When Elliot said he would drink the truth potion, everyone looked at him in great shock.
‘Why are you surprised?’
He had not committed a sin, so there was no need to be afraid if he drank it. Of course, he had no intention of drinking it.
“I’m sure there’s no one in this empire who doesn’t know that I have a lot of suspicion.”
As soon as Elliot received the vial from the Chamberlain, he held it up so that everyone could see it.
“Before I drink it, I need to make sure this is indeed the Truth Potion.”
A scolding came from behind him for daring to doubt what the emperor had said, but Elliot ignored it and headed to where the people of the Grand Duchy were sitting. He thought that since the truth potion was a magic potion, he was leaving it to Witch Hazel to test it. But wouldn’t the Grand Duke stop in front of the captain of the guard? Only then did everyone notice that Hazel was nowhere to be seen among the people in the Grand Duke’s house.
“Open it.”
Following his instructions, the guard captain opened the lid of the jar placed at his feet and took something out of it. What was held in both hands of the guard captain were two green frogs.
Quack!
As soon as the frog was forced to open its mouth due to the strength of his grip, the Grand Duke opened the bottle cap and poured the potion into the frog’s mouth.
“You gave all that to the frog. Such shallow water…”
Just as the chamberlain was about to stop him, the emperor held out his hand. The chamberlain fell silent as the imperial palace wizard standing next to him took out another bottle of truth potion from his sleeve. The Grand Duke, who had poured the truth potion into the mouths of the two frogs, took a step back and nodded. The head of the guard placed the frog on the floor and spread his palm as if he was going to shoot something. There was no way those without this ability could feel that purifying power was coming from those hands.
“Oh, no.”
“That person…”
People who thought they were giving medicine to the frog to see if it was poisonous were shocked by what happened next. A frog turned into a human. As the empress and crown prince.
While everyone was dumbfounded, the Grand Duke turned to the audience and said.
“With this, I have been cleared of the false accusation that I murdered Her Majesty the Empress and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”
The emperor, who had become a criminal for trying to frame a false accusation, came to his senses and shouted.
“How dare you turn the royal family into frogs, kidnap them, and imprison them!”
“That too was framed. Isn’t that right, Your Royal Highness?”
“That’s right. It’s a false accusation.”
The crown prince said the truth without realizing it, but then covered his mouth in surprise. The eyes of his father and mother glaring at him were fierce. Even if he had drunk the potion of truth, all he had to do was keep his mouth shut like his mother and resist the urge to answer questions honestly. Of course, it was difficult to bear it unless you had a lot of willpower.
Gerald was weak-willed. He quickly answered Elliot’s next question.
“Then who changed your highness into a frog?”
“It was the work of the Wicked Witch of the Black Forest.”
At the mention of the evil witch of the black forest, the room began to stir. Elliot looked back at the people and explained.
“As you all know, I was misunderstood for years that my lover was the witch. The evil witch suddenly disappeared when my healthy parents suddenly died.”
Those with keen insight already figured out that this meant that an evil witch was involved in the death of the previous Grand Duke and his wife.
“But the witch only recently reappeared. When and where did you appear, Your Majesty?”
“To the imperial palace. It had the shape of a frog. Then she stole my body. Then she took my mother’s body and took us all the way to the cabin in the Black Forest to get her body back.”
“But that’s not the witch’s body, it’s my lover Hazel’s body.”
While everyone was left speechless by the series of shocking revelations, Elliot corrected his statement that may have caused them misunderstanding.
“Anyway, I am not responsible for you two turning into frogs. Rather, I searched the entire territory, found you, and returned you to a human…”
Elliot said he politely bowed to the emperor in plain view of everyone.
“Your Majesty, please consider my loyalty as a subject.”
The emperor, who should have been happy that his wife and son had returned alive, did not look happy at all. On the contrary, he simply glared at his benefactor, the Grand Duke, with eyes burning with anger. It was according to Elliot’s calculations. In the eyes of the audience, the emperor began to look petty and sinister at the same time.
“Yes, your loyalty… This has proven it.”
In the face of the Emperor’s bitter words, words praising the Grand Duke’s merits came out reluctantly. But there was no apology until the end. This was a great insult to the Grand Duke. He couldn’t let anything go by without receiving an apology, and he couldn’t ask the emperor to apologize. The nobles who supported the Grand Duke had no choice but to place the blame on the imperialist nobles.
“Those who obscured His Majesty’s firearms and had him frame his nephew as a murderer must be brought to justice!”
“That’s right!”
“You are baselessly slandering the Grand Duke, who made a decisive contribution in the war started by the princess. It is clear that this stems from jealousy.”
The emperor, as expected, became enraged when they told him to do it.
“Does that mean I provided the excuse for that war?”
“Your Majesty, that’s not what I meant.”
Of course, that was true, but he could not admit it in front of the emperor.
“The Grand Duke did what the emperor should do. I don’t know that such words are also going around.”
The emperor’s angry voice trembled. For those who experienced the last war, that statement was not wrong, so they could not sympathize with the reason why the emperor was so angry.
‘That’s unexpected.’
Elliot watched the Emperor, lost in his thoughts. At this point, the emperor, who had been cutting off his own tail and throwing it away as prey to any noble or opposing faction, was not backing down today.
‘Now that the crown prince has returned, I will no longer be a direct threat to the throne.’
The emperor, who had lost his composure, wanted to finish him off right then and there. The same was true for the imperialist nobles.
“There is sure to be someone here spreading that word, Your Majesty.”
An imperialist noble tried to turn the tide by relying on the power of the emperor.
“I understand that there are some who say that the emperor is not qualified to be a monarch and that the Grand Duke should become the emperor…”
The man trailed off as he glanced at the opposing nobles with fierce eyes, and finally glanced at Elliot.
“Your Majesty the Grand Duke…”
He was going to ask what he thought of that. Elliot pretended not to hear him and spoke to the crown prince.
“Your Highness, since you are being honest, please answer this as well.”
And with one word, the situation completely turned in his favor.
“Who murdered my parents?”
The crown prince, unable to overcome the power of the truth potion, obediently opened his mouth.
“That…”
Boom!
“Shut your mouth!”
The emperor’s shout and the sound of the throne being struck resounded violently in the throne room. The empress covered the prince’s mouth instead, and everyone’s eyes turned to the emperor.
‘Yes, I am the culprit.’
Voluntarily blocking the crown prince’s mouth was tantamount to a confession. But he had no choice but to stop. Because an action that was equivalent to a confession and the confession itself were completely different.
‘The moment that idiot reveals everything, we’re finished!’
When the Crown Prince exposed the Witch of the Black Forest, he only ruined his plan to overthrow the Grand Duke. But now that they are trying to remove him from office, it couldn’t be left like this. The emperor pretended to be calm and spoke in a voice that sounded like he was admonishing.
“How would the crown prince know such a thing? Anyway, my son looks tired. Now go to your palace and rest. The empress is also there.”
He tried to remove the crown prince and empress from this position, but the backlash from the opposing nobles was strong. In the end, they tried to force the guards to pull the two out, but the Grand Duchy’s guards dared to block their path.
“Grand Duke, how dare you send troops here!”
As the conflict intensified, the audience also intensified. Now even commoners dared to oppose the emperor.
“Let’s hear about it!”
“Your Majesty, wasn’t His Highness the Crown Prince trying to answer?”
“All they do is live as a frog and then suddenly turn back into a human and cause confusion.”
“Isn’t the answer given after drinking the truth potion, so it is the truth!”
When someone in the middle of the audience shouted at the top of his voice, one of the Imperial faction nobles jumped up from his seat.
“Your Highness! Isn’t it a crime to give someone the truth potion without asking for consent?”
“Therefore, all testimony is invalid.”
As the imperialist nobles continued to question the procedures, Elliot smiled in remorse.
“According to the law, the crime of giving truth potion without consent in a trial is limited to giving it to the defendant.”
The empress and crown prince were not defendants, so it was not illegal. When the imperial nobles were caught off guard, they came up with a different law.
“But it is illegal anywhere to use truth potions without consent. The Grand Duke doesn’t know that…”
“Ahem…”
A loud clearing of his throat interrupted him. Everyone’s eyes turned towards the sound.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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