I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 43

Thank you for providing a good stepping stone.

42.

Louis XV was generally known to be quite lenient with his subjects.

He rarely scolded them harshly for mistakes, fearing they would be embarrassed, and he seldom publicly reprimanded them.

Among the people filling Louis XV Square, the largest square in Paris, very few had ever seen the king truly angry.

In fact, many thought this incident would eventually fizzle out.

At most, the court would be punished.

How many times had Louis XV enthusiastically tried something only to quickly abandon it?

Given the king’s past behavior, it wouldn’t be surprising if he completely swept away the court and then regretted it, thinking he had gone too far.

Louis XV was well aware of these inner thoughts of his subjects.

His problem until now had been a frustrating tendency to give up even when he knew what needed to be done.

But now, things were different.

The Louis XV of the present showed no signs of the indecisiveness and psychological weakness that had been his greatest flaws.

The anger stemming from the attempted assassination of his grandson, whom he had grown fond of recently, combined with the sense of responsibility that he was the only one who could restore France to normalcy.

Completely swayed by Christian’s instigation, Louis XV was already half-intoxicated with his role.

“I shall now begin the trial to determine the punishment for the traitors.”

The noisy square instantly fell silent.

Louis XV glanced around at the crowd, packed so tightly there wasn’t a space to step.

As far as he knew, it had been a long time since people from so many different social classes had gathered in one place.

Even the Estates-General [a representative assembly of the three estates of French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners], which hadn’t been held since 1614, wouldn’t have been this diverse.

Nobles, clergy, and bourgeois [middle class], as well as royalty, were all in attendance.

They were there to see the extent of the repercussions this trial would bring and to prepare countermeasures.

“First, let’s hear the accusations presented by the plaintiff.”

Mopeou stepped forward at Louis XV’s direction.

Holding a thick stack of documents, he looked confident to anyone who saw him.

“The High Court faces numerous charges, but the most heinous is undoubtedly the conspiracy to murder a member of the royal family. Moreover, it’s not just a conspiracy; we have also uncovered circumstances indicating that they actually hired an assassin.”

Mopeou deliberately paused, waiting for the public to react to his words.

“What? Did the High Court really try to assassinate the Prince?”

“Pretending to be nice on the surface and hiring an assassin behind the scenes? Those trash!”

“Is there anything more to see? Shouldn’t we just execute them all?”

The murmurs of the crowd grew louder and louder.

Mopeou methodically laid out the charges against the High Court.

“That’s not all. The High Court has excessively abused its authority to pursue unjust gains. They have taken bribes in exchange for vetoing bills unfavorable to certain classes, manipulated public opinion through the press, and covered up illegal activities.”

“Boo! Execute them, execute them!”

“Incredibly, their actions don’t stop there. Several years ago, when a famine struck, His Majesty, concerned for the people, created a fund to supply wheat. However, the court vetoed this and even profited from the price difference.”

“Does the defendant have anything to say in response?”

The judges, under Louis XV’s cold gaze, broke out in a cold sweat.

Normally, the defendant’s defense would be handled by a lawyer, but this trial had no lawyers.

Knowing that the king was targeting the court, no one in their right mind would take on the defense and risk falling out of favor.

Therefore, this trial was presenting the laughable situation of the defendant judges having to defend themselves.

Of course, they were all prominent legal figures in Paris, so defending themselves wasn’t impossible.

However, the problem was that the trial’s outcome was already decided, so no matter what arguments they made, they wouldn’t be effective.

“Your Majesty, those are not true,” Blaménil, who was effectively acting as the judges’ advocate, exclaimed with a voice full of injustice.

He had been dragged into this trial after belatedly realizing he had blindly trusted Christian’s words.

To an outsider, he looked like someone who had been wrongly implicated.

“Not true? Are you saying it’s all slander?”

“I’m not saying it’s all false, but… there are still parts that are different from the truth. This assassination attempt on the Prince has nothing to do with us. Nowhere in the materials seized from the court will you find any such circumstances.”

“Really? But you don’t deny that you plotted such a scheme years ago. Are you aware that this alone is enough to warrant capital punishment?”

“That, that is…”

Blaménil, glancing around, met Christian’s eyes near Louis XV.

He was still clinging to the last hope in what Christian had told him last time they met.

“Your Majesty! It is true that the court tried to do something unforgivable to His Highness, but this has already been apologized for to His Highness…”

“Trying to kill someone and then saying it’s over because you apologized? Are you really people who deal with the law?”

Louis XV asked, genuinely dumbfounded.

The judges’ necks shrank like turtles.

“Seeing your shamelessness only makes me more and more disappointed. Mopeou, are the court’s charges all those mentioned just now?”

“No, there are many more illegal acts that are enough to make one’s mind reel.”

“It’s slander! The defendant demands the presentation of evidence. Charges not mentioned in the materials seized from the court cannot be recognized!”

The High Court had hidden the irregularities they had committed since Christian exposed their weaknesses as much as possible.

There were many items that could never be found even if they thoroughly searched the materials.

“Knowing you would say that, we have already prepared the evidence and the witness who provided it.”

“Evidence? Witness?”

“Until now, it has been kept confidential for the sake of protecting their safety, but there is no need to do so now.”

The bewildered judges soon understood.

So, there was an informant.

The judges glared ahead, trying to see the face of the traitor.

And then.

The identities of the people who came up on the podium caused cries mixed with anger and absurdity to erupt from their mouths.

“Lavoisier?”

“You bastard! How could you betray the court…!”

His act of betrayal, having long served as an advisor to the court, was enough to fluster the judges.

Even in this situation, Blaménil, unlike the other judges, didn’t just lose his mind.

He noticed a crucial truth.

No matter how much Lavoisier tried to dig into the court’s affairs, it didn’t make sense that he could gather this many charges.

Far more materials were presented than what Christian had mentioned before to threaten the court.

In other words, criminal data that Lavoisier wouldn’t normally have known was flowing through his hands.

It didn’t make sense unless someone was behind him.

And it was obvious who was behind Lavoisier.

“Prince Christian… was this your intention from the beginning?”

The court’s misstep was entrusting the surveillance of Prince Christian to Lavoisier.

It’s unknown whether the two were in cahoots from the start or whether Lavoisier had been won over by Christian.

What was certain was that they had been looking for an opportunity to stab the High Court in the back from the beginning.

However, the court, which had entrusted Lavoisier with the surveillance of Christian, received no reports on what Christian was doing.

They couldn’t have been backstabbed more severely even if they had left a fish with a cat [a French idiom meaning to entrust something valuable to someone untrustworthy].

“Was it all… a staged play?”

Blaménil raised his head and looked behind Louis XV.

Christian was still looking down at them with an expression that was impossible to read.

It didn’t make sense.

If he had intended to take down the court from the beginning, why had he looked after them before leaving for Austria?

What was he thinking when he quietly watched the court attack Mopeou with such enthusiasm?

“Could it be on purpose?”

Deliberately weakening Mopeou’s position, then approaching him as if bestowing a favor, and then stabbing the court, which had come to trust Christian implicitly, in the back.

If we assume this, it makes sense.

“Did we… bring in a viper’s cub?”

“Blaménil! Do something!”

“Wasn’t the plan to use Prince Christian mostly under your jurisdiction?”

“You told me to trust you, what is this!”

The judges’ resentful words poured out on Blaménil, who was in despair.

Chief Justice Dampièrre also yelled that it was all due to Blaménil’s complacent perception.

Blaménil, his face also red, screamed back in protest.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I clearly said that we needed to be wary of Prince Christian! You morons let your guard down and got backstabbed, and now you’re trying to pin it on me?”

“From the beginning, you said that if you brainwashed Prince Christian well, he wouldn’t be a big threat!”

“There was no problem until I retired! This is because you guys got caught up in the situation and did nothing!”

The defendants of the court had already sensed that there was no way left for them to save their lives.

The evidence presented by Lavoisier was so meticulous that it couldn’t have been prepared in a day or two, and no one was left to take their side.

All that remained for them was despair that they didn’t want to accept this reality and anger that had lost its way.

Louis XV did not stop them as they argued, raising their voices, blaming each other.

Even in this situation, Lavoisier calmly listed all the irregularities committed by the court with undeniable evidence.

Louis XV, judging that there was no need to see more, signaled the soldiers with a gesture.

Immediately, the soldiers forcibly silenced the judges who were still shouting.

“In the name of Louis XV, King of Great France, I declare. As all those present here have seen, the court has long since lost its function. Even in the human body, if a rotten part is not cut away, the corruption can spread throughout the body and lead to death. Therefore, I declare here.”

Louis XV paused, and all eyes and ears around him focused on him.

The king fully enjoyed the attention, expectations, vigilance, and desires directed at him, and then.

“I will take this opportunity to reaffirm the great principles of the country. The supremacy of the law belongs solely to me. Legislative power will not be divided for any reason and will not belong to anyone other than me. The court will only be responsible for the promulgation and enforcement of laws and cannot judge arbitrarily.”

So far, it was all as expected.

The most important thing was the intensity of the measures to be taken next.

Knowing this, Louis XV took an extreme measure as if to prove that he was serious this time.

“Those who have forgotten their duty and tried to interfere in state affairs by using the royal family are guilty of treason in themselves. Moreover, since they have even conspired to murder in order to hide their misdeeds, there is no room for commutation. Therefore, I sentence all judges involved in this case to death.”

The faces of the robe nobles [nobles who held judicial or administrative posts] sitting in the defendant’s seat turned pale.

Blaménil closed his eyes tightly and lowered his head.

But Louis XV’s words did not end there.

“Furthermore, since all the various charges against the High Court have been proven true, it is no longer possible to entrust them with the important affairs of the state. Anyone who has any objections may come forward and argue.”

No one who is capable of normal judgment would come forward here, even if they were dissatisfied.

Louis XV looked around for a moment and nodded in satisfaction.

“As of today, I abolish the right to refuse registration of laws granted to the High Court. I also abolish the right to review taxes. In addition, I will deprive judges who have abused their authority of the right to inherit their positions.”

A silent shock swept through the audience.

Louis XV’s declaration was to effectively abolish all the privileges granted to the High Court.

In particular, touching even the entrenched hereditary rights of the robe nobles would have been impossible under normal circumstances.

However, no one could check the king’s actions this time.

This was because the justification, as well as the support of the citizens, were all with Louis XV.

Christian and Mopeou had cleverly included issues that citizens were most sensitive to in the reasons for impeaching the court.

Issues related to taxes and food were the Achilles’ heel of the political world, which could even lead to riots if severe.

In particular, France was in a situation where the suffering of the citizens was accumulating due to the increasingly deepening contradictions of the system.

The king subtly expressed that he was on the side of wanting to solve this problem and pointed to the court as an obstacle.

It is human nature to want to create a good-versus-evil structure and hold someone accountable when reality becomes difficult.

Now that the court had been branded as the main culprit that had ruined France, the escape route was completely blocked.

“The court is not the only one who has abused its given authority and infringed on my territory. Therefore, I will take care of the affairs of the state and the livelihood of the people directly for the time being, so keep that in mind!”

The citizens gathered in the square applauded and cheered at the mention of taking care of the people’s livelihood.

The nobles had no choice but to choose the option of simply watching the situation with a shit-eating face [an idiom meaning to watch something unpleasant without being able to do anything about it].

The best they could do was to internally curse the robe nobles who had brought things to this point.

“Please save me!”

“Your Majesty! Please, just spare my life!”

“I will donate all my wealth to the country! Please give me one more chance!”

The judges who had been sentenced to death were dragged away by the soldiers, crying and begging for their lives, but all that came back was cold ridicule.

Unlike the others, Blaménil, who was quietly dragged away with his mouth tightly shut, glared at Christian, grinding his teeth, as he approached.

“…You traitor… Shouldn’t a person have faith? Aren’t you ashamed as a prince of France?”

“There is a limit to how much one can be brazen. Betrayal, you say.”

“Then what you did is betray us, what else could it be?”

Christian’s expression did not waver at Blaménil’s angry cry.

He lowered his voice so that no one could hear and whispered in Blaménil’s ear.

“Betrayal is a word that only applies when there is trust. Wasn’t it you who told Lavoisier to monitor me? We were both trying to stab each other in the back, so you can’t say you’re wronged after being hit first.”

“That was only in preparation for the eventuality…”

“And I have never considered you allies since the court tried to take my life. Tools that are no longer useful must be discarded.”

“You were aiming for this opportunity since then…”

Blaménil suddenly remembered when he first met the young Christian.

So, the plan to strike them had been wriggling in the young boy’s head since then.

He had completely misjudged the opponent, and the price was destruction.

A feeling of futility and anger boiled intensely in his heart.

Even the slightest honorifics disappeared from Blaménil’s tone, who now had nothing left but a curse before death.

“I… we were taken down without even being able to respond properly, but you better be careful too. Those who live by the sword die by the sword [an idiom meaning those who use violence will eventually suffer violence themselves]. There may come a day when you will be standing in the place where you are being dragged to the execution ground like this.”

It was a word left with the hope that he would feel even a little psychological burden, but all that came back was ridicule full of mockery.

“That will never happen. Because all those who show signs of it will end up like you now.”

“…!”

Blaménil’s brow furrowed deeply as he tried to provoke him one last time but couldn’t even get his money’s worth.

Christian whispered his last greeting in an extremely polite, and therefore more infuriating, tone.

“Goodbye. Thank you for working so hard to be my stepping stone until now. I hope you have a pleasant journey.”

“…Christian! You son of a…!”

As Blaménil was about to scream, unable to maintain his composure, a soldier quickly stopped him.

Christian engraved the desperate struggles of the former Chief Justice, who was thrashing about, in his eyes for the last time and turned around nonchalantly.

After walking two or three steps, the noise coming from behind completely subsided.

That was the last trace left by the Chief Justice, who had stood at the pinnacle of the High Court, as he left the courtroom.