Chapter 48.1

Chapter 48 – Part 1

Marquis Chester’s decision surprised everyone. Lennon was his only younger brother, so everyone thought that he would protect him.

But on the contrary, out of all the people there, the marquis was the one who was taking Lennon’s punishment more seriously.

I heard that this was what Marquis Chester said:

‘My crude younger brother has been the cause of such great trouble in our Empire’s high society. I would like to extend my deepest and sincerest apologies to Duchess Valentino, who is not here. And to you, Duke Valentino, I apologize immensely. I am ashamed to have let this go on.’

Then, he sincerely apologized to Father, Owen and Hessen for causing their precious daughter and younger sister to have been placed in such a quandary.

Precious daughter and younger sister, hah… Never mind that joke.

‘I would like to take this opportunity to hand down a strong, fitting punishment for my younger brother.’

Lennon Chester was a lout who answered to no one, but it seemed as if his older brother, Hillery Chester, was not that kind of man.

Indeed, he had always been a mysterious man who kept to himself most of the time, and he had never caused a problem before.

In any case, that’s how Lennon and Florentine were sent to prison—albeit, one that’s reserved for nobles—at the dungeon of the imperial palace. And, they were sentenced to fifteen and five years, respectively, of penal servitude.

During the duration of their imprisonment, their aristocratic peerage would be stripped away, their hair cut short, and their eyebrows completely shaved. This was the rule that’s mandatory across men and women of all ages.

But in the case of Florentine… Her family, the Esner Marquisate, intended to appeal her verdict. They did not want to accept the result of this trial, and they did various things to try and get Florentine out of prison.

They weren’t successful in completely overturning her verdict, but they managed to lessen the sentence she must serve. Instead of a full five years of penal servitude, it would only be one year of penal servitude and four years of probation.

Well… Even if they didn’t do that, Florentine’s life as an aristocratic lady in high society was almost completely over.

Because no one at all would recognize her as a lady.

And in Lennon’s case, no amount of appeals would have been able to lessen his sentence.

This meant that he would have to fulfill all fifteen years of his sentence.

After fifteen years in prison while doing hard labor, he could basically be crippled. The labor would be extremely difficult on his body, and life in prison was bound to ruin his mind.

Good.

That scoundrel, Lennon Chester, who didn’t even know his place. I can’t wait to see how much of a wreck he’d turn out to be.

…That is, if I’m still alive by then.

“Madam, Milord came back just now!”

Charlotte’s voice pulled me out of my reverie.

As that train of thought stopped, I smiled softly as I turned to look behind me, at Charlotte.

“Really? Then I should go out to meet him.”

“Yes, yes, please go ahead. You can hear more about the trial!”

Charlotte was a lot more excited than I was.

Charlotte had been as angry as Theodore when she heard about Lennon and Florentine’s misdeed. She even said that those two should be sent straight to hell and receive all sorts of abuse and punishment dozens upon dozens of times. Her dark expression lightened up only after she heard their guilty verdicts.

In particular, Charlotte had been terribly appalled by Lennon. Every time she uttered the name with her mouth, a clear look of disgust would distort her expression.

“That scoundrel will have his head and eyebrows completely shaved just like a slave. Serves him right!”

Charlotte said all this without hesitation, but soon stopped herself while saying, “Oh, I gotta watch my mouth. Nice words, nice words.”

Even so, she giggled all the same.

With a small smile on my lips as I watched Charlotte, I soon stepped through the open door.

What a refreshing feeling.

* * *

A few days later—

Theodore’s continuous rebuffs were getting quite difficult.

“…Isn’t it just a simple thank you?”

“It’s alright to just do it in my name. You don’t have to sign it with yours.”

What in the world was that logic?

What he’s been continuously rejecting was my expression of gratitude to Zen Delacroix, who had helped me at the greenhouse and even stood at the witness stand during the trial.

It’s only natural to thank him for that.

However, Theodore remained stubborn, saying that a ‘personal thanks’ was not needed. There was no logic to any of the reasons he’s giving me either.

“Then give me a plausible reason as to why I should not do it personally. If it’s incomprehensible, then I shall dismiss your objection.”

“……”

Hearing my firm declaration, Theodore reacted with an uncharacteristically pitiful expression on his face.

…For a moment, I could only gape with astonishment.

Has this man… gone mad?

“Lily… I’m much, much too embarrassed to say something like that out loud.”

His voice sounded equally pitiful, to the point that it sounded made up.

I stared at him pointedly and frowned.

“You, connecting to Zen Delacroix in any way at all… I just hate it.”

“……?”

“That man…”

Letting out a sigh, Theodore’s brows knitted together as if he was annoyed just thinking about the other man. Then, he continued.

“Zen Delacroix has feelings for you.”

“……”

“The kind of feelings that a man has for a woman.”

——