Episode 27: The Invitation to the Guillotine and Foolish Joy
The main gate of the Duke of Castillo's estate, where yesterday morning the Chief Imperial Envoy had fled, rolling in the mud after being tossed like a sack by a massive northern hound.
In just one day, a carriage bearing the Imperial coat of arms had once again cautiously stopped before the mansion's gate. However, the envoy's demeanor this time was a complete contrast to yesterday. Sweating profusely as if ten thousand Northern Knights were glaring at his back, he bowed respectfully at the waist 90 degrees before the front door
"I... I have brought a message from His Imperial Majesty... Please deliver it to Duchess Eleanor."
What the envoy respectfully presented with both hands was not a golden scroll inscribed with an arrogant 'Imperial Decree.' It was a thick envelope bearing the solemn coat of arms of the 'Imperial Supreme Court,' the Empire's highest judicial body, stamped in red wax.
Hans, the head butler, took the envelope, entered the reception room, and presented it to Eleanor. Eleanor leaned lazily back on the red velvet sofa, tore open the envelope, and slowly scanned its contents.
"Mother. Is the Imperial Family really being unreasonable again?"
Liliana, standing beside her, asked with a furrowed brow. Due to the humiliating decree incident from yesterday, Liliana displayed a chilling wariness at the mere sight of the Imperial seal. However, as Eleanor read through the documents, a deep and alluring smirk, rather than anger, was spreading across her red lips.
"No. The old Emperor has finally raised the white flag."
"Raised the white flag?"
"Yes."
Eleanor lightly tossed the documents onto the table.
"This is the 'Notice of Trial Revision' officially sent by the Imperial Supreme Court. It states that the Emperor has approved a full retrial of the lawsuit I petitioned for a divorce from Valdemar and the stripping of my family headship rights at the Imperial Grand Court two days later at 10 a.m."
At those words, Liliana's light green eyes sparkled with surprise and joy. The Emperor, completely dispirited by Grand Duke Caelon's declaration of '10,000 troops marching south' and Liliana's announcement of a 'halt to food distribution,' had abandoned military force and coercive power and finally crawled onto the 'legitimate judgment seat' dug by Eleanor.
"But Mother, the jury in the Grand Court will be filled entirely with high-ranking nobles from the Imperial faction. The Emperor will surely bribe the judges and desperately try to frame you as an embezzler inside the courtroom."
Liliana expressed her concern, analyzing the situation keenly.
"Of course. Because that is the only desperate act that can come out of that pathetic, stupid old man's head."
Eleanor raised her teacup and smiled elegantly.
"The Emperor will delude himself into thinking he has set the stage and laid a trap. But that very Supreme Court is the 'most perfect guillotine' I have prepared to mutilate those pieces of trash most thoroughly and legally before the eyes of the entire Empire. Even if you bribe a hundred judges, in the face of perfect, irrefutable evidence, they too will become nothing more than rats jumping off a sinking ship."
At her mother-in-law's overwhelming confidence, Liliana's heart began to pound hotly. Now, the real battlefield was no longer a blood-splattering battlefield, but a solemn courtroom where documents and evidence served as blades. Eleanor summoned the butler, Hans.
"Hans. Go down to the basement immediately and kindly read that mail to the prisoners as well. When they learn that they have finally seen the light of day, they will shed tears of joy."
***
The deepest underground prison of Castillo, reeking of dampness and a disgusting stench of mold. Claude, with his shattered shoulder blade, and Vivian, who had been dragged in a few days earlier and had been screaming like a madwoman, no longer had the strength left to bite each other.
Trapped in the opposite cell, they breathed as if dead, staring blankly at the cold ceiling. Just then, the heavy iron door opened, and guards holding torches and the butler, Hans, descended.
"Prisoner Valdemar, and Prisoner Claude."
At Hans's cold voice, Valdemar, the former head of the household who had been crouching in the innermost cell, crawled toward the iron bars.
"You, you bastard Hans! Do you know who I am to call a prisoner! As soon as I get out, I will beat you to death first!"
Valdemar screamed, but Hans did not blink an eye and took out a document from the Supreme Court to read aloud.
"Two days from now, at 10 a.m., the trial of the three individuals for 'divorce, embezzlement, and treason against the state' will be held at the Imperial Grand Court. His Imperial Majesty has personally assembled the jury and approved the commencement of the trial. In two days, the three of you will arrive in a prisoner transport carriage and stand in the defendant's dock at the Grand Court."
The moment Hans finished reading, a bizarre silence fell over the basement. And one second later.
"Hahahaha! Uhahahahaha!!"
Duke Valdemar gripped the bars of his cell and began to burst into maniacal laughter of ecstatic joy.
"Did you hear, Claude! What did I tell you! The secret letter I sent has finally reached His Imperial Majesty! His Majesty has personally convened the Grand Court to stop the tyranny of that mad witch and save us!!"
Tears of overwhelming emotion streamed down Valdemar's face. Claude, too, forgetting the pain in his broken shoulder, rubbed his head against the bars in deep emotion.
"Oh, God! We can finally escape this hell! If the jury consists of His Majesty's men, then our victory is a foregone conclusion! That wicked mother will finally kneel and be executed as an embezzler!"
"Absolutely! As soon as I regain my authority as head of the household in court, I will cut off the heads of that madwoman and Liliana!"
Separated by iron bars, the father and son began to pour out arrogant words of celebration, as if they already possessed the whole world. Completely unaware of the truth that the Emperor had cowered in fear of Caelon's might and reluctantly allowed the trial, they floundered in a terrible delusion and delusion that the Emperor had 'saved them.
Even Vivian, who had been watching the spectacle from the cell across the way, caught a glimmer of hope in her murky blue eyes.
'A trial is being held? Right. If countless nobles gather in the courtroom, there will surely be some who pity me. If I seduce them with my beauty and tears, and pin all the blame on that incompetent Claude and Marquis Morte, I can survive...!'
Foolish rats shedding tears of joy, believing the invitation to the guillotine to be a lifeline of salvation. Their pathetic and vain euphoria filled the basement, serving as the finest seasoning for the perfect 'despair' Eleanor would present in court two days later.
***
At the same time, Liliana was acting head of the trading company on the second floor of the Duke's mansion.
While the trash in the basement was steeped in euphoria and raising vain toasts, Liliana was buried under a mountain of accounting ledgers, cross-checking the documents with a fierce gaze. Beside her, the steadfast knight Kian silently attended to Liliana, swiftly presenting new stacks of ledgers whenever needed.
"If Mother wants to turn this trial into a perfect hunting ground, she needs 'absolute evidence of embezzlement' that the Imperial jury can never overturn, no matter how unreasonable their arguments are."
Liliana muttered, rapidly rolling her quill.
"The flow of ten years' worth of illicit funds that Duke Valdemar siphoned off through the Black Rose Guild. I have a rough outline, but this alone is not enough. I need the 'original ledger' bearing Valdemar's handwritten signature to render the judge speechless, and the exact location of the 'secret vault' where the money finally flowed."
In the mind of Liliana, who possessed genius accounting skills, tens of thousands of numbers and receipts began to fit together like a giant puzzle.
Scratch, scratch.
In the silent office, only the sharp sound of Liliana's quill echoed.
"Miss, aren't you pushing yourself too hard? It is already past midnight."
Kian asked worriedly as he carefully placed a cup of warm tea, but Liliana did not stop. On the contrary, her light green eyes gleamed even more, like a lioness spotting her prey.
The legendary trial was to be held in two days. The night was burning with a breathtaking battle of wits as the daughter-in-law. Liliana sought to find the last remaining 'piece of the deadly evidence' so that her mother-in-law could mercilessly bring down the guillotine.
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