ITIF Chapter 120

Not Wanting Anything Means Having Nothing to Lose

“Oh… it seems my story didn’t interest you. Then how about this? It will be even more interesting.”

Giselle Grante added with a sweet smile.

“It’s about when I was made to kneel before the chieftain of the barbarians.”

When she finished speaking, there was no trace of a smile on Giselle Grante’s face. She was looking straight at the Empress.

“H-how could you possibly know about that, Young Lady…!”

The Empress’s eyes widened in shock.

It was certainly an un-Empress-like reaction. Not only did she stammer, but she practically confessed without even being presented with evidence.

It immediately revealed just how psychologically cornered the Empress had been while imprisoned and isolated.

But as if her moment of bewilderment had never happened, the Empress suddenly changed her attitude and said:

“…I’m not sure where you heard such strange stories, but even though I’m in this situation, if you spread groundless rumors…”

Giselle Grante cut off the Empress’s lengthy explanation.

“It was Marchioness Latse back then too.”

She knew full well that interrupting someone was quite rude.

But having endured countless instances of this from the Empress while living as Trinity, she felt not a shred of guilt.

“The reason you sent the Marquis and Marchioness Latse to the west on the pretext of a vacation wasn’t much different either. The purpose was to make contact with the barbarian chieftain. Of course, the circumstances were quite different from last time.”

“…”

The Empress, who had been rolling her eyes quickly as if at a loss for words, soon opened her mouth as if she’d found an excuse.

“Young Lady? Isn’t that quite a leap? Why on earth would you think…”

This time too, Giselle Grante didn’t hesitate to cut off the Empress’s words.

“Only Princess Trinity herself knows that she was made to kneel before the barbarian chieftain. Not even her maids know. Because no one was there.”

“…”

“Who else could possibly know about that incident?”

Giselle Grante, who had been slowly blinking as if pondering, opened her mouth again as if she’d just remembered.

“…That’s right. The barbarian chieftain, Princess Trinity herself, and the person who gave the orders.”

Then, as if she had no more will to make excuses, the Empress shrugged her shoulders.

“Saying you’re Trinity yourself—I really don’t know what you’ve been talking about since earlier… Anyway, why are you bringing up past events now? What, are you hoping for an apology from me? For instigating the assassination of Princess Trinity? No, wait, it’s not even your business in the first place.”

“I don’t need an apology. I already know you won’t give one.”

The Empress looked at Giselle Grante as if asking why she’d brought it up then.

“Empress, I thought about what would be most painful for you.”

Giselle Grante stopped speaking there. The Empress stared at her with anxious eyes.

“It’s losing everything.”

“…What?”

“Your high status, your vast wealth, the family that made you shine.”

“Are you planning to do something to Joshua?”

The Empress glared with flashing eyes, then regained her composure and sneered.

“Ah, now I understand what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to make me confess something, aren’t you? Using Joshua’s safety as leverage, right?”

The Empress, who had been glaring at Giselle Grante with eyes full of malice, suddenly stepped back hesitantly.

It was likely because she couldn’t read any emotion from Giselle Grante.

No sadness, no resentment, no anger, not even pity.

“So what is it you want from me? Just tell me already.”

The Empress was excellent at reading people.

She would first read what the other person wanted, then hint that if they acted according to her instructions, there would be rewards.

That’s how she’d easily manipulated people.

That’s why figuring out what Giselle Grante wanted was more important to the Empress than anything else.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

But Giselle Grante wanted nothing from the Empress.

Which meant that in their relationship, the Empress could never hold the upper hand.

“Without fail, I will reveal what you’ve done in front of everyone. And you will pay the price for your crimes. In the way Her Majesty the Empress—no, Mother—hates most.”

“…”

“This is the minimum courtesy I can show as someone who was briefly your daughter.”

With those final words, Giselle Grante turned around.

“Wait! Wait, Lady Amaterasu! We still have things to discuss.”

“…”

“No, wait… Tri! Trinity! Fine, I’ll confess. The deal with the barbarian chieftain was to kidnap you. Joshua could only inherit the throne if you were gone.”

The Empress’s voice continued behind her. But Giselle Grante didn’t look back and continued moving forward.

“Didn’t you want to hear a sincere apology from me about that? That’s why you came to see me, isn’t it? No, I said wait…!”

Giselle Grante didn’t know at the time.

That Kavelaseth, worried about her, had come to the prison and overheard her conversation with the Empress.

****

The Emperor’s murder. As a major incident that drew all of society’s attention, the trial proceeded quickly.

The Empress, dragged out by the knights’ hands, looked more wretched than ever seen before.

Because she had no family left to care for her.

Her husband the Emperor had been dealt with by her own hand, and her son and Marquis Antares were also imprisoned like her.

The nobles she’d been close with had all turned their backs. They thoroughly ignored her, afraid even a speck might rub off on them.

“Oh my, look at that appearance. Don’t they even give water to wash in prison?”

“That looks like the dress she wore at His Majesty the Emperor’s funeral last time… It seems they don’t even give her clothes to change into, let alone water.”

Criticism toward the Empress walking into the courtroom erupted from here and there.

It could be said they were finally releasing the resentment they’d been suppressing all along.

When the five judges took their seats, the trial officially began.

“We will now begin the trial of the Empress of the Phasis Empire, Patricia Antares. Everyone please be seated promptly.”

Since the Empress’s greatest crime was murdering her husband the Emperor, they decided to use her maiden name.

The judge in the center listed the Empress’s charges.

Besides the Emperor’s murder, many other crimes the Empress had committed were revealed.

And the first person called as both witness and suspect was the Emperor’s personal physician.

After that, Baron Cypress, Marquis Antares, and the Empress’s maids were called one after another.

The last person to appear in the courtroom was Lady Oppenheimer.

She quietly handed a piece of parchment to the judge. The judge began reading aloud the contents of the parchment.

“My tongue was cut out and my arm was broken by the Empress, so I couldn’t speak or write, making it impossible to express anything at the previous trial. But now that my arm has recovered, I can write…”

The final words on the parchment Lady Oppenheimer handed over were:

“I did not kill Her Highness Princess Trinity. The person who can prove that fact is Lady Greykin.”

At Lady Oppenheimer’s request, Lady Greykin appeared as a witness.

Seeing Lady Greykin, who they thought was dead, walk in alive, her family wept.

Lady Greykin gave her family a small smile as if sorry for deceiving them, then began her testimony.

“As you can see, I’ve been alive and well. The reason I’ve hidden the fact that I was alive even from my family all this time was because of the Empress.”

The courtroom became noisy again.

“You mean you had to hide because of the Empress—why was that necessary?”

To the judge’s question, Lady Greykin answered:

“The Empress needed to silence me to cover up the murder of Her Highness Princess Trinity. I suspect Lady Oppenheimer is in her current situation for the same reason.”

Lady Greykin, having finished speaking, turned her head toward where Lady Oppenheimer was.

The two had served well as Princess Trinity’s maids for quite some time. It seemed she felt compassion for her.

“I’ll ask one more question. Then are you saying there’s some connection between the Empress and the murder of Her Highness Princess Trinity?”

“That’s correct.”

As Lady Greykin answered immediately, the Empress, who had been keeping her mouth tightly shut until just before, objected.

“This is all slander!”

“…”

“You’re all being deceived, can’t you see? She’s wearing the shell of Lady Amaterasu, but that girl is Trinity!”

The Empress shrieked and pointed her finger at Giselle Grante.

The judges exchanged glances and shook their heads.

It seemed they judged the Empress had gone mad.

Giselle Grante took in the entire situation with emotionless eyes.

And she was certain.

Patricia Antares would now be recorded as the first Empress in the Phasis Empire to stand trial.

For the crime of murdering her daughter and husband, even if the daughter wasn’t her biological child.