101. Becoming a Witness at the Trial (1)

Larael muttered to herself.

“Pardon? What did you say?”

Sasha asked as she placed warm water on the desk.

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

Larael folded the newspaper, set it aside, and took a sip of the warm water Sasha had brought.

Today was the day of Baron Layton’s trial. Baron Layton’s trial was scheduled to be open to the public. Larael also wanted to attend the trial and observe the results, but if she went, it could attract attention. Moreover, it was widely known that Kali was her aide. Larael decided to wait calmly for the trial results at the palace.

All day long, because of the Krauf disease and the trial, Larael couldn’t concentrate on anything and repeatedly sat with a vacant stare. Before she knew it, darkness had fallen.

The evening at Abella Palace was quiet and peaceful when Edward wasn’t visiting.

Just as she had finished dinner and was resting, Marquis Argen came to see Larael.

“I pay my respects to Her Highness the Empress Consort.”

Marquis Argen greeted her and sat on the sofa across from Larael. Larael looked at Marquis Argen, who had suddenly visited in the evening, with a puzzled expression.

“I thought you might be waiting for the trial results, so I came to inform you.”

“Ah… His Majesty sent you?”

Edward had remembered what Larael had asked and sent Marquis Argen.

“Yes, that’s right. The trial took longer than expected.”

“I see. Is Baron Layton to be hanged?”

“That’s… there’s been a problem.”

Larael, who had been staring into space, looked at Marquis Argen upon hearing this. Marquis Argen couldn’t meet Larael’s eyes and avoided her gaze. Larael instinctively knew something bad had happened.

Marquis Argen let out a long sigh.

“Baron Layton kept his mouth shut throughout the trial, not speaking and repeatedly requesting recesses, so the trial took a bit longer. And just as the verdict was about to be delivered, he requested the trial to be reopened.”

“The trial?”

“Yes. He said that in the reopened trial, he would confess both his crimes and the crimes of another person.”

“The crimes of another person?”

“In the laws of the Kazel Empire, there is a provision that reduces the sentence if one confesses to their own crimes or reports other serious crimes. Baron Layton is requesting that.”

“…Are you referring to plea bargaining?”

Larael frowned. Marquis Argen nodded.

“And… in that trial, Baron Layton… requested Your Highness as a witness.”

Larael’s mouth fell open involuntarily. Her face, which had briefly shown confusion, soon regained its composure. Larael laughed out loud.

“What? What did you just say? Did I hear you correctly?”

“Since Your Highness’s name has been mentioned, you are obligated to attend the trial.”

“Ha… Can I meet Baron Layton?”

“That would be difficult, I’m afraid. The trial is scheduled to reopen in three days. Tomorrow, Your Highness will receive a request to attend as a witness. I trust Your Highness, but… is there anything you’ve been hiding from His Majesty?”

If it was about the regression, there were things she was hiding, but regarding her relationship with Baron Layton, there was nothing at all. Larael shook her head firmly and said:

“No. There isn’t.”

“I see. It’s getting dark, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Marquis Argen rose from his seat. Larael merely nodded, sinking into thought with an expressionless face. It was frustrating not knowing why Baron Layton had mentioned her.

‘I was oddly concerned about Baron Layton’s trial results…’

Larael remained seated late into the night, not going to bed. Although Sasha and Joanna urged her to retire, she didn’t feel like she could easily fall asleep. Eventually, at their insistence, Larael reluctantly lay down on the bed.

No matter how hard she tried to sleep, sleep wouldn’t come, so she got up from the bed and walked to the window. She wrapped a shawl around herself in advance and opened the window. The cold night air rushed into the bedroom as if it had been waiting. Larael took a deep breath. She hoped that the cold air would wash away her troubled mind.

But when the uneasiness didn’t subside, Larael closed the window again. And she stared blankly at the pitch-dark outside. Her figure was dimly reflected in the window, just like her uncertain heart that couldn’t find answers.

At that moment, a dark silhouette suddenly appeared outside the window.

Larael stumbled backward in surprise and fell with a thud. She was too shocked to even scream. Larael looked around, searching for something that could be used as a weapon. The window opened carefully with a click, and the intruder swiftly entered.

“Ber… Ber…”

Larael barely opened her mouth, trying to call for Berser who was waiting outside the bedroom.

“Your Highness!!”

At the familiar voice, Larael raised her head and slowly examined the intruder’s face. The outline, which had been buried in darkness, gradually revealed itself.

“…Joy?”

Joy approached her side to help her up.

“No, don’t come. I’ll get up myself.”

At Larael’s words, Joy stopped in his tracks. Larael stood up and clutched her shawl tightly. As Larael rose, Joy knelt on one knee and greeted her.

“I pay my respects to Her Highness the Empress Consort.”

At his serious and respectful greeting, the wariness that had filled Larael’s heart until just a moment ago disappeared, and she burst into laughter. When Larael laughed, Joy’s earlobes turned red. Despite his bold intrusion into the palace, he was now fidgeting awkwardly.

Joy had grown considerably in the short time since she had last seen him. But this was not the time to be surprised and delighted by that. She needed to ask why Joy had secretly come to the Empress Consort’s palace in the middle of the night.

“Joy, what are you doing? Do you know how dangerous your actions are? And how did you get into Abella Palace?”

For Joy, this face-to-face encounter with Larael was not part of his plan. All day long, his heart had been troubled, worried that something might have happened to Larael. So he had intended to just check on her sleeping figure and leave.

“Well… I was worried about Your Highness, so I came to see you.”

“Suddenly??”

Larael couldn’t believe his words. She couldn’t understand how he could take such a reckless action simply out of concern when he could lose his life for intruding into the palace like this.

‘Because I am Your Highness’s guardian.’

Joy kept his mouth shut and lowered his head. On the day he went to the magic tower to guard Hobbs at Larael’s command, Joy met Ferma and Nora there.

And somehow, he had listened repeatedly until his ears were ringing about the role of a guardian and precautions from them, who seemed to know about Joy. And even Nora periodically visited Joy to educate him on the etiquette needed at the palace. The reason was that he was too ill-mannered to be by Larael’s side.

In the past, he would have acted as he pleased, but now that he knew the duty given to him, he could listen to Nora’s nagging, thinking it might be helpful.

“This isn’t the first time, is it?”

His silence confirmed what Larael had suspected.

“Who are you really?”

“I am…”

He could almost hear Nora’s scolding voice. Joy shut his mouth again. A long silence ensued.

“If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t ask until you want to speak of your own accord. Promise me you won’t secretly come to Abella Palace again. Understood?”

“…Yes.”

It might just be Larael’s impression, but Joy didn’t seem like someone who would harm her. He had the skills to enter the palace without any interference. If he had murderous intent, he could have easily eliminated Larael long ago. Considering how he had always tried excessively to impress Larael, it seemed like the immature infatuation of a boy his age.

“Your Highness, since we’re on the subject, I want to be by Your Highness’s side. I want to become a knight. I can do better than Your Highness’s guard knights.”

Berser and Handelson would have been furious if they had heard this.

“To become a guard knight, you must join the Imperial Knight Order and become a formal knight.”

Larael shook her head.

“And to join the Imperial Knight Order…”

Joy’s expression became dejected. At times like this, he was unmistakably a boy of his age.

“If you’re so confident in yourself, there’s a swordsmanship tournament at the Empire’s Founding Festival. If you win that tournament, you can enter the Imperial Knight Order.”