Beginning of Act 2, Part 4
I took Gunther"s advice and handed the invader over to the military police, making this into an official investigation.
I considered the fact that the invader might have disguised himself as a servant, but his clothes are quite a standard type for those serving the lower-ranked n.o.ble families. These clothes are usually custom made to order, so there"s no way a rush job could have been done just for the sake of this attack. Perhaps, knowing the high risks a.s.sociated, he wore these clothes anyways thinking it would help him achieve his goal.
But since the Ogren family"s crest was discovered sewn into the inner linings of his clothing, this can be treated as definitive evidence of Viscount Ogren plotting an attack, or even an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on me.
The next evening, the following involved parties, Viscountess Kaldia, Viscount Ogren, the presumed target of the invader, Feria Rogshia, and her father Viscount Rogshia, we were all summoned to a church located in the n.o.ble district for a trial convened by the judicial branch of the priests.
This dispute between the lower-ranked n.o.bles such as ourselves became such a huge commotion, that many other people got into an uproar as well, which caused the church to crack down upon nearly 100 illegal acts by the n.o.bles in this short time period.
For us three viscounts, there were three priests here today, including one judge priest, and they all had extremely strict expressions as they began writing the records for today"s trial.
Viscount Ogren who was basically forced to come here after falling into my trap, still appeared calm on the surface. However, the hatred in his eyes was rather unexpectedly directed in Viscount Rogshia"s direction instead of mine.
As for Viscount Rogshia, he was looking back in Viscount Ogren"s direction with a terribly cold look. I still don"t know the exact nature of their relationship, I could only feel like I was still missing some pieces of the puzzle as I glanced back and forth between them.
Well, the actual target of the attack was Feria anyways, and I"m only technically involved because Feria was staying with me at the time of the attack. While watching sparks fly between Viscounts Ogren and Rogshia, now, how exactly should I play this out today? I thought about the hectic previous four days, and mentally went over everything that happened.
The scenario we set up was that when Feria heard that her friend Eliza Kaldia had gotten sick with a fever, she came running from n.o.ble school in order to visit. Unfortunately, my illness had been contagious, and Feria came down with a fever as well. Since she was also sick, she just remained resting at my residence instead of returning to school.
That was the "reason" that I created for Feria remaining at my residence. I sent messages to both the n.o.ble school and Viscount Rogshia informing them that she was "sick."
I sent out three other messages as well that day. One was to the House of Lords, informing them that I would be absent the next day. Another one was to Earl Terejia"s residence, informing him of the current situation, my predictions for what was going to happen and letting him know about my upcoming plan. The last message was to the Kaldia domain. I summoned Ratoka, Gunther, Teo, and Rashiok to the royal capital.
"-So, when Viscountess Kaldia returned to her residence from the House of Lords, you found out that soldiers from your army staying at your residence just happened to capture an intruder."
The judge priest confirmed the situation on the day of the incident with me, and I nodded and said yes in affirmation.
"Since you were present at the House of Lords during the time of the attack, you weren"t present while the attack was taking place. It seems that most of the servants were also outside for the time being, so it"s a good thing that nothing happened to Lady Feria."
This is what the judge believes, but of course it"s all made up. Ratoka was the one present at the House of Lords, not me, and I was personally commanding at the scene itself which led to the capture of the invader.
I snuck a glance at Feria, as she knows the truth of what happened. Yes, this is good, just keep quiet without saying anything unnecessary. And if all this manages to break the engagement to the Ogrens, she can marry Cornell Freche like she wants.
"It"s time to ask you some questions, Viscount Ogren. The attacker was wearing servant clothes embroidered with the Ogren family emblem. Its authenticity has already been confirmed by our experts. It"s compelling evidence that you should also bear responsibility for this attack."
"……Indeed, the person who attacked the Kaldia residence was wearing servant clothes from my family. However, I have no recollection of ever hiring someone like that. If you check my employee ledgers in my residence, I"m sure you can find that out for yourself."
Viscount Ogren was pretending to be hurt by this accusation. "I see," said the judge. I"m actually slightly impressed that Viscount Ogren already faked some doc.u.ments in his residence, with only one day to prepare, in case of a search. Even if we search his whole house, it probably means that nothing strange will be found.
Viscount Rogshia just kept glaring nonstop at Viscount Ogren. I suppose I should give him credit for being a n.o.ble as well, he seems like a completely different person from having that gentle demeanor when I first met him.
"Besides, what reason could I possibly have for attacking my own son"s fiancée?"
"I don"t know what you tried to do to my daughter, but I can certainly think of a motive, Viscount Ogren."
At hearing Viscount Rogshia"s icy voice, Viscount Ogren"s reaction was almost comical as he took a defensive posture.
"I myself intend to file an official complaint against Viscount Ogren as well. There was a serious problem with the business that we jointly ran together - because Viscount Ogren intentionally started this issue. I"m certain that he must have been trying to threaten my daughter in order for me to not file an accusation."