Chapter 180: Chapter 180. Lie For Lie, Part VI
Translator: Khan
Editor Group: Liber Reverie
Mielle, who had fallen and been transported, did not return to the mansion. Maybe she took a rest in the hospital. She might not have the courage to return to the mansion where Aria was.
Moreover, because Cain did not return, Aria was able to rest in the mansion and go to court the next day after rea.s.suring the Countess, riding in the unexpected carriage of Asher.
“… Mr. Asher? How did you come here…?” Aria, facing Asher, who was savoring tea in the garden with great ease, could not keep her word to the end in embarra.s.sment.
Asher answered her question with a gentle smile, “I’m here to meet you.”
The maid next to her was trembling in a pale face.
‘Oh, my G.o.d. Is it OK for the Crown Prince to show his face to such a trifle? You’re even drinking tea without saying anything.’
Aria had no idea that he had arrived until she left the house after preparing if he had told the servants and maids not to tell what he had arrived.
“How do you do your job?”
“There’s nothing urgent.”
Asher rose as he shook his seat. Then he reached out to Aria.
The leisurely figure gave Aria a small laugh. She was not seen as someone who had been framed and went to court to get a verdict. So the servants and maids, who had been worrying about Aria with open eyes all night, could feel a little relieved when they saw her smiling.
“Shall we go?”
At the urging of Asher, Aria held his hand. Then, she headed to the court in a very large, colorful carriage with the seal of the imperial family which seemed to have been deliberately prepared. Perhaps the Crown Prince was around her, so the guards followed her from a little distance.
She could see people with their eyes wide open and their heads bent toward the carriage at every pa.s.sing street. Without having to explain, it was clear that they would look at where the wagon was headed and a.s.sumed that it was the Crown Prince’s carriage carrying Aria.
‘Don’t tell me you’re going to show off on purpose…?’
It was the same when he had visited the mansion of the county family last time, but it was a man who tried to show off in a really strange place. Then Aria narrowed her eyes and stared at him, and he asked again, “Why? Is there anything wrong?”
“No, it’s just…”
She did that because everything was cute; his neat face, his hand that held her hand, and his curious eyes. Besides, he was trying to show off his relationship with her, none other than shown.
Her heart tickled for nothing because he looked just like a man of his age. When Aria had been that age, she had never felt it. Aria touched her heart because of the feeling that she could only feel back in time.
“Lady Aria…? Are you sick?”
When he asked her with a worried look, Aria smiled a little and nodded her head.
“I think so. Sometimes when I chat with you, I’ve felt my heart is strange.”
Her heart is strange…! What is that…? Asher was about to turn the wagon, startled, but he could understand what Aria meant.
“…!”
Asher opened his eyes wide and covered his mouth with his palm. As she looked at the redness of his earlobes. Nevertheless, his gaze was still facing to Aria’s eyes. Aria also faced Asher’s gaze.
They were different from the men who had been always drunk with alcohol and drugs. But the slight shaking eyes seemed to represent the heart of Asher.
He looked at Aria so still without a word for a long time, but breathed a deep sigh and shook his head. It was like he was liberated.
“… You always embarra.s.s me unexpectedly.”
“I didn’t mean to make fun of you.”
This was not to say that she had not expected such a reaction. She had expected that he would be embarra.s.sed with his ears flushed, as usual. Whenever she saw him, she felt Asher took care of her and that her heart was full.
Moreover, he did not know she was so calculating and sn.o.bbish, but she wanted to see Asher, who paid attention to every word and responded to them, and his eyes that only looked at one person.
“… That’s why it’s so troublesome every time.”
Not knowing what she had in mind, he washed his dry face and spoke his mind. It was as if he could not do something insidious yet to the young Aria. However, it was Aria that was really insidious.
“I don’t know why you’re having a hard time. Did I do something wrong?”
He stared at Aria’s clear eyes, as she answered, but he held his fists, avoiding her eyes, and started acting strangely. While she watched him with a deep gulp of laughter, the carriage reached the court.
There were a lot of people in front of them who couldn’t even enter the courtroom if they had heard the rumor. Some of them were familiar faces. They were the businessmen and their wives who had been invested by Aria.
Whereas in the past, there had been only those who had wanted to curse her and her death, there were so many people now who were worried about her wherever she went. She thought it was like a dream.
“Lady Aria…!”
“Thank you for coming here, if you’re busy.”
Aria, who answered and told them not to worry, entered the courtroom under the escort of Asher.
“… I’m surprised that she has arrived in advance.”
Cain and Mielle were inside already. The young ladies, who had filled her back, were all gone, and they sat alone in desolation. Of course, her expression was propped up by evil. The perjury ladies were far away.
“I’m sure the guards urged her. They couldn’t have done that to you, because I visited you myself.”
“Ah…”
Cain, who put Mielle in a feeble state on his shoulder, frowned at Aria coming in with the Crown Prince. Mielle also gave a look of exhilaration. ‘How dare the Crown Prince be you?’
Asher also paused in a bad mood after finding them. Aria leaned her head on his shoulder, sticking to the side of Asher, making Cain feel uncomfortable, as Cain’s behavior was foolish. And Asher trembled his body, surprised.
Nevertheless, he didn’t avoid their eyes but gritted his teeth. He was the eldest son of Count Roscent, as expected. His sister might soon be severely punished, but he was only interested in a woman. ‘Isn’t it just like his father?’
Perhaps his interest in taking over the county family on behalf of the fallen Count was no longer Mielle. His purpose from the beginning was to dominate the county family and wield it at will. Rather, he might think about how to pressure Aria and punish her in the future.
‘Or maybe he’d prepared something else to save his sister.’
Even after remaining in the seat, she looked friendly with Asher by touching the back of his hand without fear, fixing his collar, and removing dust from his hair. Eventually, before Cain turned his eyes, Asher seized Aria’s hand.
“… Stop.”
Aria sat up when she realized that his condition was serious at the voice of Asher.
‘Oh, my G.o.d, what am I doing now?’
As soon as she realized that her opponent was Asher, her face was about to burst with embarra.s.sment. Frey came into the courtroom in good timing as she rolled her eyes over how to deal with it.
Aria missed the timing of her apology and was wary. Asher, who responded to Aria, briefly clicked his tongue and sighed. He seemed to think Aria was a very innocent woman, so it was an act of innocence that came out of it.
In the meantime, Frey, who saw the two in a strange mood, smiled a moment, then broke through the silence and opened her mouth. “I think you’re tired because there have been two consecutive trials. That’s why I’d better make a decision right away.”
She pulled out some papers, stretched them out and looked at them in detail, then stared back at the front.
“First of all, Roscent Aria, who was accused by the family of Count Roscent… I hereby p.r.o.nounce that she is innocent.”
It was a natural result, but she was a little relieved.
This was all thanks to Asher. ‘What would have happened if it hadn’t been for him?’ As soon as she had forgotten the shame and looked at him, he had a subtle smile, gazing at Aria.
Frey spoke without having time to share the joy, “After checking the evidence, I found that the doc.u.ments submitted by Lady Aria were all true and that she could not commit the crime because there were many witnesses who had seen her and the Crown Prince. So, Mielle, Median, and Wendy are automatically convicted of perjury.”