The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 9

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 9

Although there was some debate, everyone had to agree that this was the only method available.

A moment later.

“The Sacred Tribunal will resume tomorrow.”

Ruelian declared.

Murmurs arose from the gallery, but who would dare object to the judge’s decision?

The spectators dispersed with promises to return tomorrow. The splendid carriage of the Rosen Duchy also returned home.

“The Duke has returned!”

Though the atmosphere was very chaotic due to the Young Lady’s trial, the employees quickly pulled themselves together.

Everyone kept their mouths shut tight and resumed their duties. A tense silence hung over both the Main Building and the annexes.

In the suffocating atmosphere.

Grumbling sounds could be heard from a corner of the Greenhouse.

“Damn it! When the hell can I quit this job?”

The New Gardener who had been cleaning the floor threw down his broom.

Even though he had perfectly completed the commissioned work, he still hadn’t received the remaining payment. He was told to stay low until the Princess was definitely executed.

“Damn it!”

He angrily kicked the broom, when suddenly he heard signs of people approaching.

The Boy quickly picked up the broom and pretended to clean. But the sounds grew louder, turning into the sound of running footsteps.

“Who is it?”

The moment he turned around, knights from the Duke’s Family appeared from between the trees.

The Boy was startled and tried to step aside, but couldn’t dodge in time and was pushed down to the floor.

“Oh my, sorry about that.”

The knights helped the Boy up and held him. The Boy couldn’t say anything and just moved his lips…

“Well, you should have been more careful.”

At the sudden voice, he froze in that position.

Someone revealed themselves from behind the knights.

Golden hair and rose-colored eyes. With a face like a work of art crafted by God and wearing a venomous smile, a noble young lady walked gracefully forward.

Anyone from this mansion would jump up even from sleep at this sight.

The Boy was stunned.

‘What? Why is the Princess here? She should be detained by the Holy Order right now?’

Princess Aristina looked at the Boy with eyes filled with deadly poison, then lowered her gaze.

His knee below his shorts was scraped and bleeding profusely.

The Princess frowned.

“Oh dear, you’re injured. Since it’s their fault, hurry and treat it.”

“We don’t have medicine. Ah, this fellow happened to have some medicine with him.”

One knight picked up something from the floor. At that moment, the Boy’s brain stopped functioning.

‘Why is that here?’

An opaque rectangular glass bottle with a yellow label marked ‘Disinfectant.’

After completing the commission, he had thrown that fake disinfectant bottle into the garbage dump.

But it had returned. As if haunted by a ghost.

Even when he pinched his cheek, it was definitely the bottle he had discarded.

When the Princess tilted the bottle toward the floor, the liquid dripping down was unmistakably ‘that thing.’

“Noah Meyer. That’s your name, right? Why are you so flustered? This is medicine. The very disinfectant you used to treat Serene. Come on, let’s get you treated.”

The Princess already knew everything.

The Boy’s head went blank with terror.

With her red lips curved upward and her gleaming eyes wickedly bright, Princess Aristina approaching him looked like a demon incarnate.

That demon was now trying to pour poison on his wound.

“Aaaaah!”

The Boy struggled while being held.

“Please spare me! Please spare me! I don’t know anything! Someone just gave me that medicine and I did as I was told!”

“Who was it? A Maid, right?”

“Yes! Br, Brien…”

At the Boy’s confession, Princess Aristina turned her head sharply. From the other side of the Greenhouse, another voice echoed.

“That’s what he says, Brien?”

The owner of the voice was Duke Carnel.

The curtains that had been hung like interior decoration between the trees were drawn back, revealing another scene.

A setting where Duke Carnel and two Holy Knights from the Holy Order were having tea.

Among the twelve Maids serving there, one face had turned completely pale.

“That criminal says so, what do you think? Brien?”

Duke Carnel asked quietly, keeping his gaze fixed on that Maid.

In the suffocating silence, only the clinking sound of teacups echoed.

Maid Brien’s hands were trembling uncontrollably.

She barely managed to open her mouth and speak.

“…I don’t know anything about it.”

“You don’t know! Why are you suddenly playing dumb? We met and talked behind the Carriage Unloading Area this morning!”

The Boy shouted in excitement, revealing his rough slum accent completely.

“You can’t pin it all on me just to save yourself! You got me this job through connections without anyone knowing and gave me this bottle! You gave detailed instructions on exactly which parts to injure and how when the pretty noble Young Lady came into the Greenhouse! You told me to pour plenty of this medicine while pretending to treat her so it would soak in well!”

There was no way he would take all the blame alone. That strong determination was evident on the Boy’s face.

“Here, here. This is the money that woman gave me as payment. This is half, and I was supposed to receive the other half after this house’s Princess was executed. When I said I couldn’t trust that, Brien wrote me an IOU in her brother’s name. Here it is.”

Undeniable evidence poured out one after another.

‘Ha, really…’

Duke Carnel was astounded.

He was amazed that his daughter’s plan had succeeded so brilliantly, and on the other hand, seeing the perpetrator’s shameless face made him unbearably angry.

“Du, Duke, please have mercy…”

Maid Brien trembled so violently before Duke Carnel’s murderous gaze that she could barely stand.

The Duke didn’t even look in her direction and said.

“Since evidence has come out like this, we’ll need to investigate.”

“Yes!”

The knights rushed off and returned shortly after.

“One of the floorboards under the bed in her quarters looked loose, so we lifted it and found this.”

They presented a brick to the Duke.

At first glance it looked like an ordinary brick, but when thrown to the ground and broken, a gleaming gold bar was revealed inside.

“What exactly is going on, Brien?”

I walked toward her and said coldly.

“Did Father pay you too little? Hmm?”

Brien, who had been barely holding on, lost strength in her legs upon seeing me and collapsed.

“Pl, please spare me!”

I had been at a loss after being possessed by a villainess who only got cursed at no matter what she did, but now I saw there was an advantage.

This face was very advantageous for interrogating criminals.

I thought so too.

These eyes that appear rose-colored in natural light but glow red in darkness – when facing them, wouldn’t all sorts of cruel and terrible things one might suffer flash by in ultra-high definition?

Then I should deliver lines befitting that.

I reached out and grabbed Brien’s chin.

“Stalling will only prolong your suffering.”

“…Sob!”

In fear and despair, Brien finally broke down.

“I’ll confess everything.”

The Maid trembled like an aspen tree and spilled everything.

“…”

The faces of Duke Carnel and the observing Holy Knights gradually hardened as they listened to the story.

* * *

The courtroom was as noisy as a marketplace.

‘Yesterday Aristina caused another commotion by relentlessly going after Serene again, forcing even the great Ruellian Lacroix to declare a recess. But the investigation results showed that Serene was indeed innocent of any wrongdoing, and today Aristina will never be able to escape either.’

Having spread such rumors and allowed unlimited public attendance, all the noble ladies and gentlemen who usually disliked Aristina had flocked here.

They eagerly watched Ruellian, who sat crookedly in the high seat.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

“On the night of July 13th, Aristina Bianca Rosen unlawfully trespassed into the Sanctuary and committed sacrilege by plucking the sacred amaranchia flowers. Her crime is immeasurably grave.”

Finally! Everyone watched with pounding hearts, but…

Unexpected words flowed from Ruellian’s mouth.

“However, according to the defendant’s own claims, this was deliberately done to announce that she had received divine revelation regarding the suspected poisoning of Serene Hyperion. The defendant submitted evidence given by God and claimed her innocence, through which the full details of the incident were revealed. According to this, the defendant was falsely accused.”

What?

Everyone stared with their mouths agape. Ruellian shrugged once.

“Just before the tea party on the day of the incident, the thug Noah Meyer, disguised as an employee of the Rosen Duchy, approached the victim Serene Hyperion and deliberately injured her. Then, under the pretext of treating her, he poisoned her with some substance that turns into a deadly toxin when it reacts with blood and penetrates the body.”

He flipped through several pages of documents.

“This was a scheme to frame the third party, Aristina, during the reconciliation ceremony that would follow. The person who hired Noah Meyer was Brienne Evans, a ceremonial maid of the Duke’s household. And the one who bribed that Brienne Evans was…”

There, Ruellian briefly looked around the gallery.

“Charlotte Remiel.”

Everyone looked in one direction as if by agreement.

There stood a noble lady.

From the moment the details of the incident began to emerge, her complexion had already turned ashen.

‘Finally, the real culprit has appeared.’

I looked straight at her.

The eldest daughter of the prestigious knight family, House Remiel.

An elegant and dignified noble lady wearing a modest violet-colored dress with silk gloves, her hands folded demurely.

This very Charlotte Remiel was the real culprit who had orchestrated everything.

She shamelessly shouted.

“This is ridiculous slander!”

“Who are you talking to? I just made that judgment. Are you saying I slandered someone? Adding contempt of court charges.”

Ruellian slammed down the stack of documents with a thud.

His attitude was businesslike yet menacing.

“This is all evidence. The maid confessed everything. She was originally a former employee of your family, wasn’t she? Thanks to her experience working and learning etiquette at a prestigious knight family, she was hired as a ceremonial maid at the Rosen Duchy. Where and how you two met and discussed plans during that time is all recorded in here…”

He flipped through the documents.

“Based on those movements, we investigated and already found three witnesses. Among them is even the black market dealer who sold you the poison. The owner of the ‘Blue Windmill’ tavern next to Lucia Bridge. Who would have thought? The daughter of a prestigious knight family associating with such unsavory characters.”

He even conducted a thorough background investigation in the meantime.

I was impressed. Recruiting Ruellian was indeed a masterstroke.

With amazing drive and focus, he had collected all the evidence and trapped the culprit so they couldn’t move.

I could understand why his followers revered him like a god.

“…”

As irrefutable evidence poured out, even the remaining color drained from Charlotte’s face, who had been shamelessly holding out.

She could no longer hold on and collapsed as her legs gave out.

Ruellian commanded.

“Bind her.”

“Yes!”

The Holy Knights stepped forward.

From here on, it was a matter of law, not religion. The real culprit was about to be tied up and dragged to the security department.

Then.

“Wait a moment.”

I shouted.

“I have something I want to ask the culprit.”

While I felt relieved that the culprit who tried to frame and destroy me was caught, I was also puzzled.

‘Why on earth?’

Among the many, many enemies who would need to take numbers and wait in line, I couldn’t remember a person named Charlotte Remiel.

‘I definitely focused with burning eyes on even passing extras.’

With everyone watching, I approached Charlotte and asked.

“Why did you do such a thing to me?”

“Why, you ask?”

Charlotte suddenly raised her head. Her eyes were filled with hatred.

I flinched inwardly, but I couldn’t back down.

‘I’m really curious.’

For survival, collecting and analyzing existing cases was very important.

Why this person caused harm. I needed to find that out and use it as reference for future strategies.

With the determination to obtain information, I pressed even more fiercely.

“Speak up! There must be a reason why you framed me with such vicious false accusations!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————