Celebrity Lady - Chapter 56

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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 56
“Nathan.”
“Why are you out here at this hour?”
Nathan, who had reportedly abstained from eating and drinking since Bella’s collapse, had grown visibly gaunt in the time since they’d last met.
The rumor that he wept himself to sleep every night didn’t seem to be mere gossip—his eyes were swollen red enough to stir pity.
“And what brings you here at this hour?”
“My thoughts were heavy, so I was walking aimlessly when I spotted you. I thought I’d come see how you were.”
“……I see.”
“You’ve been struggling too lately, haven’t you?”
“…….”
“Lisia was such a devoted younger sister to you. There’s no one who wanted a sickly you to rise from that sickbed more than she did.”
“…….”
“I trust Lisia. If there was a misunderstanding, the truth will come out eventually. So please, hold fast to your convictions.”
Lark, managing a weak smile, stood facing Nathan.
“Yes. As you say, if it was a misunderstanding, the truth will surely come to light.”
Lark gripped Nathan’s thin shoulder and slowly lowered his head, pressing his lips near the other man’s ear, speaking softly.
“It’s best to accumulate only as much karma as you can bear. One day, you’ll have to repay it all.”
“…….”
“I haven’t lived long, but in my brief years, this is one of the few truths I’ve learned.”
Lark raised his head and gazed down at Nathan with an empty expression before turning to leave.
Nathan tilted his head at the cryptic words and watched Lark’s retreating figure for a long time.
When his silhouette finally shrank to a speck and disappeared from view—
“Heh.”
Nathan let out a choked laugh and brushed at his own shoulder where Lark’s hand had been.
“……What the hell is he talking about?”
His expression shifted utterly, nothing like the vulnerable demeanor from moments before.
His voice dripped with malice into the empty air.
“So his precious little sister gets locked away on an island for life to rot. Should be interesting to see his face at the trial.”
Nathan’s smirk hardened into something bitter as he spat out the words.
“Unlucky bastard.”
* * *
Two days later.
The day a noble council convened to discuss Lisia’s sentence before her trial.
At this eighth gathering, thirty-one of the thirty-two high nobles from the Imperial Council were in attendance.
One absence, which might have seemed peculiar, went unquestioned.
Because it was someone particular.
Namely, Duke Leonard Diolus, the eighth of that name.
“Father, this is the final council meeting to discuss the sentence for the Fifth Princess Lisia.”
Biigo had come to Leonard’s chambers early in the morning and had been trying to persuade him.
“Deposition is already decided. The debate now centers on whether to impose Baden Island Exile.”
Baden Island Exile.
It was a sentence of lifelong confinement to Baden, a remote island in the southwestern reaches of the Decarn Sea, imperial waters.
It was the second-harshest penalty imposed on errant royalty, surpassed only by execution.
Those sent there spent their entire lives on an island cut off from all outside contact.
There was but one way they could ever leave.
Only as a corpse, returning for a funeral rite.
“Please, just today—attend the council and cast even one vote against exile.”
“If I go and oppose it, will that actually stop the exile?”
“Your vote isn’t just a vote, Father. If you attend, the nobles who favored exile will waver.”
“I doubt it.”
Leonard dismissed him with disinterested eyes, merely fluttering the pages of the book he was reading.
Biigo’s lips tightened.
“The Fifth Princess is only thirteen. She didn’t deliberately plot to harm the First Princess.”
“…….”
“Someone moved the Fifth Princess to threaten the First Princess’s life. The intent is obvious.”
“Yes, naturally—to taint the Crown Prince.”
“Yes. Everyone suspects as much.”
“So what of it?”
Leonard’s eyes flashed as he continued.
“Succession struggle in the Decarde Imperial Family is as vicious as warfare. Dozens of royals covet the throne.”
“…….”
“Such calumny is nothing new. The Crown Prince likely accepts it as his fate.”
“Father!”
Biigo’s voice rose as he closed his eyes, gathered his breath, and spoke.
“The nobles backing exile suspect the Fifth Princess’s innocence, yet argue they cannot simply overlook the fact that, whether intentionally or not, she directly endangered the First Princess.”
“That’s not unreasonable. Accident or not, responsibility must be borne. If someone acted foolishly in a place no different from a battlefield except for the lack of swords, they should pay the price.”
“The Fifth Princess is young. She’s the same age as Rubetria and the twins.”
“Youth is no pardon.”
“Father!”
Unable to contain himself, Biigo cried out.
“How can you be so utterly devoid of human decency?”
“What?”
“Think about it—Rubetria, Lilia, Ricky—condemned to spend their entire lives unjustly confined!”
“Biigo Diolus.”
“Yes, sir!”
Leonard closed his book with a sharp snap and, arms folded, fixed his agitated son with a direct stare.
“Worry about your own sister.”
“……What?”
“If you have time to go out of your way for someone else’s pitiful child, use it to look after Rubetria instead.”
Biigo went rigid.
Leonard sighed at the sight of conflict crossing his son’s face.
“I know I’m a father with no face to show you. I know I have no right to blame you for not looking after Rubetria properly.”
“…….”
Biigo’s head dropped.
“……No, sir. My shortcomings are great.”
“…….”
Father and son fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.
The heavy quiet stretched on for some time before Biigo rose to his feet.
“I understand your position, Father. I’ll take my leave.”
That was when—
Knock, knock.
Someone rapped at the door.
“Dad, it’s me.”
“Come in.”
Leonard answered at once at the sound of Rubetria’s voice.
Rubetria opened the door and paused when she spotted Biigo about to leave.
For a few seconds, their eyes met awkwardly in the air between them.
Biigo turned to slip past her, but Rubetria caught his arm.
“Brother, where are you going?”
“Huh?”
Biigo was startled—Rubetria had spoken to him first. He fumbled for words.
“I’m… heading to the Imperial Palace to prepare for the noble council this afternoon. It’s the meeting to discuss the Fifth Princess Lisia’s sentence.”
“Ah, I see. I came to talk to Dad about something, but would you mind hearing it too?”
“……?”
Biigo tilted his head in confusion. Leonard, listening, raised an eyebrow slightly, his expression asking the question.
“Um, Dad.”
“What is it?”
Rubetria cleared her throat and spoke with an awkward laugh.
“I… I did something wrong.”
* * *
The Imperial Grand Council Chamber.
Five minutes before two o’clock sharp, when the session was to begin, nobles streamed in to fill the remaining seats.
Lark, seated at the head, toyed with the Image Stone in his hand so much its surface was wearing smooth.
It was the Image Stone containing Rubetria’s false testimony.
“Please reveal my testimony at the ninth meeting tomorrow.”
Lark neither nodded nor shook his head at her request.
Even now, the day of the ninth meeting, he remained hesitant.
‘It’s startling—and shameful—that I’m still deliberating over this.’
Lark smirked bitterly at himself.
He’d already received more than enough help from Rubetria. Yet he couldn’t bear to heap further burden on her, even as he had no choice but to waver—his own shameless cowardice was unbearable.
‘Lisia…….’
Over Rubetria’s face, the image of his unsuspecting younger sister overlapped in his mind.
If Lisia was guilty of anything, it was only being his beloved full sister. For that single reason alone, she was now being slandered this way.
“…….”
After his long deliberation, Lark pressed the Image Stone deep into his jacket’s inner pocket.
That was when—
Bang!
Rosel, a marquess among the Imperial Council nobles, came barreling through the council chamber doors with a crash.
And then—
Clatter, thud.
He stumbled and rushed toward his seat, moving in an unseemly way that shocked all the nobles into frowning.
“Marquess, what is the meaning of this conduct?”
Raizer, a duke seated beside Rosel, rebuked him.
“Before the Crown Prince himself…….”
“D-Duke Raizer, s-someone just—just arrived outside—”
“Listen here, Marquess!”
Duke Raizer pressed his forefinger to his lips and spoke in a hushed tone.
“Why do you stammer so unbecomingly? Compose yourself and lower your voice.”
“But this is hardly a situation for composure!”
Thump, thump.
Lark struck the table to draw attention, and everyone fell silent.
Two o’clock sharp.
It was the signal for the session to begin.
“Is Duke Diolus absent from today’s meeting?”
Lark glanced at the two empty seats directly to his left and asked.
“No, Your Highness!”
Rosel quickly answered.
“He is coming. I saw him.”
“Is that so?”
“But he wasn’t alone—”
Bang!
Just then—
The closed council chamber doors burst open with considerable force.
At the sight of the figure framed in the doorway, visible from the head seat, Lark’s eyes widened.
“Gasp!”
“Ah…….”
The council chamber stirred simultaneously. The nobles doubted their own eyes.
Hair of scattered crimson.
An expression of fury.
Eyes blazing with what seemed almost a bestial gleam—the figure who stormed into the chamber was, astonishingly—
Duke Leonard Diolus.
His appearance was truly after a very long absence.

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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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