I’m Trying to End This Possession - Chapter 157
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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 157
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“We will now begin the second Divine Trial.”
Bang bang bang! The Chief Justice struck his wooden gavel.
“As I mentioned last time, the Divine Trial will continue until a unanimous decision is reached by His Holiness Pope Baor IV, His Eminence Cardinal Felix, His Eminence Cardinal Theo, and His Eminence Cardinal Liber.”
Alice carefully clenched her trembling fingertips.
Now that she was actually in the courtroom, reality hit her like a wave.
‘What should I do? I’m scared.’
Pope Baor IV. And three Cardinals before her.
The most brilliant power holders at the pinnacle of the continent.
Soon she would have to confess before them that she had committed perjury in the last trial!
Surely rumors would spread across the entire continent.
‘What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?’
She wanted to cry.
She’d rather just faint.
No, should she really just faint?
‘Right, last time Sister Dana fainted and the trial was postponed.’
She was seriously considering fainting right then and there.
“Before we begin, Lady Danae Windsor has requested Holy Magic for maintaining confidentiality.”
Huh?
Alice quickly raised her head to look at the Chief Justice. Holy Magic for maintaining confidentiality…
“This is the Silence Ritual that prevents disclosure of everything that happens in this trial. If His Highness the Crown Prince agrees, His Holiness the Pope will perform the ritual.”
Alice desperately grabbed Lyos’s hand like a drowning person clutching at straws. Please don’t refuse. Please!
“Very well.”
As expected, my love!
Alice was deeply moved. Surely His Highness the Crown Prince loved her. Wasn’t he protecting her from danger like this!
‘I’m sorry for doubting Your Highness’s feelings…’
The Holy Magic followed a similar process as last time.
A servant brought a silver plate and silver needle, collecting a drop of blood from everyone.
The Pope muttered strange words over the silver plate again, and once more white light burst forth.
“Now, the Holy Magic takes effect from this moment. What happens from now on will be bound by silence and cannot be disclosed.”
Ah, I’m saved. Alice finally let out a sigh of relief.
At least she had avoided rumors spreading.
“In the last trial, Your Highness the Crown Prince claimed that you had not broken the chastity clause, but…”
“That’s right.”
Lyos nodded.
“It seems my fiancée, Alice, was mistaken. I hope my fiancée will retract her testimony.”
“Mistaken… you say?”
“That’s right.”
The Chief Justice looked at Alice with eyes that asked how one could mistake such a thing.
Finally, it was her turn to speak.
Alice suppressed her desire to run away and slowly stood up from her seat.
Just think of the child. Only the child.
“Your Highness is correct. In the last trial, I was mistaken. So I will retract my previous testimony.”
Then Cardinal Liber, who had been listening, frowned.
“Lady Alice Windsor. What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that Your Highness and I have not yet consummated our relationship…”
Then Cardinal Theo let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
“I don’t understand. Didn’t His Holiness the Pope personally determine through Holy Magic that you were carrying royal blood…”
Cardinal Theo trailed off. His face hardened. He seemed to have thought of a new possibility.
“…Then whose child is it?”
“I have no obligation to tell you that much. This is an imperial matter, so please don’t be curious.”
Lyos said coldly.
“You need only know that it is not my child.”
“But… forgive me, but couldn’t one think that Lady Alice Windsor is retracting her testimony due to Your Highness’s coercion?”
“If you don’t believe it, then let me undergo Soul Judgment.”
“…”
Silence fell.
Lyos was truly prepared to undergo Soul Judgment.
He had already written a document in the previous trial stating that even if his soul were destroyed, he would not hold anyone responsible.
“No. There’s no need to go that far.”
Perhaps not wanting to bear the enormous burden of judging the Crown Prince’s soul, the Pope chose to believe Alice’s declaration of perjury.
“I will believe Your Highness’s words.”
Then the Chief Justice quickly struck his gavel. Bang bang bang!
“Then, I announce that the testimony of Lady Alice Windsor, who participated as a witness for Lady Danae Windsor in the first trial, has been retracted.”
As soon as those words ended, Alice burst into tears. She couldn’t bear the shame.
What Lyos meant was ultimately one thing.
Alice had committed adultery.
And she was carrying another royal’s child.
By now everyone would be letting their imaginations run wild.
Which royal’s child she was carrying. And they would think of her as an adulteress!
‘This is too much…’
This was unfair. Alice lifted her tear-soaked face.
Dana was sitting calmly.
While she was struggling in this hell. Her sister still maintained her noble composure.
Why must I alone suffer this humiliation?
‘That’s right. I was Sister’s witness. I stood at the witness stand for Sister’s sake.’
Thinking about it, that was really true.
If she hadn’t become Sister’s witness, there would have been no need to commit perjury. She had stood at the witness stand solely for Dana’s sake, and yet.
But why must I alone suffer such humiliation?
“Sister made me do it…”
Her lips moved without her realizing it.
Then Dana turned her head to look at Alice. She gave her attention for the first time.
“Sister said she needed a witness. So she made me commit perjury!”
Then Cardinal Theo frowned.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. I didn’t want to do it. I…”
Then Alice was startled. Lyos had gripped her hand tightly. Alice looked down at him in surprise.
His black eyes were cold. There wasn’t a trace of warmth in them.
“Stop.”
With those eyes, he gave a gentle command.
“Stop, Alice.”
In that moment, Alice lost all her strength and collapsed as if crumbling.
“My fiancée is excited and misspoke. Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
Alice felt a piercing pain in her heart at Lyos’s words.
His Highness was taking her sister’s side.
For her sister, not herself, to protect her sister’s honor!
As expected, His Highness loves her sister, Sister Dana, not me…
‘Stop.’
Alice bit her lips hard.
No, let’s not think about it.
The child, I decided to think only about the child…
“The witness, please wait in the inner chamber now that you have finished your testimony.”
The Chief Justice looked at Alice with undisguised contempt as he gave the instruction.
It was the look one gives to a filthy adulteress.
Deeply hurt, Alice sniffled as she trudged toward the inner chamber. No one comforted her.
Click. As the door to the inner chamber closed, only then did the Chief Justice sigh and speak.
“Lady Danae Windsor, His Highness the Crown Prince still maintains his claim of purity. Do you have any new witnesses?”
“No.”
Dana spoke plainly.
“There are no more witnesses.”
“Then how about we stop here, Danae Windsor.”
Lyos muttered as if tired.
“If you still doubt my purity, I’ll undergo Soul Judgment. Let’s end it with that.”
“No. I no longer doubt Your Highness’s purity. But I still think this engagement should be broken.”
What stubbornness was she planning now? Lyos looked utterly fed up.
“Why?”
“Because I am not pure.”
“…”
As if not understanding immediately, Lyos frowned. He seemed to think he had misheard.
So Dana looked straight into his eyes and spoke clearly.
“I am not pure in body.”
Cough, cough!
Cardinal Theo burst into a dry cough as if startled. He hurriedly covered his mouth and swallowed his cough.
The silence that followed was like thin ice.
No one, absolutely no one could speak. Lyos stared at her with a frown, then chuckled.
“You’re not pure?”
“Yes.”
“You’re talking nonsense. No matter how much you want to break the engagement, you shouldn’t say things you can’t take responsibility for in a Divine Trial. Not pure, such bullshit…”
Lyos muttered slowly and threateningly. Then he soon sneered as if it were ridiculous.
“Do you even have someone you could lose your purity to?”
He leaned back against the backrest and crossed his legs. He tilted his head as he asked.
“Is there still a bastard bold enough for that?”
There isn’t.
Especially not among the nobles.
All those who looked at her, spoke to her, approached her – Lyos had brutally retaliated against them all.
He had even cut off the finger of Count Cedric, his subordinate and friend.
For the sole reason that Dana had held his finger.
But that was the case for nobles who knew well the Crown Prince’s fearsome nature.
‘Men aren’t all nobles, after all.’
Thinking of Ignis, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes. There is.”
Lyos’s eyes darkened as he quietly watched her smile. His dry lips twitched.
“Who.”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Who is it.”
Lyos spoke in a chillingly low voice.
“Tell me, that bastard’s name.”
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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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