Vol. 3 - Ch. 156 - Katariona Condemns Her Former Enemies
The Falsely Executed Marquis’ Daughter Wants to Live Peacefully with Fluffy GodThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
It happened suddenly.
A man dressed in black invaded the ballroom and attacked Charlotte.
The whole hall fell into a panic with screams.
The crown prince, who was with Charlotte, rescued her, so she was safe.
Just as the man was about to stab Charlotte with a dagger, the Crown Prince used wind magic to flick the dagger away.
"Lottie, are you all right?"
"Rick! I was so scared!"
Despite being under the influence of the skill, the Crown Prince's ability apparently remained strong.
As for me, I had a flashback of the same scene from before and felt dizzy, but thanks to Leon's support, I was able to avoid collapsing.
"Rio, are you all right?"
"Yes. Thank you, Leon."
This is the crucial moment. We have to stay strong!
The king's guards seized the man; fortunately, no one was hurt.
However, the man confessed something outrageous.
"It was that woman! She asked me to assassinate the Crown Prince's fiancée!"
The man pointed at me and said he had been asked to assassinate Charlotte by me.
Without a single word of difference, the man claimed I asked him to do it, using the exact words as before my time return.
"Is that true!? Guards! Seize that woman there and take her to the dungeon!"
The lines of the Crown Prince are roughly the same.
But not a single guard would move.
"Why!? Why won't anyone move! That woman tried to harm my beloved!"
"That's because Rio is innocent. Brother."
Chris admonishes the Crown Prince, who clamored for me to be captured.
"But he confessed that he was asked to do it! That's proof enough!"
"Is that truly the case?"
After Chris and I exchanged nods, we projected a video on the wall of the hall.
The image was of Charlotte and a man making a deal in a back alley in the Royal Capital.
She boldly removed her hood to make a deal with the man, probably to make sure he recognized her face.
"You will pretend to assassinate me at the royal ball. And if you are caught, you must confess that this woman in the painting asked you to do it."
Charlotte said, then handed my portrait to the man.
"You want me to be caught on purpose? If I do that, I will surely die. I'm not willing to risk crossing that bridge."
The man seemed to have no intention of accepting the deal that Charlotte offered him.
That is the case. Assassinating a nobleman is a felony.
"If you confess, there will be leniency, so you won't be sentenced to death. Don't worry. We'll get you out of jail on bail. Not only that. You'll get a reward. What do you say?"
That was a lie. Even if he is spared death, this man was doomed to be eliminated.
But the man considered.
"And after that, you'll have to arrange for me to get back into the assassination guild. You've been looking for me, so you must have some inside connections, right?"
"Fufu. I guess so. I get it. I'll put you in touch with the assassination guild."
To be precise, it is her father, Baron Campbell, who has the inside connections.
"Then we have a deal. Give me the advance."
She handed him a sack full of gold coins and a vial.
"Please put this on the weapon."
"Is this liquid poison? What poison?"
The man looked at the liquid in the vial.
"You don't need to know. If you don't want to die, don't touch the liquid."
"U--! I understand."
He carefully wrapped the vial in a cloth and walked away.
"Ufufu. Foolish man. Whether you succeed or fail, you're doomed to die."
Charlotte muttered to herself as she headed out into the street. Unaware that anyone would be listening, she let her guard down.
"I wonder what I will do if Rick fails to condemn Katariona at the ball. Rick still has a crush on her, for crying out loud. Oh, yes! I'll give her some of this stuff as a gift. This blue snow rose. She seems to like roses, so I'm sure she'll cherish it like a fool if Rick gives it to her as a gift."
Charlotte returned to the street with a big smile on her face.
And here the video ends.
I have already inspected this video, but it makes me angry to see it again.
"How do you like it? I think this video is better evidence."
When Chris approached His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he gritted his teeth in frustration.
"No, it's not true! This is a fabrication! Rick! You have to believe me! I'm sure it was fabricated by Katariona-sama to humiliate me!"
Charlotte desperately tried to make excuses to the crown prince.
'Of course. Lottie. You would never do such a thing. You can't make this kind of stuff up!"
"It's not just this video! It's not just this video. His Majesty's secret agent also witnessed the same thing."
It looks like a confrontation between Chris and the Crown Prince, brother and sister, while we nobles can't speak out without permission.
"Father's secret spy, you say? What a surprise. Not only me, but he has a secret spy for Lottie as well. ......"
"It's only natural that he would investigate any woman brother would want to engage."
"The royal family would never be interested in investigating the private life of my daughter!"
Baron Campbell interrupted at this point.
The panic around him somehow turned to curiosity, and now he seems to be enjoying the situation.
"Your Majesty the King. I would like to settle the situation. May I have your permission to speak?"
Uncle asked His Majesty the King for permission to speak.
"Prime Minister, I leave it to you. Please settle the situation."
"As you wish."
It seems that the leadership of the situation has been entrusted to my uncle.
"Well, first of all, the assassin's dagger was coated with an unknown poison when I examined it.
Before I knew it, the dagger was in my uncle's hands.
It seems that someone had picked up the dagger that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had flicked away with wind magic.
Is it safe with the Blue Snow Rose poison coated on it?
"Strangely enough, this unknown poison matches the ingredients of the one we seized the other day."
"Prime Minister. I wonder, where exactly did they confiscate it?"
Chris and Uncle are very good actors.
"It came from a package belonging to your trading company. Baron Campbell."
Uncle looked at Baron Campbell, who was standing next to Charlotte.
"I have no knowledge of such a thing," he said, "We don't deal in poisons."
Baron Campbell refused to admit it. Like father and daughter in this respect."
"Last night, we caught the members of your trading company and your business partners in a backroom deal. We have their confessions. You can't avoid this by making excuses."
In fact, before the audience, I received an urgent message from my uncle.
He told me that he had finally succeeded in seizing the Blue Snow Roses and had been able to seize the behind-the-scenes negotiations. It was good news, but we had to change our strategy, which was a bit difficult.
The plan was only to nullify Charlotte's magic, but it was suddenly decided to condemn Baron Campbell as well.
Baron Campbell fell to his knees on the spot.
"I don't know. I didn't know anything about what Father's trading company was doing."
Even with all this evidence, Charlotte insists that she knows nothing about her father's crimes.
"That's right! Rick. It's not my fault. I didn't do anything!"
"Y, yeah, ...... Lottie didn't ...... do anything. ......"
Without warning, a loud, "Pang!" rang out.
"Wake up for goodness sake! Brother, you are the crown prince of this country!"
Chris slapped the Dauphin on the cheek.
"Ch.....ris......"
"I can't believe you would let a woman like this trick you ...... into incriminating my best friend."
'Rio ...... yes,...... I love ...... Rio,...... no, what are you saying? I love Rio. Who is it that I love ......?"
There is something wrong with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Could it be that Charlotte's skill is coming undone?
Suddenly, a shout was heard. It was the assassin man.
"That woman asked me to do this! She wants me to confess that a woman in silver hair asked me to assassinate a woman named Charlotte. ...... Damn it! You were going to kill me when all this was over! I'll tell you the whole truth! So please reduce my sentence! Please! Hey, officer."
"There are some extenuating circumstances in this case, but you are a former member of the Assassination Guild. I have no doubt that you will face additional charges."
It was Count Forrester who advised His Majesty the King to send a secret agent to follow Charlotte as well.
Thanks to his advice, it was proven that the deal between Charlotte and the assassin man was not a fabrication.
"Charlotte Campbell. The man who made the deal with you has admitted his guilt. You can't get away with this. I suggest you behave yourself."
Charlotte sat down on the spot.
The Chris who is coldly intimidating Charlotte overlapped with the Chris who condemned Charlotte before my time travel.
Chris is still Chris even if the time axis is different. She is my precious best friend.
"No ...... it's not my fault ...... it's not my fault! No, no, no, no, no!"
Charlotte screamed like a mad person.
She scratched her hair as if possessed by something.
"Lottie? What's wrong? Pull yourself together!"
The crown prince tried to pick up the seated Charlotte, but Charlotte shook off his hand.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"
She shouted, holding her head in her arms.
"She is acting strange. Oh, well, that's okay. For the time being, capture Charlotte Campbell."
Count Forrester ordered his subordinates.
However, another voice that is not hers overlapped with Charlotte.
"Yes. Take revenge. For us. Vengeance on our hateful god!"
I shouted as quickly as I could.
"No! Everyone step back!"
—---
TL: Oh? Things seem to be more complicated than I thought, eh. Well, guess we’ll have to wait and see next time. For now, I hope you enjoyed and happy reading~!