The Magical Holy Woman Seraphina - Chapter 65
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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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The Magic Saint Seraphina
Episode 65
“You need to be careful.”
“About what?”
“You know Ingrid died in prison.”
If the ones truly behind the attacks on the Magic Saint Seraphina were the Men of the Center.
“Then they’re the type who’ll kill without hesitation, even people who were once their allies if it suits their needs.”
Cassian spoke as we walked down the courthouse corridor.
His expression was grave.
I probed carefully.
“Cassian, are you worried about me?”
“Shouldn’t I be?”
“Then go ahead.”
“Hmm.”
“Can you give me a hazard bonus?”
……
♡☆♧So here I am, all worn down♧☆♡
“An employer’s words of concern are always fake.”
Show your love and worry for your employees through salary and benefits.
The only way to show your true heart to your staff.
Money.
“How else am I supposed to afford bigger scythes and saws to fight them off when they come charging in?”
“Scythes and saws? Not guns?”
Cassian, looking utterly bewildered at what I was planning, shook the front paws of the bundle he cradled in his arms. “I’m going to be ruined because of the Magic Saint. Johann Mendelssohn Handel Beethoven Bach Schubert Mozart Debussy Park Yeon Strauss III—go out and earn some money.”
The bundle, dozing today as always in a thick padded coat and hat, cracked open one eye to look at me, then shut it again.
“No.”
“Ugh.”
I scratched the furrowed brow of the bundle, which had grown a bit sticky from my constant petting, and pushed open the courtroom door.
The session was five minutes past opening time, but it was quiet.
“What’s going on? Why haven’t they started?”
I’d rushed here thinking I’d be late.
I found a corner seat as inconspicuous as possible and sat down. About five more minutes passed. Then the court bailiff finally called out.
“The esteemed Judge Cameron enters. All rise and show respect to the bench.”
“You don’t have to stand up, Johann.”
I pressed down on Johann’s head as I rose.
Judge Cameron soon entered, his robes billowing, a white wig upon his head.
I recalled the day’s docket I’d glimpsed posted before the bench earlier.
‘Looks like I’ll only catch one case in the time I have.’
This trial was…
a case where some Academy student had violated a Restraining Order and repeatedly stalked the victim.
……
Already ominous.
* * *
Count Cameron, a judge at the Luare Central Court who deserved every bit of respect, wondered.
‘Where have I seen that woman before?’
A black-haired woman sitting in a corner of the gallery next to some ruffian-looking fellow.
Pretty in an appealing sort of way, with bright eyes—the kind of impression typical Academy graduates came in with as judicial assistants.
‘I’ve definitely seen her somewhere…’
Was she a student who attended my lectures when I taught special courses at the Academy?
He kept glancing at her while pretending not to look, and in his distraction, he missed part of what the prosecutor was saying.
“…Your Honor?”
“Ahem.”
He recovered with a well-timed cough, though truth be told, it didn’t much matter.
It was a straightforward case, after all.
—Case Summary—
(From Judge Cameron’s perspective)
—Case Number: Can’t remember.
The victim’s name seemed to be Eve.
Let’s call it the Eve case.
Eve, the librarian working at the Academy Library, felt about three months ago that the Defendant, seated in the front chair by the lending desk, was staring intently at her.
Even when their eyes met, his gaze never wavered, and the Defendant would come to the library every day to stare at the victim for roughly seven hours before leaving, or so she claimed.
She consulted her supervisor but found no recourse, and when she inquired with the Capital Guard, they gave the same answer: “There’s nothing we can do if he’s merely looking.”
Two weeks prior, as the victim finished her shift and was leaving the library, she discovered the Defendant waiting for her at the entrance.
The Defendant detained her, saying he had questions about the library’s collection, and requested a conversation.
The victim refused, telling him to come back during working hours, but the Defendant followed her all the way to the Academy Main Gate.
(Witnesses testified that during this time, he obstructed her path by grabbing her wrist and blocking her way forward.)
Fortunately, the victim’s supervisor, arriving for her shift, spotted the Defendant and victim in a scuffle and reported it to the Capital Guard.
A Restraining Order was issued.
In the course of this process, the Capital Guard officer conducting the investigation exposed the victim’s address to the Defendant.
(“Miss, your address is ‘** Street, ** number’, correct?”)
Two days later, in the early morning hours, the Defendant attempted to break through the victim’s window and enter her home.
The victim’s boyfriend, who happened to be present, grappled with him, and the Defendant was arrested following the struggle.
“The Defendant is a third-year student at the Academy Law School, and was severely intoxicated at the time of arrest….”
‘Pathetic.’
Judge Cameron clicked his tongue disapprovingly to himself.
It was directed at the victim.
‘The victim’s boyfriend, who happened to be present.’
So she was alone in her own home with her boyfriend—not even a husband—at that hour of the morning. Why?
“The Defendant is a promising young man who never failed to rank first throughout his three years at the Academy, raised in unfortunate circumstances where his father, who values noble honor, and his mother, who values practicality, were in constant conflict….”
Ah, the Defendant attends the Academy Law School?
My junior, then.
I was first in my class too.
“He states that he seems to have lost his senses for a moment and is currently remorseful….”
Still, perhaps I ate too much at lunch. Why is my stomach aching so?
‘I should render the sentence quickly and visit the restroom.’
Judge Cameron patted his protruding belly once and flipped through the documents laid before him with a crisp rustle.
Petitions written by the perpetrator’s acquaintances and a personal letter of reflection composed by the perpetrator himself—one hundred forty pages.
An Escrow Deposit of fifty million gold left with the Court as a sign of remorse.
The victim refused to accept the money, insisting on severe punishment, but that was not a consideration. In any case, what mattered was that the perpetrator had deposited the funds.
Judge Cameron cleared his throat audibly and leaned forward.
“The attempt to violate the stern Restraining Order of this Court and break into the victim’s residence is indeed an offense of considerable gravity….”
However.
“Taking into account that the Defendant was in a state of Diminished Mental Capacity at the time of arrest, that he has no prior convictions of a similar nature, that he was raised in unfortunate circumstances, and that he is demonstrating sufficient remorse….”
Moreover.
“Considering that the Defendant is a talent who never failed to rank first at the Academy Law School for three consecutive years, should a single moment of error damage the promising future of such a young man, it would be a great loss to the Empire.
And so.”
Judge Cameron raised his gavel.
“This case is dismissed.”
Bang, bang, bang.
“Yes!”
“This can’t be!”
“Thank you!”
“Thank you, Your Honor!”
The perpetrator’s parents, who had been wringing their hands in their seats, broke into smiles, shook hands with their lawyer, and embraced their son still dressed in his prison garb, patting his back as they said he’d endured so much.
When the victim’s anguished cry, unable to face them, echoed through the windowless courtroom.
Judge Cameron had already left the bench.
That evening.
“Sigh. Exhausting.”
Judge Cameron, having finished his day’s work, returned to his private chambers in the Court.
Judge Cameron carelessly stripped off his judicial robes, which his attendant caught as they fell.
Judge Cameron had just sat down after drawing a long breath.
“My lord!”
The butler of the Cameron household came rushing through the door, which had been left slightly ajar for ventilation.
“My lord! The young mistress!”
“Hmm? My daughter?”
My daughter who went to the Dormitory because she wanted to focus on her studies—why…
The butler cried out.
“The young mistress! Through the window of her Dormitory room!”
“…The window?”
In that moment, Judge Cameron jolted from his seat, seized by an inexplicable dread.
I pressed on, just to be certain.
“Oh my, how terrible—an intruder broke into the Dormitory where Judge Cameron’s daughter lives. Tell me, Your Honor, now that it’s your own child in jeopardy, do you find yourself empathizing with the victim?”
Of course, this was never how things had unfolded.
Judge Cameron’s beloved daughter was contentedly asleep, belly full of mango gelato, patting her stomach in bliss.
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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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