MLIIWTFL Chapter 198

198

"What on earth is going on here?"

"Don’t tell me Lady Wallace is really the culprit?"

"How could she try to kill her own cousin… and even frame her friend for it?"

"No, maybe Lady Mortimer is just trying to shift the blame onto Lady Wallace. There's no concrete evidence, is there?"

Although the judge looked suspicious as well, he didn’t call for silence by banging the gavel or calling Audrey’s name.

Instead, Achilles approached Giselle and asked a question.

“So you’re saying that Lady Wallace purchased the tea leaves for the defendant, and then instructed Lady Eskis to drink that tea?”

“Yes. There’s evidence too. If you look at the letters exchanged between Lady Wallace and me after I obtained the tea leaves, you’ll see that she gave me the order.”

“Here is that evidence.”

At that moment, Giselle’s lawyer stepped forward and submitted something that looked like letters to the judge.

Audrey’s face turned deathly pale the moment she recognized what the letters were, and Count Wallace’s vision went dark with rage.

‘You idiot—did you not even take care of the evidence properly?!’

As the judge unfolded one of the letters and began reading it, the lawyer explained its contents.

“These are the letters exchanged between the defendant and Lady Wallace, as just mentioned. As you can see, Lady Wallace clearly knew that the defendant had acquired Invidia, and it is evident that she planned for Lady Eskis to consume it at the concert.”

“No! I never wrote such letters! They’re all fake, I tell you—they’re definitely forgeries!”

“Order! If you do not remain silent, I will charge you with contempt of court.”

Silenced by the judge’s warning, Audrey sat back down—but flinched when she met Count Wallace’s eyes. He was glaring at her with a look that said he could rip her apart right then and there.

This time, he hadn't been able to fabricate any evidence using the knights under his command.

The senior and intermediate knights who followed him had all been removed from the case by Achilles, and the lower-ranking knights were only allowed to investigate under the supervision of senior knights appointed by Achilles.

That was why, when Audrey first confessed the truth, he had told Giselle to carefully dispose of all the evidence—just in case.

‘Don’t tell me… Averil persuaded her?’

Even in the chaos caused by Giselle’s revelations, Achilles remained calm and composed. Given his personality, it wouldn't have been strange if he had immediately lunged forward to interrogate someone.

‘What did he offer to persuade her? Did he promise a lighter sentence in exchange for implicating the Wallace family? Is Audrey going to be made the main culprit while she escapes? Does she really think that’s even possible? …No, that’s not what matters right now.’

What mattered was that Audrey had now become the target of suspicion in this courtroom—by the judge, and even by the audience.

If the suspicions remain just that, it would be a relief. But if everything comes to light, it will be the end of the line. Not only Eskis, but also Sharon and Wade have been turned into enemies. In the worst-case scenario, the entire family could be utterly destroyed.

She had tried to kill a fellow noble—worse, the daughter of a Great Lord. Other nobles would never side with her.

‘Before the handwriting analysis comes out, I have to get rid of the evidence and persuade Seraphina… As long as there's no hard proof, Seraphina might suspect us but she'll eventually believe otherwise.’

Despite her mature demeanor, Seraphina was a western noble who had only been educated by tutors—naïve and inexperienced in the ways of the world. With the right persuasion, it might be possible to make her believe that they weren't responsible.

Besides, the Marquess of Eskis was soft when it came to his daughter. If Seraphina pleaded for Wallace's innocence, he might listen.

Of course, they would have to pay a hefty price to take responsibility for the whole matter, but it was still better than the collapse of the entire family.

‘Just a few more days… If I can hold out until then—’

As Count Wallace was running through his plan again in his head, Achilles raised his hand and caught the judge’s attention.

“Your Honor, while the handwriting verification on the defendant’s evidence is being conducted, I’d like to request the summoning of a witness.”

“Who are you requesting testimony from?”

“The victim in this case, Lady Seraphina Eskis.”

At those words, the courtroom stirred once again. Count Wallace, visibly shocked, instinctively turned to look at Marquesss Eskis, but the marquess’s porcelain-doll-like face, so strikingly similar to his daughter’s, remained completely expressionless.

‘Seraphina?! So that’s why Averil was so calm—’

But before Count Wallace could even finish the thought, the proceedings moved forward, and the courtroom doors opened. Seraphina walked in confidently.

Her dress was modest, but her complexion was bright, and she didn’t seem to have suffered much at all. This unexpected appearance caused yet another wave of murmuring in the courtroom.

“Lady Eskis is going to testify?”

“I heard she was recovering at the Wallace estate… but she doesn’t look sick at all, does she?”

The whispers quickly died down with a bang of the judge’s gavel. Seraphina completed the witness oath with calm composure, then began her testimony in a steady voice.

“Witness, when you drank the Invidia tea, were you aware that it was Invidia?”

“No. The mint and chamomile aromas masked it so well that I had no idea.”

“So the defendant deliberately mixed the Invidia into mint tea to make you drink it. Who knew about your allergy?”

“In the capital, only Count Wallace, the Countess, Lady Wallace herself, my maid, and the Wallace family’s attending physician. I’ve never told anyone else.”

“Not even the defendant?”

“Correct. I’ve never told her myself. Neither has my maid.”

As she said this, Seraphina turned calm eyes toward Giselle. Receiving that gaze, Giselle began trembling violently before suddenly bursting into tears.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Eskis… I never imagined it would be dangerous enough to actually kill you…!”

It seemed she couldn't bear to lift her head in front of the person she had nearly killed.

You would think no one would attempt to harm someone without even preparing themselves mentally for the consequences. Count Wallace thought it absurd—but seeing his daughter, pale and shaking with clenched fists, it felt like a disgrace thrown straight in his face.

“We were just trying to keep her off the stage. Hic… If she collapsed from being sick, she wouldn’t be able to perform. Then we could take over the stage. Even if we got caught, the Count said he would take care of it for us…”

“Defendant, is what she says true?”

The judge leaned toward Giselle and asked. Giselle, still crying uncontrollably, answered.

“Yes. Hic… Count Wallace said that since he was the Commander of the Knights, if he just announced that Lady Sharon or someone else was the culprit, everyone would believe it… That it’s always been like that, so I shouldn’t worry…”

‘Damn it, that girl!’

Veins bulged in Count Wallace’s eyes. It wasn’t even that he’d trusted his daughter’s words about manipulating Giselle well.

“Audrey, what’s going on?! Don’t tell me you actually said that?!”

“I had no choice but to reassure Lady Mortimer! And besides, it’s something Father has always done—why are you blaming me now?”

Audrey whispered her protest, but it only made Count Wallace’s blood pressure rise even further. That sort of thing should have been handled in secret—not spoken aloud.

The fact that a Knight Commander covered up misconduct or crimes for relatives wasn’t surprising enough to spark controversy. But saying it now, in this courtroom, was utterly damning.

Sure enough, Achilles’s eyes gleamed as he turned to the judge.

“Your Honor, the defendant’s testimony is credible. Lady Wallace knew about the victim’s allergy, and Count Wallace repeatedly concealed the victim’s condition by saying she was simply ‘convalescing.’ This warrants a thorough interrogation to reveal the full truth.”

“Are you attempting to formally charge Count Wallace and Lady Wallace as additional defendants, Deputy Commander?”

At that moment, Achilles and Count Wallace locked eyes. The Count immediately sensed that whatever words came out of Achilles’s mouth next would mark the beginning of his downfall.

“Precisely. I intend to charge Lady Wallace with incitement to murder, Count Wallace with abuse of authority, harboring a criminal, and covering up a crime, and the Countess with harboring a criminal and obstruction of justice.”

***

What followed happened swiftly.

The Wallace family strongly objected, calling the charges absurd, but Achilles had already acquired a confidential directive issued by Count Wallace—obtained by persuading several knights under the Count’s influence.

Although the Count had ordered that letter to be burned, it still existed. That was enough for the judge to issue an arrest warrant.

The attending nobles buzzed with shock, curiosity, and tension, whispering in their groups about what might happen next. Meanwhile, Achilles returned to the witness waiting room, busy handling follow-up matters.

Seraphina, with a complicated expression, left with the Marquess of Eskis, who had come to escort her.

Giselle, trembling in a corner, saw Achilles and rushed toward him.

“Um, what’s going to happen to me now?”

“Until the Wallace family’s trial is over, you’ll remain in prison.”

“Prison? But I gave testimony! You said if I testified, you’d send me to a convent! I thought I could pray for forgiveness and be done with it?”

Even while feeling guilt toward Seraphina, Giselle still sought an easy path to atonement. Achilles, holding back his disgust, answered flatly.

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