* * *

Shortly after, the judge who finished preparing the trial announced the beginning of the trial.

First, after explaining the precautions of the trial, she gave the right to speak to the Baron’s side.

“Then, according to the procedure, we will first hear the claims of Baron Peils.”

Following the judge’s instructions, the lawyer stood up and argued about the unfairness of treating the Baron and Luna.

“Thanks to the recent discovery of a gold mine in the territory, the young lord Rordrian imprisoned Baron Peils, who had expressed his intention to retire. The reason is to hand over the distribution rights of the gold mine.”

The word ‘gold mine’ caught the audience’s attention.

The poorest among the aristocrats, the Peils family, found a gold mine. What kind of story is this about becoming a millionaire overnight?

“Or meet the owner of the gold mine, Lady Peils. This was refused by the Baron and he was imprisoned. Lady Peils personally visited the Duke’s residence to verify this.”

The lawyer paused for a moment to let the audience badmouth Fersen, then turned a page of prepared documents and continued.

“During this process, Lady Peils slapped young lord Rordrian twice. However, this was justifiable self-defense to save the Baron. Without the initial imprisonment, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s all.”

The issue of imprisonment was so strong that the slap seemed like child’s play. Of course, they repeatedly mentioned imprisonment to emphasize this.

The judges, jotting something on their documents, then handed the right to speak to Fersen’s side.

“The claims of the Baron’s side are false. Baron Peils had submitted his resignation a while ago. He has been working there for over twenty years. So, he just had a conversation with Fersen, his close friend, to soothe his regrets.”

It was the expected response. Fersen’s lawyer, Polkan, had been repeating the same claim from the beginning.

“Fersen had slept at the Baron’s residence several times. This time it was just the opposite. They’ve always done as usual, and now you’re saying it’s imprisonment? Lady Peils misunderstood and used unreasonable violence. That’s all.”

Polkan, after a brief refutation, sat down confidently. Their argument was clear and consistent.

Furthermore, Fersen had never acted weirdly before, whereas Luna had a bad reputation, so the audience found their claim more credible.

“Does the Baron’s side have a rebuttal?”

“Yes, we do. The content of that conversation was the unreasonable demand we mentioned earlier about the distribution rights of the gold mine and meeting Lady Peils. They kept the Baron in his office until he accepted this.”

Naturally, the counterargument followed.

“Nonsense! The two of them just vented their anger. Of course, they talked about the gold mine in the process. But that wasn’t the main point. It was just one of the topics of conversation.”

“Do you think it’s normal to vent out anger all night in an office?”

“What does it matter where they vent? Lawyer, you are blaming the young lord by using an unreasonable basis without evidence just to justify Lady Pales’ violence!”

Bang, bang.

“Enough!”

Because of the emotional argument, the judge banged his gavel.

Claims that each side was lying were widespread. The judges whispered amongst themselves with uncomfortable expressions. Since there was no clear evidence from the investigative phase and both sides were just insisting on their stories, they discussed just ending it as is.

This was exactly what Polkan aimed for. To nullify the lawsuit, knowing that what Fersen did was far worse. And he aimed to sue for false accusations.

In the atmosphere that seemed to be going as Polkan hoped, he grinned with triumph. His face was full of scorn as if saying, ‘how dare anyone challenge me?’

At that moment, Fersen looked at Luna with a complicated expression. There was dissatisfaction in his trembling eyes, as if asking why the trial hasn’t been halted yet.

“Do we have any evidence or witnesses? Nothing was submitted beforehand. If there is, please tell us now,” said the judge after a long discussion.

If there was no evidence or witness mentioned here, the trial would end.

To this, as if he was waiting, Polkan submitted a stack of documents to the judge.

“These are the statements of the servants who stopped by the office on the day of the incident. As you can see, they testify that they were in a friendly atmosphere,” he said.

The judges looked over the documents. They were statements saying that every time they passed by the office, they heard hearty laughter.

For the servants, naturally, they had to take Fersen’s side. If they didn’t, they were unsure of the consequences.

“I object. Testimonies from direct subordinates are less credible.”

When this objection was made, a rebuttal immediately followed.

“What are you saying? Are you claiming that I fabricated the evidence? You are the one making baseless claims without any evidence or witnesses!”

It was a valid point. Any claim with at least some evidence was more credible than one with none, whether it was true or not.

Everyone thought Fersen was the victim.

They thought a foolish woman and her father took advantage of the kindness Fersen showed over time and even initiated this absurd lawsuit. About some mine – it was a lie to tarnish the reputation of a perfectly fine young man and perhaps extort a settlement.

“If we say we have evidence, what will you do?”

Breaking the mood, lawyer Royer spoke up. Polkan couldn’t hide a smirk at the mention of having evidence.

“Why didn’t you submit it earlier?”

It was to push you all into this dramatic situation and maximize the issue. If evidence was fabricated like this, in the future, people would doubt the Polkan family whenever something bad happened to the Duke’s family. It was preventive retaliation.

“If you had confessed honestly, there would have been no need to submit it. In fact, I didn’t want to go this far.”

Feigning regret, lawyer Royer presented a letter to the judge.

“It’s a letter from the young lord Rodrian himself confessing the events of that day.”

“…What!?”

BANG!

At the same time, Fersen, who had been staring at Luna the whole time, slammed the table and jumped up from his seat. His eyes were filled with shock.

Seeing Fersen’s aggressive stance, Royer continued.

“Why you imprisoned him, and what conditions you requested, are all confessed over four pages.”

Three of the letters detailed what had happened that day, and the remaining one described how wicked Antes was. There was a brief silence at the shocking evidence.

“What are you saying…!?”

“Ah, one of the letters is just a slander about someone else, so it’s not relevant. Let me correct myself. It’s a confession spread over three letters.”

The judges quickly read Fersen’s letter. However, other than the mention of ‘confinement,’ it stated that the Baron didn’t listen to his small request and he kept holding him without ending the conversation.

“Jud, Judge! I may not know the content, but there’s a possibility the letter is forged!”

Naturally, not having known about the letter, Polkan raised the possibility of forgery. Such a letter couldn’t possibly exist.

“That’s ridiculous! Fersen has never written such a letter!”

“Why not ask young lord Rodrian himself whether he wrote that letter or not?”

At the lawyer’s words, everyone’s gaze focused on Fersen. Startled, he quickly defended himself.

“What nonsense! It’s just a letter discussing reconciliation, isn’t it!? I said we would reconcile if I explained what happened that day! I only had a conversation! I merely held onto the Baron because the conversation hadn’t ended!”

Fersen pleaded as if he was wrongly accused. Polkan slumped as if the world had collapsed around him.

How couldn’t he distort what actually happened to justify himself?

Luna clicked her tongue, thinking he was as if he was living in an utterly different world.

“If this letter was truly written by the young lord…”

Amidst the commotion, the judge, who would deliver the verdict for this case, slowly began speaking.

“All the claims so far turn out to be false.”

Being completely cornered as the culprit, Polkan, holding onto his chair, desperately objected.

“Judge! Please review the contents of the letter! It’s definitely manipulated! We need to verify the handwriting!”

“I understand. I will give you time after the trial.”

But the answer was already evident. Fersen had just confessed, after all.

The judges had a brief discussion since the evidence and confession were all there. It didn’t take long, as right and wrong were clear.

A short while later, referring to the relevant laws, the chief judge began the sentencing.

“In light of the consistent claims and supporting evidence submitted by Baron Peils, I sentence young duke Fersen Rodrian to a fine of a thousand gold.”

“A, a thousand gold…!”

Polkan gasped. Even for a trial among nobles, a fine of a thousand gold was unprecedented.

Yet he couldn’t argue. Considering the severity of his crime and his false testimony, he should be grateful he wasn’t imprisoned. If anything, taking into account his status, they were being lenient by only fining him.

The sentence was not yet over, and the chief judge continued.

“Out of the thousand gold, five hundred will go to the Empire, and the rest will be given as compensation to the abused Baron Peils family. About the assault from young lady Peils, she is acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.”

“Your Honor. We didn’t sue for the money, so we will donate the compensation to the Empire. My father and I are satisfied with having our honor protected, so we hope it will help the Empire.”

“…Understood. Then the entire fine will be allocated to the Empire.”

Had Luna accepted the money, there might have been rumors that they filed the lawsuit for financial gain. But thanks to Luna’s refusal of the substantial amount, they seemed utterly graceful.

The audience murmured at the interesting verdict. Polkan looked deathly pale, thinking there couldn’t be anything worse.

“If there are any objections, please appeal.”

While an appeal would seem impossible given Fersen’s letter…

A brief explanation about the appeal was followed by the judges rising from their seats. The trial was over.

Waiting for this moment, Fersen rushed over and grabbed Luna’s wrist.