THIBV - Chapter 118

A few days before the trial.

Bridget sat opposite the Countess of Highbury.

Charlotte was a little taken aback by Bridget's sudden arrival.

After all, she was the daughter of the Duke of Linchester, and Bridget was a political enemy of the Duke.

Charlotte had a vague idea of the brutality with which the Duke of Linchester and Josephine had attempted to assassinate Julian.

But Bridget arrived naked at the Count of Highbury's mansion, which was o different from enemy territory.

"Is what you want to tell me related to this trial?"

Charlotte asked sharply, slightly stiffening.

It was not known whether it was true or not that Bridget had been tricking pregnant women into aborting.

Charlotte was the first person rumored to be the victim.

Bridget drank the tea offered by the Count's servant without any hesitation as if she had no sense of caution.

"Do you really think, Mrs. Highbury, that I am the cause of your miscarriage?"

"I am..."

Charlotte looked down for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked at Bridget.

"I think it's possible. Every single woman who's been under Mrs. Winston's thumb has had problems."

"No, you don't think so."

Bridget met Charlotte's gaze.

Charlotte felt her gaze captured by her gaze, which was firmer and calmer than she had expected. What is this attraction?

"If you really thought I was the culprit, you wouldn't have let me set foot in this mansion. I think I would have done the same. I wouldn't want to see the face of the person who made me lose my precious baby that I made with my lover. I would have been so angry and resentful that my teeth chattered, and I would have been in despair. How could I have treated you to tea? My heart would have been sore."

"..."

Charlotte swallowed dryly. Why did she suddenly feel like crying?

The emotions that Bridget described were so accurate that she found them strangely comforting. It was as if she understood how she felt.

As Bridget said, Charlotte didn't think her miscarriage was her fault.

She definitely felt the baby move after receiving the cleansing from Bridget, and she felt better for a while. She could feel the baby's joy with a mother's intuition.

In fact, Charlotte thought that her miscarriage was due not to Bridget but to the stress she received from the Duke of Linchester.

But she didn't want to admit that she had a miscarriage because of her father, so she let the rumors spread like wildfire. She knew that admitting it would be too painful and sad.

"Anyway, I don't want to get involved in anything related to the trial. That's why I agreed to meet with Mrs. Winston to make that clear."

"You know, Mrs. Highbury, that this is a battle of public opinion. Even if I am found not guilty, I will still be accused of being a witch."

"..."

"Yes, so I came to ask, as you expected, for Mrs. Highbury to appear as a witness at the trial. I need someone who can turn public opinion around with a twist."

"It's embarrassing. Why would I do that? It's ridiculous to even think about it."

"You must have noticed that your father was involved in this incident."

"...!"

Charlotte's gaze wavered greatly. What does Bridget know?

"Madam, just by not stepping forward, you are helping the real culprit who made you tremble, resentful, and desperate. Do you really want that?"

Bridget placed Eric in the care of the Count of Highbury.

Liam and Eric were similar people.

While there are people in the world who feel repulsion towards their own kind, there are also people who feel attracted to their own kind.

Eric and Liam were those people.

Bridget told Eric about the pub Liam frequented while hiding his identity.

Liam, who was a former guardsman, often went to the tavern to hang out with the commoner knights he had known during his service.

Eric had served in the war as an officer and was still friendly with the civilian soldiers.

Two people with something in common quickly became close friends.

Bridget gathered information on Liam without offending Eric's morals.

Eric said that during Charlotte's miscarriage, he saw marks on Liam's face that looked like someone had hit him.

Bridget guessed that it was the Duke of Linchester who had put a hand on Liam.

Because it was Liam who made Charlotte accept Bridget's good intentions at the banquet.

If Charlotte had been present when her father and husband were fighting, it would have been full of magi, and it was not difficult to guess that Charlotte and the baby, who were vulnerable to magi, would not have been safe.

Charlotte clearly hates her father.

Bridget dug into her heart.

"Penelope planned a premature birth out of spite for me. She probably wanted to blame me. Fortunately, despite her actions, the baby was born safely. But it was a girl. Penelope needed a son. If he wasn't the successor to Viscount Winston, he wouldn't matter. Well, It didn't matter to Penelope in the first place whether her baby was a girl or a boy. When she planned the premature birth, she had already considered the possibility that something might go wrong, so she arranged for a boy to swap with."

Charlotte's hands trembled at the horrible story.

How could you do something like that while wearing a soldering iron?

Charlotte hoped Bridget was lying.

"Wow, that's ridiculous. How could a mother do something like that..."

Bridget didn't try to convince her as if she had expected that to happen.

"Anna, bring the baby."

There's no need to try to convince someone when you can show them directly.

Anna placed a basket in front of Charlotte. It contained a baby.

Bridget said calmly, placing the portraits of Penelope and Isaac next to the baby.

"This baby is Penelope's baby. Unfortunately, she was abandoned right after she was born."

Charlotte's breathing became slightly faster.

The baby was clearly Penelope's baby. It had the same red hair, green eyes, and perky lips.

Her face shape and nose resemble Isaac's.

The mother and father were imprinted in those small, delicate features.

"I have brought you a servant named Jonas Milo, who ran away from Hudson Mansion. Would you like to meet him? He was with Penelope when she gave birth to this baby."

"No, it's okay."

There was no need to check. Anyone with eyes could tell at a glance whose baby this was.

"Penelope abandoned her baby at the nanny's house, and the nanny had her husband abandon the baby some where else. That's how it came to me."

Nanny. It was the Duke of Linchester who took her.

Charlotte knew that her father had set this all up.

There was no way his daughter wouldn't know that the Duke of Linchester was that kind of person.

Then the baby cried, "Aah, aah." It was a small, fragile sound.

Charlotte unconsciously reached out and held the baby in her arms. Feeling the warmth of that small body, a mixture of emotions crossed her mind.

She had wanted to have children, but after several miscarriages, she was unable to have children. It was shocking that someone would stage a premature birth and abandon the baby just to use it for a romantic quarrel.

The baby squirmed in her arms.

Then Charlotte, who remembered the feeling of fetal movement, shed tears.

'This is not it, this is really not it.'

Why should these little babies be sacrificed to their father?

"I will be your witness.

***

So Charlotte, who stood on the witness stand, spoke in a loud and clear voice unlike usual.

" I don't think that all this because of Lady Winston. Her purifying powers certainly had a positive effect. But people I didn't know very well began to speculate that my miscarriage was related to Lady Winston and when the Countess of Weatherby and Baroness Beaumont experienced the same thing, they immediately suspected Lady Winston. So I take responsibility and say it clearly: Lady Winston is not to blame."

Charlotte defended Bridget.

Not only that, but she also made a shocking claim that was unexpected.

"Their legacy is one of poison."

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