August, who was caught while trying to flee, had promised to cooperate with Kyllen with tears in his eyes, having no choice.

‘Choose. Either die by my hand, or do as I command.’

‘I-I’ll do as you command! Please spare my life!’

Howard, who had shown no particular reaction until now, frowned for the first time when told that August was calling him. His lips, which could no longer speak, twitched.

Seeing this, Shailyn snorted.

‘Is he trying to curse him as a traitor?’

It was a meeting of traitors from the beginning, so what’s the point now.

Kyllen’s representative requested from August, who absolutely refused to even glance toward Howard.

“Let’s start with explaining the fire incident that occurred a year ago.”

“……Count Dempsey promised me a title and ordered me to kill young master Kyllen. Since he wanted it disguised as an accident, I started a fire then lured the young master to a deserted place and stabbed him with a knife.”

“Since when did Count Dempsey prepare for such things?”

“Since before the young master came of age. He’s been persuading and bribing me for at least…… five years. I still have the jewels I received as bribes back then.”

When it became crystal clear that this was a premeditated crime, jeers and sighs erupted from all directions.

“You mean that uncle prepared for a long time to kill his young nephew?!”

“How could someone be so evil!”

“Duke Celsior is truly pitiful!”

People’s condemnation became sharp arrows attacking Howard and his daughter.

The shoulders of the father and daughter, who had acted arrogantly as if the whole world belonged to them, shrank.

“Johanna Dempsey also aided her father in committing crimes. For example, during the magic tower explosion incident, she bribed a mage to deliberately cause an accident.”

The representative didn’t leave out Johanna either. Johanna bit her dry lips tightly.

“The atrocities of these two people are endless beyond this, so we will submit them in writing.”

The representative submitted heavy documents to the judge. They were materials about tax evasion, embezzlement, and all kinds of corruption and irregularities they committed while occupying Celsior.

“We’ll stop here.”

“Good. Now let the Dempsey side make their defense.”

When the right to speak finally passed over, Johanna stepped forward instead of Howard, who had become mute.

“……We are wronged.”

Large tears welled up in her eyes. It was a truly resentful gaze.

“Kyllen was young then! He wasn’t old enough to lead the family alone, so our family just helped!”

Spitting out shabby excuses, Johanna glared at the gallery.

“Honestly speaking, if given the chance to become the head of the Celsior ducal family, is there anyone here who would refuse?!”

She thought that she and her family weren’t bad.

How many times had there been such internal family struggles in noble society.

“You’re all the same! You would have acted the same way if you were us!”

But why should only we be condemned.

When resentment bubbled up and dominated Johanna’s heart—

“No, I wouldn’t do that.”

A clear voice calmly refuted. Johanna’s head whipped around.

The owner of the voice was none other than Shailyn.

Shailyn stood up from her seat and looked straight at her, saying.

“Lady Dempsey, stop that ugly self-rationalization of thinking others would act the same way you did.”

“……What did you say?”

“Because you and your family were bad people, you abused and tried to cruelly murder a child without a guardian.”

The end of Shailyn’s voice hardened with anger. She was astounded at how they were trying to escape somehow without any remorse after ruining someone’s life.

Staring at the fuming Johanna, she declared clearly.

“Because you are trash.”

“……Don’t be ridiculous.”

Johanna, who had flinched for a moment, twisted her face.

She too had lived tormented by feelings of inferiority and anxiety about stealing her cousin’s position.

She had endured by hypnotizing herself with ‘we’re not the only bad ones’ every time. But when Shailyn tried to break this, Johanna screamed as if having a fit.

“You’re only taking Kyllen’s side because he’s a duke! If he was nothing, you would have turned away—!”

“Shailyn is different from you, Johanna.”

Kyllen cut in coldly. The corners of his mouth curled up obliquely.

“No matter how much you struggle and deny it, Shailyn will never stand in that position by hating and being jealous of someone like you.”

“……!”

Johanna’s words were blocked by the painfully piercing truth in her chest.

As she too lost the will to fight anymore, the trial rushed toward its conclusion.

“I will announce the verdict of today’s trial.”

The three judges put their heads together to discuss and reached a conclusion.

Everyone’s eyes focused on them, and ears perked up.

“Applying a total of 11 serious charges including murder, attempted murder, false accusation and *ssault, we strip the Dempsey father and daughter of their status and titles—”

The low-resonating words filled the courtroom.

Howard and his daughter drooped their shoulders as if dumbfounded, while Shailyn’s side listened attentively to the end.

“We order Howard Dempsey to be exiled to the north, and Johanna Dempsey to be sent to the convent on Menir Island.”

The northern exile site was harsh and poor, being winter all year round.

Moreover, it was famous for its rough and violent internal atmosphere since serious criminals were usually imprisoned there.

The convent on Menir Island was a place where once you set foot, you could never return to the mainland, and it boasted suffocating control to the extent that many people went crazy and lost their minds.

A noble lady like Johanna, who grew up like a flower in a greenhouse, would find it difficult to endure.

Johanna, who had already heard the convent’s bad reputation, pleaded with a pale face.

“N-no! I was born and raised in the capital my whole life! How can you tell me to go there?!”

“This sentence will not be reversed.”

“If you’re going to do that, at least let me keep my status! How am I supposed to live as a commoner?!”

Johanna threw a tantrum as if she would lie down and roll around. She had prepared to lose her status and title, but couldn’t accept going to the convent.

Kyllen, who had been quietly watching her disgraceful behavior of throwing a fit like a child, casually threw out.

“Then let’s seek the death penalty.”

“……!”

Not only Johanna but even Howard looked at him in surprise.

“You say you can’t live like this. Then wouldn’t it be more comfortable to just die?”

The father and daughter turned pale and shut their mouths.

Kyllen’s words weren’t a simple threat. In fact, since they killed two people, they deserved the death penalty.

“But I, as the victim, oppose the death penalty.”

However, Kyllen didn’t want them to leave after suffering briefly.

“Shouldn’t you also feel pain worse than death, living?”

I hope you suffer longer and deeper than I did.

To the point where you’d rather die.

To the point where you’d go crazy because you want to die but can’t.

Howard and his daughter, who felt chills at the depth of hatred as quiet as the deep sea, couldn’t say anything.

“I say again, there is no reversal of the sentence. Take the criminals away.”

At the judge’s order, knights approached and roughly dragged the two away.

“Aaah! No!”

“Ugh!”

Johanna, who scattered tears while struggling, and Howard, who uttered incomprehensible screams, disappeared like that.

Immediately upon leaving the courtroom, the two were separated and sent to the exile site and convent respectively.

It was a fitting miserable end for those who coveted others’ possessions.

***

After the trial ended.

We waited for Carl behind the courtroom. Before long, a tall shadow came walking out leisurely.

I raised my hand high and waved it vigorously, calling him.

“Carl—!”

Then Carl, who spotted us, approached with a faint smile.

The sunlight streaming through the leaves seemed to sparkle as if it was shining only on him.

Oh my, why does my eye seem to put on its own filter whenever I look at Carl?

“Good work.”

First, I spread both arms and patted him for successfully finishing the trial.

Lord Diart stood next to me and tapped Carl’s forearm.

“You worked hard, Duke.”

“Thank you for ending it cleanly without us needing to step in.”

His Grace also greeted Carl with a gentle smile. Dain added with a good-natured laugh.

“Haha, thanks to that, we feel relieved too. Let’s have a refreshing training session together later.”

“Brother, don’t sneakily pursue your personal interests.”

Deborah, who scolded Dain for not missing the opportunity to b*tt in, awkwardly nodded her head.

Carl also nodded stiffly, no less awkward than her. I was giggling softly at how funny their shyness was when—

“Shailyn, I have something I want to tell you.”

Carl said out of the blue.