I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 42

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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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Episode 42
Diego submitted Rene as a witness and refuted the Flora Household’s Factual Verification Document.
Some things in this world are simply beyond our control.
This was one of them. Ernan and I had hoped Rene would remain ignorant of this dispute, but there was no avoiding it. We needed her testimony to keep her from being returned to Flora.
Yet Rene remained, fundamentally, a victim in this matter.
For her psychological stability, she was to come in only when giving her statement and then leave immediately afterward.
It was Ernan, arriving late, who had brought her. He sat in the gallery during her testimony and was meant to leave with her once she finished.
‘We’ll see each other again anyway once this is over.’
That’s what Ernan had said—he would begin the adoption proceedings the moment he won.
Adoption.
That word…
‘Like the fruit of knowledge itself.’
After Rene’s brief identification, Diego began his examination.
“Miss Rene, would you be able to tell us about what you experienced at the residence of the lord in Flora Territory? I know these are painful memories to recall, but if you could share them, it would help greatly.”
This was the first time I was hearing her account in such detail, and I listened intently.
“I… I was starved, and every day…”
I barely stopped myself from lunging at Flora and his wife mid-sentence.
‘…Hold on.’
Next, the Flora Household’s witnesses came forward in succession.
They claimed Rene was treated as a noblewoman, that she was never confined, that her testimony was false—and the glib assurances they offered were more than half dismantled by Diego’s cross-examination.
Around that point, I took the stand myself.
“Yes. When I found her, Rene bore numerous wounds and bruises. There were many old scars that couldn’t have come merely from traveling between Flora Territory and Jonas Territory. She also told me she had been abused by the Flora family…”
And it was just as I was continuing my testimony.
“…!”
The door to the courtroom opened before me, and someone entered.
‘…That can’t be right.’
My eyes widened.
I was so startled I stopped speaking mid-sentence.
‘What is that person doing here…?’
But I quickly composed myself and looked rapidly toward Diego.
When our eyes met, I jerked my gaze to signal him to look behind.
‘Hurry!’
Fortunately, Diego understood my body language and turned to look.
Once he confirmed who was there, Diego said simply, “No further questions,” ending my examination, and the moment cross-examination concluded, he spoke to the judge.
“Your Honor, I wish to call Ariel Flora, the biological daughter of the plaintiff Paulo Flora, as a supplementary witness.”
* * *
“The Earl of Flora neglected Rene. We could call it confinement. Yes, that is what it was—she was kept in a small attic and forbidden to leave freely, let alone go outside.”
Rene’s sister and the Earl of Flora’s own daughter.
Ariel Flora’s testimony was biting.
“If the Earl happened to encounter Rene in the residence, he would strike her. He would summon her when angry to vent his frustrations. Even the servants treated her poorly.”
As Ariel’s testimony continued, the Earl and his wife’s jaws hung open.
They had already lost their will to fight once they heard the Damages ruling was unlikely to be granted, but now they were positively seething, their anger directed at Ariel.
That these two, who had been drooping in defeat, were now burning with fury was doubtless because their own daughter was giving testimony against them.
‘A kind of betrayal, in a sense.’
“You mentioned statements were submitted by the servants? They lack credibility and shouldn’t be considered.”
“You… you…!”
“Look at how you point at me with trembling anger—the Earl and Countess of Flora strike even me, their family’s heir. If my testimony seems untrustworthy, you may cross-verify with my aide as well.”
“Ariel!”
The Earl and his wife rose from their seats, shouting, yet Ariel’s expression remained calm.
Or rather, it was closer to cold.
‘There’s something going on with her too, I think.’
But that wasn’t the point.
Truth be told, even until Ariel took the stand, I hadn’t been certain.
‘Would Ariel Flora really side with Rene?’
After all, the Earl and his wife were her parents.
Most children typically sided with their parents.
‘That’s why I was half gambling on drawing her in.’
With this, we had secured testimony that Rene had been abused by the Flora family.
“Your Honor, the plaintiff Paulo Flora has subjected his daughter Rene to such severe physical abuse that she fled of her own accord. This serves as grounds for failure to manage and protect a child, which casts doubt upon his fitness as a guardian.”
And with Ariel’s testimony finished, Diego drove the final nail home.
“Furthermore, the plaintiff Paulo Flora is currently in a state of economic ruin.”
‘Ah. At last.’
The evidence that Ernan and I had uncovered had finally surfaced.

Ernan and I had obtained information that the Flora Household had squandered its entire fortune at a gambling den mere days before the inauguration ceremony.
And that wasn’t all—we’d also uncovered the fact that he’d accumulated staggering debts in the process.
“On the 25th of February, Solar Year 1643, the plaintiff Paulo Flora visited an Illegal Gambling House and sustained massive financial losses. The sum equates to three years of operational expenses for a city hall of average development level.”
‘He lost quite a fortune.’
“We submit as evidence the Promissory Note held by the Illegal Gambling House, bearing the name of the plaintiff Paulo Flora.”
‘If we hadn’t obtained that, things would have turned out badly.’
Yet apart from the relief of success, an uneasy question remained unresolved in my mind.
The Flora Household’s gambling.
‘This never happened in the original work.’
There was no mention in the original story of the Flora Household drowning in gambling debt. In fact, that wasn’t what brought the Flora Household to ruin in the first place.
‘Tax evasion charges.’
The original narrative had our heroine Rene exposing that beautifully and achieving her revenge through it.
Naturally, the Flora Household lost his title and met his end behind bars. The Flora Household’s wife had her assets confiscated and slowly withered away in a lone remaining country estate.
‘If he’d committed tax evasion to pay off gambling debts in the original work, it would make sense, but…’
I furrowed my brow.
‘Siren is definitely suspicious.’
Well, it was only speculation at this point.
In any case, the trial was hurtling toward its climax.
Since the Flora Household’s bankruptcy had been exposed, the outcome was essentially already decided.
“The daughter Rene departed from the plaintiff Paulo Flora’s household during the period she was under his protection and relocated to a provincial territory, where she was subsequently discovered by a third party. This suggests not a mere youthful indiscretion or chance occurrence, but rather that the plaintiff’s protection and supervision of the daughter Rene failed to function in any substantive capacity.”
‘A crystalline summary.’
“Furthermore, the plaintiff Paulo Flora currently stands in a state of severe financial ruin. There is a high likelihood that he cannot provide the daughter Rene with a stable living environment, and the risk of such circumstances repeating in the future is substantial.”
What followed was an account of how Rene, now under the protection of Ernan Cleor, maintained a state of both physical and emotional stability.
Diego delivered the closing statement.
“Accordingly, the defendant requests both the revocation of the plaintiff Paulo Flora’s Parental Authority and Custody Rights, and the concurrent designation of the defendant Ernan Cleor as the Legal Guardian and designated Caretaker for the subject minor, the daughter Rene.”
* * *
The verdict was finally rendered.
* * *
The Central Civil Court hereby issues the following judgment concerning the case of child abduction and custody return filed by the plaintiff Paulo Flora:

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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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