Celebrity Lady - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Chapter 55
Lark hurriedly cut off the recording on the Recording Stone and asked.
“What is this?”
Confusion was written plainly across his face.
“Just now, did it record properly?”
Meanwhile, Rubetria, gesturing toward the Recording Stone with her chin, seemed utterly composed.
With a snap, Lark snatched the Medicine Bottle and examined it, speaking sharply.
“What is it?”
“A weight-loss medicine. A gift I received from Princess Lizbet.”
“What?”
“Have you found any good solution, by chance? I heard that Princess Lizbet has no way to avoid Dethronement.”
Lark, having calmed his excitement, closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them and spoke.
“We can’t even be certain the culprit actually exists. It’s nearly impossible to catch this so-called sorcerer before next week, when the Council holds its final discussion.”
“Then Princess Lizbet’s Dethronement is settled. Could a heavier sentence possibly be handed down?”
“We have to prevent that by any means necessary. For now, Confinement Punishment still holds a majority in the Council.”
“Confinement Punishment? Princess Lizbet may be young, but she’s no fool. If she’d known it was poison, her head would have rolled—there’s no way she’d have given it openly to the First Princess Your Highness. Anyone can see there’s a real culprit behind this, so why does everyone insist on punishing the Princess first?”
“Damn it, I know.”
Lark, barely holding himself together, finally cracked.
“But this place doesn’t concern itself with such circumstances. If she acted foolishly, she must pay the price.”
With trembling hands, he wrapped half his face and breathed heavily, each breath rough with anguish.
“Dethronement is unavoidable. However, if we catch the true culprit later, we might be able to restore her.”
“How long will it take to catch the culprit? A month? Or…… a year? Ten years?”
……
“I’m sorry to say this, but in the future I originally saw, the sorcerer’s whereabouts remained utterly unknown. If the Princess’s Dethronement is confirmed now, there will be no way for her to be restored. We must always assume the worst-case scenario.”
There was no flaw in her reasoning. Lark closed his eyes, gathering himself.
Rubetria, looking at him with sympathy, pulled over blank paper and a pen from the desk.
“If the Princess can’t escape responsibility, then let’s at least stop the Dethronement.”
“What?”
“Is it okay if I write here?”
Rubetria wrote something without hesitation on the blank paper.
A witness who can prove the sorcerer exists.
“The Princess claims she got the poison from a sorcerer, but since the sorcerer’s very existence is unclear, her statement gets dismissed, right? So all we need is to create a false witness who says they saw the sorcerer.”
Lark’s eyes narrowed.
That idea—he’d considered it. However…….
“Even better would be a witness who actually bought medicine directly from the sorcerer, wouldn’t it?”
Rubetria, adding to her point, scribbled more with her pen.
The circumstance that Princess Lizbet didn’t seek out the sorcerer first, but met them through a witness’s introduction.
“The witness introduced the sorcerer to the Princess, and the Princess simply met them after being introduced.”
Rubetria set down the pen with a snap.
“This is enough. It proves the sorcerer exists, and besides, the Princess didn’t go looking for the sorcerer of her own accord.”
……
“Anyway, most of the Council nobles won’t actually believe the Princess did this voluntarily. What would a child know about such things? But someone needs to take responsibility for this incident, and right now it’s only the Princess, which is frustrating.”
……
“The only way to get through this is to split the responsibility between two people. Create a false witness who shares the Princess’s ‘mistake’ and receives part of the punishment.”
Picking up the pen she’d set down, Rubetria wrote a few more words.
Minor.
Must be acquainted with Princess Lizbet.
“The false witness should be a minor. If they’re a young child who still doesn’t know much, it can be considered a mistake. And they need to have some prior acquaintance with the Princess, since they’re supposedly the one who introduced her to the sorcerer’s shop and went with her.”
“A noblewoman.”
“Yes.”
“I understand what you’re trying to say.”
Lark brushed the paper aside with a sharp gesture of frustration.
“You’re essentially asking me to have an innocent person commit Perjury to reduce Lizbet’s sentence?”
“That’s right.”
Lark looked directly at Rubetria with cold eyes and spoke.
“And a child at that.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve misjudged you.”
Grinding his teeth, Lark continued.
“If you thought you could handle things by making an innocent testify falsely, I would’ve created a fake sorcerer and put them on the gallows instead.”
……
“Leniency for minors has its limits. For commoners, there’s barely any consideration at all—the same crime carries far harsher punishment. Just the Perjury of introducing the sorcerer to Lizbet would be a death sentence for this innocent witness.”
“You’re right.”
“I am Lizbet’s older brother, yes, but I am also the Crown Prince of this empire. I cherish my sister, and the life of every subject of this realm carries the same weight.”
Rubetria, meeting Lark’s unwavering gaze, smiled slightly.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“I appreciate your heart for trying to help me and coming this far, but you should leave now.”
Lark issued his dismissal, still angry.
“I’m not so corrupt as to push an innocent person to the gallows…….”
……
“The person who best fits the witness conditions I was thinking of. Someone who, even if they share the Princess’s guilt, wouldn’t face execution. A noblewoman from a family with some power, around the Princess’s age and equally reckless—if such a person existed, they’d be perfect.”
Rubetria picked up the Medicine Bottle that had been rolling on the desk and added.
“I’ll do it.”
“……What?”
Lark’s brow furrowed sharply as he stared at Rubetria.
“This is genuinely a weight-loss medicine. I looked into it—it’s made from herbs that aid bowel movement. In plain terms, it facilitates digestion. Usually, people who take this see some weight-loss effects in the beginning.”
……
“The sorcerer deliberately sold the Princess an effective, credible medicine first. To gain her trust.”
Rubetria held the Medicine Bottle up to eye level, meeting Lark’s gaze through the transparent glass, and continued.
“I was also focused on losing weight at just the right time. I was the first to seek out the sorcerer’s shop in the city, buy the weight-loss medicine, and see results.”
……
“If I simply tell the Council that I introduced the shop to the Princess, whom I was already familiar with, there’s nothing suspicious about it.”
“Are you saying that you—”
“Yes. I’m saying that.”
Ha.
“Can you come up with a more perfect alternative than my plan before the final meeting next week?”
……
“You can’t, can you? Then we’ll do it my way.”
“No. I can’t let you take responsibility for something you didn’t do. As you said, if you’re a noblewoman, you wouldn’t face execution—but there’s no way to avoid trial either. You’ll be punished, whether lightly or heavily. And.”
Lark rubbed his temple, speaking with bitter laughter as if confused.
“I honestly can’t understand this. Why would you do so much for me? I never pressed you for help, never asked you to sacrifice yourself—so why do you keep—”
“I feel responsible. The future has changed, and Princess Lizbet’s false accusation is entirely because of my actions. Because I made a different choice than before.”
“No, please. Let me be clear: you must never carry needless guilt or shame. This whole situation is my fault—I was reckless, and it was entirely my mistake.”
Lark’s lips pressed tightly together.
A self-loathing and helplessness unlike anything he’d ever felt before surfaced on his agonized face.
“From the moment you confirmed that the rival in your vision is the Second Prince, my mind was racing. That’s why I was stupid and acted without caution.”
“But ultimately, it was I who made Your Highness act.”
Rubetria shrugged her shoulders, gently stroking Lark’s trembling fist as she comforted him.
“Arguing between ourselves is just wasting time. I already told my father I was planning to cause trouble. So.”
……
“From this moment, I am someone who thought it over for days and came to confess to the investigation’s lead—Your Highness the Crown Prince—directly.”
Rubetria pointed to the dormant Recording Stone with a tilt of her head and smiled broadly.
“So please turn that back on for me.”
* * *
“Damn it…….”
Dusk had fallen over the empty Training Ground.
Sitting in a corner, Lark cursed himself repeatedly.
Helplessness and guilt tormented him until he could barely think straight.
“Yeah, it’s a bit scary. Will Your Highness use his influence to make sure she receives only a light sentence?”
For an hour straight, Rubetria testified before the Recording Stone, committing Perjury for Lizbet’s sake, and then left.
Her terrified expression, her trembling voice, even the way she wept between statements—everything was so convincing that no one could have imagined it was false testimony.
Lark could not fathom how much she must have agonized and prepared to orchestrate such a performance alone.
‘She’s just a child who happens to know the future…….’
Yet Rubetria seemed like someone who had lived through decades and returned.
“Hey, why that expression? It’s basically all solved now—you should be the happiest one, not looking so glum.”
If anything, standing before her made him feel more childish than ever.
“Smile. Go on, smile!”
When he thought of Rubetria, who had even coaxed him, unable as he was to manage his expression under the weight of self-reproach, before leaving.
Lark laughed at himself with a twisted face.
“Ha ha……. Like this, I’m going to…….”
What should he do.
“Your Highness, the evening wind is cold.”
Then.
At the familiar voice coming from behind, Lark slowly lifted his head from where it had been bowed toward the ground.
‘Nathan.’
His face, turned away from Nathan, was twisted with a rage that had suddenly swelled up, fearsome to behold.
Soon after, Lark rose slowly to his feet and turned around.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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