Chapter 125 - North Korean rabbit

Episode 125

From the necklace that shimmered with light, Ludwig's voice began to play back with perfect clarity.

The first thing to ring through the courtroom was vulgar, blatant profanity.

-XXX! Who do you think would have any real lingering feelings for a bitch like you?! Look at the mess you've gotten me into! XXX!

It was base, foul language that made one instinctively grimace.

For nobles, who prize intellect and dignity as virtues, these were words one would never utter or hear in a formal setting while in one's right mind.

A sharp *crack* sounded from the fan clutched in Evangeline's hand.

Flames ignited in her green eyes.

'That, that fool Ludwig! I told him so many times to be wary of recording magical artifacts!'

Evangeline had already suffered greatly because of a recording magical artifact.

That was why she had repeatedly and earnestly warned Ludwig. To watch his words.

Especially right after he had presumptuously visited the Crown Prince's Palace, she had even questioned him separately.

"What did you say to Hilia? You didn't, by any chance, reveal our plans, did you?"

"Do you think I'm insane?"

"That woman possesses a recording magical artifact. If you make one slip of the tongue, it could come back to trip us up."

"I know! That artifact, it was so large you couldn't possibly miss it. There was nothing like that around!"

Ludwig had boasted confidently.

Evangeline could believe that, even if he hadn't hidden it properly, he had at least been mindful of the recording artifact.

But……!

"Impossible! Utterly impossible! That necklace is a recording magical artifact? That thing was big enough to stand against a wall!"

Ludwig's complexion had turned deathly pale.

The moment she confirmed that, Evangeline squeezed her eyes shut.

'He said things he shouldn't have.'

That her prediction was correct was proven by the stream of Ludwig's abusive words that followed.

-XX! Think carefully. If you come back to me quietly, even now, you can at least end up as just a divorced woman.

-Why should I divorce my loving husband and go to you?

Hilia's pitifully trembling voice was heard alongside his.

During the threat, Ludwig had thought Hilia's sudden change in tone was because she was cowed and afraid.

He believed he had thoroughly crushed her spirit.

But that wasn't it.

Hilia had been utterly calculating, using a trembling voice to play the part of a frightened woman.

-Love, my foot! XX! I'm even offering to take you back, you soiled woman!

-Soiled? We are a couple who swore vows before God!

-Yes, and thanks to that, I've become the laughingstock of the entire Empire.

Ludwig spat out a few more curses, then got to the point.

-Anyway, once Arpad learns you're an adulterous woman who dragged men all the way from Delphin to the Imperial Palace, he'll discard you.

-I never did such a thing.

-Well, of course, a blockhead like you wouldn't know how to bewitch a man.

Ludwig's vile voice continued.

-Whether it's true or not isn't important. If you don't do as I say, you'll become the most adulterous woman in the world. You'll be dragged to court and utterly humiliated. No matter how blind Arpad is, he won't take you back then.

-…….

-This is your only chance. Hmm? Come back to being the good Hilia I know. Then I'll spare you.

-I refuse.

The recording magical artifact stopped playing there.

An uncomfortable silence dominated the courtroom, struck by a terrible shock.

* * *

The words of Ludwig just recorded contained everything.

He admitted, with his own mouth, that he had set this in motion to ruin her, not even believing she had truly committed such acts.

No greater evidence or witness could exist.

'Ludgh's ruin is now as good as decided.'

Hiding a triumphant smile, I calmly surveyed the courtroom.

Ludwig, whose complexion looked as if all the blood had drained from his body, merely gaped, having forgotten what to say.

His lawyer wore a truly rotten expression.

The judge, with a grave face, looked alternately at me, the necklace, and Ludwig.

Beside me, Arpad whispered in a voice tinged with laughter.

"It was worth holding back my anger and waiting then."

"See? You never lose by listening to me."

When I said I would meet Ludwig, Arpad had objected.

"How do you know what that bastard might do?!"

"That's precisely why I must meet him."

"What?"

"He's clearly plotting something, and given Ludwig's personality, if he's alone with me, it's highly likely he won't be able to hide it."

Even if he tried to hide it, I could guide him.

"Because we need to get solid evidence in hand."

Arpad agreed with my reasoning.

Still, worried for my safety, he waited in the next room and appeared at just the right moment to chase Ludwig away.

Ludwig, his face like a white fish, muttered several times. As if that was all he knew how to say.

"No, I clearly checked that there was no recording magical artifact……"

This had been calculated from the moment I first revealed the recording artifact at the banquet.

The artifact creator, Hephaestus, had been flustered when I specifically pointed to the large recording artifact among those he had researched and created.

"Huh? You, you wish to purchase such an item, for such a high price……?"

He showed me a much smaller, improved version with better performance, saying,

"Th-that one is a prototype! Here, I have smaller ones with much clearer, improved performance……!"

"Of course, I don't intend to buy only that. I'll purchase the improved versions as well."

From the improved recording artifacts Hephaestus presented, I chose a rather large amethyst.

'This one should be easy to craft into a piece of jewelry like a necklace.'

People who saw the nearly human-sized recording artifact prototype would naturally be wary of it.

They would never imagine that a much smaller, ordinary-looking object could possess the same capability.

That's why I deliberately used the prototype last time and kept this improved version hidden.

"If I make them wary of the prototype, they'll be more at ease and say things they shouldn't when it's not around."

After that, I had no occasion to meet Evangeline up close, but Ludwig came to me of his own accord.

And he created the evidence and placed it in my hand.

I now smiled as brightly as I could at Ludwig, for whom no path remained but ruin. I wouldn't have to face him much anymore.

The judge delivered the inevitable verdict.

"As the guardian of Imperial Law, and as the Emperor's proxy, I deliver the verdict. The charges against Her Highness the Crown Princess are dismissed. The responsibility for the broken engagement lies with Grand Duke Kielern. Therefore, you shall pay compensation to Her Highness the Crown Princess equivalent to the level you yourself demanded."

The sound of the gavel striking was exceedingly cheerful.

Ludwig screamed.

"This is absurd! Don't make me laugh!"

He tried to deny and resist several times, but ridicule and condemnation poured in from all sides.

"Good heavens, to torment an innocent person after playing such a dirty game himself……"

"He was just greedy for the property in the end."

"And did you hear the profanity earlier? It was so… vulgar it was shocking."

"Even for a royal, to sink that low……"

"One's origins truly cannot be helped……"

Ludwig tried to grab his lawyer, who was busily packing up to leave his side.

"H-hey, where are you going? Don't leave me alone!"

"My duty here is concluded."

"You have to take responsibility!"

"Your Grace is not my employer. Are you not aware?"

"...!"

The lawyer slipped away craftily.

Ludwig wandered the spectator seats as if searching for his last lifeline.

"Eva! Eva! Where did you go?!"

Amazingly, once Ludwig's complete ruin was decided, Evangeline had vanished without my even noticing.

In the end, Ludwig was left alone, abandoned.

Of course, the embezzlement and name-related issues I had pinned on him were matters I could only win.

In the end, for Ludwig, there could be no outcome other than penal servitude, meant to extract compensation from him for me.

"Gyaaah!!!"

The beast-like scream of a man sensing his end filled the courtroom.

* * *

"Ha, refreshing."

It was just that. It truly felt as if a long-standing congestion had cleared.

I thought I had repaid Ludwig quite thoroughly, but it seems there was still much pent-up resentment.

The sight of him wailing in despair on the brink of ruin was quite pleasing.

As I was in high spirits, Arpad, who had been sitting quietly and strangely subdued in the carriage seat beside me, asked amiably,

"Shall we go together later to watch Ludwig perform his penal servitude?"

"That sounds good, but……"

I rolled my eyes. After observing Arpad's excessively considerate, unbearably affectionate smile for a moment, I asked,

"What's with you lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're strangely… listening to everything I say, not making sarcastic remarks… trying to protect me… comforting me……?"

Somehow, the more I listed, the stranger I felt.

Each one was an expression that didn't suit Arpad.

Moreover.

'Doesn't it seem like he's being a bit… cautious?'

An Arpad who was watching someone's mood. It was behavior that didn't suit him at all, to an excessive degree.

'…Could it be?'

Feeling a subtle unease, I opened my mouth.