I Will Seduce The Northern Duke
chapter-162

“…Did you really use magic?”

The guards’ members’ eyes were about to pop out. She did learn magic for her personal use just before appearing on a TV show. While she burned her sleeve instead, if she fooled the guards, she had definitely fooled Juna.

Only one person, Kalcion, was not fooled.

“I see, that’s why.”

With his dynamic visual acuity, he even saw that Selina had put the will up her sleeve and burned her sleeve instead.

“I don’t know if this is useful as evidence.”

Selina sat back and opened the will.

“Huh?”

This was not a will.

[ I’m sorry. ]

That was how Irell’s letter began.

[ I came to love someone else. I am only sorry that I repay the favor of giving the title of Duchess to a woman of a lowly family with a betrayal.

If I had to make an excuse, I was so lonely.

Comments like, “A duchess should be like this,” and “How could someone like that be a duchess,” things like that really bothered me. Because I had no one else to rely on, I leaned on a man other than my husband. I know very well that there’s no room for excuses.

I am a bad person. I don’t know how to keep my place, and I have no faith.

I didn’t think about protecting Renbird and ended up having a child with the wrong man. No matter how much I do, I cannot become a Duchess while having another man’s child, so I am writing this.

Tonight, I am leaving with him.

I will not show my face to society as much as possible and will live quietly in his arms. So I hope you won’t be too upset. ]

And there was a gruesome blood stain left underneath.

[ Crown Prince ]

“….”

A cursed word that is clearly different from the neat sentences above, which were trembling with anxiety but excited by the possibility of new love. She felt bad because she felt like she could clearly see the anger and resentment that Irell must have felt at the moment of her death.

Selina folded the letter and placed it on the floor.

The word Crown Prince written in blood was all there was as evidence. She had deliberately withheld the other person’s information.

Irell’s love affair as expressed in the letters was very different from reality.

The Crown Prince in the letter was a passionate lover who seemed to have promised eternity to her. It was as if she had inevitably fallen into a fateful and tragic love. That’s how Irell wrote it.

Though in reality, Irell was just a plaything for the crown prince.

Irell later realized that the love she had believed in was an illusion, and in the last moments of her life, she was furious and put the seal of betrayal on the expressions of love that she had left behind by writing the word ‘Crown Prince’ in blood.

“It’s useless as evidence.”

It might be a different case if Irell had filled it with curses and called the Crown Prince a bad guy, but making this public would only cause confusion.

“It’s not a trial that requires evidence anyway. It’s alright, even without the will.”

This was a trial in which the Crown Prince could never be found innocent, even if there was no evidence. Jerryel would make it so.

“If this becomes known to the world, Duke Renbird will become a fool for almost appointing someone else’s child as his successor, right?”

Irell’s final record, which may not be a rope to tie the crown prince, would be a rope to hang Kalcion’s honor.

For a moment, she thought of Irell’s family. But then she remembered that those people were more curious about how much of a fortune they could scrape off from the dead daughter than about what their daughter’s final fate was like.

Those people weren’t interested in the truth. Resolving Irell’s grudge would also be out of the question.

“If this were to be made public, it would only tarnish Irell and Renbird’s reputation.”

“The price of truth is sometimes cruel.”

Selina stared at the letter, and then she took a deep breath.

“Get rid of it.”

It was a meaningless’ truth.’

While it was a condition that kept Selina attached to this world, it was a truth that did not need to be known. The truth that no one was curious about and no one wanted to know. Even if Irell had been alive, it was a truth she would have been busy hiding.

“As you wish.”

With Kalcion’s response, she threw the letter into the torch without hesitation.

The paper burned instantly, leaving no ashes behind like nothing had happened from the beginning. Selina remained silent, hoping that the tragedy that had happened to Irell and the mistakes that Irell had made would all disappear.

* * *

On the morning of the trial, the air was heavier than usual.

As she entered the courtroom, shaking off the harsh air clinging to her clothes, the atmosphere was much more solemn than the outside.

“I will guide you the way.”

The attendant who followed from the entrance guided them to the seats that had been prepared in advance for the two of them. The beast was tied up in Renbird Mansion with a bucket of honey. She had brought it to dinner to discourage the nobles, but there was no need to do that in the courtroom.

Jerryel and Queen Meryl’s seats were right next to each other. The other nobles left one row empty and sat towards the back.

Indeed, as promised in advance, Jerryel allowed the two to see the crown prince’s downfall from the front row. After a brief ceremony, including an oath of allegiance to Jerryel and Jerryel’s formal welcome to the state guest, the trial began.

“Well, now the trial of former Crown Prince Larsen Aclion begins. Defendant, Prince Larsen, step forward.”

With the judge’s order, the door opened and Larsen came out.

“Gasp…”

A few people were startled as his appearance was revealed, and they quickly held their breath. Selina was no exception.

Larsen couldn’t even walk on his own, so he was dragged out by the soldier’s arms.

When he was chased by Renbird, his behavior was shabby, though he was able to walk, run, and even scream on his own. But now, he couldn’t even straighten his body. As soon as the soldiers placed him in the accused seat, he collapsed.

“Hoh… Huuu… Huuooo…”

The groans that came out of his mouth did not even sound human. He was neatly dressed. However, it didn’t seem like the body inside would be clean.

What happened in just one day?

Selina looked back at Jerryel because the only person who knew the answer was Jerryel. In contrast to the astonished people, Jerryel raised her chin and looked at Larsen, then felt her gaze and turned her head.

“Why are you surprised? You were the one who played with him until he was about to die. I just vented my anger a little.”

Selina only pushed him psychologically, but she didn’t even touch Larsen’s body. Although she thought she would punch him at some point, she never thought about making him a mess of blood like that.

“I can’t believe how difficult it was to control it so that he didn’t die. You must have had a hard time taking him all the way here.”

Despite the fact that Jerryel had a childish smile that matched her young face, she didn’t look as innocent and cute as before.

The previous Queen, who was sitting next to her, had the same affectionate look in her eyes as before. Even though she had blood on her hands, she still looked like a young and pretty baby.

Selina was mistaken in thinking that now Jerryel knew how to wait for the right moment and then drive a blow from the back. Jerryel was a spiteful beast for a long time. Now that she had the chance, she just started spreading spite everywhere without hesitation.

The spite was so thick that she felt sick to her stomach.

The bitter feelings she felt from Irel’s grudge note came back to her. As people lived, they could hold grudges, and they could survive thanks to their spite. However, wherever they go, they would be devastated if it is full of spite.

Behind Jerryel, Marquis Thiolan looks back and forth between her and the crown prince with burning eyes. Lirell was biting her nails in the corner.

Everyone was united in their spite.

Did they have to be so spiteful to survive in Miong?

Her chest felt tight.

Even the people who had been weighing Larsen and Jerryel until the very end turned towards Jerryel when they saw Larsen’s completely ruined appearance. As soon as the trial began, accusations against him poured in.

“I really just did what I was told! He said he was going to kill me, too, so what can I do?”

“If we disobey, our family will be destroyed, so how can we refuse?”

“He said he would kill me if I didn’t!”

This was not a courtroom. It was a burial site.

Everyone pointed their finger at Larsen in order to take their place in the changed power structure. It was fundamental to push Larsen to prove their own innocence.

Witnesses and evidence abounded.

As Kalcion predicted, authenticity was not important.

When Selina let out a sigh and gently leaned against his shoulder, Kalcion put his hand between the chairs and supported her back. As the warmth of his palm soothed her cooling stomach, she straightened up, barely regaining her composure enough to smile.

The judge read out the endless list of crimes one by one. Among them, there were cases where people were truly unfairly treated because of Larsen, and there were also cases that were made up just to get Jerryel’s attention.

“…Suspicion of the murder of Lady Roselyn of the Thiolan family. Framing the murder and kidnapping Selina…”

The judge, who had called Selina’s name without thinking, looked at her and cleared his throat.

“…Her Majesty the Queen of Selinia.”

The judge quickly corrected her title.

The charge was simple kidnapping and confinement. In any case, there were so many criminal acts that Larsen had committed so far, and each and every one of them was terrible. Among them, what happened to Selina and Irell was not a big deal.

If it had been made public for no reason, it would have only been talked about by people.

Numerous nobles and servants who were present that day were witnesses. As there was no room for perjury, the charges were passed with absurd ease.

Selina sighed softly and let her shoulders slump.

Kalcion patted her shoulder, thanking her for her hard word. As it passed by like this, it felt like it was really no big deal. Maybe it was because she destroyed his annex last night.

The ruling continued for a long time after that.

“Guilty in the case of unauthorized occupation of Duke Renbird. Mobilizing the royal army without the king’s permission.”

The charges related to Kalcion were also passed. And like the climax of a novel, the biggest crime reported today came out.

“Attempting to assassinate His Majesty the King by poisoning him for a long time, imprisoning and weakening His Majesty, who was sick.”

Selina was startled.

The accusers were Jerryel and Queen Meryl.