Chapter 122 - North Korean rabbit

Chapter 122

I cried out in surprise.

“Lord Beltain? Why would you?”

Lord Beltain appearing now as a witness for Ludwig’s side was not part of my plan.

He was supposed to come forward as a witness only after all the decisive testimony and evidence I had prepared had been submitted.

At a time when no sharp or cruel questions would be necessary at all.

‘Evangeline!’

There could be no other reason. I glared at Evangeline, who was smiling slyly from the innermost part of the spectator seats.

As if reading my thoughts, Evangeline lifted the corner of her mouth. It was a smile that was disgusting just to look at.

Then Arpad intervened.

“That gentleman is supposed to be my wife’s witness, is he not?”

At that, Ludwig’s lawyer answered as if prepared.

“Lord Renus Beltain has agreed to attend as a witness for our side. Then he can certainly take the stand as a witness.”

He asked Lord Beltain again, as if to show off.

“Is that not correct? Lord Beltain?”

Surprisingly, Lord Beltain nodded.

“…That is correct.”

A wave of astonishment spread through the spectator seats.

“Isn’t this practically a foregone conclusion for the trial?”

“The fact that that knight is a witness for the Grand Duke’s side already speaks to the truth of the matter.”

“So you’re saying all those hideous testimonies from earlier witnesses were true?”

“Regardless of the trial’s outcome, this alone confirms that the Crown Princess’s image and authority have already hit rock bottom.”

Excited chatter about the current situation reached even my ears.

It wasn’t just the agitators Evangeline had planted.

The mood had already shifted to their side.

I felt no great shock, nor fear.

Because I had anticipated it, and to some extent, I had even been complicit.

‘Because that way, the reversal will be more dramatic.’

And it would be easier to further craft my image as a pitiful, wronged victim.

The more cornered I am and the greater the criticism I receive, the more the effect will be multiplied when it is reversed.

But Lord Beltain’s change of heart was something I had not anticipated at all.

Naturally, I could not have been mentally prepared for it.

Because throughout the last three regressions, he was a person who had never once betrayed me.

I had never even imagined him betraying me, not even in my dreams.

Surprisingly, Lord Beltain appeared to be in a very calm and clear state of mind. He did not seem to have his mind clouded by drugs or magic or any such means.

‘If that’s the case, if it’s not that… then could it be…?’

Perhaps I was shocked by this first-time experience, for my hand trembled slightly without my realizing it.

I only became aware that my hand was trembling when Arpad gripped it tightly.

‘Ah!’

Arpad’s low whisper brushed against my ear.

“It’s alright, Hilia. You don’t need to worry.”

Thanks to that, I was able to quickly shake off the shock.

“…Thank you.”

Surprisingly, the warmth filling Arpad’s hand was giving me great strength.

I was not alone now.

After seeing Lord Beltain, I was able to relax my hardened expression a little.

A smile finally appeared on my face.

* * *

At that moment, Arpad whispered to Hilia with a fierce smile.

“To be honest, I’m a bit displeased. It’s the first time I’ve seen you this shocked.”

“…….”

Hilia did not answer, but she knew.

It would be useless to lie and say she wasn’t shocked.

Because Arpad was certain.

Lord Beltain and Ani were special people to her.

She realized she was emotionally more dependent on them than she had thought.

Enough to be this shocked.

Arpad clicked his tongue softly. Anxious possessiveness was surging in his chest.

It was the sight of Hilia just after that eyesore of a knight appeared in the courtroom.

‘Whether it’s agitation, astonishment, anger, or even a sense of betrayal… I wish she would show it all because of me.’

He wanted all of Hilia’s emotions to be because of him.

He knew it was a somewhat excessive thought, so he didn’t voice it.

Moreover, his reason soon interjected.

‘Ah, except for the sense of betrayal.’

Arpad could imagine the sight of Hilia shedding tears of betrayal and glaring at him.

Hilia, collapsed on the floor, looking up at him with a dirtied face.

Her shabby clothes, roughly cut hair, and the wound on her cheek looked utterly pitiful.

“I… still you…!”

‘?!’

Arpad shook his head as if to shake off the hallucination that had suddenly surfaced.

‘What is this?’

Lately, such hallucinations or strange dreams had been increasing.

‘And every time, they’re all related to Hilia.’

It was strange.

His heart, which usually seemed frozen and rarely experienced emotional changes, was beating anxiously.

He was not given the leisure to focus on his own confusion.

Because Hilia tightened her grip on their joined hands.

Arpad jerked his head around. Then he saw Hilia smiling brightly.

As if she had forgotten all the fear and agitation from moments ago, she was her usual self.

There was no sign of being hurt, unhappy, or resentful, as in the ominous fantasy.

Arpad decided to focus more on reality.

To set aside these ominous hallucinations for now.

Together with Hilia, he watched how Lord Beltain would answer the lawyer’s questioning.

* * *

Ludwig could not control his twitching mouth.

Because the scene unfolding before his eyes was so gratifying.

That annoying, eyesore of a knight had come forward to testify to his own crimes.

Then Hilia would no longer be able to evade.

‘Yes. Of course. Because it’s the truth!’

Ludwig sincerely believed so.

Because he himself had secretly dated Evangeline during the engagement and had many other lovers besides.

Naturally, he thought Hilia must have done the same.

Yet he considered himself the only victim, and those two the criminals.

‘Good. Now I can reclaim what is rightfully mine!’

What he considered ‘his’ was, of course, not the property he had requested be seized due to embezzlement and title issues.

It was the house and assets of the Delphin family, which he had used freely as his own for three years.

When the lawyer asked Lord Beltain the decisive question, his anticipation reached its peak.

“I ask the witness. Were you, during the engagement between His Highness the Grand Duke of Kieln and Her Highness the Crown Princess, when she was still the Princess of Delphin, in an improper relationship with Her Highness? And did that relationship continue after the Princess of Delphin became the Crown Princess?”

The lawyer was confident of the answer. Full of confidence, he paused briefly before adding the question.

For emphasis.

“…Is that correct?”

The judge, Ludwig, Evangeline, Hilia and Arpad—truly, the eyes of everyone present were fixed solely on Lord Beltain’s mouth.

When his mouth finally opened.

“Between Her Highness and I……”

Hilia was looking at Lord Beltain in the witness stand, struggling to suppress a faint unease and sense of betrayal.

Thanks to Arpad, she had regained her composure and suppressed the violent agitation, but the emotions themselves had not disappeared.

That was when it happened. When Lord Beltain turned his head in the direction where Hilia was.

For the first time since entering the courtroom, Hilia’s eyes met Lord Beltain’s.

Hilia had been looking at him all along, meaning that until now, Lord Beltain had been avoiding her gaze.

His eyes looking directly at her… were still innocent and upright, the Renus Beltain she knew.

‘Ah……!’

The man who, even while fleeing together in a past life, never laid a finger on her, and who, even while dying miserably, worried about her instead.

The unease and sense of betrayal that had been swirling in Hilia’s chest—no, in her very being—until moments ago melted away like snow.

Thanks to that, she could wait for his next words with a surprisingly tranquil heart.

“…Between the two of us, nothing happened. Her Highness is as innocent as white snow.”