Leave the Divorce to a Professional Lawyer

“There was a good reason why the Duchess was forbidden from entering the Glass Garden!”

The lawyer passionately argued.

He was likely someone who had spent a long time with the Richard Duchy and might have witnessed Estelle’s scandalous behavior firsthand.

The fact that she had become a completely different person afterward might not have been that important.

“Oh, really? Then let’s hear the reason. It must be something serious if the Duchess, one of the household’s masters, is banned from entering a part of the estate.”

And Natasha already knew what the reason was.

She brought it up because she was sure Claude wouldn’t like this topic.

“That’s because…!”

– You must have been very rude to Claude’s sister.

– What exactly did you do?

– I slapped her… and then shouted at her, calling her something vulgar…

Estelle seemed to feel ashamed of her actions as she spoke, but Natasha read something else.

Chloe Richard.

She was the Duke Richard’s sister and now the daughter-in-law of the Petrov Duchy.

‘So, she married that bastard Mikhail?’

But that wasn’t all.

Wasn’t there a truth that everyone knew but kept silent about, except for Estelle, who had lost her memory?

Chloe Richard was an unprecedented commoner-born lady, an adopted daughter brought in to replace the lost daughter of the previous Duke and Duchess.

“That’s because, back then, the Duchess… did something to Lady Chloe…!”

“Enough.”

Claude, who had been silent, finally opened his mouth.

As someone who ascended to the dukedom early, he managed to silence the lawyer with just a few words.

“That was clearly my fault. I should have treated her as befits the Duchess, but I failed to do so.”

He chose to blame himself instead.

For siblings who didn’t share a drop of blood, it was quite a heartfelt display of affection.

“It’s late, but I must apologize for my mistake now. It was my personal space, and I wanted to reveal it carefully. I only opened it up after three years of marriage, so I was too indifferent.”

‘Look at that?’

Natasha thought Claude seemed more like a lawyer.

‘Well, even as the Duchy’s lawyer, this must be the first time handling a divorce case.’

Unlike regular trials, family courts placed great importance on an individual’s ‘intention.’

No matter how logically there was no reason for a divorce, if the couple had no desire to stay married, it was meaningless.

In that sense, Claude’s statement just now was a strong expression of his desire to stay married.

‘Even if it means swallowing his pride or repenting for his mistakes to plan for the future…’

The message seemed to reach the judge as well, as his gaze softened considerably.

‘Was that a strategic move?’

Natasha only expected him to cover up his sister’s issue and take the blame himself.

She hadn’t expected him to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Who would have thought that a man who seemed so domineering could be so desperate?

Meanwhile, Claude was staring coldly at Natasha.

‘He must have done it on purpose.’

Bringing up that incident was definitely intentional.

Wasn’t it rather malicious? Dragging family into the case just to win in court.

‘No wonder they say he’s a lawyer who’ll do anything to win a divorce case.’

It was almost a mistake to underestimate him.

“Hmm. It seems one party is strongly inclined to stay married. How about proceeding with a mediated divorce?”

“We firmly insist on a judicial divorce.”

The judge suggested a compromise, but it was firmly rejected.

A mediated divorce was similar to an agreed divorce, but slightly different. The main difference was that the court mediated, making it more likely for even couples with significant differences to reach an agreement.

‘This method is typically used when both parties agree to divorce but differ on the division of assets. When there’s disagreement about whether to divorce at all…’

In most cases, the other party’s pleas often led to the couple reconciling.

How many clients had fallen into this trap themselves?

‘Estelle will surely waver.’

With Claude adopting such a humble stance, who wouldn’t?

Shouldn’t they drop the divorce case if Estelle wished to?

Natasha’s promise was a definite ‘divorce,’ not Estelle’s ‘happiness.’

Any regret that followed was solely Estelle’s responsibility.

“Then let’s continue the trial.”

“Your Honor, isn’t it generally true that an at-fault party cannot request a divorce?”

“That’s correct.”

“Although things have calmed down recently, until three years ago, everyone was aware of what the Duchess had done.”

Finally, Claude’s side pulled out their trump card.

Yes. This was Estelle’s weak point. The bullying she suffered in the duchy ultimately stemmed from the atrocities she had committed in the past.

“Your Honor! This has nothing to do with the current case! The lawyer is distorting the facts.”

“It’s not irrelevant! While it’s unfortunate what happened to the Duchess, given how she treated her employees before the marriage, it’s understandable she wasn’t well-received.”

“Are you justifying bullying?”

“I’m not trying to justify it, but we can’t see her as purely a victim either.”

That’s rationalization! Natasha wanted to shout but bit her lip and held back.

“I submit as evidence a collection of surveys and personal testimonies from those who worked in the duchy from seven years ago to three years ago.”

Thud!

The court clerk hesitated at the sheer volume of the evidence presented.

It was stacked so high it reached up to a person’s waist. Incredible.

The judge’s mouth gaped open in astonishment at the amount.

“Is all of that… victim testimony?”

“Yes, it is. We have filtered out as much redundancy as possible.”

“How many cases in total?”

“Approximately fifteen hundred. They range from minor complaints about how tea was served to more severe cases where individuals were forced to walk on glass shards.”

It was much more severe than expected.

Natasha barely suppressed a sigh.

Estelle’s face had also turned pale.

‘So she wasn’t notorious for nothing…’

To ignite a firestorm in the Romanoff weekly, one must commit such heinous acts.

‘No, I haven’t done anything like that, so why am I being treated the same? This is too much.’

While Natasha was briefly lost in thought, three court clerks struggled to gather the evidence.

“I can’t review all of this… Could you summarize the contents?”

“Then, let me explain a few particularly notable cases.”

Claude’s attorney, realizing the shift in atmosphere, began speaking with confidence.

“The first case I’d like to present happened exactly four years ago when the Duchess was still Lady Blanche.”

At that time, she frequently interfered under the pretext of being Claude’s fiancée.

“Back then, Lady Cecil, the previous Duchess, hosted a simple tea gathering. Displeased with the maid serving tea beside the Duke, she suddenly poured hot tea on her.”

Estelle was nearly trembling.

“Then she broke the teacup and said, ‘Since you’ve ruined this teacup, you must take responsibility.”

Natasha gently placed her hand on Estelle’s shoulder.

That touch was so comforting that Estelle’s trembling gradually subsided.

“‘If you clean up this teacup with your bare hands, I will forgive you for your sincerity’…”

Flip.

The sound of a page turning quietly echoed in the courtroom.

“The next case occurred three years ago, just before the marriage. Without prior notice, the Duchess arrived and urgently sought the Duke, who was attending an imperial banquet and couldn’t return immediately…”

By now, one could only anticipate what tale would come next.

“She whipped the maids for every hour the Duke was delayed. Thirteen maids testified that they each received ten lashes.”

130 lashes. Not bad for a countess’s daughter to have such stamina.

Natasha thought without much emotion.

“The next…”

“That’s enough. I think that’s sufficient.”

The judge, tired of the endless recounting, finally spoke up.

“Yes. I would like to note that there are over 1,500 similar cases, and that only these were revealed through an internal investigation by the Duchy of Richard. That’s all.”

It was a tidy conclusion.

Estelle seemed visibly shocked by the exposure of her past.

She sat silently, staring intently at Claude across from her.

‘I told you so.’

Trials make people sick.

Especially divorce trials, where you must expose and attack the flaws of the one you once loved to win.

As long as Estelle stood here, every tiny flaw of hers would be laid bare.

‘Is it too much to call these tiny flaws?’

If those are tiny flaws, then no mistake in the world could be considered significant.

“Objection.”

Natasha’s objection startled the opposing counsel.

And rightly so, because there was no room for dispute over Estelle’s misdeeds.

Unless one claimed that Estelle wasn’t responsible for those 1,500 incidents, there was no way to turn the situation around.

But astonishingly, Natasha managed to do just that.

“Your Honor, this is somewhat of a philosophical question. If this ‘Natasha’ were to suffer a carriage accident on her way home after today’s trial and lose all her memories… would the person before and after the accident be considered the same?”

“What are you implying, Counselor?”

“Let me put it more concretely. Suppose I stole a loaf of bread before the carriage accident. Could I be held accountable for that loaf of bread after losing all my memories?”

In a criminal trial? Of course, it would be possible.

Although some leniency might be granted.

But in a divorce trial, where the judge’s discretion is crucial?

“What on earth are you…?”

“You must be aware of the tragic event that occurred three years ago. It caused quite a stir in the capital.”

Natasha presented a stack of old newspapers as evidence.

“I submit as evidence an article about the attempted poisoning of Lady Blanche three years ago.”

Both the judge and Claude’s attorney seemed to grasp what Natasha was getting at.

Claude’s attorney looked incredulous.

“As a result of that poisoning incident, my client… lost all her previous memories, completely, entirely, cleanly.”

Claude’s attorney immediately objected.

“This is nonsense!”

But, unfortunately for him, it was the truth.