Chapter 206
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: Husband-Wife Scam Ring (3)
“...Hmm, such an obvious play. How boring~”
Liana, who had been reading the trial documents, slumped over her desk and puffed out her cheeks.
Everything from start to finish had been arranged to favor ‘Pedro Longgist’.
She had anticipated this outcome, but it stuck so rigidly to expectations without even the slightest deviation that it was impossible not to feel irritated.
The observer list was especially problematic.
Aside from herself, it was filled only with names of nobles supporting Longgist.
Ursula’s successor wouldn’t resort to such blatant tactics, so Pedro’s side must have pulled the strings directly.
“So stupid... they don’t even realize they’re tightening the noose around their own necks...”
Liana let out a short sigh and clicked her tongue.
Pitiful.
The Pedro faction clearly still viewed this incident as nothing more than a personal dispute between individuals.
To at least maintain the pretense of fairness, they should have balanced the number of commoners and nobles.
This kind of overt favoritism would only stoke the commoners’ backlash.
“Well, expecting that level of foresight might be asking too much of me. ...Whatever, it just makes things easier for me.”
She had fully memorized the document’s contents with a single glance.
The moment she went to crumple it and toss it in the trash...
“...Huh?”
A single name written on the back caught her eye.
“Eugene Calliope... Eugene’s participating?”
Just to be sure she wasn’t seeing things, she checked the name again, but it still clearly stated that ‘Eugene Calliope’ would attend the trial as an observer.
“What are you scheming... Hehe♬”
Liana’s eyes curved into crescent moons as a laugh brimming with delight spilled from her lips.
Just picturing Eugene’s face made the suffocating boredom that had tormented her vanish like a lie.
“Could Eugene have figured out what this incident really means?”
She figured someone uninvolved like him couldn’t possibly grasp it, yet seeing his name listed as an observer made wild expectations bubble up anyway.
...If it’s the Eugene who saw through my true nature ten years ago.
Someone with that level of insight...
He might even have an inkling of how this event could shake the Empire.
“I wonder how he’ll play it?”
Her heart pounded just imagining Eugene stepping up to oppose her.
Whether it was envisioning herself defeated by him or utterly dismantling him as he tried to block her path—either thrilled her.
The trial’s outcome meant nothing to Liana.
What mattered to her was the trial taking place at all and that ‘Lucia Ursula’ was presiding over it.
As long as those two facts held, Liana could fan the sparks into a blaze as high as she wanted.
“It won’t be easy to stop me~♪... Hehe, I’ll be waiting.”
Trial day.
Jaybit and Pedro Longgist took their seats in the defendant’s and plaintiff’s benches, respectively.
And in the judge’s seat at the center sat Lucia.
As I settled into the observer’s section, Her Highness the Princess spotted me up front and gave a light wave; I responded with a nod.
“Then, let us commence.”
Lucia’s crisp voice filled the courtroom.
The proceedings were so straightforward they needed no explanation.
Pedro’s one-sided tirade and Jaybit’s silence had seen to that.
I was caught off guard by Jaybit’s silence at first, but I quickly grasped the intent.
...Her Highness’s strategy.
Better for him to exercise his right to silence than blab on his own and risk a slip-up—easier to justify the quiet later.
Probably pinning it on threats from the Longgist family.
“...Respected Judge. With that, I request the duel be declared invalid and that Jaybit offer a courteous apology.”
Pedro, blissfully unaware of Liana’s machinations, seemed to think his own eloquence had shut Jaybit down. He flashed a greasy smile at Lucia and bowed slightly.
Even watching that repulsive grin, Lucia’s expression didn’t flicker as she addressed Jaybit.
“Defendant, do you have any defense?”
“...None.”
“Understood. Then, I will render judgment.”
Lucia slowly closed her eyes, then opened them and spoke.
“As the defendant offers no defense, all claims by the plaintiff are accepted.”
Despite the judgment, no one showed elation.
To them, this was the expected result.
“Then, shall we hear that apology right here?”
Pedro straightened his collar, smirking smugly as he approached Jaybit.
At that moment, Liana raised her hand, her mouth parting slightly.
“...I cannot accept this judgment...”
“Objection!!”
And I shot to my feet, shouting loudly enough to drown her out.
“...Observers have no right to speak. Please remain silent and take your seat.”
Lucia fixed me with a razor-sharp glare.
I brushed off her words and bellowed even louder.
“What was the reason for this trial in the first place? Because Jaybit used cowardly tactics! What nonsense! Jaybit is a magic swordsman! The pre-duel submission explicitly stated he’d use both magic and sword! And now they call using magic during the duel cowardly?!”
Ignoring the judge entirely and ranting freely, I drew stares from all sides pinning me in place.
Her Highness’s gaze was among them.
“...?”
The emotion in Liana’s eyes was pure bewilderment.
A perfectly natural reaction.
She assumed I was here to keep her in check.
She wasn’t wrong.
Just the method—that she hadn’t foreseen.
Rather than clash head-on with Liana, I planned to steal her position outright.
...Liana’s scheme breaks down into three stages.
First, rally the lower nobles and commoners around herself as the focal point.
Second, incite them to spark riots in Carnea.
Finally, spread those riots into a full imperial civil war.
A shaky plan, viable only thanks to Liana’s overwhelming charisma.
...But what if there are two such focal points?
A disunited organization is nothing but a motley crew.
They wouldn’t manage a proper riot, let alone civil war—suppression would be inevitable.
Of course, without Liana’s superhuman talents, people would gradually flock to the Princess’s side over time, not mine.
...But I have Lucia.
Yet I had my own way to draw people in.
A method handed to me directly by ‘Liana Lumenhark’ herself.
...Humans unite against a common enemy.
A universal law, anytime, anywhere.
And the biggest enemy here wasn’t ‘Pedro Longgist.’
No matter how powerful the Longgist family, they lacked the stature to be foes to every commoner.
But the Ursula family?
Even people who’d never heard of Longgist knew the Ursulas.
This was why Liana had chosen Lucia as judge.
An easily recognizable common enemy for the masses.
That was Lucia.
But one-sided hatred doesn’t forge an enemy.
Enemies require mutual opposition.
That’s why Lucia and I had played the part of mutual loathing up to this very moment.
“Jaybit entered the duel as proxy due to ‘Rench Perbel’s’ injury. Look at this—Rench Perbel is a pure mage! So, had the duel been with Rench, how exactly did you plan to fight?”
[I oppose Lucia because I hate her.]
“...I warn you once more. Observers have no right to speak. Shut your mouth!”
[Lucia attacks me, not the Princess, because she hates me.]
Every thread of plausibility wove together through the emotion of ‘hatred.’
“No, I won’t shut up! Telling a pure mage to forgo magic and fight with fists? That’s fairness Longgist-style!”
As I glared at Pedro Longgist with a face full of mockery, he bristled, veins bulging in his eyes as he ground his teeth.
He’d never dreamed an observer—let alone a scion of a great house—would turn on him like this.
“That bastard hid his magic! He’d been using enchant spells from the start, then suddenly unleashed fog!”
“Hiding your techniques is skill. Your side brags about every move before the duel even begins.”
Bang—
At that moment, a loud bang erupted from Lucia’s bench.
Drawing all eyes, Lucia spoke in an icy tone.
“...This is a judged case. Judgments are not reversed. The duel is invalid, and Jaybit must offer Pedro Longgist a courteous apology.”
I swallowed a smile while staring back at Lucia’s hateful glare.