Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 35 Part 7

“Thank you, Lennoch.”

Following him, Eleanor’s eyes curved gently.

“It must have been a difficult decision, but thank you for agreeing to it.”

Only until the child was old enough to fully understand the truth.

That was the limit of their secret.

And there was also Hail’s physical limitation that weighed on her mind.

Eleanor still remembered how the nanny used Hail’s blindness to torment him.

“It would be difficult to find a safe guardian in advance, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s too early. You saw the downfall of Hail’s maternal family, the Delphs. No family will step forward to be his guardian for the next few years.”

The Delphs would fade into Baden’s history, and Hail had no mother to protect him.

On top of that, being a prince with a disability, most nobles considered him to have no future.

They’d be thankful if he wasn’t outright treated as a burden.

All the more so if his true paternity were revealed.

Entrusting him carelessly without proper measures would be poison.

“I hope Hail grows up without pain… But I suppose that’s too much to ask.”

Though they had executed the opposition as a necessary warning before everyone’s eyes, the tense atmosphere in the palace had also affected the child.

“I wish I could see. Then I’d be able to tell right away if Eli is hurting.”

Ever since the fake funeral, Hail checked every morning to make sure Eleanor was still alive.

“Countess Hilda is caring for him even more attentively than before. He’ll gradually improve.”

Understanding her concern, Lennoch gently patted her cheek.

His touch was so tender that Eleanor smiled silently.

Just then, Henrik came from the witness waiting room and approached them.

As he neared, he greeted the Emperor with proper etiquette.

“I got tired of waiting, so I stepped out for some fresh air.”

He had intended to testify on behalf of Hippias, but due to Marquis Delph’s prolonged questioning, Henrik had spent the entire morning merely observing. He looked slightly weary.

Turning his eyes to the empty defendant’s seat, Henrik spoke impatiently, “At this rate, I’m not sure I’ll get my turn today.”

“Don’t worry. Denial doesn’t erase crimes that already exist.”

No matter how desperately Delph clung on, the trial would proceed in order.

When Lennoch mentioned that Caroline’s interrogation would begin once the recess ended, the tension in Henrik’s expression slightly eased.

“Are Vito and the child together?”

“Yes, they’re in a separate witness waiting room under the protection of knights. Vito… seems a bit anxious, though.”

Vito, who had been psychologically withdrawn since entering the palace, showed severe anxiety on the day of the trial.

According to the physician, his fear of the unfamiliar environment was significant.

Fortunately, with the child and Childe comforting him, he had calmed down considerably.

“I think it’s even harder for him because this is his first time in such a crowded courtroom.”

“You’ve done well taking care of him.”

While preparing for the trial after the purge, Lennoch and Eleanor had learned from the child what kind of place the farm he’d lived on had been.

There, before every meal, the villagers would offer a prayer of thanks to Caroline, led by the village chief.

Having been raised with such teachings, it was no wonder Vito found it difficult to adapt to the current atmosphere.

Henrik’s eyes burned like someone staking everything. “I don’t want to give that vile woman even the slightest chance.”

He, who valued his family deeply, harbored intense hatred toward Caroline.

“I will make sure to clear my aunt’s name with this testimony.”

Reading his resolve, Lennoch gave a soft smile. “Caroline will definitely be punished.”

“……”

“There’s no escaping the charges now that we have a confession from the village chief who managed the secret farm.”

There was no need to explain that the village chief couldn’t take the stand in person due to the severe torture he had endured.

Even with Lennoch’s reassurance, Henrik couldn’t easily let go of his anxiety.

“But the chief only knows the far, well. He doesn’t know much about how Caroline drove out my aunt.”

He wanted not only to see Caroline punished, but also to fully restore Hippias’s honor, which had been sullied by false accusations.

Seeing how hard Delph had pushed back, it was clear Caroline wouldn’t be easy either.

Henrik, Vito, and the village chief all lacked clear knowledge of what had happened during the time Hippias was framed.

Unless someone forcibly brought it to light—

“If Caroline insists that my aunt’s case was false…”

“Don’t worry.”

This time, it was Eleanor who responded naturally in Lennoch’s stead.

Unlike Henrik, who was tense with anxiety, she met his gaze with calm composure.

“We’ve already found someone who knows exactly what happened.”

“Already?”

Eleanor nodded at Henrik’s surprised question.

“Yes.”

And it was someone very close to Caroline.

***

One day before the trial.

Saruka, imprisoned, had long lost the ability to feel pain.

More precisely, it wasn’t that he couldn’t feel—it had dulled.

His body, long wracked by torment, had reached its limit and was gradually breaking down.

Trying to move his rotting, wounded arm, Saruka gave up and rested his head on the floor.

‘It’s time for this to end.’

Honestly, he should have stopped long ago.

Ever since his vengeance had been fulfilled.

But revenge was hollow, and the deeds he began to fill that hollowness had brought him this far.

He had believed that once he killed the root of what had made him this way, he would finally find peace.

“Your heart is too soft. I doubt you could even swing a sword at an animal, let alone a person. Have you ever hunted before?”

“I can do it.”

“Instead of clinging to being a squire, why not try something else?”

“……”

“Duke Mecklen seems to care quite a bit for you, Saruka. He said he wanted to give you another chance. So, I plan to assign you to manage the Imperial archive.”

“…It’s an honor, Your Majesty.”

“It should suit your temperament well. It’s a rather dull place. Aside from regularly organizing discarded documents, there’s not much to worry about, so do your best.”

Heinrich II had assigned him the work at the imperial archive under the pretense of a request from Duke Mecklen.

Just as he’d said, the task of managing documents was dull—but it was a thousand times better than playing the role of a knight that didn’t suit him.

He spent a year content with holding a pen.

But the pleasure didn’t last long.

“Oth III… mass executions… scholar Ilius.”

Heinrich II’s father, Oth III.

During Oth III’s reign, there were scholars who studied the mysterious flower, allium.

Those scholars succeeded in manifesting allium as a toxic plant, but in the end, none of them escaped death.

To conceal the secret of the allium, Oth III, in his final years, had all of them eliminated.

Among them was Saruka’s father, Ilius.

That was when Saruka understood why his mother had left a deathbed wish that his father’s name never be revealed.

Afterward, he fled the palace and voluntarily headed to East Harlem.

He seared his face with hot charcoal to make himself unrecognizable.

And in his hand, he grasped the sword he had always despised.

“Director? What are you doing here…?”

“Is Saruka inside?”

“This way.”

His still-sensitive hearing caught the faint conversation from beyond the door.

The clacking of approaching heels clearly belonged to a woman.

Instinctively, Saruka curled into himself.

As the door opened, a sweet scent—so unfitting for the blood-soaked space—wafted into the cell.

“Would you mind giving us a moment alone?”

The soft voice belonged to Eleanor.

“Until I leave, please ensure that no one enters this place.”

The guard, glancing briefly down at Saruka, accepted the request.

Though Saruka was labeled a dangerous criminal, his current state made it hard to imagine he could pose a threat.

Saying he understood, the guard placed the torch on the wall and stepped outside.

Eleanor slowly approached Saruka, who lay huddled in the corner.

“Saruka. That’s you, isn’t it?”

“……”

Despite being the one rumored to be brutal and merciless, Saruka looked utterly pitiful.

Seeing no response, Eleanor reached out to touch his face.

Clink.

“I didn’t mean to intimidate you.”

She apologized softly, noticing the chains shifting.

Saruka still said nothing.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, his face, hideously scarred by burns, came into view.

She asked him, who behaved as though he would never speak no matter what.

“Did your revenge succeed?”

“……!”

His tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open.

Chains clattered against the floor with an unpleasant sound, but Eleanor paid it no mind.

She knelt and met his gaze.

“They say you’re a man who will do anything for money.”

That’s what Eger had said.

He’d told her the only word Saruka ever responded to was revenge.

“I want to hire you.”

“…Me?”

He answered in a dark, coarse voice. His yellowish eyes gleamed.

“My request is the very revenge you desire.”

“……!”

“I’ll continue paying whatever fee it takes until you see it through.”

She no longer worried about how much she spent.

The Hippias business, which had started with Ceylon tea, was steadily growing.

Duke Nestor’s son Pedro becoming a strong partner had also helped.

Faced with her offer to pour a fortune into achieving his revenge, Saruka let out a grim chuckle.

“I don’t need it.”

“Why not?”

“…Because it’s already done.”

Saruka was resolute.

“So that kind of half-baked offer won’t work.”

“Then what do you have left?”

“…What?”

“If your revenge is over, shouldn’t you be happier now than before?”

“……!”

“But you look utterly miserable.”

She also thought he looked sorrowful.

“If you’re hiding the truth even while being tortured only for the sake of revenge, then is that really for your own good?”

“……”

“You’re the one who’s still suffering and in pain.”

“I’m not hiding it for revenge.”

Saruka denied it.

“I just don’t see any value in talking about it.”

“Then your revenge wasn’t aimed at the Mecklen family.”

Saruka flinched at her precisely targeted words.

“If it were Mecklen, you would’ve said so easily. There’s no easier revenge than exposing Caroline’s crimes.”

“……”

“Do you like Caroline, by any chance?”

“……?”

It was a completely unexpected question.

Saruka frowned, feeling himself being drawn into her strange manner of speaking.

“You don’t like her, yet you do everything she says. You’re a strange man.”

“I only needed the money.”

“And someone who only needs money donates to an orphanage?”

“…That…”

He hadn’t expected her to know that.

When Saruka reacted strongly, Eleanor smiled gently.

“It wasn’t that hard to find.”

After arresting Caroline, they tracked every gold coin she’d ever spent.

Ernst’s cooperation had helped greatly.

Together, they had uncovered her secret accounts and hidden ledgers.

In tracing those records, they found transactions involving Saruka. And since the greedy Caroline would never have donated to an orphanage herself, it hadn’t been hard to prove Saruka was the donor.

But where he spent Caroline’s commission was unexpected.

Eleanor quietly got to the point. “The former Duke Mecklen brought you into the house as an assassin.”

Half of that was conjecture.

The basis for this claim was tied to events too large to present in court—matters she had told no one.

Still, if necessary—

Eleanor was betting on a gamble with unknown stakes.

“You knew about the task given by the former Emperor, didn’t you? As an assassin, you must have received a kill list.”

“……”

“And Marquis Delph, for the crime of hiding the allium, was the first target Heinrich II wanted dead.”

From Saruka, a wave of murderous intent exploded.

The intensity, sharp and dangerous, was too much for someone untrained to bear.

Even with pale lips, Eleanor didn’t stop speaking.

“But you didn’t kill Marquis Delph.”

“…What do you know.”

“As a result, Delph survived, still knowing about the allium. You failed to carry out your mission, received no punishment, and then turned up under Caroline, who inherited Mecklen.”

“……”

“Fortunately, during that time, the former Duke Mecklen and the Emperor died together in a carriage accident.”

Everything aligned to suggest as much.

If her theory was wrong, Saruka would lash out.

But if it was true—

“Heinrich II.”

“……!”

“He was the one you truly sought revenge on.”

“…How do you know that.”

He was going to take the bait.

***