“My closest blood relative is my mother, and coincidentally, I haven’t been able to contact her since winter… So, at first, I naturally assumed the family mentioned in the letter was my mother.”
In fact, I had been anticipating this since before entering the assembly hall.
Noel Vertium making a doll out of my brother’s corpse and using Nix to threaten me wouldn’t be enough to make him pay the price I wanted.
It would be fair to say that there’s almost no precedent in history for questioning another family in this way.
The five families were, in a sense, untouchable.
The five families had coexisted throughout their long history, recognizing each other’s unique authority.
Of course, Vertium conducting human experiments was something the other families couldn’t overlook.
Even if Noel denied it immediately, as long as Nix’s body was in their possession, they could prove it was a real human body by any means.
But the important thing was what came after.
Who would punish Vertium, and how?
Would they permanently seal Vertium’s puppetry [a magical ability to control puppets]?
They might be able to get a pledge that they wouldn’t conduct any more human experiments.
But as for Asil, it wasn’t really an issue to compensate Agriche for now.
Because the corpse used in Vertium’s human experiments was handed over directly by the former head, Lant.
Even if Noel Vertium denied threatening me, there was nothing I could do about it.
Even if he admitted it, he would only receive moral condemnation. In this world, there was no solution like going to prison or being punished through a trial.
At best, other families would exert pressure or carry out personal revenge. Thinking about it, it was truly a messed-up worldview.
That’s why, even in the novel, the world became a hotbed of crime, and crazy people did all sorts of crazy things over Sylvia.
So, from the start, I didn’t expect to receive any compensation from Vertium other than Nix for this matter.
“But what I saw at Vertium wasn’t my mother, but a familiar-looking boy.”
So, for now, it was better to be satisfied with making others aware that Agriche wasn’t the only one with their feet in the dirty water.
“Noel Vertium said he was a doll made from a corpse.”
I paused for a moment.
In fact, what I was really trying to gain from this was something else.
What was important today was how I could utilize the material of ‘Vertium’s doll with my brother’s body.’
Even just telling the truth as it was would create a stimulating topic that would attract people’s attention.
So, there was no need to mix in any lies.
“And he was definitely…”
I took the first step to completely cut off the dead Lant from the Agriche I would lead in the future.
“My brother Asil, who was disposed of and killed at the age of fifteen.”
People stirred at the expression using an unfamiliar word.
“Disposed of?”
“Yes.”
Richel frowned and asked.
I answered calmly, and my half-siblings behind me stopped moving, inhaling sharply as if they didn’t expect me to bring up this story.
“In Agriche…”
I felt the fluctuating air, closed my eyes for a long moment, and then continued.
“There was a custom of labeling children who didn’t please the head as defective and executing them.”
The assembly hall became noisier than before.
A chaotic mix of horrified murmurs and breaths echoed in my ears.
“Defective? Execution?”
“Yes.”
Hiaqin Hyperion also seemed unable to imagine such a thing, confirming in a shrill voice.
Badrisa was staring at me like someone who had lost their voice.
“In our generation, a total of six siblings were sentenced to death by our father for that reason. My brother Asil was one of them.”
“Huh…”
Some people had expressions that made it hard to believe because it was such an absurd story.
But looking at the faces of the Agriche people, which were as hard as ice walls, no one dared to ask if what I had said was a lie.
“Generally, we don’t make graves for siblings who are disposed of and killed.”
I continued in a calm voice.
“It’s common to take the bodies to monster habitats on the border or throw them into monster breeding grounds within the family to be used as food.”
“Wait, wait…”
Hiaqin Hyperion repeatedly looked like he was doubting his ears and interrupted me.
“Are you saying Lant really killed six of his own children?”
“Yes.”
“And he threw the bodies to monsters?”
I lowered my gaze and answered.
“All the children who fell out of favor with our father ended up like that.”
There was no need to mention the fact that they had to take monthly evaluations to be disposed of, or the content of those tests.
It wasn’t good to let others know what they learned after being born in Agriche.
If they knew too much, they would consider us dangerous and be wary of us.
“In the case of my brother Asil, my father didn’t like his weak personality.”
But that doesn’t mean I’m lying.
“He also couldn’t stand us disagreeing with his opinions.”
I was just showing the rest of the truth contained in the vessel. Although there were quite a few parts that were removed in unseen places.
“Just for those reasons, he killed his own children…”
“Our father…”
I made a pitiful expression and slightly parted my lips.
“He was someone who could kill his children for those reasons.”
Now, even Hiaqin Hyperion had a completely speechless face.
He knew Lant Agriche, so he wouldn’t be able to deny my words.
Badrisa was staring at Jeremy as if she had realized something.
She was recalling what Jeremy had said when they met for the deal and seemed to truly understand its meaning now.
Now, she couldn’t help but look at us with pity.
“But I never imagined that my father would even use the bodies of his dead children and hand them over to Vertium as test subjects.”
I lowered my eyelids slightly to make a vulnerable face.
“So, when I saw my dead brother’s doll at Vertium and then heard the story directly from the head of the Imperial Family…”
Then, I stopped speaking as if something was welling up inside, and bit my lip tightly. I could hear sighs coming from all over.
Jeremy, next to me, said in a voice as pitiful as mine.
“Sister… You can stop if it’s too hard.”
“I’m okay.”
I smiled faintly and gently covered Jeremy’s hand that was holding my arm.
Then, I took a deep breath and said.
“The head of the Imperial Family named me ‘Luna’ and suggested that I live with him at Vertium. When I refused, he pretended to use my brother’s doll to coax me and tried to poison me. When that failed, he tried to kill me to get my body.”
There was no end to the shock among the audience.
They seemed to be sympathizing with me, then horrified once again by Noel Vertium’s atrocities, and shocked.
“I think if I hadn’t been lucky enough to receive help at that time, I would have ended up in the same situation as my brother.”
Saying that, I met Cassis’s gaze.
He was also staring at me with a stiff face.
He roughly knew the situation of Agriche, but I had never spoken directly about it in front of him like this.
Perhaps that’s why Cassis was making a cold, frozen expression, no less than the others.
“Oh, this is really…”
The heads of the families were at a loss for words, as if they didn’t know how to resolve this matter.
They were clearly surprised to learn that the matter at Vertium was more serious than they thought, and they were also surprised to hear about Agriche’s internal affairs.
Not only the heads of the families but also the others were the same.
In fact, a psychological factor must have been a big part of why they took the Vertium matter so seriously.
As for me, who deliberately brought up the story about Asil first, aiming for that, it was a welcome thing.
Of course, even if I did this, there would be people who wouldn’t believe me and would doubt me.
But it was clear that even they wouldn’t be able to forget what they had heard with their own ears in this place.
For now, that was enough.
“For now… let’s end today’s hearing here.”
In the end, the conclusion was that today’s meeting would be adjourned as it was.
Since Noel Vertium, the person who should be asked about the facts, was not present, they couldn’t drag the story out any longer.
Above all, everyone in this place was embarrassed and confused.
On the other hand, I was feeling something similar to relief at having revealed some of Lant Agriche’s inhumane actions in front of others.
After the heads of the families announced that today’s hearing was over, I got up from my seat and headed for the door with Jeremy’s escort.
The people from the other families watched our figures quietly, without moving from their seats until all the Agriche people had left.
I predicted that the way people looked at Agriche would be slightly different from what it had been until now.
Perhaps it would gradually change little by little in the future.
Until the dirty stains smeared all over Agriche’s signboard disappeared into the obscurity along with the dead Lant Agriche.
I took Jeremy’s hand and left through the door, just like when I first entered the assembly hall.