People’s gazes focused there. The noblewoman who had asked without realizing it quickly fanned herself to show her embarrassment.
“There’s a part where the prince’s written testimony matches Prince Rilke’s description.”
The judge pointed this out.
Count Leroy answered.
“What’s important here is who was really wearing that mask.”
Count Leroy requested Stefan as a witness again.
“I chose the mask. For Joachim.”
Stefan testified.
“And many people saw that scene.”
Signatures from nobles who had given statements of agreement were prepared. The attorney asked Rilke something, then requested to interrogate the nobles among them who were present at this occasion if possible.
“Of course. Because one wouldn’t normally choose a mask of that taste. It remains in memory even better.”
Various questions were poured on those called out as reference witnesses, and the same answers came out in any direction.
The attorney returned to his seat hiding his expression. When he didn’t make any statement for a moment, Rilke, whose face showed defeat, raised his hand.
“Your Honor, it really wasn’t me! If such a thing had been done to him, Joachim would have been truly wronged, so why would he stay silent? Also, Joachim usually liked me very much. Only I looked after Joachim! Ask those sitting over there about that too!”
“Then it would be good to request witness adoption directly from the attorney.”
The judge answered that he would judge correctly based on arguments, evidence, and testimony.
Rilke bit his lips.
“Your Honor. I think Prince Yorick just raised a very important topic.”
The Yorick family’s attorney interjected.
“If Prince Meyer really saved His Highness Benedict, why wouldn’t he have said he saved him right away? And the appearance of the mask. I think it’s a ridiculous testimony.”
He was forcing a laugh as if this was a very light matter.
“No testimony should be treated lightly!”
Count Leroy stepped forward.
“Moreover, I think that Prince Meyer not coming forward to say he saved him is not a crime. Your Honor. As this is a court, I think we should focus on what is sinful, on the situation where the defendant lied.”
However, the judge partially accepted the Regent Duke side’s attorney’s claim.
“Prince Meyer, answer. Why didn’t you speak the truth?”
“I thought I had done what was natural.”
I also began the statement I had prepared in case it came to this.
“In that situation, I didn’t want to distinguish who saved him. I didn’t feel the need to come forward saying I saved him. I thought what was most important was for His Highness the Prince to find stability.”
The Yorick family’s attorney countered.
“Isn’t it that you thought it would be advantageous to House Meyer’s reputation for Prince Yorick, who was your younger brother, to be highlighted as the benefactor? Then it wouldn’t matter who saved him. And even if by any chance your younger brother Prince Yorick had lied, didn’t you also stand by and watch the situation for greater profit?”
“Your Honor! The opposing side is clouding the point with numerous hypotheticals!”
Count Leroy raised his hand.
“I ask that you specifically state what benefit Prince Meyer gained from Prince Yorick’s lies.”
Several exchanges followed. The Yorick family’s attorney returned to his seat and Count Leroy was still standing.
A new witness was stepping up.
It was someone our side had requested, a knight with an unfamiliar face.
Count Leroy explained.
“He’s one of the knights who was present when His Highness Benedict was discovered.”
The count mentioned that he himself had also been there at the time, and that the knight’s name was written in Benedict’s certificate.
The judge briefly checked the sealed paper again and nodded. Count Leroy’s interrogation began.
“Sir. Do you remember the situation when His Highness Benedict was discovered?”
“Rilke Yorick, Prince Yorick who was Rilke Meyer at that time, was holding the unconscious His Highness Benedict. Prince Meyer was at a slightly distant location.”
“Were both of them wet?”
“That’s correct.”
“Do you also remember what I commanded?”
The knight testified that Count Leroy had prioritized the prince’s safety above all, and instructed the knight and several colleagues to investigate the two princes of House Meyer.
“Do you remember how Prince Meyer was?”
“I remember he was out of breath. He looked exhausted, and I think my other colleagues thought so too. Besides me, there was a colleague who asked Prince Meyer if he had witnessed anything, if he knew anything.”
“What was Prince Yorick doing?”
“He acted proactively. I vaguely felt that it seemed Prince Yorick had saved His Highness the Prince.”
“What does proactive behavior mean?”
Several more answers followed and the knight returned to his seat. Count Leroy faced the judge again and summarized.
“Prince Yorick didn’t ‘say’ he saved him. But he acted so that everyone would feel that way.”
The Yorick family’s attorney raised his hand.
“Your Honor. The opposing attorney is causing confusion in court by expressing his opinions as if they were facts and making ambiguous statements where no crime can be established.”
But it seemed like a sense of duty, and his previous confidence had softened. Count Leroy said.
“I also think that even if Prince Rilke Yorick’s behavior was strange and shameless, it would be difficult to establish a specific crime.”
Count Leroy scathingly evaluated it as excessively crude and laughable.
“However.”
The count looked back at Rilke. He rebuked in a strong tone.
“When you were selected as the benefactor of the imperial family and received the favor of Her Majesty the Empress and His Highness Benedict, you boldly took it. Without even a bit of guilty conscience. This is the crime of insulting the imperial family.”
The judge asked.
“Rilke Yorick. Do you acknowledge the charges?”
Rilke quickly straightened his gaze. I briefly looked back at the gallery where that kid had been looking.
“Do you have any rebuttal?”
“No… I, I— It’s not me! We switched masks in the forest! Joachim, why are you doing this! Tell the truth!”
Since Rilke suddenly called me, I fixed my gaze forward again. Rilke’s chin was trembling.
“This isn’t fair! Your Honor! Count Leroy over there was someone who was present, and is His Highness the Prince’s close associate! It’s not fair that such a person came forward as an attorney for this case!”
Count Leroy answered.
“Nowhere in the law book does it say there are cases where a recognized attorney cannot defend. Also, Your Honor. I’m stating that because I, who am in such a position, personally came forward as an attorney, my client’s side is more credible.”
How much must have happened for me to come forward personally. Count Leroy added like a murmur that could barely be heard, but it was quite strategic. Enough to provoke Rilke, beyond the Yorick family’s attorney who was trying hard to stop him inconspicuously.
“I, I think. Joachim Meyer stood by and watched. So that the prince and empress would be deceived.”
The judge answered.
“So you’re acknowledging the crime for now.”
“……”
“House Meyer, do you have any rebuttal?”
“Yes. I’ll say it again.”
Count Leroy answered that he had brought out the truth to correct the wrong even now, and that wrong was very minor and no different from surrendering, so it should be taken into consideration.
“Also, please understand that it wasn’t standing by, but being robbed. Rilke Yorick came that night and checked with Prince Meyer whether he had told the truth to anyone else. He even repeatedly asked not to speak about it in the future.”
Because he couldn’t believe those words, Count Leroy continued.
“He even tried to feed him an aphrodisiac that causes loss of reason. You all will remember Miss Deina’s testimony.”
Count Leroy looked around at the gallery.
“I emphasize again. Prince Yorick deceiving by pretending to have saved His Highness the Prince, and trying to feed an aphrodisiac that causes loss of reason to Prince Meyer who really saved His Highness the Prince, happened on ‘the same day.'”
Murmuring flowed through the gallery.
“It means Rilke Yorick stopped at nothing to deceive the imperial family. It’s not impulsive, it’s quite planned. Preparing an aphrodisiac, silencing his own brother who knows the truth, threatening an innocent lady and inciting her to do terrible things.”
Count Leroy reminded them of the situation where, if Stefan hadn’t come, Deina who had been threatened would have had to commit perjury because she couldn’t gather courage.
“That is a vicious scheme to cover the eyes of a strict court. I argue that he should be punished with much heavier sentencing than a simple sentence.”
The judge’s lips tightened.
A recess was declared for a moment. The court judged that it needed time to organize midway because extremely serious cases had come out one after another.
After rechecking with Count Leroy in the witness room and coming back into the courtroom, I encountered the Regent Duke. Unlike before, I carefully observed his back entering all stiffened as if he had no composure.
“Now that bastard seems less annoying.”
Mikhail said as he followed.
“My strategy seems to have worked.”
“What do you mean?”
Still smiling, Mikhail passed me and leaned back leisurely in his chair. I noticed something in his familiar expression.
“Don’t tell me, you lied about the wig?”
The Regent Duke had changed seats, sitting in the gallery instead of beside Rilke.
“How naive.”
Mikhail leaned in, conscious of the surrounding attention.
“If that bastard is really a boiled egg, what would Her Majesty the Empress’s taste be?”
“……”
That was true.
“Anyway, you can look down on that bastard even more.”
By the time I heard for the third time to think of a boiled egg and be bold if the Regent Duke tried any tricks again, Rilke entered.
