chapter 40
Hera immediately became a witness.
She came down to the first-floor courtroom and hesitated briefly.
Should she sit on Merriot’s side or Julian’s side?
The judge pointed toward Merriot’s direction and patiently waited until Hera took her seat.
“Miss Emilia Tolin. Did you visit the Loranga estate on the day of the incident?”
The questioning began.
Hera glanced briefly at Merriot, then told the truth.
“…Yes, I did.”
“For what purpose?”
“I had something to say to His Grace the Duke.”
“Could you tell us what it was about?”
Hera cleared her throat briefly and recounted exactly what she had told Merriot that day.
“I went to advise His Grace that the continuous debauched gatherings might tarnish His dignity.”
At that, the Marquis suddenly stood up and shouted.
“That’s an absurd lie! How could the daughter of a baronet dare to give such advice to His Grace the Duke? Who would believe such nonsense? Huh?”
“I-I really said nothing but that.”
“It’s all a conspiracy. They’re all in cahoots trying to kill my son!”
“Marquis Bouvier, I saw Lord Albert drunk that day. He was so intoxicated he couldn’t even properly recognize the person in front of him.”
“What do you know!”
Now Marquis Bouvier just wanted someone—anyone—to pay for killing his son.
Whether they actually killed him or not, he felt that someone needed to be sacrificed for Albert’s soul like a water ghost to find peace.
Even though he knew well that Miss Tolin had no reason to kill Albert, he was stubborn.
Hera frowned as she recalled Albert that day.
“He tried to grab my waist roughly when I was leaving the hall, so I remember clearly.”
By summoning Hera, Marquis Bouvier inadvertently exposed his son’s sexual assault.
He grew furious at Hera’s testimony.
Forgetting that they were in a courtroom, he pointed threateningly at Hera with his finger.
“The daughter of Tolin is insulting my son by calling him a debauchee?”
“I didn’t say that…”
“That unqualified woman comes and goes in the Duke’s house as she pleases—”
“What makes you think she’s unqualified?”
At that moment, Merriot interrupted the Marquis’s words, having said nothing since his arrival.
He stood up and slowly walked toward the Marquis.
“Marquis, you are surely well aware of the most famous scandal recently in Central?”
“Huh?”
“The gossip that Miss Emilia and I are lovers.”
All Hera could see was Merriot’s back.
It was the same scene she saw when Albert molested him.
Strangely, whenever Hera saw Merriot in this way, he was always angry.
Even without seeing his face, she could feel the emotion strongly.
That was probably because Merriot was angry in front of her, on her behalf.
It would take a long time before both Merriot and Hera fully realized this.
“That rumor is true…”
The audience in the courtroom stirred more loudly than at any other time during the trial.
Not only were the main figures of the scandal gathered in one place, but Merriot himself confirmed the truth of the rumor.
Amid the noise, Merriot approached Marquis Bouvier.
He bent his waist to the Marquis’s height, looked him straight in the eyes, and spoke in a deep voice.
“Charles Bouvier.”
Merriot’s overwhelming presence froze the Marquis in place.
“If your son had not stopped at just grabbing Emilia Tolin’s waist, my sword would have killed Albert before he took his own life.”
After the cruel words escaped Merriot’s mouth, he casually straightened his posture.
He gave Marquis Bouvier one last warning glance, his whole body trembling with anger and fear, then looked toward the judges as if urging them to deliver the verdict quickly.
The judges, looking troubled, glanced toward the back of the courtroom.
They could not finish the trial without the Crown Prince’s instruction.
Eventually, Rohn gestured with a dissatisfied expression, signaling to end the trial.
The judge then struck the gavel.
“This court hereby issues its verdict. There is no evidence of foul play in the death of Albert Bouvier, and thus it shall be regarded as a simple case of death.”
Outside the courthouse, it had already grown dark.
The name Albert Bouvier faded into people’s memories, and everyone’s curiosity focused solely on Merriot and Emilia Tolin’s relationship.
Avoiding bothersome questions, Merriot got into his carriage.
“What should we do with these letters?”
Shane put down the wooden box he had brought into the courtroom on the carriage floor.
Merriot’s eyes lingered on the box, clearly irritated, but soon it was tossed out the window.
“Burn them. They’re laced with poison.”
This was the first act of revenge and also the event signaling Merriot’s return to Central.
The plan had proceeded as intended, and it attracted even more attention than expected, but it left a bitter aftertaste.
Hera, sitting as a witness, kept coming to Merriot’s mind.
A woman sitting neatly with a bold facade, though her body trembled in tiny shakes.
She had voluntarily stood in court, despite no apparent benefit.
Was this also an order from Ober?
Or…
‘For me…?’
To protect me from Marquis Bouvier?
“You’ve officially become involved with Miss Emilia, haven’t you?”
Shane summarized the events from the trial in his characteristically dry and annoying tone.
Merriot, however, gave no reaction—not even a curse.
Shane looked at Merriot’s face, puzzled.
“That woman…”
Merriot had no reason to investigate Emilia Tolin’s feelings.
He could simply ignore it.
But Merriot couldn’t hold back this time either.
He could not silently allow Marquis Bouvier to insult her.
“She keeps becoming a variable in my life.”
This was no trick by Ober.
He was clearly shaken himself.
“I’m displeased.”
Not fully understanding the nature of his feelings, Merriot defined the shapeless, writhing mass of emotions inside him as displeasure.
It was a temporary and foolish interpretation.
