If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 148

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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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Chapter 148
He had completely lost his composure, and his desperation was painfully obvious.
“It is merely a vicious slander fabricated by those who seek to undermine me.”
Prince glared at Father and Leonhardt in turn.
As if they were the ones plotting against him.
Leonhardt, meeting that gaze, responded with an unhurried smile and opened his mouth.
“Then you are claiming that none of this is true—starting with the fact that you attempted to frame the Young Servant for theft and have him executed?”
“Of course it is!”
Miela and Leonhardt exchanged glances and laughed.
Prince’s mind seemed to have ceased functioning entirely, so thoroughly had panic seized him.
To see Prince—who ordinarily wielded his intellect so deftly when committing misdeeds—now ensnaring himself with his own words was almost remarkable.
It would have been far more in keeping with his usual patterns to admit the truth and minimize the incident to reduce his punishment.
But then again… given the circumstances, there was no way he could escape unscathed.
“Am I to understand that you are saying the Young Servant attempted to frame you, Your Highness?”
At Leonhardt’s leading question, Prince hastily began to affirm it before suddenly freezing, his mouth snapping shut.
Prince, gnawing at his lips, finally reached toward the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, they are now slandering me—your rightful successor whom you have appointed. This is not merely an insult to me. It is an insult to the entire Imperial Court, and indeed, to Your Majesty himself!”
The Emperor had come too far to bury the matter, yet inwardly he desperately wished to minimize it.
The Emperor gazed silently at Prince, who continued only to bow repeatedly.
One misstep now, prompted by Prince’s words, and the Imperial Court itself would be dragged into disgrace.
The Emperor’s face grew clouded with perplexity and disappointment.
There was a reason Leonhardt had taken on the role of pressing Prince in this situation.
‘Prince’s wrongdoing must be framed as an individual matter.’
As expected, Leonhardt seized the opening and pressed Prince further.
“I fail to see how your personal transgression becomes the fault of the entire Imperial Court, Your Highness…”
Leonhardt paused deliberately to heighten the tension, then spoke with renewed force in his voice.
“If what you say is true, then excavating the Prince’s Palace Garden would yield not even a bone fragment. Unpleasant though it may be, would you cooperate with a search of the Crown Prince’s Palace to clear your name?”
Checkmate.
Prince seemed only now to realize that his repeated bowing had caused him to bungle everything catastrophically.
I could see plainly the effort behind his attempt to think calmly and escape this situation.
And unfortunately for him, when faced with true crisis, Prince regained his reason.
“The false accusation I spoke of pertains to the killing of an innocent person.”
If matters proceeded as they were, he could not avoid a search of the Crown Prince’s Palace.
There was no way to completely and discreetly remove the bodies that undeniably lay beneath the garden.
Disturbing the earth would inevitably leave traces.
And even if he somehow managed to resist and prevent the search, there were far too many witnesses to this scene. Word would spread from mouth to mouth across the Empire.
‘Then suspicion would arise that he was desperately concealing something even more grave, and public opinion would worsen further.’
For this reason, Prince seemed to have decided to acknowledge only what he absolutely could not deny.
Even I could see this was his best option.
Yet regardless of his reasoning, what Prince had just said was not something that could simply be overlooked.
The Crown Prince’s admission that he had, in any case, killed people and buried them in the ground sent shockwaves rippling through the crowd.
Whispers erupted from every corner as people huddled with their neighbors, their voices creating a low, anxious murmur.
In the eyes of those who had been watching Prince with skepticism, disgust began to crystallize.
Catching sight of the contemptuous glares converging from all directions, Prince’s expression twisted before he forced it back into composure.
For just a moment, his face had contorted like that of a malevolent spirit.
Having barely regained his composure, Prince continued speaking with feigned composure.
“Those I punished were not mere petty thieves. They were spies who had infiltrated to steal secrets from the Crown Prince’s Palace.”
Prince’s eyes darted about nervously, as if gauging the reaction to my statement.
Of course, that single statement did nothing to change how people viewed Prince.
Growing increasingly anxious, Prince opened his mouth again with an imploring tone.
“Over several years, I discovered evidence that not only internal information from the Crown Prince’s Palace, but also state secrets entrusted to me as Crown Prince, had been stolen. I traced the thread and interrogated them, finding all those who had infiltrated. However, no matter what methods I employed, they refused to reveal who had sent them.”
With color still not fully returning to his face, Prince lifted his head stiffly and alternated his gaze between Leonhardt and Father.
It seemed he wanted to assert that we were the ones who had sent the spies.
Though no one appeared to believe him, as if he had never expected them to in the first place, Prince brazenly continued speaking.
“Those who died during the interrogation process.”
There was a reason this absurd excuse was Prince’s best defense.
Those who stole state secrets, regardless of rank, faced execution.
It amounted to saying he had merely executed people who deserved to die anyway, which weakened the grounds for punishing Prince in this case.
A small number of people could be seen hesitating, thinking, ‘Could it actually be true, given how earnestly he’s speaking?’
Seeing this, Prince recovered some of his confidence, and his demeanor returned almost to normal.
That is to say, he had completely regained his affected, pretentious manner of feigning kindness and gentleness.
“As for burying the spies’ corpses in my palace… it is merely an excuse now, but I had my reasons.”
Prince spoke with his voice trembling as if in sorrow, offering his justification.
“First, I did not wish to reveal to the outside world that I could not properly manage even my own palace staff. Second, since I did not know who had sent the spies, I wanted to protect myself by creating confusion through such methods.”
While it was impossible to dispose of the corpses beneath the garden without them being discovered, it was relatively easy to frame an innocent person and fabricate evidence.
That was precisely what Prince was aiming for.
In this situation, whether most people believed his words or not mattered little.
All that was needed was to plant seeds of doubt.
Such was the position of the Empire’s Crown Prince.
I thought to myself, ‘How unfortunate.’
Though my taste had turned bitter, pushing Prince further would yield more losses than gains.
Besides, having overestimated Prince’s intelligence and simulated the plan accordingly, this level of outcome was a reasonably acceptable conclusion.
Just as Father was about to step forward to ensure the Young Servant’s safety, the Emperor spoke first.
“I have remained silent until now in order to hear both sides of this matter.”
Though the Emperor was weak-willed, he had lived as Emperor for half his lifetime.
As the Emperor opened with a dignified voice, the crowd’s attention converged upon him.
“It seems I have heard enough from both sides now. Do you swear, Crown Prince, that there is no falsehood in what you have just said?”
Sensing that the Emperor would take his side, Prince’s expression brightened noticeably.
Quickly composing a sorrowful expression, Prince gave his affirmation.
“I swear it.”
The Emperor spoke with an expression even more grave than Prince’s.
“Once we return to the palace, I shall conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether they were truly spies, as the Crown Prince claims.”
I had harbored no great expectations of the Emperor from the start, yet his attitude was disappointing nonetheless.
It amounted to granting Prince time to manipulate and conceal the incident.
But as fortune would have it, the Emperor’s shrunken, feeble conscience functioned properly even now.
“However, I cannot condone the Crown Prince’s confession—that he freely harmed people and concealed their corpses.”
The Emperor concealed his troubled heart behind an expressionless mask, his voice cold and resolute.
“From this moment forward, I revoke the Crown Prince’s status. Until I receive the investigation results and issue further orders, the First Prince shall remain confined to the palace under house arrest.”

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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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