Chapter 32
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Chapter 32
"Uh, what?"
"How could I possibly create such a teleportation scroll? I don't have the skill for it..."
I quickly withdrew my hand and continued speaking with my usual listless demeanor, my shoulders sagging.
I couldn't make it, so I couldn't make it—but at least I wanted to provoke him a little.
"Last time I got ahead of myself and nearly faced disciplinary action. There's no way I could do something like that..."
"N-Namia, th-that!"
"It's all something Team Leader taught me..."
"You, you really!"
Just as Oson, his face flushed with anger, raised his hand to strike my cheek—
Honestly, I wouldn't have minded taking a hit. The Baron and Baroness hit me often enough.
'For teasing him like that, a slap is a bargain.'
Compared to my satisfaction, getting hit was nothing.
But suddenly, someone bolted forward like lightning and twisted Oson's arm.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
Oson shrieked and jumped back.
At the same time, Palace Guards came rushing from far away.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty the Empress! You mustn't run off like that!"
Surprisingly, the one who had twisted Oson's arm was a muscular Empress.
The Empress laughed triumphantly and shouted.
"Come on, let's go! It's time to start the trial!"
"Your Majesty! No, if you run off so suddenly like this..."
"I'm worried he'll escape! Why are you letting such a suspicious character wander around alone?"
Then the Palace Guards spoke with trembling voices.
"The only suspicious person who isn't allowed to wander alone in this trial is Your Majesty the Empress... This person is both a witness and the accuser... Please don't forget..."
"Ah, right. That's true. I forgot."
The Empress blinked and spoke as if apologizing.
Yet she still didn't release Oson's arm, which she held firmly.
"Anyway, let's go. You need to come along too, right?"
The Empress, giggling with laughter, winked at me.
And she even whispered softly, "Give me a thumbs up!"
And so Oson was dragged away by the Palace Guards surrounding him, pulled along by the Empress.
His retreating figure looked just like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
And watching that scene, I thought with a cold expression.
'That bastard... really has something. A teleportation scroll? He was planning to escape even if he became a wanted criminal.'
Since it had come to this, I would push him to the end.
Well, it's not just because I almost got hit. Just as a bonus.
* * *
The break ended, and the trial began again.
The Empress's complexion remained consistently radiant.
In contrast, Oson's face had grown progressively paler ever since the Empress declared him suspicious.
"Very well, let us resume the trial."
The Minister of Justice, already showing signs of exhaustion, made the announcement.
The Empress smirked and turned her gaze toward me.
Her expression asked what I wanted her to do next.
Now I didn't need to memorize legal statutes anymore—I only had to exchange the hand signals we'd agreed upon beforehand.
[Give me the signal!]
Just as she'd said earlier.
I was preparing to smirk and give the signal when—
'Hm?'
Unexpectedly, my eyes met someone else's.
'What? Surely not me? It seems like they're looking at me?'
It was Crown Prince Kiaros, seated at the front.
Unmistakably, Crown Prince Kiaros was gazing at me with eyes blazing like the sun itself.
'D-did I get caught? Am I exposed? What... how much does he know?'
Otherwise, there's no way he'd single me out from among all these people, standing at the very back.
As I blinked, Crown Prince Kiaros's crimson lips slowly parted.
'Go ahead.'
The words his lips formed were short enough to read from his mouth shape alone.
'Do well.'
A smile tinged with something acrid mixed into his expression of dominion.
My heart plummeted the moment our eyes met.
'S-so terrifying!'
The Empress, despite being superior, wasn't a dragon-human, so I could interact with her like an ordinary person. But a true dragon-human—even just meeting their gaze made my body tense with instinctive dread.
'What do I do...'
Ordinary humans are instinctively intimidated by dragon-humans.
Especially when that dragon-human is the Crown Prince, the highest authority in the bureaucratic hierarchy.
My only possible response was predetermined.
'Yes.'
I froze rigidly and answered through lip-reading as well.
'I'll do my best.'
Meanwhile, the trial resumed in earnest.
Oson primarily shouted about his innocence and how absurd this was, while the Empress pressed the accusation that he was suspicious.
...To anyone watching, the defendant and plaintiff had switched roles.
I made a small heart shape with my fingers toward the Empress.
It meant 'just push through with it.' The Empress excitedly cried out.
"I ran into this bastard right at the Imperial Palace! My instincts from the Battlefield were screaming at me! That scoundrel is XX XXX suspicious!"
"Your Majesty, you should be presenting your own defense first..."
The Minister of Justice stepped in, looking troubled.
That was when it happened.
'Hmm?'
While the Empress and the Minister of Justice bickered back and forth.
Crown Prince Kiaros, who had been watching me, suddenly wore a confused expression.
* * *
[That's not a position for me to overstep into....]
Namia Loapi had worn a somewhat bitter expression when she said those words.
Crown Prince Kiaros suddenly recalled Oson's rampage.
Namia Loapi had created a scroll to save the Crown Prince, yet her superior only told her she was overstepping.
'In truth, with abilities like that, the superior should have listened to Namia Loapi's words....'
He remembered her figure—how she had hung her head listlessly when being scolded by Oson.
So Crown Prince Kiaros impulsively moved his lips while looking at her.
'Go ahead and overstep, as much as you want.'
Up to that point, it was fine.
But then Namia Loapi also moved her lips while looking at him.
However....
'Hmm?'
Crown Prince Kiaros couldn't actually read Namia Loapi's lip movements.
Her lips were small, and the distance was too great.
How on earth was Fron reading this?
'...Is it a scroll that improves eyesight, perhaps?'
Only then did he seem to understand the identity of the parchment crumpled in Fron's pocket.
But in any case, he didn't have that scroll.
He could make out 'Yes' much.
But the four characters that followed gave him no clue.
'Aaa-eh-oh? What is it?'
Then, like lightning, her earlier words came back to him.
[You just need to follow my instructions well.]
Crown Prince Kiaros furrowed his brow in thought.
'Follow your lead? Is that what you're saying?'
How dare she suggest the Crown Prince follow her example?
'I told her to overstep, and now she's overstepping too much....'
Crown Prince Kiaros was startled by his own unspoken thought.
Perhaps Oson had thought the same thing.
A superior dismissing a subordinate's words unconditionally....
'Did I give tacit permission for her to conduct this trial however she pleased, and now I'm applying a double standard only to myself?'
It was while Crown Prince Kiaros was engaged in this confusing self-reflection.
That suddenly.
She formed a heart shape with her fingers and showed it to him.
'...Hmm?'
Crown Prince Kiaros rolled his eyes, hesitating with evident suspicion.
Was there any reason to escalate things this far? Was there some grand design at play?
I didn't understand his intent, but should I just go along with it? After all, he was the one who told me to show off.
'Well, it doesn't seem particularly difficult....'
Crown Prince Kiaros furrowed his brow, raised his hand, and made a small heart shape with his fingers.
* * *
'What, what is this?'
Crown Prince Kiaros was acting strange!
He sat with an expression of utmost solemnity and gravity, making a heart shape with his fingers.
His face was so excessively stern that the sight was nothing short of shocking.
'What, did he misunderstand something?'
But there was no opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding.
Fortunately, nearly everyone's attention was fixed on the Empress and the Minister of Justice.
They were in the midst of creating chaos, with the trembling Oson positioned between them.
"That wretch must be executed at once! How dare he deceive the Imperial Family—I'll tear his limbs apart and scatter them to the four winds myself!"
"Strictly speaking, the person with suspicion of deceiving the Imperial Family would be Your Majesty the Empress...."
Throughout this, the Empress glanced at me repeatedly.
Whatever Crown Prince Kiaros did, I couldn't stop here.
Even if no one in the back would be watching me, there would certainly be those watching Crown Prince Kiaros....
'There's no helping it....'
But the disgrace was Crown Prince Kiaros's to bear, not mine.
As for cleaning up afterward, well....
An adult should naturally handle their own affairs.
'If I make the wrong gesture here, even Her Majesty the Empress might become confused.'
Oson was such an obvious suspect that I'd even considered fleeing.
I drew a larger heart with both hands. 'Keep going,' it said.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org