The chamber filled with murmurs as the jurors whispered among themselves, already aware of the fact that Louis and I were divorcing. Then, the moment the judge barked, “Order in the court!” silence fell.

It was so quiet it felt as though cold water had been poured over everything.

“Countess Simon. Is it true that you received a request for divorce from Count Simon?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

I had half expected something more elaborate, given that this was a trial—but it seemed that wasn’t necessarily the case. The judge skimmed over the documents I had submitted, then handed them to the juror seated beside him. That juror passed them to the next, and so on, until all thirty jurors had reviewed the papers in turn.

“Count Simon, do you understand what is written in these documents?”

“……”

“Count Simon?”

That b*stard.
If he couldn’t speak, I’d told him to at least nod—but of course, he chose not to listen. Utterly useless.

“Honorable Judge,” I said calmly, stepping in. “My husband recently suffered an unfortunate incident and is currently unable to speak.”

“An unfortunate incident? What exactly do you mean by that?”

The judge looked puzzled, stroking his beard.

“When it became known that I had written all of the works myself, a great number of readers turned their backs on us. Loving the works as much as they did, they ended up doing terrible things to my husband.”

I began, my voice trembling as though on the verge of tears.

“Miaaa! Aaaah!”

Louis, standing beside me, looked utterly dumbfounded. His eyes widened as he lifted his hands, trying to gesture frantically. I quickly pulled him into my arms.

“Oh, Louis.”

If I were being honest, I wanted nothing less than to hold this man close. But I had no choice. If Louis caused trouble here—any trouble at all—the divorce would become impossible.

That could not happen. It must not happen.

So I held him tightly, preventing him from using his hands or feet to communicate anything.

“I want to spend my entire life with you, Louis.”

I raised my voice so all the jurors could hear and forced tears into my eyes. Truthfully, since the tears wouldn’t come easily, I dredged up memories I’d wanted to bury forever. Once I did, the tears spilled freely—hot, bitter, and unstoppable.

“I don’t even want to imagine a future without you!”

I played the role of the devoted, heartbroken wife, crying for a long while.

Only after watching my desperate, pleading performance for quite some time did the previously impassive jurors begin to show looks of sympathy. The judge, who had been equally detached, was no different.

I’d succeeded in winning their pity.

“Count Simon, will you not reconsider this divorce?”

Since this wasn’t a religious trial, all that mattered was swaying the jurors’ hearts. That was why even such crude methods worked.

“I assure you—according to these documents, you are at a complete disadvantage.”

I was still clinging to Louis.
Or rather, I was the one holding him—but in any case.

With my face buried against his shoulder, I slowly moved my lips.

“Say you want the divorce. If we return to the estate like this, I’ll do far worse than what I’ve already done. I’ll slice your skin thin and fillet you alive… or peel it off and make a belt out of it. If not that, I’ll feed you to the dogs.”

The chamber was already buzzing from my earlier display. Some people were busy sneering, calling me a sly fox. Others were praising me, marveling at how rare it was to see such a chaste woman so devoted to her husband.

In this chaos, even if I whispered to Louis, no one would be listening. They were far too busy raising their voices and talking amongst themselves.

“Do you wish to divorce Madam Simon?”

Now—nod your head.
Quickly.

“I’ll ask again, Count Simon.”

“……”

“Do you truly wish to divorce Madam Simon?”

Because Louis stubbornly refused to nod, the judge asked twice. I fixed my gaze on Louis. With so many eyes on us, I couldn’t glare at him outright—but fortunately, just meeting my eyes was enough to make him tremble.

Nod. Nod.

At last, he nodded his head. He nodded so violently it looked as though his neck might snap, and once again, silence fell over the chamber.

“If the divorce is carried out, all of your assets will pass to Madam Simon—on the condition that a guarantor is present.”

Despite the judge’s words, Louis didn’t listen at all. He did nothing but nod over and over again. Thanks to that, the remaining procedures were relatively simple and proceeded smoothly: confirming the jurors’ votes to determine whether the divorce was justified, and setting the date for alimony settlement.

Everything was decided at their discretion.
The deliberation. The payment schedule.

“Please sign.”

An attendant held out a single sheet of paper and urged us to sign it by hand. I signed without the slightest hesitation, but Louis once again showed signs of wavering.

“Oh, Louis. Are you feeling terribly worn out?”

I took both of his hands and smiled faintly. As if that alone had been enough, he hurriedly signed his name.

“Miaaa…”

After signing, Louis made a strange sound and began sniffling like a child. He looked at me with eyes full of misery—and nothing made my skin crawl quite like that.

“Louis, that kind of pathetic act won’t work on me, so lower your eyes. Before I stab you.”

I clenched my teeth and smiled at him all the same.

In any case, with this, Louis and I were no longer anything to each other. At long last, I had broken free from the suffocating shackles of that wretched family.

“Count Simon, and Madam Simon. Who is your guarantor?”

Just as I was about to turn and leave, one of the jurors sprang to his feet and spoke quickly.

“We agreed on the premise that a guarantor would be present. Where is your guarantor?”

Come to think of it, Shasha—who had said she would bring the guarantor along with Eric—was nowhere to be seen. Had she taken a different carriage after all?

I had steeled my heart this much just to get divorced—and now I was stuck in the courtroom because of something as trivial as a guarantor?

“If it’s the guarantor you’re asking about, my servant will be bringing them shortly.”

I forced myself to remain calm as I answered.

I forced myself to remain calm. Having my path blocked in a place I’d never anticipated made my mind race, searching for a way out of this situation. It would be troublesome if Louis seized on this as an excuse to act out. Unlike Olivia, he was—for now—still in his right mind.

“Frankly, it seems suspicious that all of the assets would be transferred to you, Madam Simon.”

Honestly. What a nuisance.

“That, too, is my husband’s will. How could I possibly defy the wishes of my husband, who is as the heavens above me?”

I let out a small laugh, carefully curving the corners of my eyes so as not to look flustered.

“I am merely following my husband’s wishes.”

I demurely gathered my skirt and bent my knees slightly before straightening again. The juror continued to scan me from head to toe, his expression still unconvinced.

“Who dares to insult this sacred court!”

It was just as I was racking my brain for something—anything—to say when the judge abruptly leapt to his feet, his face red with anger. For a moment, I wondered why he was suddenly acting this way.

“The trial is not yet concluded!”

He shouted loudly, his displeasure unmistakable. At first, I thought his words were directed at me.

They weren’t.

Someone had thrown the doors open and entered the courtroom while the divorce trial was still in session.

“I am Count Simon’s guarantor.”

A voice—deep and resonant, like it had echoed through a cavern—cut cleanly through the chamber. Judging by the way he addressed the court so bluntly, he was clearly a noble. Yet there was something insolent about it. Arrogant, even.

A high-ranking noble?

I wanted to turn my head and see who had appeared in the courtroom, but fear that the outcome might somehow be overturned kept my gaze fixed on the judge instead.

“State your name in full! Abide by the rules of this sacred court!”

The juror who had demanded a guarantor from me earlier snapped angrily, veins standing out on his neck. It was almost laughable—acting as though he were the judge himself just because he was a juror—but I kept that thought to myself.

“Oh. My name.”

The man who had arrived as the so-called guarantor moved his lips, as if the thought had only just occurred to him.

“Kindroshetto.”

He gave only that single name, then fell silent.

In a place like this, stating one’s full name was the rule. Even I—someone hardly versed in the ways of high society—knew that much.

Why on earth did Eric and Shasha bring that idiot as my guarantor?
Is he even a noble?

“State your proper name.”

As expected, the judge reprimanded the guarantor for failing to give his full name.

“The Empire is rife with pointless formalities,” the guarantor snapped back irritably, openly criticizing the court’s rules.

Was he trying to get the divorce denied on grounds of contempt of court?

“Kindroshetto Riyev Dominique Balthazar Caspar.”

I clicked my tongue, already sinking into despair—so this is where it all falls apart—when he continued.

“My father was the former Emperor of this Empire, and my younger brother is its current Emperor.”

…What?

“I rule the Duchy of Balthazar.”

The moment he revealed his identity, I couldn’t help but flinch in shock.

I wasn’t the only one. Gasping sounds rippled through the chamber.

“A… Grand Duke?”