I’ll Be the Heroine’s Competent Divorce Partner - Chapter 104
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104
At that outcry, Catherine, who had been avoiding David all along, glanced back at her former lover.
In the brown eyes that looked at him, there was no longer any trace of the affection from before.
Instead, the emotion that filled that empty space was…
Clear contempt.
‘How dare that lowly wench look at me like that?!’
David ground his molars with a grinding sound.
At the same time, Catherine calmly opened her mouth.
“Actually, I didn’t want to see Your Grace in this manner. Or more precisely… I thought there would be no occasion for us to meet like this.”
“Lady Scofield.”
David called Catherine’s name in a suppressed voice.
His face was rigidly hardened.
His eyes flashed fiercely.
Even his lips twitched as if he might spew curses at any moment.
So the man I once loved more than life itself was nothing more than such a petty wretch.
Catherine continued speaking with what sounded like a sigh of derision.
“Just as I staked my life on my love for Your Grace, I believed that Your Grace thought of me just as much.”
“Stop this pointless nonsense…”
“Your Grace may have reduced our time together to something cheap, but I refuse to do the same.”
That quiet voice held countless emotions layered within it.
Hatred and sorrow, despair and grief, betrayal.
Even the affection that had burned completely away, remaining like ashes.
“That’s why I stand here. To prove that our love was not false, that it was, at least to me, a very precious time.”
Having finished speaking, Catherine turned her head toward the judge.
“I believe this should be sufficient testimony. That is all.”
Catherine gracefully bowed and stepped down from the witness stand.
People couldn’t take their eyes off her retreating figure as she walked away with gentle steps.
And then.
“We will now recess briefly. Time is needed to verify the witness’s testimony.”
The judge declared.
‘Verification?’
Just as David’s eyebrows twitched and hardened.
A court official approached David.
“Excuse me, Duke Laventess. It seems you’ll need to move to another location with us for a moment.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Lady Scofield just testified about Your Grace’s physical characteristics, did she not?”
The official continued in a polite but firm tone.
“This is a necessary procedure to confirm whether the lady’s testimony is true. We ask for your cooperation.”
David’s face turned bright red.
“What? Are you telling me to strip naked here!”
“No. We will escort Your Grace to the examination room from now on. Also, an investigator of the same gender will be present there.”
The official continued explaining gently.
“If Your Grace cooperates well, the examination will be finished quickly…”
“Why should I!”
David, unable to bear it any longer, burst out shouting.
The official looked troubled and glanced sideways at the judge.
Then the judge spoke in a businesslike manner.
“Of course, not cooperating is Your Grace’s freedom. However, in this case, Your Grace’s actions would interfere with a smooth verdict, so we inform you that obstruction of justice charges may be established.”
Damn it!
David ground his teeth.
* * *
At that moment.
The bookstore was packed full of people, bustling with activity.
“Fione! Don’t you have the Fione magazine?”
Fione.
One of the mediocre gossip magazines proliferating in the Empire.
In fact, there were far more people who didn’t know of that magazine’s existence.
But right now, everyone packed into the bookstore was craving that magazine.
They had no choice.
Fione magazine had exclusively published Catherine’s interview.
“Give me three copies!”
“Excuse me, I was here first!”
Amidst all the people making a commotion.
The bookstore clerk hurriedly bowed with an apologetic face.
“I’m sorry, all the Fione magazines are sold out!”
“Already sold out?”
“Can’t I at least make a reservation?”
Meanwhile, the people lucky enough to get their hands on the magazine were all looking through it with excited faces.
Among them were reporters camped out in front of the divorce court.
“Wow, the magazine sales must be enormous, right?”
“It’s a huge hit.”
“Even Lady Scofield took the stand. I heard she’s a witness for the Duchess’s side?”
“Huh, things could turn out that way.”
As people were all excitedly whispering.
A carriage secretly stopped behind the divorce court.
The carriage door opened and.
A young man reveals himself.
It was Joshua.
‘Really, I was trying to endure until the trial was over.’
But what could he do.
He kept worrying about Elodie.
Joshua smiled bitterly and strode into the divorce courtroom with large steps.
* * *
After some time passed.
The first person to enter the courtroom was David.
David had a face as red as a ripe tomato, and walked toward the defendant’s seat with irritated steps.
Then he slumped down into his seat.
A clerk who entered afterward submitted documents to the judge.
While the judge carefully reviewed the documents.
People were watching the judge with eyes full of curiosity.
After quite some time.
Finally, the judge opened his mouth.
“Laventess’s lawyer and three investigators observed and investigated Duke Laventess.”
At those words, the surroundings became so quiet you could hear a needle drop.
The judge declared calmly.
“I declare that the testimony of witness Catherine Scofield is true.”
Instantly, all around became as chaotic as a disturbed beehive.
“My goodness, then that star-shaped mole really exists on the Duke? You know, that mole on his left chest!”
“It seems that way, doesn’t it?”
“Then that means at the very least, Lady Scofield has seen Duke Laventess’s naked body!”
Among the murmuring people.
David clenched his molars so hard his jaw might shatter.
Had he ever been this humiliated in his life?
That damn star-shaped mole…
‘Ha, who remembers such trivial things in detail?’
Of all things, Catherine had to remember that physical characteristic and present it as evidence.
That terrible feeling when unbuttoning his shirt in front of the investigators!
At the same time, the judge opened his mouth.
“I will now deliver the verdict. The evidence submitted by the Duchess of Laventess has clear grounds.”
The moment they heard those first words.
Not only David’s face, but even the lawyer’s face hardened.
“The Duke failed to uphold the principle of good faith between spouses and neglected his wife who should be respected in the family. Furthermore, he deprived her of opportunities to perform duties she should rightfully carry out as the Duchess, and had no intention of giving her such opportunities.”
The judge continued speaking calmly.
“Meanwhile, the evidence submitted by Duke Laventess’s side has weak grounds. The claim that Lady Scofield harbored one-sided affection is merely the Duke’s assertion, and the party in question, Lady Scofield, denies that claim.”
In the quiet courtroom.
Only the judge’s voice rang out clearly.
“Contrary to the Duke’s claims, the Baroness’s testimony is consistent. Evidence supporting her testimony has also been submitted.”
In that moment, David’s heart sank.
The judge had ultimately determined that Catherine’s testimony was credible.
That wasn’t all.
“Furthermore, the testimony of the witness presented by the Duke, Marisa von Laventess, is the same.”
…Could it be that they wouldn’t accept even Marisa’s testimony?
David’s eyes sharpened dangerously.
“Although witness Marisa testified to the effect that the plaintiff was sensitive, this court has determined that such statements also serve as evidence that the Duchess was not respected within the family.”
Surely not, right?
The color drained completely from David’s face.
I surely won’t be defeated in this trial.
That can’t happen.
Such nonsense…!
“Therefore, as of this moment…”
The judge paused for a moment.
After taking a large sweeping look around the surroundings.
Finally, he delivered the verdict in a calm voice.
“I hereby declare that the divorce between Isabel von Laventess and David von Laventess has been granted.”
In that instant, everything went dark before David’s eyes.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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helloworld15
Hahaha! Rot in misery, David!