A chair with wheels, like a wheelchair, was dragged across the floor, causing a commotion in the otherwise quiet hall. A small man lay in it, and a blue-haired woman walked over, pulling it with a haughty expression. Lady Dortea followed beside her with a dignified look.
Malice overflowed from the blue-haired woman as she glared at me with burning eyes and sneered.
'Just who is the villain here...'
I began to feel increasingly wronged by this accursed episode.
They said I was the greatest villainess in the game, but isn't it this group of malicious people who are now slandering the innocent Lady?
“Ugh, hah! A goddess! A goddess!”
But my sense of injustice was shattered by the man thrashing in the wheelchair.
“Lady! Hee, a, a goddess!”
The man, drooling, stumbled toward me, reaching out his hand.
“S, stay still!”
“Oh my, heavens!”
Lady Kellin turned pale and clung to her fiancé.
Lady Dortea took a step back in shock.
Finally, after the butler tied Lord Tulet's mouth and hands with cloth, the commotion subsided.
“Ahem. Lady Kellin, please give your testimony.”
The Minister of Justice cleared his throat to calm the agitated atmosphere.
“At the tea party, Lady Ecart pointed a crossbow at us and said that if we were hit, we would become fools.”
The blue-haired woman immediately shot me a glare and spoke up.
“There were many ladies and young misses present, including Lady Dortea, the host. Isn't that right, Lady?”
“Yes, yes. I did hear that...”
Lady Dortea answered timidly, glancing at me. When our eyes met, she shuddered and fell silent.
I gave her a sly smile.
‘Fortunately, my threats still seem to be effective.’
It was a positive response.
As soon as the blue-haired woman's angry testimony ended, the Minister of Justice questioned me directly.
“Lady Ecart. Do you have any objections to Lady Kellin's statement?”
“No.”
I answered briefly.
Sure enough, a mocking voice from the Elan Marquis's camp immediately chimed in.
“Huh!”
“Tsk, tsk, again after last year...”
“Don't, don't say it, Malze. How does the Duke educate his children...”
In an instant, the atmosphere turned decidedly unfavorable for me.
“Your Honor!”
At that moment, Derrick stood up again.
He defended me urgently.
“Actually, my only sister has only recently recovered from her illness.”
I frowned at his words. As someone who was perfectly fine, I found his defense distasteful.
“Moreover, it has only been a day since she returned from being missing. Naturally, she lacks the ability to discern the current situation!”
“I am perfectly sane.”
Unable to listen any longer, I abruptly cut Derrick off and stepped forward.
“If all the testimonies are finished, I would like to give my statement.”
“Penelope...!”
Derrick called out harshly, but I ignored him and looked at the judge.
The Minister of Justice nodded in agreement.
“Please begin your statement, Lady.”
“Firstly, apart from Lady Kellin's testimony, everything from one to ten is completely different from what I experienced.”
“H, how dare you!”
“Control yourself, Viscount Gaboil.”
Viscount Gaboil tried to protest loudly, but he quickly fell silent at the Minister of Justice's warning. This allowed me to continue smoothly.
“Furthermore, what Lady Kellin testified about was merely a trivial joke and play that often occurs at tea parties.”
I looked around, shrugging my shoulders to appear as annoying as possible.
“I find it deeply regrettable to be slandered in this manner.”
“S, slander?!”
Lady Kellin glared at me and shouted sharply.
“Lady, that's too much! How can pointing a crossbow at someone be a trivial joke?!”
“I believe it was Lady Kellin who first requested that I show off my crossbow skills. And whether it was a joke or not, Lady Dortea can testify.”
I calmly replied and then turned to Lady Dortea, who was rolling her eyes.
“You were the one who laughed along with my joke at the end, weren't you, Lady?”
I smiled brightly, like a blooming flower, applying silent pressure.
“Am I making something up that didn't happen?”
“No, no! Yes, yes... it did happen... Of course, Lady, you did say it was a joke...”
“Lady Dortea!”
The blue-haired woman called out to her almost in a scream.
Lady Dortea, looking terrified, stammered and eventually fell silent.
Even though I had only stayed at the tea party for a short time, it was enough to judge Lady Dortea.
She enjoyed tormenting and bullying others but was a cowardly person who would never take the lead.
It was easy to see that she had been subtly adding fuel to the fire behind Lady Kellin.
She had clearly come to the tea party to add her voice to the humiliation I faced, convinced that this time she could see me off.
However, such people can't stand it when the spotlight turns on them.
‘Besides, this woman is afraid of me.’
The silent pressure worked effectively.
I couldn't hide my smile as I watched her fidget and avoid eye contact.
“But, Your Honor! Lady, you almost shot me with an arrow last year...”
“Your Honor. The bear that Viscount Gaboil claims was attacked was my prey from the beginning.”
I quickly changed the subject before Kellin could try to divert attention.
It was a completely contradictory claim. The Minister of Justice's eyes immediately lit up with interest.
“Hmm, continue.”
“I shot the crossbow, and when I couldn't fully subdue it, His Highness the Crown Prince cut off its head.”
“No, no! Lady, everything you say is a lie...!”
Viscount Gaboil shook his head frantically and shouted.
“The bear's corpse will reveal the truth.”
I cut him off sharply.
“If multiple people had attacked the bear as Viscount Gaboil claims, there would be evidence on the corpse, wouldn't there?”
“I will have it checked immediately. Sir Dennis, go with the coroner and examine the bear's corpse.”
“Yes!”
The Minister of Justice, convinced by my reasonable argument, immediately ordered one of the knights standing in the hall.
The matter proceeded smoothly.
Only Viscount Gaboil, who had been putting on a full performance, couldn't hide his confusion and fidgeted.
“That, that's because... I, I cut off its head in one go...”
His argument was not only inconsistent but also absurd.
His voice grew weaker, showing his lack of confidence in his own words.
“Then why was Lady Ecart with His Highness the Crown Prince in the forest?”
At that moment, an elderly voice suddenly came from the left, and I turned my head in that direction.
‘Finally, the mastermind appears.’
The puppet master, Viscount Gaboil, seemed unsatisfied, and the Elan Marquis looked anxious as he stared at me.
“I know that Lady and His Highness had never properly met. It's hard to believe that they suddenly went hunting together.”
I could see the audience nodding in agreement with the Marquis's question.
In fact, I had anticipated that this point would be raised ever since I learned I was being framed as the ‘Crown Prince's assassin.’
Even if I had the ‘assassin's mark,’ I needed to provide a plausible explanation for why I was hunting the bear with the Crown Prince alone.
Because our meeting was all arranged by the game developer.
I couldn't explain it away as a mere coincidence.
And doing so would only give my accusers more ammunition.
So, to crush even the smallest seed of doubt, I opened my mouth with tears in my eyes.
“I met His Highness... for a secret rendezvous.”
‘I'm not saying this. The system is making me say it.’
I clenched my teeth and forced a smile, using a detached tone.
“Actually, we... had feelings of admiration for each other...”
But even so, my voice trembled.
‘I can't do this!’
It was a crisis. But if I fell silent here, it would certainly raise suspicion.
I had to somehow overcome this crisis.
“...We had feelings of admiration for each other.”
Just as I managed to steady my voice and finish speaking,
“What, what?!”
Bang!
At that moment, a loud noise echoed from the right table, as if someone had smashed it.