheme to drag me into this trial had been meticulously plotted from the start.
The primary charge was “impersonating nobility.” Apparently, they’d bribed enough maids to produce a flood of testimony claiming I was a fake daughter.
The core of the trial was that I’d dared impersonate a noble and disrupted the empire’s discipline, so the palace would punish me directly.
Just as if to say my arrogance ended today, the trial raced ahead hastily.
I was hauled into the courtroom like a rag doll. None of the courtesy due a noble lady—just my pink hair tangled to hell and back.
They dumped me into the defendant’s seat, and I scanned the entire courtroom.
Then I looked at the judge—and at the crown prince seated arrogantly beside him.
*That’s the male lead from [Melodia’s Life].*
When we first met, I’d thought his blond hair and blue eyes made him look like a proper knight. Now he just looked slimy.
*So they really think they can mess with me and walk away unscathed?*
I hadn’t realized they were *this* stupid. The crown prince seemed genuinely, profoundly dim.
*No one from our family here. They said they were going to execute the fake.*
But it didn’t matter.
I swept my gaze over the courtroom again. Spotting Count Yoter in the witness stand, I deliberately softened my smile even more.
“Presumptuous as it is, allow me one word.”
Count Yoter opened his mouth, his face brazen as if he held everything in the palm of his hand.
I tilted my head at him. He looked like he had something huge up his sleeve. What could it be?
“Sien Mirmod here is a fake.”
“I’m the fake?”
“That’s right.”
Meeting his burning gaze, I boredly crossed my arms over my chest. Next up, he’d surely say, *Our Yoter Trading Company can prove it.*
“Our Yoter Trading Company can prove it.”
No way. Time to roll out the mat.
Just then, a creak sounded from the door behind me. Footsteps approached from the entrance. Small and birdlike, but everyone in the room went on high alert.
“This child is the *real* Mirmod!”
It was the little girl who’d been treated poorly everywhere she went. I stared at her, then quietly pressed my lips together.
*Talk about clichéd.*
But unlike my utter boredom, the room fell into stiff silence. In this tense atmosphere, only two people remained utterly at ease.
The crown prince—and me, the designated fake daughter.
I leaned back in the wooden chair, breathing steadily as I thought. Now the crown prince or one of his cronies would start stirring the pot.
“Seen enough? The Yoter Trading Company’s technology is the best in the empire.”
Sure enough, a sleazy-looking man standing by the crown prince’s side jerked his chin.
No helping it now.
Like a cornered criminal’s final roar, I spoke.
“B-but, Your Highness. Can you *really* vouch for the Yoter Trading Company? What if Count Yoter is lying?”
At my words, Count Yoter flew into a sudden rage.
“What? What kind of nonsense is that? Feeling wronged now that you’ve been called out as the fake?”
Their attitudes made something click.
*That obnoxious confidence means they’ve got ironclad evidence, huh?*
He looked just like someone who’d prepared a trump card. Soon, he smirked and whispered toward me.
“I funded it myself. Though of course, that doesn’t mean I’m vouching for the entire Yoter Trading Company.”
“……”
“But the company’s dealings have been endorsed by palace administrators for generations.”
I stared straight at the crown prince, thinking. I hated that flushed face of his, that smug tone—everything about him. But the worst part was...
*That XX is trying to slither out of it slyly? Thinks I won’t fall for leading questions?*
His snakelike tone made it clear he had zero intention of getting caught in any trap.
Hearing that infuriating line about palace administrators—not him personally—backing them up, I parted my lips to add one more thing.
“Then shouldn’t we hear from the Mirmod family first? That’s only proper.”
The crown prince had no interest in responding further. He just jerked his chin.
“No need to bother the Mirmods. Drag out the fake and notify them. Done.”
I read the impatience in his words and felt a flicker of puzzlement.
*Why push this hard? What’s my deal to him?*
Sure, I was Sien Mirmod, but I was just a kid.
My trading company might threaten Count Yoter’s, but whether I was real or fake wasn’t some earth-shattering issue for the crown prince.
If anything, touching me was a direct slap to Mirmod pride.
*So why the rush to take me down? What am I to him?*
As I bit my lip and glared, the crown prince’s lips curled slyly upward.
“Deal with it. Now.”
The moment his words ended, soldiers lunged forward to seize my arms. I glared at them and bit my lip harder.
*If they drag me out like this...*
They might lock me up. Or worse, cast magic on me.
I pictured Dad’s innocent face.
“Now, let’s go.”
But even as the grim-faced soldiers closed in—even when one roughly yanked me to my feet—my relief pitcher Dad still hadn’t shown.
I shot a glare at the soldier gripping my arm and barked.
“I’m a Mirmod. Hands off!”
The name “Mirmod” made one soldier flinch and pull back. Naturally, the crown prince spoke up.
“What are you lot doing? She’s nothing but a fake.”
Just as he said, I was “fake” in this room. The soldier, sneaking glances at the crown prince’s irritated expression, reached out more cautiously.
“Go on.”
Less menacing than before. It was enough.
*Dad’s coming to save me. He has to.*
I plastered myself to the chair, buying every second I could.
“...On your feet!”
The soldier’s breathing grew ragged. Just as his hand made contact—
Finally...
The door flew open with a sharp creak. Someone had practically kicked it off its hinges. The crown prince, Count Yoter, every noble juror—they all froze solid.
“...Duke Mirmod?”
The atmosphere turned ice-cold.
Everyone but me, anyway.
I curved my eyes into a smile and glanced behind me.
Round eyes. An expression straining for coldness. That telltale sucker’s mouth. It was our familiar Dad.
Just as I’d predicted, Dad had arrived to rescue me.
Dad was putting on his fiercest face, eyebrows arched high.
The crown prince grumbled as he rose.
“What’s the meaning of this? We’re in the middle of a trial.”
“Your Highness should ask himself that. What possessed you to lock my daughter in a courtroom?”
“That’s—”
“So you’re prepared to face House Mirmod head-on.”
The already chilly air grew even colder.
I cheered Dad on silently.
*Our Dad’s got some moves.*
The sucker vibe was gone—he looked like a proper cold-blooded villain. All that villain-training was paying off!
A mere noble daring to sass imperial blood. A clear overreach.
But Dad was Mirmod. And the crown prince had hastily hauled a Mirmod daughter into trial.
*Crown prince, how’re you gonna wriggle out of this one?*
Dragging a Mirmod daughter here under duress was overstepping into family matters, too.
I scanned the room with keen interest. Dad turned a lethal glare on the guards encircling me.
“All of you. Out.”
I flinched at Dad’s icy voice.
*Dad’s full villain mode!*
Evidently not just me—the soldiers reaching for my arm started twitching.
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at Dad.
He caught my gaze, his face suddenly tense. Then he spoke again.
“Th-that is. What do you think you’re doing to my daughter.”
*A barrel that leaks inside leaks outside too!*
Dad had slipped up a little!
His soft side peeked through. I tensely glanced around. Thankfully, everyone else was flinching too. I fought back a smile and looked at Dad again.
But...
*Dad’s face went cold again.*
It made me wonder.
Was Dad... intentionally stuttering to play up the sucker act?
*Nah, has to be my imagination. No way.*
I clenched my fists and refocused on the courtroom. Minus that tiny stutter, Dad had nailed the mission perfectly. Next up.
*Time to deal with the crown prince.*
I tore my eyes from Dad and looked at the judge’s bench.
The crown prince’s face was a sight. Grimacing and grumbling—anyone could see his plan had gone to hell.
Then, impossibly, his expression brightened.
*Definitely hiding another scheme.*
I stared him down while eyeing the trembling girl. She bolted toward Dad, crying out.
“D-Dad! It was so scary!”
But Dad...
“You’re not my daughter.”
“...I *am* the real one.”
Dad’s face hardened coldly, empathy nowhere in sight. He repeated himself.
“No. You’re not my daughter. You’re just the fraud who made my daughter Sien cry.”
He even emphasized it *twice*. My lips twitched upward; I barely held back a grin.
But the trembling girl had nowhere left to retreat. Eyes bulging, she yelled fiercely.
“What are you saying? I’m Sir Mathias’s real daughter! He’s being fooled by the fake!”
*Weirdly overconfident. What if Dad buys it?*
Dad was soft-hearted. I looked at him, clenching both fists in a silent *you got this*.
Meeting my eyes, Dad steadied whatever suckerish weakness stirred in him. His face turned cold again. He barked.
“Can you prove it?”
“Of course! The paternity test kit, funded directly by the Yoter Trading Company—it proves everything!”
“You think a pathetic Yoter Trading Company can tarnish a Mirmod daughter as fake?”
Dad’s chilling voice hit me with a sudden odd vibe.
*Dad’s *too* villainous!*
The crown prince couldn’t even muster a retort—just the sound of his teeth grinding.
*Why’s the crown prince folding to our Dad like this?*