DVMM Chapter 21
“Put it down.”
A cold voice echoed in my ears.
I smiled awkwardly, still holding the candle.
“Well, I guess I can’t take it with me. Then let me look at it a little more…”
“Now. Put it down.”
The voice was firm. I clenched the candle tightly and lowered my head.
Julion looked very angry.
When I didn’t do anything, he swept his palm across his face and grabbed my wrist.
“Did you catch the lit candle with your bare hands?”
I stammered, embarrassed by the sight of my stretched hand in front of him. I answered in a creeping voice.
“Well, I’m in such a hurry that….”
“So you’re willing to get stabbed if you’re in a pinch?”
“I wouldn’t have done it if it was dangerous.”
“Same goes for the burns. It must have been very hot, so why are you foolishly holding it in your hand?”
“If I hadn’t held it in my hand, it would have hit me in the face.”
Suddenly, Julion’s expression turned frighteningly murderous. Wordlessly, he glared alternately at my hand and the fallen Blanche.
“Didn’t I tell you to call me right away if anything happened?”
“It happened so fast, it must have taken less than a few breaths.”
It was true. I was going to call him, but by the time I realized something was wrong, the candle was already flying.
So I have no choice but to act right away.
Slowly, frustration began to set in.
It’s me who caught the candle with my bare hands in the first place, and it’s me who can’t put it down even if I want to put it down because my palms were covered in candle wax.
There was no reason for Julion to be so angry, I thought.
“It wasn’t hot, so I grabbed it.”
“But you can’t put down the candle?”
“That’s because the candle wax has hardened and won’t come off!”
“Maybe you can’t take it off because it hurts.”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“If you’re going to lie, make it plausible.”
Julion clicked his tongue low and carefully peeled off a large chunk. He peeled off the candle wax, except for the part that was still firmly pressed against my skin, revealing a mangled palm.
“Crazy.”
“The only reason you’re saying that is because…….”
“I’m talking about Blanche Camer. How dare she commit such an atrocity against the Crown Princess. She’s firmly insane.”
“Oh, yes.”
No matter how I look at it, I can’t help but feel it was directed to me. But it wasn’t, and before I could question him further, I twisted my wrist and slipped out of Julion’s grasp.
“This is the palace infirmary. There’s nothing we don’t have. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“With one hand?”
“Three hands to be exact, since I have Zenid.”
I don’t need help from a nagger when I have a competent maid. I stuck my head out the open window and called for Zenid, who was waiting.
Julion’s golden eyes seemed to distort slightly for some reason.
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“You mean to tell me that Blanche was really deeply involved in this case!”
“Yes. She even attacked the princess, causing severe burns.”
“What!”
The Empress blinked in disbelief, unable to form a proper response.
The news was too shocking to process.
“These are the evidence the chief physician left behind. Take a look.”
The stack of papers I’d gotten from the chief physician’s office last night was indeed a list of things Blanche and the chief had done.
I’d always thought of the chief physician as a sloppy guy, so I hadn’t expected him to be so meticulous in his documents.
Maybe it was the same for Blanche..
So she must have been eager to find out what the evidence was.
“What the hell.”
The Empress shuddered as she flipped through the documents, page by page.
“She’s been working so hard for me. I tried to turn a blind eye to some extent, but this is beyond tolerable. Moreover, she was even trying to stab me with a knife…”
Blanche had been managing many things for the empress, who had lost interest in governing the palace.
This only seemed to increase her greed.
She had ordered the palace physician, who was wavering about how to treat the Empress’ disease, to administer a poisonous prescription first to ensure that the Empress did not recover.
Her goal was to take control of the Tishrit Palace.
And it almost worked.
If it weren’t for me, the Empress would have gone blind, and even more dependent on Blanche and the chief physician.
“I plan to proceed with a trial. Since they are high-ranking nobles, we cannot punish them immediately.”
“Yes, I see, then I will do it myself.”
“No. I’m afraid you might harm your health, so I and the crown princess will handle it. Please rest, mother.”
The Empress seemed hesitant, but after Julion protested several more times, she consented and stayed in the palace. The sight of the Empress sitting alone and staring into space looked very sad.
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“Blanche Camer. You have conspired with the chief physician to deceive the Empress, and embezzled the royal property. Furthermore, you have also thrown a candle at the Crown Princess last night,…. causing burns when she was urging you to confess. Do you admit to all of it?”
Julion paused at the part about throwing a candle at me, but the trial continued as planned.
“I don’t admit it. I’m not guilty.”
If only it weren’t for Blanche, who keeps denying it.
“I am innocent, Your highness, and I beg you to hold a noble trial, where I will prove my innocence.”
Blanche continued to insist that she was innocent and requested a noble trial which meant she wanted a proper trial.
“I don’t understand what you mean by proving your innocence, when you are already guilty, are you really going to be this uncooperative?”
“I’ve repeatedly stated that those documents are fabricated. If you continue to frame me like this, you will not be spared by Count Camer!”
“Numerous pieces of evidence have emerged, including your handwriting secretly instructing the chief physician. There are records of embezzling the budgets of Tishrit Palace and the Imperial Palace. Why would the chief physician fabricate such data and keep it?”
“I will not answer that question. I will only tell the truth in a formal noble trial.”
Blanche’s denial was vehement.
The evidence was in, but because of her noble status, she could not be punished severely without a confession.
To administer proper punishment, they would need to hold a noble trial, as Blanche had insisted. This process could take a considerable amount of time.
Blanche knew this, and that’s why she was resisting like this.
At least a month, and in some cases, even years could be spent on a noble trial. During that time, no one knew what moves the Camers might make.
In the worst-case scenario, he could create a fake culprit to replace Blanche. As a noble of Camer’s caliber, manipulating evidence was entirely possible.
It would take time to uncover all of it, and it was unclear how things would play out.
‘In the event that she does not confess, the sole consequence she would face is expulsion from the palace.’
I can’t leave it that way.
She had dared to deceive the Empress, and furthermore the entire imperial family.
Of course, it is not that there’s no other way.
Even in the absence of a confession, if the crime is unequivocally evident and supported by the testimony of three or more individuals a strong punishment could be imposed.
I exchanged a glance with Julion before speaking.
“Blanche Camer. I’m giving you one last chance.”
“My answer does not change.”
“Are you truly not going to admit to the crime? At this rate, you could even face a death sentence.”
“You can not judge a noble that hasn’t been in a trial.”
“It is possible if the consequences of your sins are revealed, and testimony from more than three people follows.”
The corners of Blanche’s mouth twitched upward as she listened.
“There is no way that is possible.”
“If you confess now, I can reduce your punishment.”
“I refuse. I demand a noble trial.”
In the end, Blanche did not change her mind.
Julion spoke in an emotionless voice.
“You’re walking into a thorny path.”
Blanche closed her eyes without changing her expression. But she quickly opened them again.
It was because Julion had shouted toward the guards behind the trial desk.
“Call the first witness, Caman Beldrick.”
The man called Caman Beldrick was dragged in by the guards, his arms bound. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, and a slightly pale complexion.
Blanche’s eyes widened at the sight of him.
Blanche’s eyes, which grew incredibly, were colored with astonishment.
“Oh, how…….”
The man was dragged to Blanche’s side and was slammed to the ground. He hastily adjusted his posture, knelt, and lowered his head.
“The criminal Caman Beldrick greets your highnesses!”
Blanche gaped, unable to take her eyes off the man. She started to say something, then stopped, then started again. Finally, the words came out of her mouth.
“Chief physician……!”
Caman Beldrick.
The accomplice who deliberately prescribed a poisonous medication to the Empress, worsening her condition.
For three years, he served as the Imperial physician.
And –
“I’m pretty sure you’re dead, but how!”
He was someone who had once died but had come back to life.
