She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 102

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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 102. Crime and Punishment (2)

Like a dramatic scene from a play.

Michel walked down the central aisle of the courtroom with a resolute expression.

The judge’s brow furrowed.

“This is a courtroom where a trial is in progress. Identify yourself.”

“I am Michel Raviere.”

Raviere? Wasn’t it Eimos?

People tilted their heads with puzzled expressions.

Meanwhile, Michel caught his breath for a moment and nodded at Cecilia.

His gaze turned back to the judge.

“I am the son of Jean Raviere, the coachman who drove Count and Countess Panning’s carriage.”

Michel’s confession cut through the interior.

Everyone in the courtroom held their breath.

Soon murmurs erupted.

“That person is the coachman’s son?”

“How did no one know that?”

“Then what the Duchess said is true?”

The gallery was in an uproar from the successive shocks.

“You…! Wh-what…!”

Count Osburn’s face turned pale as he opened and closed his mouth.

In the gallery, Rosena jumped up trembling violently.

Next to her, Trisha was breathing heavily with a dazed expression.

Cecilia leisurely adjusted her posture as if enjoying the spectacle.

Meanwhile, the judge struck his gavel.

“Quiet! Maintain order during the trial!”

But the air that had already heated up once did not easily settle down.

Osburn’s lawyer quickly stood up.

“I object, Your Honor! That person is currently an outsider—”

“No!”

The Duke’s family lawyer immediately countered.

“Your Honor, he is our witness.”

“The application was already filed. I will accept it.”

Since there was no procedural problem with Michel appearing as a witness.

The judge accepted it.

“The witness may testify.”

“Yes.”

Michel stepped up to the witness stand with a resolute face.

“As I mentioned, Jean Raviere, who was convicted as the true culprit in the Count and Countess Panning case, is my father.”

Like the excellent actor he was, his words rang clearly throughout the courtroom.

People held their breath waiting for his next words.

Michel slowly closed his eyes and opened them.

“But my father never killed anyone. Everything was Count Osburn’s doing.”

“That’s a lie!”

Count Osburn jumped up from his seat.

Ignoring his lawyer’s attempts to restrain him.

He pointed at Michel with a flushed face.

“How dare some uneducated actor insult a noble? You’ll be struck by divine punishment—”

[Count Osburn has come to visit.]

The Count’s sputtering protest was cut off by Michel’s calm voice.

Michel recited his father’s diary that he had memorized.

As if delivering lines on stage.

In a loud and clear voice so everyone could hear.

[The carriage accident was Count’s handiwork, he said so directly. He also forged the handwriting on the will!]

His voice rang out dramatically.

Before the bewildered audience, Michel delivered the final blow.

His gestures moved grandly.

[I buried the promissory note with the Count’s signature and the horseshoe beneath the prison, so go check!]

“Oh, my goodness!”

As Michel pointed at Osburn.

Screams and gasps poured out from the gallery together.

The theatrical method more powerfully than anything else imprinted Count Osburn’s crimes in people’s minds.

“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!”

“Defendant! Be quiet!”

Count Osburn, unable to contain his anger, pounded the desk repeatedly.

But even that was blocked by the sound of the gavel.

“Your Honor, this is the content of the diary my father left behind.”

Michel, having regained his composure, spoke.

“As I mentioned, the promissory note with the defendant’s signature and the horseshoe should be beneath the prison.”

“Go and check.”

“Yes!”

At the judge’s instruction, a soldier rushed out.

For a while, no one in the courtroom could speak.

Only Count Osburn’s heavy breathing could be heard.

“Your Honor!”

The courtroom door opened again.

The soldier who had left earlier came in panting.

In his hands was a small sack covered with dirt.

“We found the evidence at the location mentioned! The promissory note with the defendant’s signature and the horseshoe!”

Instantly, the air froze.

People looked at each other with wide eyes.

“No! That’s impossible!”

Count Osburn let out a scream.

“When did I bury such trash! Don’t be ridiculous! I watched that bastard so thoroughly to prevent him from doing anything foolish—”

Before he could finish his sentence.

He realized his mistake and covered his mouth with his hand.

But it was already too late.

“You watched him? Why?”

“The security would have been tight for a noble murderer, how could he have done that?”

“Isn’t this a confession of his own crime?”

People’s suspicious murmurs filled the courtroom.

The judge’s eyes grew cold.

“Defendant, is your statement about ‘watching him’ true?”

“Th-that is…”

Count Osburn broke out in a cold sweat.

The lawyer beside him just shook his head while holding his forehead.

He could no longer see any chance of winning.

“I will now render the verdict.”

As if there was nothing more to hear.

The judge raised his gavel.

“The plaintiff’s witness testimony and physical evidence, along with statements equivalent to the defendant’s confession that support these, have been confirmed.”

Cecilia clenched both hands tightly as she listened to the judge’s words.

She didn’t want to miss even a single second of this moment.

“This court.”

The judge continued calmly.

“Acknowledges that the defendant Count Osburn planned and ordered the carriage accident of Count and Countess Panning, and induced false confessions to shift responsibility to a third party.”

Someone in the gallery drew in a sharp breath.

The sound was particularly loud in the quiet courtroom.

“Furthermore, it has been clearly revealed that the defendant threatened witnesses and attempted to conceal evidence during the trial proceedings. This constitutes an act that disturbs law and justice, as mentioned by the defendant’s side—”

The judge’s gaze briefly swept over the defendant.

“Accordingly, this court sentences the defendant Count Osburn to death.”

In an instant, the courtroom erupted in commotion.

Death sentence!

It had been decades since a death sentence was handed down in an aristocratic trial.

Count Osburn could not accept this disgrace.

“What is this! Death sentence? Are you insane! You’re all insane!”

He tried to climb over the desk.

He intended to rush toward the judge’s bench and tear up the verdict.

However.

“You murderous bastard! Stop causing a disturbance!”

The guards quickly rushed in and seized him.

After roughly forcing him face-down on the desk.

They twisted his arms behind his back and cuffed him.

“Let go! Let me go! You lowly scum!”

Count Osburn screamed while struggling desperately.

He thrashed about on the floor, lying flat to avoid being dragged away.

His prison shirt had rolled up over his stomach.

It was a sight completely devoid of dignity.

“Hah…”

And Rosena and Trisha sat there in a daze.

Just moments ago, they had been confident of victory.

They couldn’t believe the reality unfolding before their eyes.

Then, another group of guards approached.

“What, what are you doing?”

“Trisha Osburn, you have been charged with condoning and partially participating in your husband Klaus Osburn’s acts of murder. Please come with us quietly.”

“What, what did you say?”

Immediately after the trial ended, Trisha was also to be arrested.

Cecilia had already arranged this beforehand.

Rosena and Trisha’s gazes simultaneously turned toward Cecilia.

She was standing with Rainer, having a conversation.

“Cecilia!”

Trisha shouted with a voice filled with resentment.

But Rainer only wrapped his arm firmly around her shoulder to protect her.

Cecilia never looked back.

“Cecilia! Don’t think you’ll get away with this!”

Trisha screamed in fury.

But the guards showed no mercy and roughly seized her, dragging her away.

“M-Mother!”

“Rosie! Save Mother! Mother is innocent!”

Trisha reached out one last time.

But without even a fingertip touching, she was dragged out of the courtroom.

Rosena’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

Just this morning, she had confidently told Evan that she would win the trial and return.

But the result was—

Father had become a murderer.

Mother had also been dragged away for participating in the crime.

‘Wh-what do I do…’

Rosena’s fingertips began to tremble violently.

‘What am I supposed to tell Evan?’

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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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