“Where do they make such fake newspapers!”
Doris threw a crumpled newspaper onto a plate of moldy bread.
The chipped plate could not withstand that level of impact and broke with a dull sound.
“Isn’t anyone there? There! There you! I told you to bring in the 2nd Prince, Rhodnes?!”
“Don't make a fuss.”
“Who dares tell me to shut up?”
Today was Doris' trial day.
It had been quite some time since Doris had heard from her mother, the Duchess of Castagna, through secret letters that all efforts were being made to rescue her in the West.
Doris didn't care about the image of the prison she would soon escape from.
“Bring me the real news, not these fake newspapers! Let me see Rhodnes! People are being fooled now! There’s no way the dead can come back to life! Bring me Blie Acacia! I don’t know when that idiot came up with that plan, but my eyes can’t be fooled!”
Nothing but evil remained in her body that couldn't even eat properly.
The two guards guarding the prison gates turned a deaf ear to Doris's continued tyranny, but eventually, they could no longer endure it and left.
Doris, who was glaring at the guard who was shaking his head and disappearing, shouted after him.
“Call Rhodnes! Call Rhodnes!! Call Blie Acacia! And my maids!”
She was so angry during the few days she was locked up that blood was running down her throat.
She felt a chill run through her body, but it was a decent treatment.
Because she wasn't a perfect criminal before her trial, she stayed in a fairly clean room, even though she was served stale food on broken dishes.
“Nora Giuseppe... You ungrateful bitch... Just go out. I’ll beat you up with Blie Acacia.”
“Who cares?”
“!”
Doris, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, brooding over her humiliation, suddenly looked up. Two women in fancy attire were standing outside the iron bars.
“Nora Giuseppe!!”
It was Noura and Irene.
“How dare you ask the master, with what face!”
“Who is my master?”
Noura snorted.
It was a case of two enemies fighting each other.
Doris couldn't control her heartbeat and jumped up, approaching the bars. Behind Noura, who was dressed up extravagantly today, Irene was covering her mouth and sobbing.
“I don’t have a master, you damn bitch. I feel like my time is wasted being manipulated by you. You can look forward to the trial today.”
At the fierce voice, Doris glared at Noura as if her eyes were going to pop out.
Noura looked straight into her eyes without avoiding them, just like the gaze that dominated the social world.
She was originally that kind of woman. Doris glared at her, trying to bring the oppressed atmosphere to her side. Noura snorted at the sight of her face.
“The West has already abandoned you. No matter how much you try to bring Raphaella Castagna to Prince Epero, it won’t work this time. The Empress is furious when she learns of the atrocities committed by your father.”
Doris's brow furrowed.
“How dare you...”
“The assassinations your husband instigated and your father carried out. They’ve all been exposed, and by tomorrow, all the newspapers will be talking about them. I’ll also go around telling everyone about the things that ruined my husband. Look forward to it.”
Doris paused for a moment, her anger rising.
“Nora... how did you... do that?”
“You must have forgotten. I was your maid. Who am I to have such insensibility? I remember your disgustingly smiling face every time the Empress collapsed from a nervous breakdown. And the expression on your face when you pretended to be concerned about my husband and gave him cheap medicine, pretending to be kind.”
Doris finally lost her temper at the continued rude behavior and shouted.
“Nora, You can’t abandon me. Don’t talk nonsense, you dog that bit its master! Just wait until the trial is over. I’ll definitely take your neck first!”
“Doris Castagna.”
Noura Giuseppe brought her face close to the iron bars and spat out.
“My name is not Nora, it’s Noura, you stupid woman.”
“!”
“You can’t even call your own dog by its name properly, so how can you act like the owner...”
The eyes filled with contempt moved away.
Doris screamed so loud that the prison shook, then gritted her teeth and turned her gaze to Irene, who remained behind.
“Irene! Irene! What is Count Siscometin doing? Of course, he will take me with my family...”
“I am truly disappointed, Your Highness.”
Irene eventually shed tears even thicker than before.
“I knew that Your Highness was truly a kind person, and I asked my father countless times to save Your Highness. I believed in the kindness you showed me!”
“Irene!”
“But what is this? What about the way you showed me at the last sainthood ceremony? Your Highness, you betrayed me, who followed you and fought against my father to protect you until the end! You sent poison to Lady Blie... Even worse, she has now become a true Saintess!”
“Irene, listen to me!”
“No. I will not help you any longer. I do not wish to be your ‘dog’. And who knows?”
Irene wiped her wet cheek with her hand and glared at Doris longingly.
“Your Highness may instigate the killing of my father, or may send me such poison.”
“Irene! Irene!”
The wounded young girl turned away, shedding tears.
Although Noura Giuseppe had been caught in the secret, it was a serious problem that Count Siscometin, Doris's biggest supporter, had turned his back on her.
Doris grabbed the iron bars and shook them violently.
“Let me go! Let me go!! Irene! Irene!!”
Irene, who had been so loyal to her, left the space without even looking back. Doris stood there for a moment, speechless, overcome by anxiety.
That was when.
A woman's shadow appeared in the hallway where the shadow had disappeared.
'It's Irene!'
If she can please the soft-hearted Irene well...
But soon Doris's face, which had been brimming with hope, hardened.
“You came looking for me? You were waiting for me at the gate? Are you only just now realizing the situation?”
Blie, whose gestures were typical of a noblewoman, approached her with a sly look.
A rough gait.
The sight of her spitting out curses as if she were breathing was no different from that of a city thug.
Doris stared at Blie, speechless at the sudden surge of discomfort. Her lips, which were about to scream, were moving awkwardly.
“Look at the way you’re looking. Are you sure you haven’t eaten anything? You look so fucking healthy. Crazy.”
She should have cursed her as soon as she saw her, but Doris couldn't say anything.
“Close your eyes, you little dwarf shitbag.”
It was because of the terrifying murderous aura exuded by the unbelievably rude woman, whose former fierce face had all but disappeared.
Her steps, which had been moving backward without me realizing it, stopped. No, they stopped and stood still.
Without hesitation, a white hand came through the iron bars and grabbed Doris by the collar, twisting her.
With a “Ugh!” sound, the skinny body roughly hit the cold iron bars.
“Are you the bitch who bullied my little sister?”
Doris's legs began to tremble as she came face to face with those wicked, gleaming green eyes.
“How dare you. How dare you... Blie, how dare you...”
“I’m asking you, you bitch. Are you the bitch who dared to try to kill my little sister?”
There was no time to feel the suffocating tension.
“Wan, warden! Where did the warden go! Wan....”
No matter how much she twisted her body, an inexorable force surged toward Doris's white cheeks.
***
The trial began very late in the afternoon.
The trial, which was originally supposed to start at noon, was delayed because of Second Prince Rhodnes.
Rhodnes ordered that the trial be held in the central square where the canonization ceremony had been held, rather than in the courthouse.
The Emperor agreed and the Empress actively supported it.
For Doris, who was a noble, especially a member of the royal family, it was an unprecedented humiliation.
The public trial, which was decorated more splendidly and magnificently than the canonization ceremony, seemed like a deliberate festival.
When Doris heard that it was a public trial, she stamped her feet and refused to attend, but was eventually dragged out by the guards.
The cheek where Blie had hit her was still cold.
Unfortunately, no one testified against Doris, as the guards had already been bribed by Blie.
Her swollen cheeks looked like they were just puffy from crying so hard just a moment ago.
Her legs started to tremble as she recalled the strong hands that had pinched her so hard that her flesh almost fell off.
The Duke of Castagna and his charges being recited in court seemed strange and unfamiliar as if they were someone else's.
Surprisingly, Doris's stomach was boiling with resentment even though it was true that she and her father had done it.
“Rhodnes... !”
No matter how much he looked at Rhodnes, who was sitting at the head table with a haggard and pitiful face, his expression did not change at all.
Ah. He was originally like that.
A charming devil who hides a sword behind a sensual smile and hides his true feelings behind a gentlemanly gesture.
Not even a hollow laugh came out.
“Above. The statements of all witnesses are consistent and the evidence is clearly revealed. This judge pronounces the following sentence.”
Only then did Rhodnes's red gaze return to her. Doris looked up at him earnestly, tears falling down her cheeks.
If she didn't love herself, she wanted to use her position as the wife of the brother he loved so much to elicit sympathy.
“The judges unanimously sentence the Duke of Castagna to death for the assassination of His Highness the Sixth Prince. In addition, Crown Prince Bardenaldo is suspected of assassinating His Highness the Crown Prince, and Doris Castagna, who assassinated His Highness the Grand Duchess Trovica and attempted to kill her maid Blie Acacia. And the Duke of Castagna has since paid compensation to the Imperial Household...”
Following the judge's absurd sentence, Rhodnes, who was sitting at the head of the table in place of the Emperor, opened his mouth coldly.
“All of the family’s assets will be confiscated, and the entire lands of the Castagna Dukes will be transferred to the Imperial Family, taking exactly half. In addition, the title of Duke granted to Castagna will be revoked.”
The nobles of the West who were watching the trial fainted one after another. Only then did Rhodnes give Doris a smile that was worse than nothing.
It was a smile that was nothing more than an empty shell, without any trace of human affection.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!!”
A shrill noise escaped from the mouth of the Duke of Castagna, who had just regained consciousness thanks to Rossi's help.
Instead of answering, Rhodnes nodded slightly.
The judges quickly withdrew, and the guillotine took their place. A crowd no less than that of the canonization of a Saintess swarmed onto the stage to witness the devil's end.
The Duke of Castagna woke up from the poison sent by his daughter and was beheaded without even being able to scream properly.
“This can’t be happening! This can’t be happening!! It’s all Doris’s doing! Your Highness! Your Highness, I did nothing wrong!!”
The more desperate the cries, the louder the cheers.
Empress Grace, sitting next to Lord Rhodnes, quietly took in the moment.
Finally, as the King of the West's neck rolled to the floor, Ephero grabbed the Empress's hand tightly.
Grace sobbed in her son's arms.
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