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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 27
It was her again—Namia Loapi.
Crown Prince Kiaros was furrowing his brow when it happened.
Fron suddenly pointed at Oson and spoke.
"I always thought that slit-eyed bastard was suspicious from the start."
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion. Fron continued without hesitation.
"Think about it. I only went out during weekday afternoons to buy poison. So when exactly did he see me?"
Oson then cried out as if wronged.
"I clearly saw the Empress at that location several times! The shop owner testified to that...."
"Exactly. ‌‌Who said I wasn't seen?"
Fron laughed and tilted her chin up confidently.
"Weekday ‌‌‌‌afternoons are work hours. Why were you out instead of working?"
"My, my attendance record has nothing to do with this matter...."
"Why doesn't it matter?"
Crown Prince Kiaros was left dumbfounded.
Fron suddenly began stammering as she looked toward Namia in the distance.
"Royal Family Special Law Article 4, no, Article 3 Section 1, all members of the Royal Family can manage and, no, supervise Imperial Palace civil servants. Royal Family Special Law Article 5 Section 11, all members of the Royal Family can confirm various work statuses of civil servants through various forms of ‌‌‌‌inspections, no, audits. Imperial Palace Knight Law Article 33 Section 2, Imperial Palace knights can conduct targeted and limited, ‌‌‌no, entrapment investigations against suspicious individuals with Royal Family permission."
Everyone fell into ‌‌silence.
Even those seeing Fron for the first time today could sense something was off.
Her words were difficult to follow, and with her stammering, hardly anyone understood exactly what she was saying.
'Hmm?'
Crown Prince Kiaros, one of the few who understood her words, blinked with a bewildered expression.
'Wait, that was ‌‌‌accurate?'
But he would bet anything that Fron didn't even know such a law as the Royal Family Special Law ‌‌‌existed.
Even the Minister of Justice sat in confused silence.
"That bastard keeps sneaking around like a rat during work hours...!"
Fron shouted with confidence, ‌‌then suddenly stammered again as she continued. Her tone was ‌‌almost ‌‌‌like that of a split personality.
"According to the ‌‌Royal Family's authority to supervise Imperial Palace civil servants, I chose ‌‌the audit method through ‌‌Imperial Palace knights, and as an ‌‌Imperial Palace knight with permission from myself as a Royal Family member, I conducted a limited, no, entrapment investigation. I believe there should be no legal or procedural issues with the law and procedures I ‌‌‌mentioned earlier, no, referenced?"
Crown Prince ‌Kiaros was genuinely shocked.
'How in the ‌‌‌‌world did this happen?'
One thing was certain.
This was connected to Namia Loapi.
Fron could never do this, ‌‌‌‌but that strange civil servant had definitely recited legal provisions fluently before.
The ‌‌‌Minister of Justice, who had been ‌‌‌equally shocked alongside Crown Prince Kiaros, asked foolishly.
"...Pardon?"
"I'm an ‌‌Imperial Palace knight. I happened to become Empress, but I'm still on the roster...."
Everyone who hadn't understood what Fron said earlier wore confused expressions.
The Minister of Justice, who had been stammering for a moment, murmured.
"That, that is... well, legally and procedurally, well, it's not something that doesn't make sense...."
According to Fron's statement, her collection ‌‌‌‌of illegal drugs itself was an entrapment investigation to monitor Oson's work attendance.
"This is ‌absurd!"
Oson's voice cracked as ‌‌he shouted.
"The Scroll Management Department operates under dual jurisdiction with the ‌Magic Tower. Regardless of the Empress's authority to summon all official ‌documents, she cannot access our department's attendance records!"
Though others might ‌‌not realize it, Crown Prince Kiaros knew the truth.
Until now, Fron had never once examined a single official document.
In fact, she ‌‌‌had lived without even being conscious that she possessed such authority.
Meanwhile, Oson sputtered indignantly as he rebutted.
"But why would the Empress concern herself with my attendance records? Why single me out, just one mere civil servant?"
Regardless, Fron continued speaking with unwavering confidence.
"Intuition."
Fron's gaze shifted forward once more.
Everyone would assume she was looking at the audience.
But Crown Prince Kiaros narrowed his eyes, observing Namia Loapi intently.
Fron suddenly shifted her tone and continued speaking fluently.
"All Imperial Palace civil servants can access the night duty reports submitted every morning at six. From those reports, I consistently noticed that the person receiving night duty allowances differed from the report's author. According to the Treasury Department documents I verified using the Empress's authority, Oson Philon receives the night duty overtime compensation, yet on those corresponding ‌‌‌‌dates, Namia Loapi always submitted the reports."
Civil servants took turns ‌‌‌standing night watch, guarding the building.
Those on duty submitted reports detailing any incidents from the previous night.
Naturally, most reports read "nothing to report." Consequently, no one paid attention to those brief reports arriving each dawn.
And certainly no one would cross-reference them with Treasury Department allowance documents.
"Who—who would even notice that!"
"I did. ‌‌I have the authority. I was simply observing out of boredom. It's my prerogative. It's my time."
Fron spoke again in her altered tone, her words dripping with mockery.
Only then did Crown Prince Kiaros understand precisely ‌‌what was happening.
Fron's gaze had been directed, to be exact, at the subtle movement of Namia's lips.
For now, how events would unfold was secondary.
'Is that even ‌‌‌‌possible? From this ‌‌‌distance?'
Could one truly discern the subtle movements of lips from such a great distance?
Even Crown Prince Kiaros, blessed with keen eyesight, could not comprehend what Namia Loapi was saying.
"I simply conducted ‌‌‌a sting operation after tailing that fool and discovering he frequented the filthy Black Market during work hours. There's nothing procedurally improper, is there? Interrogate him immediately and have him executed."
Fron spoke with triumphant certainty.
"Naturally, I never used the poisons I collected. If you wish to investigate, then investigate."
The Trial Court descended into chaos.
Crown Prince Kiaros himself pressed ‌his forehead in bewilderment.
It was obvious which words belonged to Fron and which to Namia Loapi.
'For everything to fit together so perfectly, merely consulting law books wouldn't suffice.'
The provisions Namia Loapi had referenced were scattered extensively throughout legal texts.
One ‌‌‌would need to know where things were located before one could ‌‌even find them.
'During that brief ‌‌‌‌moment yesterday when ‌these two encountered each other in the Prison, ‌‌something transpired.'
One fact became abundantly clear: Namia Loapi had not merely memorized clauses about "delegating tasks to subordinates."
She knew all manner of provisions, and possessed an exceptional ability to ‌‌‌synthesize them in mere moments.
"Wait, just a moment...."
The Minister of Justice spoke amid ‌‌the chaos.
"Let's take a brief recess and resume at two o'clock."
Fron yawned and rose, saying she needed to use the restroom.
And at that ‌‌moment, Crown Prince Kiaros saw it.
A scroll of parchment slightly protruding from between Fron's pockets.
* * *
'Perfect!'
I let out a satisfied sigh with a smirk.
As someone beneath him, I knew better than ‌‌‌anyone ‌‌how abysmal Oson's attendance record was.
Orchestrating it so the Empress would notice was hardly difficult.
'Of course, everyone will sense something amiss, but since there's ‌‌‌‌nothing technically wrong, they can't point it out.'
That meant I could buy time.
Crown Prince Kiaros likely intended to simply suppress matters through authority and drag things out as well.
'Had he done so, the backlash would have been severe and terribly troublesome.'
Wasn't it precisely to avoid causing ‌‌such inconvenience that Fron had chosen to take her own life?
Yesterday in the prison, I had persuaded the Empress that 'it would prevent causing trouble for Crown Prince Kiaros.'
Then I handed her a paper inscribed with dialogue carefully woven from legal statutes.
Fron, receiving the densely written paper, murmured in bewilderment.
[There's no way my head can memorize all ‌‌‌of this. ‌‌‌Not even if I stayed up all night. There are so many words I don't know.]
[Just memorize as much as you can... and then take this as well.]
Having already anticipated that situation, I gave her a scroll as well.
And told her ‌to use it just before entering the trial court.
[It's a scroll that lets you see ‌‌distant things clearly. If you use this, you'll be able to see the shape of my mouth. Then you can reference it.]
No one could fluently recite something merely ‌‌‌‌by ‌‌‌watching someone's lips.
But once ‌‌‌‌you'd memorized something to a certain degree, watching another's mouth movements naturally allowed you to reference them.
[You absolutely won't get caught. Only I in this world know that such ‌‌‌‌a scroll exists, or how to create it.]
It was a scroll I had researched and created entirely on my own.
For my father, who always said he wanted to gaze at the stars with me.

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support ‌‌‌‌our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------