Chapter 205
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: The Married Swindlers (2)
"...Her Highness the Princess has intervened."
"Yes, just as you said. Her Highness stepped in and insisted that we shouldn't yield to unreasonable demands, requesting that Jaybit not apologize."
Marjan's additional explanation brought on a pounding headache.
I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my forehead.
"Naturally, the Longist House must have thrown a fit..."
Hard as it might be to believe, the Princess had no real political power base.
The details were a spoiler, but the protagonist had definitely deflowered her during the heart demon incident.
A big part of it was that Liana herself had no interest in power anyway.
With the Emperor bedridden now,
the Crown Prince—practically the next Emperor in all but name—had ensured she received none.
The Crown Prince, aware of Liana's madness, had blocked the nobles' access to keep her from being provoked...
Whatever the inside story, to the public, Liana was crippled by the Crown Prince's checks and balances.
For someone like her to pick a fight with a rising noble...?
From the Longist House's perspective, they saw this incident as a chance to misconstrue it as the Princess meddling in internal affairs and trying to make a political comeback.
'...The nobles can't know the Princess's plans, so it's unavoidable.'
Who could even imagine it?
That the Princess planned to represent the commoners and low nobles, spark a civil war, and split the Empire in two.
Regaining political life through interference in domestic affairs seemed far more realistic.
Either way, with the Longist House thinking like this, they would never back down.
It proved their loyalty to the next Emperor by checking the Princess, and yielding to a powerless royal would undermine their own political standing.
"...Hah."
A sigh escaped me unbidden.
I'd known it, but this world had completely diverged from the scenario I remembered.
'...Still, the trigger changing isn't all bad.'
I didn't know how Her Highness planned to exploit this incident, but compared to a carriage accident killing a commoner child, a noble getting scratched was trivial.
The scale of the spark was entirely different.
Of course, I knew the spark's size didn't matter much to Liana.
Her stunning beauty had nearly fooled me time and again, but Liana was a calamity cloaked in human skin.
Once she decided to use this incident, it would inevitably be blown out of proportion.
And there was only one thing for me to do here.
'Make the flames as small as possible.'
I clenched my fist tight and asked Marjan,
"What exactly did Her Highness demand?"
"She wants a trial to clearly determine fault. The Longist House has accepted the condition."
"Ha, of course they did."
I couldn't help scoffing.
The Longists' shallow thinking was plain as day.
As I said, excluding the great houses, the Longist House was one of the most renowned.
The moment the trial began, Jaybit's defeat was all but assured.
Judges were human, after all.
No matter how firm their convictions, withstanding the Longist House's pressure wouldn't be easy.
Actually, they wouldn't even need to pressure.
That was for houses with ambiguous standing.
A house like Longist? The judges would toe the line on their own to avoid offending them first.
So why had the Princess demanded a trial? Simple.
Win or lose, she had nothing to lose.
Victory meant she'd triumphed over unjust persecution via trial, earning support from commoners and low nobles.
Loss? She could cry foul that even a trial meant to be impartial had buckled under noble pressure with an unjust verdict.
Either way, she'd gain the commoners' backing.
That's when an unbelievable remark slipped from Marjan's lips.
"...Also, Her Highness nominated Lady Lucia as the judge."
"Shit..."
Anger boiled over into curses before I could stop it, but I couldn't deny it made sense.
The Ursula House was a great house that wouldn't bend to Longist pressure, and Lucia's moniker was 'The Most Impartial Scale.'
No one was more fitting for the role.
But one unforgivable fact remained.
'...The Longists are based in the western Empire.'
The western rulers were, naturally, the Ursula House.
In other words, the Longists were vassals to the Ursulas.
No matter how fairly she ruled, if the verdict favored the Longists, the Princess would pounce on that angle.
"Lucia. Has your thinking changed at all?"
"...No. I still think Jaybit should apologize and let it end there."
"Even if Jaybit didn't resort to cowardly tactics?"
"Yes. It's not worth escalating. ...But if that's what you want, Master, I can adjust the verdict..."
Lucia's devotion to me could bend her principles, but that wasn't what I wanted or why I'd asked.
"No, no need. Rule as you see fit."
I shook my head slightly.
I had to avoid a crucial mistake.
My goal wasn't victory in the trial—it was preventing civil war in the Empire.
If Lucia ruled against the Longists on my orders, they'd harbor resentment for sure.
'...The Princess won't miss that.'
Liana would manipulate the Longists into rebelling against the Ursula House.
At this point, all I could do was laugh.
The Princess's foresight in picking Lucia as judge was nothing short of astonishing.
Some might call it overestimation, but based on her dangers so far, it was closer to underestimation.
"...Understood. Then we'll go with demanding an apology. Master."
Lucia answered cautiously, and I nodded.
Many confuse fairness with equality.
But make no mistake—they're different.
Equality is giving the rich and poor the same meal. Fairness is giving the poor a bit more.
Lucia wasn't 'The Most Equal Scale'—she was 'The Most Fair Scale.'
She judged based on the parties' positions and circumstances.
To both her and me, this incident wasn't worth inflating from the start.
A single apology from Jaybit could've ended it.
The best resolution was still for him to apologize now...
"...But Jaybit won't be persuaded..."
"Yes, it's best to assume he's already Her Highness's pawn."
The Princess's eloquence bordered on the devil's whisper.
Truth be told, she might not even need it to enchant Jaybit.
Her beauty could captivate any man but me.
"...."
Lucia was gazing at me with an odd look.
"Something wrong?"
"No... Nothing, Master."
She replied with an ambiguous smile unlike her usual self.
As I furrowed my brow at the sight, Marjan spoke up.
"...The tentative trial date is the day after the invitation ceremony ends."
My eyes widened.
It was sooner than expected.
I'd figured they wouldn't hold it during the ceremony with all the attention, but...
The very next day?
'...They're in a hurry too.'
Come to think of it, a faster scenario meant I'd disrupted their plans just as quickly.
The twisted path didn't always work against me.
'The situation's bad, but not the worst.'
This trial stemmed from an unforeseen mishap.
No matter her involvement, unlike the premeditated carriage accident, gaps would show.
'...Lucia as judge is a silver lining, in a way.'
Until now, our feigned discord—especially our clash at the carriage incident—was to expose those driving the Empire's fracture.
This trial was just accelerated; our roles hadn't changed.
With my thoughts sorted, I said,
"...I'll attend the trial as an observer too."
I was still part of House Calliope, after all.
Observer status was well within reach.
"Ah... Then I won't be able to visit your room anymore, Master."
Perhaps thinking of what lay ahead, Lucia feigned regret.
I gave a wry smile and nodded.
Our relationship couldn't be exposed once the trial began—just like before.
The moment anyone realized our opposition was an act, we'd be attacked from both noble and commoner sides.
A moment later, Lucia let out a short breath as if she'd gathered her thoughts.
"...Then, from now on, relay messages through Marjan, Master."
"H-Huh? M-Me?"
Marjan visibly panicked.