“Tell the lawyers we’ve already hired to keep focusing on the foundation matters as they have been.”

“In that case, Miss Delmir will…”

“There’s nothing to be done. Find the most capable lawyer available within the budget.”

Duke Balthar had been racking his brain over unexpected expenses as he prepared for the trial of a large-scale corruption case. With acquittal already out of the question given the clear evidence of wrongdoing, he had been throwing everything he had into protecting the family’s honor when the *ssault incident at the imperial palace erupted on top of it all.

Under normal circumstances he would have hired the country’s top criminal defense attorney to handle his daughter’s case, but there was a limit to the funds Duke Balthar could mobilize right now.

And selling off assets was not a viable option either, since he was already standing trial as a financial criminal.

The great root matters more than the entire fruit. That had been the Balthar ducal house’s family motto for several hundred years.

He decided, as befitting the head of a great house, to put the great root first.

When Delmir heard the news that Lucian had survived, she felt relieved.

‘See? I told you I didn’t stab her that hard. All this fuss over a little graze.’

It was only a brooch wound, after all. How badly could someone really get hurt from that?

Because Heliones had kept Lucian’s condition confidential, almost no one knew her exact state, and even Delmir’s close attendants had passed along no word of it. So when Delmir heard that Lucian had survived, she vaguely assumed the whole thing would blow over as nothing more than a minor incident at a ballroom.

That was why, when she saw the fresh-faced young lawyer who came to visit her, she thought it was the kind of trivial matter that would be resolved without ever going to trial. If there were truly going to be a trial, her father would never have sent a lawyer this inexperienced.

“You’re my lawyer? So when do I get out?”

“That depends on the verdict.”

“The verdict? What verdict?”

“Once the trial is held and the judge delivers a ruling…”

“What? A trial? An actual trial? Over something like this?”

In response to Delmir’s question, the lawyer let out a small sigh and held out a list of witnesses requested by Lucian’s side.

“This is the list of medical staff who performed surgery on Miss Lucian. We’ll need to hear the testimony to know the details, but apparently she underwent quite a major surgery.”

“What? Surgery?”

“A formal trial will be held on charges of *ssault. Given how many witnesses have been requested, including medical staff and attendees, there’s a strong possibility this won’t end as a simple *ssault case.”

The lawyer explained the situation in a calm, detached tone, and Delmir could not quite follow what he was saying. What was all this supposed to mean? Calling medical staff and ballroom attendees as witnesses? Over a small accident born from a momentary flash of anger?

“That’s absurd! A formal trial over something like that? All this fuss over one commoner getting a little hurt? Who are you, anyway? Why did a trainee lawyer show up alone? Where’s the real lawyer?”

Her shoulders trembled with fury as she glared at him with open menace. The young lawyer adjusted his thick glasses and answered in a small but firm voice.

“I am Miss Delmir’s dedicated attorney.”

An hour into the visit, the young lawyer named Vollante, plain-faced and wearing thick glasses, fled the special detention cell at the central courthouse. An hour was not nearly enough time to properly prepare for a trial, yet even that felt far too long to him. He stormed out, seething at the rudeness of the fifth client he had taken on since opening his practice.

‘Intent? What intent? She provoked me first, and I just acted out of anger without thinking.’

‘Do you even have a law license? She was the one spouting nonsense about staking her life on something ridiculous and dragging my name through the mud!’

‘Do you not know basic imperial law? I’m a noble. Do I really have to sit through testimony like that just because I scratched a commoner woman a little?’

Society’s general impression of Delmir, daughter of House Balthar, was that she could be a bit arrogant but still knew how to conduct herself properly. Apparently that only applied to people of her own class.

It was clear she saw no need to put on even a pretense of courtesy for a lawyer from a farming family with almost no credentials to speak of.

“Phew.”

Vollante, a young lawyer with a high win rate but still green, let out a long sigh as he wiped the fog from his glasses, his nerves wound far too tight.

Should I just resign?

But he shook his head right away. If resignation had been an option, they never would have pushed the case on him so forcefully to begin with.

‘Duke Balthar has high expectations for you. You’re the rising star who won all four of your trials, aren’t you? I do hope this becomes your chance to catch the Balthar house’s eye.’

It sounded like a compliment at first glance, but considering how narrow this field was, where everything moved through personal connections, it meant that whether he won or lost, if he failed to deliver results that satisfied Duke Balthar, staying in the capital’s legal world would be difficult.

‘Why must I face this ordeal? Was winning four trials in a row really such a mistake? Should I have let myself lose just once?’

Was this punishment for his arrogance, for thinking trials were easier than expected? Vollante tore at his hair over his impossible situation and began preparing for a lonely trial where he could expect no help from his client whatsoever.

* * *

That afternoon, when the finalization of the divorce was announced, Hanna came to tell me three young ladies had come to visit. They had apparently been coming for two days straight, but since I had been unconscious, they kept making the trip for nothing.

My condition was still not great, but the desperate screams I had heard just before losing consciousness were still vivid in my mind, so I decided to receive them.

“Are you all right now?”

The moment Elise saw me, she rushed over and practically knelt down beside the bed.

“I should be sitting up to greet guests, but I’m still a little dizzy. Other than that, I’m fine.”

“Oh, what a relief. I thought something terrible had happened to you, Miss Lucian…”

Elise finally let her tears fall and buried her face in my hands.

She was worried about me. There were people who worried about me.

The wound still ached, but strangely, I felt no bitterness. If anything, my heart felt light enough to float.

I patted Elise gently and looked up to find that Nelia and Giselle also wore troubled expressions.

Nelia in particular, who had been standing behind me when the incident happened, had gone pale, her face drained of color.

“I really am fine. I’m glad neither of you were hurt.”

I mean it. What a relief that not a single scar had marked that fair, delicate skin of theirs. As for me, well. One more stab wound hardly makes a difference.

I smiled brightly on purpose to put Nelia at ease, but when she saw my smile, she shuddered as though she had seen a ghost.

“?”

Her reaction caught me off guard, and I must have worn a slightly blank expression. Hanna, standing nearby, spoke in a voice more strained than usual and told me something I had not known.

“After the surgery ended, you regained consciousness briefly, Miss Lucian.”

“I did?”

I have no memory of it. I must have still been under anesthesia.

“The moment you opened your eyes, you asked whether Miss Elise and Miss Nelia had been hurt. I passed that along to the young ladies when they came the next day.”

“Ah. I see.”

It was true that I had been worried about them. Heliones had told me both had made it home safely, and I had felt relieved, but it seemed my heart had not fully let go of the worry even so.

“Because of me… you got hurt because of me… and you were worried about me first…”

Elise, who had been at the center of the incident, clutched my hand tight and began to sob. Nelia, too, seemed unwell, and she moved unsteadily to a chair on the far side of the bedroom and sat down.

“Of course I was worried. I lost consciousness watching someone swing a blade around. Still, I’m safe, and Miss Elise and Miss Nelia weren’t hurt either, so I’m truly grateful.”

Back in my home country, no one ever worried about me no matter how ill I became. Even my own maids would leave me abandoned in the punishment room when I was hurt badly enough that I could not walk, complaining they did not want to soil their clothes.

I had thought that was simply the way things were. I had believed it was impossible for anyone to care about me or worry over me.

Oh, I’m so glad. I’m so glad that none of these kind people, who cry for my sake, were hurt. I hope none of them feel even a trace of guilt over someone like me.