Two days after Westalia’s visit to the audience chamber, the Imperial Court summoned Tiberio Reyn to Le Chantier Palace for a public conviction. It was carried out by Crown Prince Leonardo on behalf of the emperor.
“You are guilty of expanding the Elizabeth Pink enterprise, despite knowing the dye contained poison, and of causing enormous harm to the people. You will be stripped of your title, fortune, and land and sent into exile,” Leonardo said.
Tiberio Reyn was silent.
A large number of aristocrats had crowded into the audience chamber to get a glimpse of Tiberio, whose pure evil was no longer just a rumor. The crowd, Westalia and Paige among them, watched Tiberio with curiosity.
They say the misfortune of others tastes the sweetest, Westalia thought. Seeing the curious crowd brought back memories of her own trial and execution.
Tiberio was held on either side by knights, who were keeping him from escaping. He hung his head in silence.
Leonardo walked up to him and stared fixedly at him, his eyes sharp. “Do you understand the crime you have committed? The estimated number of victims is well over tens of thousands. How many people have suffered to satisfy your desires?”
Tiberio still said nothing.
“Shall I take your silence as an affirmation of your guilt?”
The audience listened with rapt attention to every word exchanged between Leonardo and Tiberio.
“This is a conspiracy. No, an act of petty vengeance, rather. Is it not, Paige?” Tiberio asked, looking up and finding Westalia and Paige in the crowd. “Have the injuries I gave you healed yet, thief? You were the one who snuck into my mansion that night, weren’t you?”
The look Westalia shot to Paige told her she didn’t have to say anything in response.
“That night you stole the seal of the Reyn family so you could take back the lands that your family once ruled, Paige. No, I should call you your proper name—Paige Lanchester, daughter of the deputy commander of the Imperial Army. It seems that children of criminals become criminals after all.”
Tiberio’s words caused a commotion in the audience chamber. There was no one present who didn’t know the Lanchester name. They had been a prestigious family of knights, and the head of the family, Gasparo, had been praised as a genius with the sword. However, five years ago, he had lost his position, honor, and fortune due to corruption. Then Gasparo and his wife had lost all hope of surviving and committed suicide. The only daughter of the Lanchester family was now standing beside the prospective empress, dressed as a knight. The crowd couldn’t help but be surprised at the revelation.
“Stay strong, Paige,” Westalia said.
“Please don’t make me endure any more of this man,” Paige replied, clenching her fists and, ignoring Westalia’s attempt to stop her, stepping toward Tiberio. “Don’t insult my father! I stole your seal? Don’t make false accusations. I would never take money away from a girl at rock bottom who had sold herself off, the way you did, and use it to steal her family’s lands.”
“Now, what are you talking about?” Tiberio asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You framed my father and drove him to ruin!”
The knights managed to stop Paige before she could grab Tiberio.
Then Tiberio spoke to the audience, smiling gracefully. “Did you all hear that, ladies and gentlemen? She’s confused, unable to distinguish between reality and delusion. She bears an unreasonable grudge against me because she thinks it’s my fault her family’s in ruins. Your parents died of their own accord. Were you not the one who left your family and ran away?”
“What are you—?!”
It was Tiberio who had enticed Paige to run away by saying he had a lucrative job for her. However, the duke was already in control of the conversation. The people who’d been watching Tiberio now turned their attention on Paige.
“It’s not a false accusation. A few days after your visit to the mansion, someone rewrote the deed for the former Marquis of Lanchester’s lands, and it has your name on it,” Tiberio said.
Paige’s eyes widened, and Tiberio shrugged off the hands of the knights, smiling.
“There’s no point playing dumb,” Tiberio continued. “After using it, I’m sure you hid the seal in your room or somewhere close by. Your Royal Highness, Crown Prince Leonardo, please give me the opportunity to sue the real guilty party. Paige Lanchester is a criminal who resents me for the downfall of her family. She made false accusations against me with her delusion that Elizabeth Pink is poisonous and, in addition, stole my family seal!”
Several knights wearing Reyn family colors rushed into the room.
“The Reyn family seal has just been discovered in Paige’s private rooms!” one knight said, holding up the seal for the audience to see.
Leonardo looked bewildered, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Paige snorted out a laugh. “It wasn’t enough just to frame my dad, but now you want to frame me for a crime I didn’t commit as well.”
People in the crowd began muttering, speculating if the Elizabeth Pink poisoning was all a hoax fabricated by Gasparo’s daughter.
Tiberio took the liberty of ordering the knights serving at the imperial palace to apprehend Paige, the real guilty party.
“Just who is the delusional one?” Westalia asked, crossing her arms. “It’s not an unreasonable grudge she holds against you.” She quickly raised her hand and turned toward Leonardo. “Your Highness, there’s no reason to give the convicted a chance to explain himself. Tiberio’s exile is the will of His Most Revered Majesty, the emperor.”
People’s attention shifted from Paige to Westalia. She’d been watching the commotion unfold around her and now walked gracefully to the center of the hall and stopped in front of Tiberio.
“Paige.”
“Yes.” Paige sensed what Westalia wanted her to do and left the hall, returning quickly and dragging a boy with her. He was the only living assassin remaining among those who had infiltrated Westalia’s rooms.
“Sit down,” Paige ordered.
“Fine...” the boy grumbled. He was completely drained from harsh interrogation and knelt on the floor without resistance.
“You screwed it up,” Tiberio muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear.
“The boy is one of the assassins who attacked me in my private rooms the other day,” Westalia continued. “He immediately confessed when interrogated. He said he’d been ordered by Tiberio Reyn to kill me and hide the Reyn family seal in Paige’s room as an insurance policy in case any false accusations had to be leveled. Is that correct?”
The boy, his expression dark, gave a small nod. “That’s right. I did it all on that man’s orders.”
Tiberio still had a relaxed expression on his face. “Where is the proof that the boy is an assassin? He could be a fake that you prepared. The fact is that the seal was found in Paige’s room. There’s no way you can prove it was planted now. Although I do understand your desire to defend your precious knight.”
A cold smile played on his lips, but Westalia didn’t flinch. She took another step toward him and held the seal up in front of his nose.
“Do you mean this seal?” she asked.
“Wh-Why are there two Reyn family seals?” Tiberio looked puzzled as he compared the seal that the knights had brought from Paige’s room with the one Westalia was holding.
Westalia pointed to the seal the knights were holding. “That’s the fake, and this one’s the real seal,” she said with a small laugh. “See? The image of the sword on the seal your knights brought in is upside down.”
The knight looked at the seal in his hand. “She’s right...”