What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 905

The Finale and the Overture (7)

As an ordinary human, neither a wizard, a holy knight, nor a priest….

“……No, the evidence is me! This body is proof of the Empire’s spy!”

A person who committed acts that no human should ever do.

“Lower your voice, defendant.”

“Your Honorable Majesty, if you truly know honor, you must summon a priest to confirm the truth of my words! Right now! Immediately―!”

An unpleasant sound cracked from Duke Sneider’s mouth.

Marquis Sise, the presiding judge and chairman of the Aristocratic Council, replied in a calm voice.

“Silence.”

“How much information have I given to the Empire! And what about my late father!”

-Bang! Bang!

“The defendant has already refused interrogation by our priests and a mental examination by the Papal States. The defendant is well aware that this is an irreversible choice, and above all, the defendant’s guarantors unanimously agreed to this….”

“What agreement! Expose my insides right now! Confess here that the Emperor ordered me to spy on the Holy Kingdom’s information! Quickly―!”

‘Aaaagh!’ The Duke screamed and stood up from her seat once again.

She was about to run somewhere, but she repeatedly collapsed due to the immediate suppression by the Imperial Army.

Her wrinkled eyes became increasingly sharp with malice, and her bloodshot eyes looked as if they would drip blood at any moment.

The criminal glared at me as if she wanted to kill me, but soon succumbed to the knights’ strength and lowered her head.

The audience was shocked by the Duke’s outrageous behavior and began to murmur.

However, neither His Majesty Frederick nor Her Highness Aurelia flinched and maintained their original posture.

Meanwhile, the imperial representatives acting as prosecutors calmly and quickly proceeded with the trial.

“…….”

I clasped my hands tightly. I could feel the Crown Prince glancing at me.

“Honorable Chairman, and great nobles of Liester. The defendant, Duchess Wilhelmina Sneider, states that she knows nothing about the underground passage of the late King Lilianer Venetian and his black magic. However, our magician division discovered strong traces of black magic mana throughout the puppeteer’s path, and secured numerous pieces of evidence from the wreckage of the crashed airship. The Duchess was well aware that black magic is illegal throughout the continent and the islands, yet she secretly committed it for a long time and took the lives of thousands of Venetian soldiers.”

“Testimonies from officials state that the Duke operated the airship in question using black magic. We submit the written statements of nine Venetian knights and thirty-two soldiers who defected to our side as additional evidence.”

“What…? Who defected?”

The Duke’s face went blank for a moment.

She seemed to have never expected that someone would betray her—or, more precisely, that a traitor would be ‘alive’ and under the protection of the Imperial Army.

While the criminal moved her chapped lips, the thick stack of documents was passed through the hands of the knights to the seats of the great imperial nobles.

Marquis Capucine Capuchon, the vice-chairman of the Aristocratic Council, Marquis Gustave Boutier (I was actually seeing this person for the first time today), Duke Cecil Blanquer, Duke Florian Mendy, Duke Bonheur Diop, Marquis Francois Duhem, Countess Caroline Moutet, and other prominent figures carefully examined the documents.

I clenched the chocolate wrapper tightly, bit my lip, and watched them.

I had heard such stories from Benjamin before coming here today….

‘Liester is ready to regain peace. It has been a truly difficult time, but now everyone will reap the rewards of their efforts.’

‘All the Princess Consort has to do is watch comfortably.’

…Indeed, there are people who have steadfastly worked for justice in places I don’t know.

While my friends and I were trying our best…. Of course, there were many people who suffered in places we couldn’t see.

It was a time to realize that fact anew.

“In addition, the Duke played a major role in maintaining order in the collapsed Yeriho black market. She was publicly known as the ‘underground counter-operator.’ She conducted illegal transactions and money laundering there for a long time, and procured the black magician manpower and equipment necessary for her plans. For reference, the airship wreckage found in the ruins of the black market also had a structure very similar to that of the airship on the Heavenly Path [a route to the floating island, often used for trade or travel]. We submit the relevant report from the non-combat magician division as evidence.”

“Furthermore, most of the black magicians and merchants staying in the black market seemed to have connections with the Duke’s family and paid her enormous royalties….”

“Nonsense! You are spouting nonsense with your mouths! Do you have any evidence―!”

“We request Alica Pezer, a merchant who traded corpses with Duke Sneider in the black market, as a witness.”

“……Huh?”

Wait a minute, if it’s ‘Alica,’ could it be…?

“Oh, a witness from the Holy Kingdom has appeared!”

The audience stirred wildly, as if the trial was finally getting interesting.

I widened my eyes as I watched the black-haired woman being escorted by the Imperial Army knights.

She was really ‘that’ spice shop owner we met in the Yeriho black market…!

“Oh, my….”

“Witness, swear on the Bible.”

“According to my conscience, I will speak the truth without hiding or adding anything…. If there is any falsehood, I swear before God to be punished for perjury. God…. Look upon me and listen to my story.”

In the ensuing witness examination, Alica revealed everything she knew to the audience.

Although she did not know detailed information, it was more than enough to testify that ‘Duke Sneider consistently bought corpses through her and that they were used for some kind of experiment.’

“There was a secret room, a room for secret experiments. I heard that Duke Sneider operated several secret rooms throughout the country. I have heard the news that the Statia secret room has collapsed….”

“Can’t you shut up! It’s slander! That wretch dares to slander me, whom she doesn’t even know―!”

The Duke screamed, her face flushed as if she would explode at any moment.

The funny thing was that, judging by appearance alone, it was impossible to tell who was the so-called ‘wretch’ and who was the ‘noble.’

Wilhelmina Sneider was slowly and miserably collapsing in front of everyone.

Due to her own karma, not anyone else’s.

“In addition, the Liester Imperial Army has identified that there are codes and ciphers shared among the ‘Twilight Saints,’ the Duke Sneider’s followers, in the process of capturing and interrogating them.”

“This was compiled into a document called the ‘Keyword Dictionary’ at the suggestion of Princess Consort Juliette, and the number of words and sentences listed so far is close to two thousand. Through this, the Imperial Army has confirmed that the Statia secret room, as well as the collapsed Salt Marsh secret room, the Atsuma secret room in the northern part of the Holy Kingdom, and several secret rooms in the eastern port, also belong to the defendant.”

“Can’t you shut your mouth―! You are a bunch of swindlers!”

Matted hair, rags with the left arm and leg torn off….

“Duke Sneider is also accused of exploiting and abusing the spirit of the Divine Object Irian in the black market for decades. We request the informant Morhan, who was designated by the spirit as an agent, as a witness.”

“Exploitation? Abuse? You bastard! Everyone knew that the Divine Object had been in that place for a thousand years―!”

The shoes that had flown far away due to her struggle a little while ago. Hideously cracked skin.

“The great nobles are asked to understand that the witness’s appearance is very young, but this is the result of loss due to violation of the covenant. The witness’s actual age is estimated to be over two hundred years old.”

“Oh!”

“Good heavens. He really looks only four or five years old…!”

Soon, when Mr. Morhan from Yeriho appeared, not only the audience but also the great nobles were very surprised.

My lips naturally curled up with joy.

Mr. Morhan, you seem to be doing well. I’m glad.

The priest in a neat clerical robe went up to the witness stand, took an oath, and calmly testified to the contents we already knew.

Wilhelmina was now screaming to the point of spitting blood from her throat.

In any way, it was not something that could be called ‘defense,’ but it seemed that it was no longer so important to anyone, including the person involved.

She had consistently maintained her position that she knew nothing about black magic, but when testimonies from those who betrayed her poured out, she changed her words as if turning her palm over, saying that it was ‘for the sake of the Venetians.’

She also pretended not to know anything about the collapse of the black market, but when the story of the spirit came out, she poured out resentful curses, saying, ‘That cursed old tree cannot even be called a Divine Object.’

The charge of treason against Princess Royal Elissa was quite different.

“We request Marquis Hendrika Citron, who is accused of treason, as a witness for documenting false rumors about the Princess Royal and producing and distributing them as leaflets.”

“Marquis Citron is the person who incited the people who were ignorant of the war situation and carried out a massive public opinion campaign, dividing the royal capital into four or five pieces. She is also known as the ‘tenth apostle’ of Sneider.”

“……Citron? How can Citron be alive?”

When Marquis Citron, whose legs had been cut off, appeared in a wheelchair, Wilhelmina stood up from her seat again.

She was as pale as if she had witnessed a dead person coming back to life.

However, Citron did not make eye contact with the Duke until she went up to the witness stand and took her seat.

Her husband kept wiping away tears but steadfastly assisted his spouse.

“I, I clearly stabbed that person’s thigh that day….”

“The great nobles are asked to understand that the Marquis’s condition is critical. The witness barely survived thanks to her husband’s devoted care and then secretly defected to the Imperial Army.”

“Defection…? Defection?”

“The witness barely escaped the Duke’s black magic thanks to the constant efforts of our non-combat magician division to undo the curse. However, please understand that her speech is somewhat slurred and her gaze is not straight due to the aftereffects of black magic.”

“Ah…!”

The audience sighed greatly at the terribly miserable state of Marquis Citron.

“I, I received instructions to slander the Princess Royal… to carry out a public opinion campaign.”

“From whom did you receive such instructions?”

“The Duke, the Duke. Sneider, Wilhelmina….”

“…….”

Perhaps her appearance was shocking in many ways, Wilhelmina remained silent throughout the testimony.

After a while, Venetian Baroness Lavinia Valentine and her daughter, Duchess Herarda Valentine, appeared as witnesses.

The two vividly testified to the fact that Sneider’s private soldiers had moved south, aiming for the Kaminga Archduchy [a territory ruled by an archduke], and that at some point, they had returned to the royal capital and fought with the Baroness’s private soldiers.

“……Either way, it was treason against the royal family. Other nobles who had entrusted themselves to Sneider also fiercely attacked the royal capital, and I could hear their shouts of ‘Sneider’ throughout the battle.”

A hero of the people who annihilated the corrupted in the royal capital at the forefront of the militia, and the mother of Dorothea and Yef.

When Herarda’s testimony ended, Marquis Sise looked down at the criminal with a stern gaze.

“Defendant, defend yourself.”

“…….”

However, Wilhelmina did not raise her head until the end.

Presumably, she was very ashamed that her crimes were revealed by the Valentine family.

The charges of abduction and enticement, human trafficking, kidnapping, confinement, assault and assault resulting in death, torture and torture resulting in death, murder and attempted murder for the Holy Knight creation experiment also went similarly.

“We request an employee of Duke Sneider’s residence as a witness. He is accused of managing and supervising the corrupted created in the Duke’s secret room and indiscriminately releasing them into the royal capital.”

“We request a servant of Duke Ahata Sarhentini as a witness. She is the only witness to the incident in which Duke Sarhentini was with her master until just before he disappeared….”

“……We request Princess Francisca Atsuma, the daughter of the deceased Baron Eda Atsuma, as a witness.”

As time passed, the atmosphere in the audience became more and more serious as the testimonies of the witnesses became more specific.

More than a dozen nobles fainted in their seats and were carried out one after another, and many people shuddered at Sneider’s horror and shed tears.

The criminal was now sitting motionless like a stiff corpse. And….

“We request Count Arno van Loy, the defendant’s ‘twelfth apostle,’ as a witness.”

-Kugugung…!

“…….”

“…….”

The door opened.

Finally, the evidence that would destroy everything about her walked in on its own two feet.

906

What Happens When the Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike