“I feel wronged…… but I have no material evidence. If this gets any bigger, my, my husband will have a hard time. We’re barely managing household chores, so we don’t have the luxury of being investigated. So I’ll…… just cancel the complaint.”

Miela tried to wrap up the matter with a lame excuse. That was indeed the appropriate outcome in this situation.

“That won’t do.”

However, Aristie didn’t let Miela go so easily.

“I will now prove that my testimony was correct. We have material evidence.”

Turning her gaze back to Miela, Aristie now had smiling eyes as well. Still with that chilling appearance.

“You have evidence, you say?”

Zephyros exclaimed in surprise, even though he knew he had no right to speak.

That can’t be! There shouldn’t be anything!

Though he wanted more than anyone to prove his innocence, frankly, even he didn’t think there was anything that could serve as evidence. After all, he too had been searching everywhere for material evidence until this trial.

“Yes. This is the evidence.”

Aristie calmly said as she took something out from her bosom and showed it. It was an ordinary silver object.

It was so small in size that it would have been difficult to recognize until she identified it as “nail scissors.”

‘Gasp! How did that!’

Miela, who recognized it first, turned deathly pale. Aristie, receiving curious glances from the audience, called for her assistant of the day.

“Sir Volter, please bring that.”

“Yes, Miss!”

Volter, who had accompanied her as her daily assistant and guard, responded heartily and walked forward. He was carrying a large suitcase in his hand.

Eventually standing in the center of the audience chamber, he placed the suitcase on the floor so everyone could see and opened it wide. And what he took out was……

“……A dress?”

People who leaned forward to check the contents murmured the same word. Inside the case was a fluttery mint-green dress.

Those with sharp eyes noticed that it was a dress of the same design as what the woman had worn at the time of the incident. Receiving Aristie’s signal, Volter picked up the dress and displayed it for all to see.

“This is a dress identical to what the plaintiff wore on the day of the incident.”

At Aristie’s explanation, Miela looked like she might faint.

“After checking the clothes submitted to the military police as evidence, I searched dress shops and bought the same outfit.”

Saying this, Aristie gazed steadily at the investigator from the military police. Though her gaze wasn’t particularly accusatory, the investigator who attended as a representative couldn’t help feeling somewhat guilty.

During the investigation, they had only checked the torn parts without examining the dress in detail.

‘But with such clear signs of violent tearing, what more was there to investigate? Wasn’t the dress more favorable evidence for the woman than for Sir Zephyros? What does she intend to do by bringing the same dress!’

The investigator inwardly protested. Miela probably thought the same. That’s why she confidently submitted it as evidence.

If she had hidden it, they might have tried to steal the dress by breaking into her mansion, but the naive Miela had brought the clothes she had worn to the military police without a second thought when requested. Thanks to this, Volter’s subordinates could easily obtain information about the dress in question.

……Of course, they had to go through the trouble of running around to find an identical dress.

“How can that dress serve as evidence to prove your testimony?”

To Khalid’s question, Aristie calmly began.

“After obtaining and studying the dress, I found that although it’s made of thin material, it’s not weak enough to be torn at once by a woman’s strength. So people carelessly assumed it must have been the work of a strong man.”

She continued, pointing to Miela’s dress that had been submitted to the court.

“But what if tools were used? Under that assumption, when I examined the evidence, something strange caught my eye.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes. Despite the rough tear along the fabric grain, I noticed that only the starting point showed signs of being cut by a sharp edge.”

“Huh, that’s!”

“Such a method……”

“Then……!”

Khalid quieted the commotion with a slight raise of his hand, then turned his gaze to Aristie.

Despite pretending to be expressionless, affection and pride for her overflowed through every small crevice—his eyes, the corners of his mouth, and even his subtle dimples.

See, you were born to be Empress.

My Empress. My companion.

“Continue.”

Khalid commanded while deliberately suppressing his emotions. Aristie nodded slightly and held up the nail scissors.

“When I witnessed the incident, I found this while following Sir Zephyros. Now I will recreate exactly what the woman did with these nail scissors.”

Hearing her words, some in the audience glanced at Miela. Miela couldn’t even lift her head, appearing to have already resigned herself to everything.

When Volter handed her the new dress, Aristie unhesitatingly made a cut in the same position where the original dress was damaged. Then she pulled hard.

Riiip—!

The dress tore with a crisp sound. People watching unconsciously swallowed at the scene.

Aristie took the dress she had torn with her own hands, approached Zephyros, and held it out to him.

“Would you like to try tearing the other side? Using only strength, without tools.”

Understanding her intention, Zephyros immediately took the dress and tore the opposite side. The already tattered dress became a perfect rag with a ripping scream.

The two bowed their heads, almost touching foreheads, and compared the two damaged areas.

“……Indeed!”

Zephyros’s eyes shone with unusual light. The difference between what was torn by hand and what was cut with scissors before tearing was clearly visible at the starting point.

Though the difference was small enough to miss at first glance, it was more than sufficient to reverse the outcome of the trial.

“Please check for yourself, Your Majesty.”

Aristie and Volter each brought their dresses and presented them to Khalid. Khalid compared the two garments and then passed them to the judges.

Along with the judges, the military police investigator also compared the tear marks. This was the moment when everyone confirmed that Aristie’s testimony was correct.

“Therefore, I submit the dress the woman wore and the nail scissors found at the scene as evidence.”

After Aristie finished her verification and submitted the items, she stepped back, and Khalid turned to the judges.

“What are your opinions?”

Various answers came in response to the Emperor’s question. However, listening carefully, the intent was the same.

“The crime is clear, those two should be imprisoned immediately!”

“Fraud, destruction of evidence, defamation, insulting nobility, perjury, and conspiracy would apply.”

“If Sir Zephyros files a lawsuit, false accusation charges would also be possible.”

In short, Zephyros was innocent.

‘Lady Aristie……!’

Zephyros looked up at Aristie with eyes full of gratitude.

He was already thankful for her testimony on his behalf, but she even exposed the criminals’ guilt. He felt like hugging her and even kissing her if he could.

‘If only she weren’t truly my lord’s fiancée, I would use any means to make her my woman……!’

The thought he had secretly harbored surged up several times, then Khalid delivered his verdict.

“Miela Retsher, who requested this trial, is guilty! Her crimes are severe, so she will be immediately imprisoned as a major criminal. Since there are suspicions of a mastermind, interrogation and torture will be carried out, and the final verdict will be pronounced by the court based on legal judgment.”

“Y-Your Majesty! This is unjust! I didn’t do that! I was just……!”

Miela’s protests echoed like she was spitting blood, but grew quieter as she was dragged away until they could no longer be heard. The man who had stepped forward as a witness was also dragged away on charges of perjury and conspiracy.

“You truly surprised me this time.”

When Khalid addressed Aristie,

“I only did what I could.”

Aristie calmly replied.

With people withdrawing behind them, the two looked at each other and conversed. The momentum Aristie had shown while dominating the courtroom had subsided, leaving her stiff and rigid.

Khalid felt bitter. Aristie, who had become a hero for Zephyros, returned to her doll-like state the moment she was alone with him.

Why does she keep distancing herself?

Why does she only show the side of her I want to see when she moves away from me?

Can she only be free if she leaves me?

But I can’t let her go……

Loving her for 17 years. Giving up for 1 year.

And loving her again for several months.

The feelings that had reignited after once being abandoned were hot and fierce, almost incomprehensible even to himself. It was a burning that surpassed hunger or thirst.

That’s how much he craved Aristie. He merely suppressed it.

Fearing she might distance herself further if he revealed his feelings.

She had already once asked to break off their engagement. Having gone through that turmoil, he couldn’t approach her easily anymore.

‘……No, I’ve never been able to approach her easily from the beginning.’

Khalid cast a regretful gaze at Aristie as she prepared to withdraw. Caught in his gaze, Aristie briefly conversed with him through their eyes.