EID Chapter 105

The Britt royal family had no intention of handing over Princess Anneblyn so easily.

Rumors began to circulate that Crown Prince Alex was holding secret meetings with the judges. It was called “secret,” but since the news had even reached Royal Park Street near the capital, it was more appropriate to view it as psychological pressure.

Although the only witness who could testify to the princess’s crime, Angela Birkin, was in Johann’s hands, she would be useless if Anneblyn was not indicted in the first place.

So, it would be a difficult fight.

“It’s likely.”

Johann’s voice, as he answered Olivia’s question about the possibility of an indictment, was as calm as the autumn sunlight gathered on the teacup.

It was either overly relaxed or arrogant. His attitude made the very worried Olivia feel ridiculous.

“Prosecutor Casen Cloud will be in charge of this case.”

Olivia stared at the man with slightly wide eyes.

She was the party involved in this case, so why was she hearing the details from this man?

Then, remembering that he was also the one who had filed the lawsuit, she decided to understand this awkward situation.

“It’s just a formality, but there will be a police investigation tomorrow.”

“Ah… Yes.”

Olivia nodded calmly.

“I will accompany you.”

“No!”

Olivia shouted instinctively.

With rumors of a feud with Edgar circulating because she had left the Lancelot Hotel after the press conference instead of staying there, accompanying her ex-husband to a police investigation was a dizzying thought.

“There’s no need for that. I’ll go by myself.”

Olivia said coolly, trying to maintain her composure.

Johann just looked down at the sunlight that had deeply penetrated the table.

Olivia, who was getting anxious from the man’s lack of reaction, repeated her point.

“I’ll go by myself, so you don’t have to worry about it. Do you understand?”

Johann still didn’t answer.

His gaze was fixed on the picture frame on the side table next to the table. It was a picture of a sleek-looking man with thick thighs exposed below his shorts, laughing vulgarly.

‘…Even if I have nowhere to go. …I don’t want… you.’

Johann slowly scanned the house. For a typical Britt-style townhouse, it was quite fancy.

There was nothing he liked about it, but thinking about his grandmother, who had ambushed Winston at the worst possible time, he couldn’t think of any other immediate alternative.

At a time when a crucial trial was ahead, any unnecessary emotional consumption was unneeded. Nevertheless, what was bothering him was still bothering him.

Was his name Russell Junior?

“Did you hear me? It’s my trial. I might have to accept your help, but I want to do the parts I can on my own.”

Olivia’s voice got a little louder.

“…If you wish. Then do that.”

“From now on, I’ll check with Prosecutor Casen Cloud about anything regarding the trial.”

So don’t get involved anymore. That was the gist of what she wanted to say. And she also wanted him to leave as soon as possible. Johann looked at the woman who was drawing a heartless line with narrowed eyes.

The man’s eyes, which had subtly changed in an instant, further heightened Olivia’s anxiety.

His calm, deep eyes lingered on her with a persistent intensity, as if he was searching for Olivia Blanchet within her.

Pushed to her limit, Olivia finally broke the silence.

“If you have nothing more to say-”

“Did you sleep with him?”

“…”

Johann suddenly became unbearably curious. Even though he didn’t have the confidence to handle the answer.

Olivia was momentarily blank. She thought she had heard him wrong. Or maybe he was asking if she had slept well, without being disturbed, before the trial… Still, heat rushed to her face.

“With Edgar. Did you sleep with him?”

Silence flowed.

His neatly combed platinum hair absorbed the transparent autumn sunlight. His grey eyes, which held that color, were as empty as a dry winter field.

Olivia’s face became increasingly red from the unbearable shame. And after shame came displeasure.

“Please, just leave.”

A cold voice rang out sharply in the silence.

Edgar had officially stepped down from his position at the forefront of Lancelot Company.

The decision to give up everything was clearly his choice, but the way things were going, it was closer to him being kicked out.

Of course, he hadn’t expected the Duke’s way of disowning his son to be gentle.

“Even so. This quickly… Isn’t this just too much?”

Gerard was miserable at the unbelievable reality.

The only thing left for Edgar was the Lancelot Hotel, where he was the largest shareholder. Considering what he had once held in his hands, he was as good as broke.

This was all because of that woman, Olivia Blanchet.

Gerard was so frustrated that he picked up Edgar’s nameplate to put it in a box, but then he slammed it back down.

The transparent crystal passed through the midday sunlight, scattering various colors on the desk.

If he had at least gotten the woman he wanted, Gerard’s heart wouldn’t have been so black and scorched.

He heard she was at her ex-husband’s house. He shook his head and sighed.

He had wondered what kind of great love he was giving up everything for, but now the woman was gone, his honor was gone, his power was gone… Everything was gone. Everything was gone. The anger boiled up inside him again.

“I can hear everything, Gerard.”

Edgar, who had finished signing the last document containing the oath not to leak company secrets to competitors with elegant handwriting, laughed blandly.

He was relaxed even in his moment of downfall.

“Don’t you feel wronged? Who grew this company to this size? My heart is broken, and I can’t leave. I can’t go.”

“I see. Then you can stay, Gerard. You’re my father’s man anyway, aren’t you?”

Gerard’s face turned red.

Edgar, who had been looking at the oath without any emotion, laughed cheekily and that was that.

Edgar got up from his seat.

On the desk, which was not yet fully organized, was a box of cigars he enjoyed.

Edgar put a cigar, whose end was neatly cut with a cutter, in his mouth and briefly scanned the CEO’s office of the Lancelot headquarters.

It was a truly heartless farewell without a proper retirement procedure. A mere low-level employee wouldn’t be thrown out like a useless, discarded item.

“Why don’t you go and apologize to the Duke now, Young Master?”

Gerard, looking ashamed, cautiously spoke to him, but Edgar turned toward the window without a word.

The Lytton city center was visible at a glance under the clear autumn sky.

An apology, huh.

His cheeks, which were taking in the cigar smoke, caved in. White smoke billowed from his slightly tilted lips.

The one he had to apologize to was Olivia, not the Duke.

‘I… regret loving you.’

Her face, which he had last seen, remained in his mind like the lingering image of the moonlight.

Her weak voice, which had said goodbye without shedding the tears that filled her reddened eyes, lingered in his ears more clearly than the bell of the clock tower announcing noon.

“They say no parent can beat their child. Let’s go and beg. We can’t lose everything like this, can we?”

Gerard’s voice erased the hallucination.

He was right.

He couldn’t lose everything like this.

“She’ll still hate me a lot.”

Edgar said calmly, flicking the long ash onto the floor.

“Of course she will. But time will heal everything if you keep begging for her forgiveness. That’s what the relationship between a parent and child is all about, a bond made by nature. Of course.”

Edgar nodded briefly, agreeing with Gerard’s opinion.

Because with time, the hatred would also be diluted.

He hoped the woman’s heart, which had hardened so much that not even a needle could get in, would soften. Begging on his knees for her forgiveness would come after that.

It wasn’t time yet.

The morning of fate dawned.

“Princess Anneblyn on the verge of a lifetime crisis, which way will the scales of Justitia tip?”

Today was a historic day that would decide whether to indict Princess Anneblyn for the so-called “ghost incident” and whether she would have to appear in court.

The world’s attention was on the Britt Supreme Court.

From early morning, the area in front of the Supreme Court was packed with reporters and crowds of onlookers.

Every time a carriage carrying a judge arrived, camera flashes went off loudly, and reporters shouted.

“What do you think will happen? Do you think the princess will be indicted?”

“Grand Justiciar Carlos, just one word, please!”

Carlos and the other judges walked up the grand stairs with solemn expressions, remaining silent, and disappeared into the Supreme Court building, which resembled an ancient temple.

The onlookers murmured.

“Whose side do you think the court will take?”

“What are you asking? Do you think they’ll take the side of a Londos bastard when they live on Britt’s payroll?”

“She’s going to be disgraced and thrown out for good this time. If there’s a kind country that would accept a woman who slandered a royal, that is.”

“But if the crime is, by any chance, true-”

“Don’t even say such a thing. How could it be true? We’ve watched the princess since she was born. Since she did this to such an angelic person, that woman should prepare for the worst.”

Amidst the people’s murmuring, the camera flashes flickered again.

The head of the Britt Supreme Court with absolute authority.

The carriage carrying Grand Justiciar Peter Nigel was slowly gliding through the crowd.

Peter Nigel and the judges, who were heading toward the grand courtroom, stopped in the middle of the Supreme Court building’s lobby.

As the sunlight from the corridors poured in through the large windows, the statue of the goddess of justice, with her eyes covered by a cloth, a sharply honed sword in one hand, and a scale in the other, stood majestically before them.

The judges bowed solemnly to the pure white statue of Justitia and then entered the grand courtroom.

As the magnificent door of the grand courtroom, which had a detailed carving of a scene from the Last Judgment, was firmly closed, a heavy silence fell over the Supreme Court.