Chapter 48
The trial against Burrington was held just a week later. He appeared in court with a smirk, seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation.
“I believe everything will be clearly revealed in court!” he said.
Leuke and I sat in the gallery. On Burrington’s side sat my aunt and uncle, glaring at us.
“Sis, if it’s too hard to watch, you can leave,” Leuke whispered.
“No. I’m watching,” I replied.
Leuke sat with a resolute expression. I also wanted to see Burrington’s smirk transform into fear and confusion.
“Sir Burrington, you had three wives before, correct?”
“Yes, it’s a regrettable matter indeed.”
“Do you remember the name of your last wife?”
“Alice, I believe.”
“Her name was Eleanor.”
The prosecutor glanced at Burrington as if he were looking at a strange man, as if incredulous that he could forget her name.
“I have called the doctor who examined her as a witness.”
A man with glasses and a tall hat took the witness stand. Burrington exchanged a glance with him, and the doctor acknowledged Burrington in return.
“The cause of death for Eleanor Burrington was not a disease or accident, but simple nervous exhaustion, correct?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“What caused Eleanor to become so weak at such a young age?”
“Malnutrition and nervous exhaustion. The reason was—”
Burrington glanced at his seated lawyer. Only then did he seem to notice that something was amiss and abruptly stood up.
“Your Honor, isn’t this leading questioning?”
“Sit down. Witness, continue speaking.”
“The patient told me that her husband locked her in a room and released rats. Eleanor would often be left with rats in confinement and come to my clinic when her health worsened. One day, an infection from a rat bite worsened, and Eleanor passed away.”
“Your Honor, that’s a lie! The death certificate clearly states the cause as unknown weakness—!”
The prosecutor interrupted Burrington.
“Although the death certificate says so, I submit the final medical records as evidence. Additionally, another doctor who reviewed the records noted injuries from animal bites that worsened over time.”
“I will argue in defense,” Burrington’s lawyer said, maintaining a halfhearted tone. He merely reiterated that the death certificate existed and its contents were definite. He presented no evidence to counter the prosecutor’s claim.
“Wait, this trial is supposed to determine the legitimacy of the engagement. Why are we discussing the cause of a deceased wife’s death?”
“Sir Burrington, if you caused the death of three wives, would you have had the chance to take a fourth?”
Burrington’s face went pale. The prosecutor moved on to the next topic with a blank expression.
“Furthermore, Sir Burrington sent an enormous sum to the Nist family as the price for becoming engaged to Miss Warren, who is present here. Is that true, Sir Burrington?”
“Yes. That was a fair payment.”
“That money was supposed to support your fiancée, correct?”
“Yes!”
“Here is the financial ledger of the Nist family. Please review the entries concerning the Warren sisters.”
“…The entries are strange.”
The ledger showed only a single sheet for the expenses related to us sisters. I had heard that the Warren couple died in a carriage accident when Leuke was three and I was one. That meant the Warren sisters had lived in my aunt’s house for sixteen years, yet the entire record of expenses over sixteen years was that one sheet. Food expenses were calculated overall and not listed, and we received no education. We were given clothes that fit every two or three years, and a few books at most. The judge flipped the paper to see if there was more.
“Are the records incomplete?”
“No.”
“Your Honor, I would like to call Miss Melias Warren as a witness.”
I stood. Leuke faced forward with a firm expression. I couldn’t imagine the emotions of sixteen years summarized on one piece of paper, but precisely because of that, I could speak without faltering.
“Recently, my sister and I attended the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet. I danced with the Grand Duke, and my sister performed as an actress. Some of you present were at that banquet. Perhaps you saw me dance, clumsy due to lack of education.”
Of course, my poor dancing was not because I grew up with my aunt.
“My sister Leuke has, I hesitate to say, a remarkably beautiful face. Yet, from a very young age, people did not see her for over a decade. The last outing was an adult evening gathering. There, my aunt decided on Leuke’s engagement to Burrington.”
Gasps arose. The term “evening gathering” shocked the spectators. Nobles did not become engaged this way. Official balls were held, guests invited, or adults decided privately on a suitable match, often with a sponsor to vouch for the man.
“My first meeting with Leuke was not at an evening gathering! We were formally introduced to Sir Saraly—”
“That name is irrelevant. Neither I nor my sister received proper education in dance, history, rhetoric, or music. Sir Burrington knew this. We believed this was human trafficking between my aunt and Sir Burrington.”
“Human trafficking? That’s absurd! Lawyer, speak up!”
“But Sir Burrington, when I asked about the amount you spent on my sisters, you provided nothing—”
“I assumed you would investigate on your own!”
“I did inform you.”
“Quiet.”
The judge, slightly irritated, intervened. For a long while, the courtroom remained silent except for the flipping of papers.
“This is not human trafficking. But I understand what the witness wishes to say.”
“I would like to speak.”
Leuke quietly raised her hand from the gallery.
“Speak,” the judge said.
“At that evening gathering, Melias and I were not the only young girls present. Miss Katia Schacht was also there. She had come with her father and asked me, standing by the wall, if I had come to watch the adults. Then she saw my aunt and Sir Burrington talking and laughed, asking if I would marry that man.”
It was the first I had heard of this. Even I was surprised and looked at Leuke.
“Melias was wandering around, getting snacks, so she wasn’t beside me.”
Leuke’s voice trembled, but her words were clear. She seemed like someone who had waited a very long time for this moment.
“Perhaps Miss Schacht doesn’t remember, but I do. I’ve wanted to tell this story for a long time. The Nist family took a lot of money from Burrington using me as bait. Burrington paid the Nists and intended to marry me as soon as I came of age, sometimes visiting home to intimidate me. I have submitted all his letters as evidence.”
The prosecutor stood and added,
“They contain threats that if proper bride training is not followed, you would be kicked out of your aunt’s house, and that girls like you should be grateful because you could not find a husband otherwise.”
“It’s not my fault! It’s Mrs. Nist’s abuse! And didn’t the Nist family take the inheritance my sister and I were supposed to receive?”
The lawyer tried to restrain Burrington, but he kept shouting, sweating, and losing control. The judge, expressionless, continued to speak evenly without looking away from the documents.
“This is not the trial to judge that.”
The judge’s attitude was neither sympathetic toward us nor hostile to Burrington.
“Questions have arisen regarding the source of funds Burrington gave to the Nists for the engagement. The bride’s dowry and the reported business revenue don’t match. A sum this large should have bankrupted him. Yet there is evidence that income from a gambling house on Wenz Street went to Sir Burrington.”
“Th-that gambling house belongs to Her Majesty the Empress—!”
“Who?”
The judge asked coldly. Even if it was a royal-run gambling house, Burrington should not have mentioned it.
“This is supposed to be a trial about engagement legitimacy!”
“Yes. But there is so much evidence that morally he is unfit to be engaged to such a young woman. There is proof he received all the earnings from an illegal gambling house and paid wages to its owner. Any objections?”
Burrington’s lawyer claimed he and the gambling house owner were simply friends helping each other, but it did not seem persuasive.
Step by step, the legitimacy of the engagement, the minimal support given to us, and the sources of the Nist family’s funds and Burrington’s illegal business were all revealed.
“Ultimately, Sir Burrington is stripped of his title, all illegally earned assets are seized by the treasury, and the defendant is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.”
The Nist couple, who had been watching the trial expecting him to win, gradually changed expressions, eventually approaching us with gentle smiles.
“I knew it would end like this. We’ve also been ripped off by him. Now let’s clear the misunderstanding and move forward.”
Leuke and I did not feel anger or disbelief. Their consistent attitude was numbingly tedious.
“We sued him for embezzlement. Hasn’t there been contact yet?”
“What…?”
Even if they tried to create evidence that he spent money on us now, it was useless. The royal office had already gathered records of how the Nists spent funds and where my uncle mismanaged business money. Burrington could not escape that information network.
“You never do anything nicely, do you?”
My aunt said, exasperated. We were equally fed up.
“Even when trying to live well as a family, you treat us like villains every time. How can we accept you?”
I had long known their shamelessness, their trivial annoyances, their persistence. Yet they did not realize that these very traits could, in a crisis, surpass my expectations.
“That money was originally left to us by your parents.”
