Six months in the prison tower where nobles were held. For someone who had dared to brandish a blade in front of the Emperor himself, the sentence was not heavy.

But the mere fact that the daughter of a ducal house had received a prison sentence was already enough to send her standing in society plummeting to the ground.

After the trial ended, Delmir was permitted to see her father exactly once. Duke Balthar appeared before Delmir as she was being dragged away in a frenzy, bowed his head with the face of a devoted father, and whispered in a cold voice.

‘The shame you have brought upon our family ends here.’

Ends. Her father had said the word. Even with rage threatening to strip away her reason, Delmir could read the intent behind his words.

Her uncle, who had dropped out of school after falling into addiction and become entangled in scandal, was cut off by her grandfather and later beaten to death by thugs in an alley while in a stupor. Word eventually came when the family crest engraved on the cufflinks he had kept to the last was recognized, but her grandfather refused to claim even the body.

Her grandfather, her grandmother, and even her father, who had supposedly been so close to his brother in childhood, all behaved as though it were only natural for her uncle to die that way and be processed as an unclaimed body.

Not a single tear was shed. A member of the family had died, and the day passed no differently from any other.

She could not become the family’s disgrace. Prison was preferable to being cut off.

With a clear understanding of her situation, Delmir went quietly to the prison tower. The soft silk chemise was stripped from her and replaced with a plain garment of rough cotton.

The top of the tower was not particularly small, but that only made it feel more desolate. Inside sat nothing but a cot that even a maid would have refused, a small side table, and a single religious text.

“I’m supposed to live here?”

Delmir frowned in disbelief, and the guard answered with a solemn face.

“Did you think you had come for a rest cure?”

“Visits. Can I have visits?”

“Yes. So long as a request is submitted in advance, visits are permitted at designated times.”

At least visits were allowed. She could have someone sent from the house and request whatever she needed.

After being locked in the tower, Delmir waited a full day for visitors, but no one came.

After spending one day in the cold and dark, the only person who finally came to see her was her assigned lawyer, bearing nothing but hopeless news.

“This is your fault! Isn’t this what happened because you were incompetent? Isn’t there any way out? Do I really have to be locked in this miserable place for a full six months?”

Delmir unleashed more than ten minutes of *buse at the lawyer who had finally come, then began pressing him to find a way to get her out.

The lawyer listened to the torrent of insults with an apologetic but detached air, and once the noise subsided, he was barely able to open his mouth.

“An appeal is possible, but…”

“Then appeal! File an appeal!”

“There are no grounds for an appeal. There are no witnesses who would testify in your favor either.”

“Favorable testimony? What is the big deal about that woman getting a little hurt? She’s the daughter of the warmonger who destroyed Frianc. Have you forgotten?”

“To be clear, the six-month sentence came not from Miss Lucian’s injuries but from the fact that you brandished a weapon in the imperial palace, in front of the Emperor himself. And if it comes to light that Miss Lucian has any connection to Lewian, a separate war crimes tribunal will be convened.”

“What kind of weapon is a brooch supposed to be. Right! War crimes, that woman is a war criminal! Her brother is not only alive but apparently making trouble, so why not use that?”

At Delmir’s words, the lawyer let out a small sigh, worked his lips a few times with a look of discomfort, and answered.

“That card is being saved for something more important, he said.”

“What?”

“Those are Duke Balthar’s orders. This matter ends here.”

“What do you mean? My father would never say that! Why are you making things up on your own!”

Delmir could not bring herself to believe the lawyer’s words. Right, this incident was a mistake. A serious mistake. But even so, refusing to even file an appeal, how could that make any sense?

“Then. Farewell.”

But whether Delmir believed him or not, the lawyer had done what he came to do. He rose from his seat and offered a parting bow.

“Hey, hey! Don’t you walk away! Hey!!”

Delmir shouted at the departing lawyer, but he did not look back.

It was finally over. It had not been a particularly long trial, but it was the most troublesome case he had ever handled, and it was finally done.

He was free from dealing with that insufferable woman and that arrogant man. There was no reason to look back.

His win rate had taken a hit, but what of it. In exchange for enduring that dreadful woman, he had secured his place in the capital’s legal world.

The lawyer stepped out of the prison tower with a lighter expression than before, straightened the collar of his jacket, and pulled his cocked hat down firmly.

No sooner had the trial ended than word arrived that Lewian had slipped out of the capital and made contact with his followers.

‘Ha. The heavens have not abandoned me entirely.’

Rodencian royalty, who strutted about believing themselves to be descendants of divine beasts, still commanded a considerable number of followers across the continent. The power they wielded was remarkable even by the standards of the present day, far removed from the age a thousand years ago when divine beasts had descended in person and displayed their might, and there were even groups who worshipped the Rodencian royals as divine emissaries.

Rodencia’s indigenous religion, which venerated the power of fire and rebirth, had spread through bloodlines to other nations over hundreds of years, carried by those who coveted the sacred power of the royal family. So it was not particularly strange that followers of that fool Lewian still remained, even after Rodencia’s fall.

‘You should have finished it cleanly. Leaving a weakness behind. You still have a long way to go, boy.’

But for every follower, there were just as many who despised them. Their arrogant, high-handed conduct had steadily earned them enemies, and thanks to that, Duke Balthar had been able to track Lewian’s movements one step ahead of Heliones. He deliberately fed clues about Lewian’s whereabouts to Heliones’s spies as well as to the press.

‘Scars? What does something like that matter?’

Duke Balthar had heard about the display Lucian had put on after he left. Well, it seemed she had been through quite an ordeal, but so what?

The public had little genuine interest in another person’s wounds or misfortunes. They might feel a passing sympathy, but what truly mattered to them was their own well-being.

Lewian, having slipped out of the capital, had done nothing more than meet a handful of relatives he was acquainted with, and his movements suggested he was still keeping a low profile. But Duke Balthar spread information, framing it as though Lewian were rallying forces and on the verge of attempting to restore the Rodencian royal house at any moment.

The young Emperor must have been quite cornered. Public suspicion could turn to hysteria in an instant.

It had been fortunate indeed to catch Lewian’s movements one step ahead of Heliones. Duke Balthar had long been active at the center of the continent, back when that bastard Emperor had been too insignificant to come anywhere near high society, and he still had plenty of reliable sources.

When he first received the intelligence, Duke Balthar briefly considered using the advantageous card that had fallen into his hands for the sake of his beloved daughter.

But he shook his head almost immediately. He had a son who had grown up just as expected and found an excellent match, and another son with a marriage on the horizon. He was carrying too much to stake everything on a daughter who would now struggle to find a decent match at all.

But above all else, what mattered most to him was his own honor.

The academic foundation was the family’s emblematic enterprise, the one that had built House Balthar’s vast network of connections. He could not allow it to crumble on his watch.

‘Did you really think you could bring me down over a few coins spent on some wh*re and a bastard?’

Duke Balthar methodically prepared his rebuttal materials and pushed the matter of Delmir firmly to the back of his mind.

* * *

At a rather late hour, a physician came to check on my condition. To my surprise, Heliones had come along with the medical staff to see me.

I had steeled myself not to see him for some time given the situation with Lewian, so his visit was genuinely welcome, though I was worried about what he was dealing with.

“I’m glad the examination results are good.”

“Yes. I’m sturdier than I look.”

At my answer, Heliones gave a faint, satisfied smile and went around checking various parts of the house.

“I have increased the guard. New maids will also be assigned after thorough vetting.”

What could I say. At this point it would be embarrassing to apologize for the trouble again. My opinion had surely been conveyed through Elren already, so rather than arguing that I needed no staff, I simply nodded with a wry expression.

As night fell, the outside grew quiet. With everyone but a handful of the most fervent anti-war protesters having gone home, the lodgings were calmer than they had been in a long while, and Heliones lingered without leaving.

“I asked the gardener to bring it.”

Heliones had brought the Rodencian columbine planted in the imperial palace garden along with him on his visit. That he had thought to do something like that. What a kind man. When we were husband and wife, the high and solid wall between us had made him feel distant and difficult to be around, but now that we were friends, I found myself discovering so many of his good qualities.

“Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”