Chapter 92 Persuasion
Veronia sought out Viscountess Richter. As she sat waiting in the parlor, the door opened and Viscountess Richter entered.
The woman’s complexion was rather pale, with fine brown hair. She looked nervous.
Veronia immediately rose to her feet and greeted her with a smile. She tried to keep her voice as cheerful as possible, eager to break down the barriers between them.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Julia.”
“It’s a pleasure, Lady Nia. I heard last week that you were engaged to the Duke of Drea. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
After the simple greeting, there was a brief silence between the two as they sat across from each other.
Julia watched Veronia’s eyes warily. She must be very curious to know the purpose of this sudden request for a meeting from someone she had no contact with.
But she seemed to prefer to wait and see rather than ask. So Veronia spoke first.
“One of our ladies, an emissary from the Kingdom of Hisric, has been the victim of an assault.”
Julia’s blue eyes fluttered open at Veronia’s sudden statement. The hand that had been resting somewhere on her lap tightened its grip on the hem of her skirt. Veronia watched Julia’s reaction closely, not missing a beat.
After a moment’s pause, Julia opened her mouth. Her pale face was filled with worry.
“…I read about her in the newspaper. She’s staying at the Duke of Drea’s residence. How is she?”
“She broke her arm, but it’s being treated well. The arm will heal quickly, but a broken heart will always hurt.”
“…I’m sure.”
Julia nodded slowly, her eyes beginning to fill with water.
Veronia’s heart ached to see it. Her lips tightened and her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she worried that what she was about to say would open Julia’s wounds.
‘But… I have to get this out, that’s what I came here for, and I knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t be easy…’
Veronia forced her lips to move, trying to compose herself.
“I read in a newspaper article a few years ago that Lady had something similar happen to you before.”
Julia’s eyes widened as soon as she heard the words. She felt sorry for her as her slender fingers trembled.
Thump, thump, Julia’s heart pounded as if it were racing. She concentrated on letting her breath out slowly and taking it back in, trying to calm herself again.
It was already more than five years ago. She’d thought no one would remember it anymore, but no, here was someone who wanted to talk to her about it.
She wanted to run away and hide somewhere, anywhere. She thought she was over it, but apparently not. Julia felt pathetic for staying in the same place, not feeling any better.
There was a long silence, but she seemed unwilling to speak. Even though she got no answer from Julia, Veronia couldn’t give up. It was too early to give up now. Veronia spoke again.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, “I knew it would be hard for you to hear this, and I didn’t want to hurt you, but… still, I came to ask for your help.”
“…”
“I don’t want there to be any more… victims like you or Lady Frida. I want to catch the perpetrator, and he should be punished for what he did.”
Huhuhu… Julia finally burst into tears she had been holding back. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold back her sobs, but it was impossible.
“But now it seems like only victims like you are being punished, even though you didn’t do anything wrong, and that’s so unfair and upsetting.”
“…So what do you want me to do and how do you want me to do it?”
Julia finally spoke, wiping away her tears. Her voice trembled, but not in the slightest as she looked Veronia squarely in the eye.
“There will be a special trial, and I want you to testify against him.”
“A trial? Is that possible?”
Julia asked in surprise. She couldn’t believe a word that came out of Veronia’s mouth.
‘Of course… there wasn’t even a proper investigation, let alone a trial, at the time of Julia’s accident.’
Veronia recalled how it had been described in the original story in two lines.
‘Julia saw the face of the killer, and the crime scene was full of evidence to support her testimony. ‘
But the imperial family’s clever and powerful silencing tactics trumped all of that. In the end, Julia’s assault was reduced to a short article in the back of a newspaper.
“They’ve touched the nobility of another country this time,” it said, “and many foreign nations, not to mention the Kingdom of Hisric, are watching closely.”
“…”
“So we can’t just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened. There will be a trial. It would be very helpful if you could testify about what happened to her then, what you know.”
Julia bit her trembling lower lip hard. She bit down so hard her lips were white.
“But… I’m not confident, I’m scared.”
“I know, I understand.”
Veronia nodded and spoke in a soft voice. But Julia shook her head as if she couldn’t believe even Veronia.
“No. You don’t understand. I’m the one who did it, not you. I’m the one who suffered that horrible violence!”
“…”
Julia’s face began to flush red with excitement. Her voice grew more furious, and her tightly balled fists shook.
“But how can you ever fully understand me? You’re asking me to do this now because you don’t understand … the pain and horror I’ve been through.”
Veronia’s jaw clenched in response to Julia’s outburst. She couldn’t argue with Julia’s words. She’d just picked at Julia’s sore spot to further her own ends.
Julia arched an eyebrow, shook her head, and continued.
“What wasn’t okay then is okay now? Is that really true? … Well, yes, even if there is a trial, but will the guilty really be punished?”
“We’re gathering evidence, and if Lady can testify, that’s even more likely, so…”
Veronia started to say, but Julia cut her off mid-sentence.
“Do you think there will be any judges who will be able to properly chastise those great men for their misdeeds? I don’t think there will be.”
She was right, justice in the true sense of the word was long gone from this world. Only justice for the strong survived, Julia firmly believed, to stamp out all others.
Their gazes tangled in the air. Julia’s eyes were trembling in a way that belied her confident voice. Veronia’s eyes, on the other hand, remained calm.
Finally, Veronia opened her mouth slowly, hoping that her words would reach me.
“You’re right about everything she said. I can’t fully understand her, of course, because I’m not a victim of violence.”
“…”
“So I’m not a victim… of this incident, and it would be impossible for me to fully understand Lady Frida’s pain. But you’re different, Lady, and you know the pain and despair she must be feeling, don’t you?”
Julia couldn’t answer, only glared at Veronia through clenched teeth.
Veronia steeled herself and spoke the last words.
“It doesn’t have to be this time, it doesn’t have to be in a year or two, it doesn’t have to be in ten years, it doesn’t have to be in twenty years, it doesn’t have to be this time. I hope that one day, Lady will be able to speak up and testify in front of people…”
“…”
“I hope that Lady will eventually be able to overcome your pain and be able to raise your finger and point it at the culprit.”
Tears began to form in the corners of Julia’s eyes. Her watery eyes sparkled in the light.
“There may not be many people who will listen to her, but I hope that at least one person will listen to her.”
“…”
“And please remember that among the few people who do listen to Lady is me. And Lady Frida.”
Veronia, who had now moved to Julia’s side, gently took her trembling hand.
“If you ever need someone to listen, you can always come to me.”
Huhuhu, eventually Julia let her head fall back and sobbed. Veronia’s heart ached for her as she realized that sobbing under her breath didn’t even seem to help her cry.
***
Leaving Richter, Veronia set out to find another victim. The list was a combination of what she had read in the original story and what she had learnt from newspaper articles.
But all of them reacted similarly to Julia: they were still terrified, and overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness that nothing they did would change anything.
She knew it would be difficult to persuade victims to testify, but she didn’t expect it to be this difficult.
‘I don’t want to go home with nothing to show for my efforts.’
She felt depressed and tired at the same time, as if she hadn’t done enough for the day, but she wanted to go home having done at least one useful thing.
Veronia opened the side door carriage.
“Donald. Please take me to the village of Cadelli.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
