Chapter 54
Even after Duke Tristan sat in the defendant’s seat, he continued to glare at me. His gaze was so intense and sharp that it felt like it was burning wherever it landed.
I had to act calm and endure his piercing stare. When I glanced to the side, I saw that Richard wasn’t fazed at all by his glare.
Well, of course. It was because it was me who had been tormented by Duke Tristan’s abuse and violence.
Richard, who had no connection to him, had no reason to feel intimidated by his gaze.
I tried to imitate Richard’s composure, straightening my back and squaring my shoulders. I clenched my hands tightly to maintain this posture, but it didn’t matter since Duke Tristan couldn’t see them anyway.
Then, I suddenly felt Richard’s gaze and turned to look at him.
He was watching me with a satisfied expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Not understanding the meaning behind his satisfaction, I asked, and Richard smirked.
“Yes, stay like that. Show that the person who torments you is nothing more than a pathetic human being. Once you accept that, there will be nothing left to fear.”
He raised his hand and gently patted my shoulder, as if encouraging me.
For some reason, his gesture filled me with a small sense of pride.
I felt almost like a puppy receiving praise from its owner—not that I thought of Richard as my owner.
In any case, it meant that I could now face Duke Tristan with more composure than I had yesterday.
It must have been just as the trial was about to begin, for soon the doors opened and the judge entered the courtroom.
The judge, as always, took their seat and scanned the room.
“This is the final trial. Both parties will have another opportunity to present their positions and attempt to reach an agreement. If no settlement is reached, I will make the final ruling based on my judgment.”
It seemed the final trial in this world was structured to end with both sides negotiating after presenting their cases.
I hadn’t known that trials were conducted this way here since it was my first time being involved in one.
Apparently, even if things escalated to a trial, if a settlement was reached at the last minute, the matter could be resolved without further confrontation.
But I didn’t like the idea of this process.
Besides, this trial was already as good as won for us.
There was no reason to try and negotiate, potentially giving up what we deserved to reclaim.
So, in the end, we would have to rely on the judge’s decision.
“Plaintiff, please step forward and present your case.”
“Yes.”
Richard rose from his seat. I expected him to walk straight to the center of the courtroom, but to my surprise, he didn’t move. Instead, he turned to look at me.
His expression seemed to ask why I wasn’t moving.
I quickly stood, pretending I had meant to all along, and moved to take Richard’s outstretched hand.
Once I grasped his hand, he led me to the center of the courtroom, where we stood facing the judge.
“Your Honor, our request has always been simple: to reclaim the inheritance and title that rightfully belongs to Diarna. A mother left her legacy for her daughter, and the daughter is simply asking to reclaim it. What objection could there possibly be to that?”
Richard spoke at length, but his point was clear:
I was merely seeking to reclaim the rights that had always been mine.
No one should interfere with my attempt to reclaim what was mine.
And above all, the one obstructing me, someone who once called himself my father, had no right to do so.
I agreed wholeheartedly with Richard’s words.
Putting aside everything else, if Duke Tristan truly thought of me as his daughter, he should have stopped of his own accord.
But unfortunately, he showed no signs of backing down.
Once our statement was over, and Richard and I returned to the plaintiff’s seat, Duke Tristan, who had been wearing a grim expression, walked firmly to the center of the courtroom.
“Your Honor, Diarna and Count Theodore claim they have come this far with the sole intention of reclaiming what is rightfully hers. Then I must ask this—Count Theodore, do you truly have no desire for Diarna’s inheritance?”
Duke Tristan turned to Richard as he spoke.
At the same time, all eyes in the courtroom, including the judge’s, shifted to Richard.
“How many times must I say it—”
“Oh, enough! No one would admit to such a thing in front of all these witnesses, would they? Am I wrong?”
Duke Tristan’s exaggerated words felt strange. What he was saying now was something he had already brought up several times in previous court sessions, only to yield no results in the end.
Yet here he was, using his most important and final opportunity to defend himself entirely on this question.
It was an overly careless move.
If I were him, I would have appealed to emotion to garner sympathy, which would have been even slightly more advantageous than this approach.
If he had mentioned the long years I had trusted and relied on him and even shed some tears, my heart might have wavered.
In that case, I might have shown him some sympathy.
But sympathy was not the tactic Duke Tristan had chosen.
Instead, he seemed intent on clashing directly with Richard.
I couldn’t understand why.
Even comparing this to everything that had happened so far—or even if Richard hadn’t demonstrated all that he had throughout this trial—Duke Tristan’s approach didn’t make sense to me.
“Defendant, what exactly are you trying to say?”
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who found this baffling, as the judge turned to Duke Tristan with a question.
Taking a step closer to the judge, he opened his mouth again.
“What if Count Theodore orchestrated everything to seize the title and fortune for himself?”
“That’s nonsense!”
I couldn’t bear to listen to his words any longer, so I stood up and shouted. I felt everyone’s eyes turn toward me as I did.
Duke Tristan slowly clicked his tongue as he turned to look at me.
“Poor Diarna, still unable to face reality and stuck in denial.”
No. Richard wasn’t the kind of person Duke Tristan was trying to make him out to be.
Richard intended to help me reclaim everything. It wasn’t some fabricated scheme like Duke Tristan was spinning to deceive me and the judge.
If anything, it was him who had stolen everything from me.
“Open your eyes, Diarna. See clearly who’s really deceiving you.”
“Defendant, do you have any evidence to support your claim?”
The judge asked, seeking proof of Duke Tristan’s statements, and he nodded confidently.
“Let them in.”
At Duke Tristan’s words, the courtroom doors opened. Through them, a small figure limped into the room.
“…Dave?”
Duke Tristan called out to the injured figure walking into the courtroom.
Just this morning, Dave had been unconscious, unable to even open his eyes. Yet now, somehow, he was dragging his injured body into the courtroom.
Dave entered the room with his head hung low, like a guilty criminal. A staff member guided him to the witness stand, where he sat.
I had no idea what was going on and opened and closed my mouth several times, unable to find the words.
Meanwhile, Duke Tristan began to approach Dave with slow, deliberate steps. Dave flinched and trembled as the duke drew nearer.
“This boy lives in the slums. And not long ago, blinded by greed, he nearly killed Diarna while attempting to pickpocket her.”
Dave’s story was being twisted entirely by Duke Tristan.
“Diarna is so kind-hearted that she forgave the boy who almost killed her. But Count Theodore was not so forgiving. He must have been furious, knowing that Diarna being injured would jeopardize this trial. That’s why he did this to the boy.”
It was a completely fabricated story.
The truth was that Dave had been hired by Duke Tristan to kill me, and when that failed, the duke had done this to Dave to cover up the evidence.
But through Duke Tristan’s words, the story was being entirely distorted.
“And Count Theodore allegedly said, while beating this boy, that if Diarna died, everything would be ruined. Isn’t that right, boy?”
Duke Tristan addressed Dave.
Dave trembled as he hesitantly lifted his head to glance at both Richard and me. Even at a glance, the fear and guilt on his face were evident.
“Th-that’s…”
Dave stammered as he opened his trembling mouth.
“It’s all right. Just tell the truth. Who was the one who tried to kill you? And what did that person say?”
Duke Tristan coaxed him gently, and finally, Dave began to cry large, sorrowful tears.
“T-the person who hit me and said those things was…”
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