Nine families each sent a representative.

They were seated at a large table, and my seat was close to the door.

It was Count Yellun who spoke first.

“First of all, I would like to offer my condolence for what has happened to my brother and sister-in-law.”

Then they all joined in.

A smile of contempt quietly formed on my face. 

To think that they feel sorry…

Didn’t those people leave their niece all alone without even attending her parents’ funeral?

I glanced at each and every one of them in silence.

In the eyes of the representatives looking at me, there was only a mixture of pity and disregard.

Eureia Craycia was a greenhouse flower*.

T/n: People who grew up preciously, without hardship, under their parents’ love and support are often referred to as “greenhouse flowers.”

She was a pushover who was incompetent in any academic field, including business, politics, and so on. All she could do growing up was knit.

That must have been why they did not seem the least nervous when I sent them a letter saying I would inherit the title.

They thought I was an easy girl to deal with.

“But Eureia, it is never easy to carry the family name on your shoulders. You didn’t even take a proper successor class, did you?”

Count Yellun moved his giblet-like lips.

“Then how about this? Why don’t you let this uncle take over the authority so you would not need to feel burdened? Don’t worry about the debt. I have thought it all out.”

He coaxed me as if he was luring a child with candy.

I turned to the representatives. They all looked a little dissatisfied, but no one protested.

This man must have quite some influence over them.

Count Yellun was probably the most powerful among my relatives.

“And your future will be taken care of by this uncle of yours.”

“Oh, by you? How?”

I asked innocently.

He grinned and chattered like a poacher who captured his prey.

“Well, I’m going to marry you off to a nice house. Don’t worry. I will take care of your dowry.”

“…”

“You just have to get married into a decent household and live an elegant life. All the rough work will be done by your uncle, so…”

“Oh, I see. So my uncle envisioned my best future as being someone’s wife and living quietly the rest of my life?”

“…?”

Immediately, I put away my soft smile and stared at Earl Yellun with a touch of hostility. (Earl and Count are the same)

He flinched at the sudden change of atmosphere, but I didn’t care.

He promptly raised his voice to take control of the atmosphere again.

“That’s right! You are not really thinking of succeeding the title, are you, Eureia?”

“Why not?”

“It’s because you are not capable enough!”

As if he had changed his strategy, he began to press without hesitation.

“Isn’t that so? Even if you inherit the title, what are you going to do with that much debt?!”

“…”

“The same goes for your father, my brother. He had had a lot of soft sides ever since he was young. As such, he ended up being scammed. I would never have done something like that…”

“True, my father was a very soft-hearted man. He should not have had so much trust in a person, even if it was his own brother.”

Just as Count Yellun said, Viscount Craycia was a very foolish man.

Originally, as the older brother, he had every right to inherit the title of a Count. But at the request of his younger brother, he inherited the title of Viscount instead. How foolish was that.

“…what?”

It was the moment when he asked back in confusion at my unexpected reply…Suddenly, the outside started to get noisy, and the door swung open and five or six knights rushed in.

“Wha-what is this?!”

The representatives were all baffled at the unexpected situation.

The knights’ armour was painted with the emblem of the empire.

Usually, knights wear armour engraved with the crest of the household they belonged to. However, in this case, they wore armour bearing the emblem of the Empire. That meant they didn’t belong to any particular family.

The Noble Judges.

They were outside the power range that even the imperial family could not easily interfere with.

To put it simply, they were the people who judged the high-ranking nobles. Even the imperial family would be punished if they were considered against justice.

It was an organisation established at the founding of the empire, and its members were not even known by the public. Unlike regular judges that could be found in courts, their work was utterly confidential.

Normally, there would have to be evidence that a party had committed a great sin in order for them to make a move.

That’s why it was very rare for ‘noble judges’ to be on the move. But they had come all the way here to punish someone for their sins.

The judges’ great helm turned and went around the room once.

It turned to me, ran through the representatives, and ended up on Count Yellun.

At that, he tried to run away, but the door was blocked and he couldn’t escape.

“Count Dimaine Yellun, you are under arrest for fraudulent, embezzlement, and the murder of a relative.”

“Wha- what do you mean by…! Fraud? Murder?!”

“Fraud, siding with a close friend of my father and robbing him of his property with false information.”

I turned to make eye contact with the Count, who was brought to his knees by the judges.

His brown pupils were burning with anger.

“Murder, you killed my mother.”

“Wha-what?! When did I do that?!”

He screamed and struggled, but I looked at him coldly, unperturbed. The Count was startled by those eyes.

“The day you dropped by, my mother died. The cause of her death was sudden cardiac arrest, but they found out that someone had injected poison into the IV she was getting. And it matched the record of your purchase of the drug…”

“That-, that’s nonsense…”

“I also found a lot of letters and blackmails you wrote to my mother. You threatened countless times that you would kill her if she didn’t come to you.”

“…”

At my words, the Count was rendered speechless.

From the moment I woke up in this body, I had always questioned the death of the Viscountess.

No matter how much she suffered from the shock of losing her husband, she had no medical history, yet she had a sudden death.

It was so strange that I decided to search her room for clues. And as a result, I found an enormous number of letters that Earl Yellun had sent her long ago.

They could be interpreted as threatening letters.

If you don’t leave my older brother and come to my side, I will kill you.

I’m going to commit suicide if you don’t come to stop me.

I really love you.

I will make you regret not choosing me.

There were numerous creepy and horrifying threats like those, and I also found the IV bags that she had used until the day she passed away.

Just in case, I asked Eril if the Count often visited our mansion.

‘The Count? Um…he did not frequent that much in the past, but after the master was scammed, he came and went often. Oh, he also came on the same day that the miss’ mother died.’

Convinced by Eril’s words, I sent the IV to the research institute through Leone.

As a result, toxic substances were detected in the contents.

Tracing back to the place where the toxic substance was sold, Count Yellun was at the other end.

Since the substance was rarely used, Earl Yellun was the only one who had purchased it for the past few years.

The method was sloppy, but Count Yellun must have been at ease. Why?

“You let your guard down. Since you must have thought Eureia Craycia is stupid.”

Eureia Craycia was a weak, vulnerable woman who could not do anything on her own.

But I was different.



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