Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 35 Part 6

The remark about being next in line meant they too could end up like Marquis Delph at any moment.

In other words, it implied that each of them had at least one shameful secret to hide.

Eleanor quietly looked around the courtroom.

Since commoners were not eligible to attend this trial, nearly everyone present was a noble.

“…There’s a lot of work to be done.”

When Eleanor reached out her hand to Lennoch, he gently took it in his.

“From now on, I’ll make sure you never have to worry about these things.”

“You’re going to shoulder it all alone?”

Lennoch did not answer that question.

Instead, he brought her hand to his lips and pressed a tender kiss to it.

His smiling eyes seemed to say he meant every word, and Eleanor shook her head.

Just then, the judge announced the entrance of the defendants.

Marquis Delph, his daughter Vivia, and Caroline.

Still wearing the same clothes they had on when arrested, unwashed and unchanged, they looked even more pitiful, covered in grime and filth.

Marquis Delph entered with his head hung low, hiding his expression.

In contrast, Vivia was trembling like a leaf.

Ever since realizing that the Emperor’s declared execution was drawing near.

Her restless eyes wandered without focus, shadowed deeply by fear.

Eleanor’s gaze shifted to the older woman standing beside her.

“……”

Caroline looked utterly worn out.

Her face, once heavily powdered, now laid bare, looked as though decades had suddenly caught up with her.

Amidst the desolation, a trace of indignation flickered.

Once the three stood side by side, the judge struck the gavel.

“Daniel von Delph, Vivia von Delph, Caroline von Mecklen. The trial for these three shall now commence.”

At that declaration, Marquis Delph slowly lifted his head.

“Daniel von Delph. The defendant is accused of organizing the ghost trading company Balkan, and smuggling narcotics and toxic herbs classified as dangerous and illegal under Baden law. He is further charged with importing 132 prohibited items from East Harlem, committing fraud with counterfeit goods, distributing drugs, and committing three counts of murder. Are all these accusations true?”

“……”

Silence blanketed the courtroom.

What would he say?

Would he beg in tears for his life?

Or—

“Quite the spectacle, isn’t it.”

To the judge’s question, Marquis Delph gave a strange response.

“This whole mess was manufactured by the Emperor.”

“W-what?”

“What is he talking about?”

A loud murmur spread through the room.

But Marquis Delph paid no mind and shouted, “I refuse to comply with this trial!”

“My god, where does he get this nerve?”

“This trial’s outcome is the same regardless. His Majesty already declared he would have me executed. The judge is nothing more than a puppet doing the Emperor’s bidding!”

“……!”

“So why should I accept such a biased trial?”

There was not a hint of shame in the way he shouted.

His shameless words sparked boos from the audience.

When he began to stir, knights on either side held him down to prevent any disruption.

As the judge was about to strike the gavel again for order, the Emperor’s cold voice cut through the air like an arrow.

“Yes, you’re a warning.”

“……!”

Marquis Delph turned his head, frozen.

The Emperor, seated among the spectators, wore a relaxed expression, though his tone had been sharp.

“So others may see what kind of person you are, what crimes you’ve committed, and why they must not follow in your footsteps.”

“……”

“Only by showing your downfall can others learn to tread more carefully.”

Somewhere in the courtroom, someone gasped.

It came from those with guilty consciences.

Eleanor tightened her grip on Lennoch’s hand.

But Marquis Delph was still defiant.

“Even so, I am innocent. I am no criminal.”

Veins bulged in his neck.

“Is there evidence? Witnesses? There’s nothing! What proof do you have to accuse me so confidently?”

“The defendant will remain silent.”

Unable to bear it any longer, the judge frowned.

The number of witnesses alone on the list was far greater than for any other defendant—what gave him the confidence to act so wildly?

Annoyed by the disorder Delph was causing, the judge summoned the waiting witness.

“Do you swear to speak only the truth?”

The first witness was Lambert, a journalist from Fox.

After taking the oath, Lambert took a few deep breaths as if trying to calm his nerves.

“I’m a reporter. I stumbled upon some strange behavior from Marquis Delph and began secretly investigating him. During my investigation, I discovered suspicious activities.”

He recounted sneaking into the Delph residence, where he found that the Marquis had received an illegal personnel appointment in exchange for publishing a false love letter from the Duke of Mecklen in the Black Cat newspaper.

A stir rippled through the audience.

“So the Duke’s love letter was a lie?”

Ernst, who had remained quiet, immediately stiffened.

He had been one of those who collaborated in fabricating that false letter.

As the truth came to light, the nobles who had supported Ernst now glared at him with a sense of betrayal.

His lips pressed tight, Ernst’s face flushed red with a mix of shame and shock.

Lambert continued his testimony. “I broke into the Delph residence a second time. I found the detached annex unusually quiet, and in the basement, I discovered horrifying evidence. This is one of the items I recovered.”

“What is it?”

“A severed finger.”

“……!”

It was a horrifying piece of evidence.

By the end of Lambert’s testimony, Duke Nestor and Evan could only hang their heads.

Another item Lambert found in the annex basement was a ring.

Inside the band was the engraved name: Albert Van.

That was the name of the finance officer they had planted in the Balkan Trading Company as a spy.

They had knowingly sent him into danger.

Though they had compensated Albert’s family generously, the guilt could not be avoided.

Following Lambert, the next witness was a servant from the Delph household.

“M-Master… gave instructions to burn it.”

“Burn what, exactly?”

“Th-the body…”

The servant glanced nervously at Marquis Delph.

When his eyes met the Marquis’s wide, glaring ones, he trembled and quickly turned away.

“Was the finger of the corpse severed?”

“Y-yes. When I was handling it with John, the condition of the corpse was so gruesome we nearly vomited.”

The judge continued questioning. “Did the defendant ask you to do anything else?”

“Master usually ordered us to burn things. Sometimes books, sometimes used belongings… Ah, and lots of dried flowers.”

“What kind of flowers?”

“Purple flowers. He dried them in large quantities before winter and stored them in the warehouse. Then one day, he suddenly told us to burn them all.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. But I heard someone had stolen a seedling he was cultivating. So he wanted to get rid of them before it spread.”

Caroline, who had remained silent until now, flinched.

The seedlings the servant mentioned were the ones she had secretly smuggled out with Count Verdik.

Originally, she had intended to use May to poison the Empress Dowager and pin the blame on Marquis Delph.

Afraid that her role in this would be revealed, Caroline tightly shut her mouth.

“Do you know what those purple flowers were?”

“I don’t.”

“If shown directly, would you recognize them?”

“Yes.”

At that, the third witness, Count Hilda, stepped forward.

When Count Hilda presented the purple toxic flower—allium—the servant nodded.

“Yes. That’s it.”

Count Hilda looked to the judge and said, “This is a poisonous plant not yet known to the public, called allium. Marquis Delph used this flower to commit murder. The victim was… former Empress Edea.”

“My god.”

“He killed his own daughter?”

Following the gruesome evidence, another wave of gasps erupted.

As public outrage over the patricide soared, Marquis Delph’s face twisted.

In shock, Vivia turned to her father with a dazed expression. “Sister… didn’t die from illness?”

At his daughter’s question, Marquis Delph’s face flushed deep red.

Count Hilda pressed on. “The tea that Empress Edea drank before her death contained this allium.”

“……!”

“And as we heard from the servant’s testimony, Marquis Delph had known about this toxic plant for a long time. He even prepared distribution routes using the Balkan Trading Company to smuggle allium into the East Harlem auction. The nobles who use that auction come from many different nations. In other words, he planned to spread this horrific poison across the world.”

“……!”

“Of course, the motive was profit.”

People were so shocked they could barely breathe.

Count Hilda raised the dried flower high.

“On charges of murdering former Empress Edea and distributing toxic substances, I submit all the documents I’ve compiled during my investigation as evidence.”

“The court accepts the evidence.”

The next witness was the only noble to have survived the recent purge.

His cheeks had sunk noticeably in just a few days, and he spoke in a hoarse voice.

“I was in charge of overseeing the prison.”

He wasn’t anymore.

Recalling the vivid purge that had unfolded before his eyes, he shivered.

Though he had survived by luck, he could be executed at any moment.

The prison overseer, who had voluntarily confessed his crimes to the Emperor as soon as the purge ended, fixed his gaze on the floor and spoke quickly.

“Blinded by money, I committed an unforgivable crime against His Majesty. Marquis Delph asked me to secretly deliver a cookie to a prisoner in the jail. I ordered a guard to do it. After the prisoner died, I feared the truth would come out and had the guard killed as well.”

“Who was the prisoner that received the cookie?”

The overseer swallowed dryly.

“The prince’s nanny.”

***

The judge announced a brief recess.

It was necessary to sort through the ongoing flood of revelations and evidence.

Though the court was now free to speak, no one dared to raise their voice.

“Lennoch, you were right.”

Mindful of her surroundings, Eleanor whispered so only the Emperor could hear.

“Marquis Delph hasn’t said a word about Prince Hail’s birth secret.”

“He must think revealing it now would only worsen his sentence.”

Lowering his voice to match hers, Lennoch nodded.

“He would never imagine that we want to keep Hail’s parentage hidden.”

“That’s a relief.”

Delph’s attempt to escape punishment by keeping silent had, instead, turned out to be to their advantage.

What Eleanor had feared most upon hearing the overseer’s confession was the emotional scar Hail might suffer.

If the public learned the prince’s nanny had been killed on Delph’s orders, the truth of his birth would become known nationwide.

If he found out the man he trusted and followed wasn’t his biological father—

If he learned he wasn’t meant to be part of the imperial family—

It would be a cruel truth for a child of that age to endure.

Seeing Eleanor’s look of relief, Lennoch let out a quiet chuckle.

“I trust Marquis Delph.”

“Trust him?”

“As you just saw, even now he refuses to admit his crimes.”

Just as he said, Delph had kept repeating that he wasn’t guilty.

Even when the proof had been presented right before him.

So—

“He won’t say a word even to his dying breath.”

“……”

And that means—

“Now, Hail’s parentage is a secret shared by just you and me.”

As he explained, a soft smile lifted Lennoch’s lips.