Seeing the Emperor’s confused expression, Lisette realized that convincing him would not be easy.
“I brought a fellow mage in case this happened.”
This time, Celia stepped forward. When she whistled, a young man wearing a brown cloak began walking into the banquet hall. With his appearance, the previously quiet hall filled with murmuring voices.
“My name is Sien, a mage. With your permission, may I perform another paternity test?”
The mage who identified himself as Sien took out a paternity verification tool he had prepared in advance.
“These two mages might be conspiring to put me in a difficult situation, Your Majesty. Do not believe them!”
“Go ahead, try it.”
Though the Empress became intensely agitated, the Emperor let her words go in one ear and out the other.
When Sien performed the test, the tool turned red again between the Emperor and Lisette.
“How can this be?”
With the test results from the two mages differing from the High Priest’s, everyone present, including the Emperor, looked back and forth between the mages and the High Priest with disbelieving eyes.
“They are lying. Please believe me.”
The Empress pointed at Celia and Sien, glaring at them fiercely with wide eyes.
“I will explain the reason. High Priest, tell the truth.”
At that moment, Claude stepped forward. Since dawn, he had been searching for a temple devotee who could testify that the High Priest’s paternity verification tool was flawed, which was why he couldn’t attend the banquet.
Most devotees refused to testify, but with his characteristically sharp gaze and forceful demeanor, he had persistently persuaded and intimidated one timid priest until he agreed to come.
“I…”
“Speak up! If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll punish you right now.”
When the Emperor shouted at the priest who was hesitating under the stern gazes of the High Priest and Claude, he opened his mouth with a pale face.
“Th-that paternity verification tool is n-not kept at the temple. The absence of Goddess Ella’s symbol is proof of that.”
“Check it immediately!”
After hearing the priest’s words, the Emperor gestured, and a servant came forward to take the tool from the High Priest and examine it.
“There is no symbol.”
Upon hearing the servant’s words, both the High Priest’s and the Emperor’s faces crumpled simultaneously. Celia, who had been quietly observing them, approached the servant, took the tool, and examined it carefully.
“Judging by the small initials written here, this tool was made by a mage. Since spiritual power is difficult to manipulate, they must have borrowed the power of magic.”
“Wh-what is this! High Priest, why did you lie to me?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the Emperor’s anger turned toward the High Priest.
“I swear to Goddess Ella, I have never lied.”
He still refused to admit what he had done, but his expressionless facade had already disappeared. He looked slightly anxious, suggesting he was hiding something more, yet his eyes remained full of conviction, seemingly righteous.
“Empress, speak. Why did you deceive me? Why did you make me harbor conflicted feelings toward my daughter?”
“No. That’s not true.”
The Empress also denied her wrongdoing. Their attitude was so infuriating that the Emperor couldn’t make them listen no matter how much he shouted.
“Is Natalie truly my daughter?”
He blurted out words, unable to control his rising anger. It wasn’t something he meant sincerely. It was just words spoken in anger, but in that brief moment, the Emperor noticed the High Priest’s eyes waver slightly.
The subtle reaction from someone who had shown no change in expression until now was enough to raise his suspicions. And now that he looked, Natalie seemed to have a slight resemblance to the High Priest.
Surely not… Though it seemed unlikely, since he couldn’t trust the Empress now, investigating all his suspicions seemed the only way to ease his troubled mind.
“This is unjust. Natalie is certainly Your Majesty’s daughter.”
“I can no longer believe anything.”
No matter how desperately the Empress cried out and clung to him, the Emperor pushed her away.
“Arrest the High Priest and perform a paternity test between Natalie and me.”
Surely… They couldn’t have blamed their wrongdoings on her and her mother?
At that moment, Lisette also looked at the Empress and Natalie with trembling eyes. Thinking about it, just like her, Natalie’s face closely resembled the Empress’s, making it impossible to be certain who her father was.
“No, get away! Don’t come near me!”
When the soldiers approached, Natalie showed an intense adverse reaction.
“This is too suspicious. Measure it by force if necessary.”
When Natalie refused, the confused soldiers heard the Emperor’s order and handled her roughly.
“Let go, no!”
No matter how much she struggled, it was useless, and Natalie eventually had to undergo the paternity verification by force.
When Celia, who had stood before the Emperor, moved in front of Natalie, the transparent magical tool began to turn white.
“Imperial Princess Natalie is not of Your Majesty’s bloodline.”
“Wh-what did you say?”
The Emperor asked in disbelief, but seeing Celia’s confident expression, his face instantly filled with despair.
“Th-that’s a lie. Mother, that woman is talking nonsense. Quickly, tell them it’s not true!”
Unable to believe Celia’s words, Natalie shouted at the Empress, but she couldn’t say anything, her face pale white.
“Well, it would be strange if I were the only one to judge.”
At Celia’s signal, Sien approached Natalie and the Emperor with his magical tool. When his magical tool also turned white, the Emperor’s face reddened with mounting anger.
“That too is fabricated.”
The High Priest answered confidently without changing his expression, but the Emperor’s face was full of anger.
“I trusted you so much, and you could deceive me so completely? To think that you two conspired behind my back. Th-this, you wretched people!”
The Emperor shouted at the High Priest. His voice carried a metallic edge from his extreme anger.
“No, they’re all conspiring together. Right, Mother?”
Natalie shouted toward the Empress, but she couldn’t say anything.
“Who is Natalie’s real father? I hope it’s not the High Priest, but it’s highly suspicious that a man who molests female devotees appears so close to her.”
“Shall we check directly?”
When Celia asked, the Emperor nodded.
“N-no.”
The Empress shouted urgently, but the tool that had touched Natalie turned red the moment it touched the High Priest.
“Oh my. Now we know why the High Priest lied. He wanted to pass off his daughter as the Emperor’s.”
Celia spoke mockingly with an insolent voice, but no one present refuted her words.
The atmosphere in the banquet hall was dead silent, with everyone simultaneously watching the Emperor’s complexion. All held their tongues while observing his face turning red and blue.
Who would have known that all this time, he had abandoned his real daughter while doting on someone else’s child?
“No. It’s not true! I am Your Majesty’s daughter!”
No matter how much Natalie shouted that it wasn’t true, no one looked at her with sympathetic eyes. Instead, they only looked with contempt at her brazen denial.
The Emperor had no time to care whether everyone’s attention was on him. He felt devastated.
“Wh-why did you do this? I can understand trying to pass off Natalie as my child, but why did you lie that Lisette wasn’t my daughter? Let me hear the reason why you pinned traces of infidelity on the former Empress.”
The Emperor looked at the Empress with a sharp, cold gaze.
“E-even though Your Majesty took me as Empress, you only longed for that woman, and I felt so lonely.”
“And that justifies framing an innocent person for a crime they didn’t commit?”
“I was afraid someone would discover that Natalie wasn’t Your Majesty’s daughter. Please forgive me.”
The Empress prostrated herself on the floor and cried out.
Who did they think they could deceive? No wonder he felt both dislike and affection toward Lisette—it was because she was his biological daughter.
How dare they make him harbor conflicted feelings toward his daughter. The Emperor had no intention of showing mercy to those who had made a fool of him.
“The High Priest and Empress who mocked me will be executed, and Natalie, since she wasn’t complicit, will only be reduced to slavery.”
“S-slavery? You embraced that woman—no, Lisette—as your daughter. Why are you abandoning me? You truly loved me.”
Natalie cried out with resentful eyes.
“Your Majesty, I will gladly accept my punishment, but please show mercy to Natalie.”
The Empress also pleaded, clinging to the Emperor’s legs.
“When I embraced Lisette as my daughter, Natalie, what did you do?”
“I also th-thought of her as family.”
“Really?”
“Y-yes, really.”
“Lies. How can you say that when numerous people have seen you bullying Lisette?”
The Emperor had heard about what had happened from Marquis Usta, but he had only half-believed it until now. He couldn’t fully believe it because he didn’t know what was true.
But now things were different. Having discovered that it was the Empress who had lied, he had no choice but to believe Marquis Usta’s words.
Translator
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I would love to be there as a guest. Perfect chaos definitely deserves popcorn. And I wish my friends were with me, and we could watch it like a movie. That would be wonderful.