The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 27

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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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Camilla sat in the defendant’s seat with a thoroughly hardened expression.

Sharon Abner and Wendel were seated at the plaintiff’s table across from her.

I and the other people took seats behind the plaintiff’s table.

Before long, the courtroom doors opened.

I quietly watched as people in judicial robes and gowns came rushing in.

Among them were several who were quite short, looking like children.

“Look there, do you see the three people in the finest clothes? Those are the judges.”

I smiled awkwardly at Jo, Sharon Abner’s subordinate, who was excitedly whispering to me.

“The rest will sit in the observer seats. They’re Imperial people, but they don’t have judgment authority. They’re just here to watch, you see.”

I hadn’t realized when I first saw him at the mine, but Jo was really…

“Look there. Do you see the statue behind the judge’s seat? It’s a statue of the founding emperor holding a holy grail! Since even a young lady like you would know that the grail represents the Taranta Empire, let me tell you why the emperor is holding the grail…”

…incredibly talkative.

I felt like my ears might bleed, but I nodded appropriately.

Moreover, it was obvious at a glance that Jo absolutely adored children.

Ever since the first day I met him at the mine, he’d been following me around saying I was cute,

and whenever he saw anything, he’d come running over excitedly to teach me about it.

He even made a fuss saying it had been a long time since the Abner family had a child around, and that the manor’s atmosphere seemed different.

Miel and Soya told me to speak up if he became too bothersome, but I was accepting all of Jo’s chatter.

‘The more allies I have, the better!’

Just in case something big happens someday!

‘I should watch him for a few more days and then add Jo to my notebook too.’

That’s what I was thinking when it happened.

“Now, please maintain silence.”

The senior judge seated in the center of the judicial bench spoke.

The courtroom fell quiet.

“Regarding the manipulation of pollution results at the Lides Magical Stone Mine…”

The trial began in earnest.

What followed was a tedious period.

The senior judge read through every single page of the complaint filed by the Abner side and received the evidence.

Wendel submitted a recording magical device containing Camilla’s voice clearly as evidence.

Since it contained evidence of Camilla attempting to bribe the mine’s new administrator, there could be no more definitive proof.

Along with other witnesses to support this and even Roman Viscount’s gold coins.

‘But why do I feel uneasy?’

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes.

The expressions of the judges conducting the trial felt strange.

Especially the Chief Justice who was leading the verdict.

“Countess Camilla. Do you acknowledge all the accusations made by the Abner side?”

“…No. I deny them.”

“Which parts do you deny?”

“Our House of Coel had a clear ‘partnership’ relationship with the Abner family. All of that wasn’t bribery, but encouragement money given hoping that mine excavation would proceed smoothly. Increased mine output would also benefit our House of Coel.”

“Please continue.”

“Also, I never manipulated pollution results. In fact, looking at other cases, there are instances where contaminated land suddenly becomes purified for no apparent reason, as stated here.”

“So you’re saying that while it was definitely contaminated before, the contamination suddenly disappeared, leaving the House of Coel side confused as well.”

“Exactly that.”

The conversation between the Chief Justice and Camilla was truly strange.

‘It’s like he’s setting the stage for her to make excuses.’

Perhaps sensing the same thing, Sharon Abner’s expression wasn’t good.

I stared directly at the Chief Justice with a hardened face.

‘…That bastard took money. A huge amount too.’

If not, none of this would make sense.

The magical device contained all the evidence of Camilla trying to bribe the mine administrator, yet he was leading the trial in this atmosphere?

‘Or did Camilla use her friendship with the Imperial Consort?’

While I was considering various possibilities.

“To summarize, it would be like this. House of Coel denies all the contents accused by the Abner side, and particularly regarding the claim of embezzling mine profits from the past, there’s no evidence.”

The Chief Justice said while looking around the courtroom.

Murmurs erupted from the observer seats.

The Chief Justice and Camilla’s eyes seemed to meet before he continued.

“It’s a sufficiently convincing argument. The evidence presented by the Abner family was too abstract and insufficient to begin with.”

Sharon Abner’s fist clenched tightly on the plaintiff’s table.

But I calmly organized my thoughts.

‘There’s no chance of winning. If even physical evidence won’t work, Imperial trials really are bribery battles.’

If it comes to this, there’s no choice.

First, request a trial suspension and schedule the next session.

Then until then, contact the judges and persuade them to get them on our side.

‘Since we absolutely can’t win with evidence or witnesses, we need to play some powerful card too.’

But what could we use to bribe the judges?

We couldn’t offer more bribes than House of Coel, and we don’t know anyone in the Imperial Court…

I paused in my thinking.

‘Come to think of it.’

I wonder how the Crown Prince is doing?

If he followed the advice I gave him well, he should be much more comfortable by now.

‘Should I target that direction after all?’

While I was pondering.

“Really, it’s rotten to the core.”

A dignified voice echoed through the courtroom.

The judge who had been enthusiastically taking Camilla’s side closed his mouth.

Everyone turned their gaze to stare in the direction the voice came from.

Someone wearing a robe with the hood pulled down was standing alone in the observer seats.

Soon that person swept off the hood that had been covering their face.

Several people gasped.

I too froze with my eyes wide open.

‘Wh-wh-wh-why is that person here?’

The figure glaring at the judges with cold eyes was the person I had been considering as an alternative just moments ago.

It was the Dowager Empress of the Taranta Empire.

“Evidence that the pollution re-investigation was manipulated, evidence that embezzled funds flowed to mine administrators. There’s even a recording of Countess Camilla trying to bribe a new observer!”

The Dowager Empress strode forward and stood before the judges.

The judges were frozen with their mouths agape, unable to believe this situation.

“Since when have Imperial trials become so filthy? Just because I’ve been in seclusion for a few years, it’s fallen apart like this!”

I stared at the furious Dowager Empress with a dumbfounded expression.

Throughout my previous life and this life, this was the first time I was seeing the Dowager Empress’s face directly.

‘She’s someone I’ve only ever seen in portraits.’

Especially in my previous life, the Dowager Empress had secluded herself in her palace until the moment I died.

Never easily showing her face to anyone.

‘But now the Dowager Empress is right before my eyes…’

As I pondered the reason for this, I soon realized.

There was one thing I could guess.

‘Tian the Crown Prince listened to my advice!’

A few months ago.

The day I first met Tian the Crown Prince.

The words I had whispered in his ear came back to me one by one.

“If that grandfather bothers you again.”

“….”

“Tell grandmother, no, tell Her Majesty the Dowager Empress!”

In my previous life, the moment Tian was finally deposed from his position as Crown Prince.

The Dowager Empress had supported her grandson until the very end.

Even though her beloved empress had died and she was struggling under Karin Empress’s interference within the Imperial Palace, she still supported her grandson.

With the resolve to give up everything.

“If Your Highness tells her, she’ll definitely be furious on your behalf.”

“…The Dowager Empress would be angry for my sake?”

“Of course! She’s Your Highness’s grandmother!”

I clearly saw Tian’s eyes waver in that moment.

All this time, Tian must have thought he was alone in the Palace.

Under Karin Empress’s blatant disregard and contempt, everyone around him was just her lackeys.

‘Besides, the fact that he’d been exposed to abuse for so long can’t be ignored.’

The sense of helplessness at being unable to do anything in the vast Imperial Palace must have been enormous.

…And young children tend to learn such helplessness very easily.

“Please go to Grandmother the Dowager Empress. And tell her truthfully that Karin Empress is tormenting Your Highness.”

“….”

“Promise me, understood?”

But it was surprising.

To think Tian the Crown Prince actually followed my advice!

I was staring blankly at the Dowager Empress when it happened.

“You! Incompetent and greedy fools who only waste the nation’s resources!”

Suddenly, the Dowager Empress picked up a bundle of papers that had been placed on the courtroom platform.

Then she rolled them up….

“Ugh, ahhh! Your Majesty!”

“We, we were wrong!”

She began enthusiastically striking the judges on their heads.

Everyone in the courtroom watched the rare spectacle, unable to speak.

“It wasn’t like this when I was the Chief Justice! How could you ruin the Imperial Court proceedings that I worked so hard to establish!!”

…This couldn’t be.

The Dowager Empress was actually a former Chief Justice?

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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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