CH 156

After Dietrich placed the two documents on the table so that they could be seen by everyone, he turned around and spoke to the audience as he spread out his hands.

“Well then, everyone…….. a suspect who entered without permission disguised as a ‘delivery person,’ stole the recipe for pudding that was so popular among the nobles, and did away with the Hexen White Porcelain as well, but they would not immediately start openly selling pudding in town the next day, would they?”

Dietrich’s words made everyone go, “? ? ?”, unsure of what he meant. They wonder just what sort of causal relationship Dietrich is trying to connect.

“Hmm…… don’t you understand?” Dietrich said. “To produce anything, you need manpower and materials to make the products, don’t you? Can you make something in an instant? I can’t name the main ingredients of pudding, but it’s not something that can be prepared so easily. You know this, yes? What should the craftsmen do? It’s not something that you can suddenly make overnight, can you?”

“Now that he mentions it…”

“I see…”

Having never made anything before, they didn’t realize that. They didn’t think they were being inconsistent, as they were only thinking about the logic of the facts presented.

Certainly, at first glance, it seems sensible that the suspects started selling the stolen recipe the next day because they knew the manufacturing method. However, the craftsmen who make the product must be taught it and practice how to make them, and the materials must be prepared in order to make enough quantity to withstand the demand.

It might have been possible if it was made with only materials that are sold everywhere. However, even if you think about it briefly, sugar will be used in the pudding. No matter how much the price drops and the distribution volume increases, nobody thinks they can buy the incredible amounts of sugar you’d need between the time you learned you needed it and the time you sold it to market the next morning.

It may be possible to think that since it is a trading firm, there is inventory in stores and warehouses… but if that is the case, it would be impossible unless it is a trading company that usually buys large quantities and is involved in distribution. Also, if you divert so much at once, the interruption of supply lines will be made obvious somewhere. Sugar sales and distribution have not had it happen.

In that case, what they can assume is they had prepared in advance. They didn’t suddenly start selling it the day after they discovered the recipe, but because it had already been created, they started selling it the day after. It was just a coincidence that it was debuted at the evening party, or that was the intention from the beginning… or so they reason.

“To begin with, are you going to take the sweets you stole from someone the night before, and start selling them on a large scale the day after? Do you dare stand out like that the day after you’ve also stolen so much Hexen White Porcelain?” Dietrich asked. “If I were you, I would have taken the tableware and fled the Royal Capital as if it were Hell itself.”

“Mm…”

“Hmm…”

Alto thought to himself, “Oh no!” Clearly, the audience is becoming more inclined to the defense. It would be bad if he let Dietrich keep talking.

“Please wait,” Alto said. “His Excellency Dietrich’s words are nothing more than a hypothesis. If you are as intelligent as him, you may think this far, but would a shallow and foolish person think that much about their plan?”

“Hmm…?”

The reaction of the audience to Alto’s painfully forced opinion was not good enough. That’s right. Rather than sticking to the meager sales of the firm and staying in the royal capital forever, it would be better to take the Hexen White Porcelain you’d also stolen, head to some other local city, and gradually sell off your ill-gotten stock.

No matter how many dozens or even hundreds of them are sold at the same place, people will soon find out that it’s quite unusual. Therefore, it is better to pretend to be a peddler and sell them little by little while moving from place to place. Anyone who runs a business would be able to come up with something like that.

“I see, I see,” Dietrich said. “Well then, let’s clear up the infringement on the pudding patent first. I’ll talk about the Hexen tableware after we have the rest of House Bayen’s pieces,” he said as the audience turned back from Alto.

“At the party that everyone attended, crepes were served in addition to pudding. Everyone agrees on that. Moving on, both these crepes and pudding are sold by the same company. Now then…” Dietrich said, bringing his face closer to the audience, “who prepared and provided the pudding and crepes served at the evening party?”

“…… Huh?” the noble sitting at the front row said, dumbfounded. “It’s a party at Duke Bayen’s home, so House Bayen’s Servants??”

“Oh, dear?” Dietrich said. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear? That is what you’d think. But how did House Bayen’s servants prepare the crepes? Crepes are only sold at the Crepe Cafe. No one knows how to make them. No, even if you knew the recipe, no one would be able to collect the same amount of ingredients. Yes, even if you didn’t care about the selling price and didn’t care about the profit!” Dietrich said, bringing his face closer and closer.

“-!” the nobleman could only silently gasp.

There was a slight roar from the audience seats.

“The crepe was made and served by the company that runs the crepe cafe,” Dietrich said. “And the pudding was served along with the crepes prepared by the Crepe Cafe. So~oo, in. Other. Words. It was the Crepe Cafe’s parent company that made pudding.”

Everyone listens attentively to Dietrich’s theatrical and impassioned speech. Alto was already at his limit.

“I protest that this is all bullshit!” Alto yelled. “The crepes and pudding were prepared by our chefs! Not by that company!”

BANG! Alto slammed his desk and stood up, shouting and pointing at the people standing in the defendant’s box.

“Is that so?” Dietrich said with a nasty grin. “Then please prepare pudding and crepes for us now.”

“………… Huh?” Alto said before he could only stare.

“Oh, dear?” Dietrich said. “Did you not hear me? Then please, prepare the pudding and crepes for us now.”

“Wha-What are you…?” Alto stumbled.

He doesn’t have the momentum he did earlier. There was only an older man’s paling face.

“What’s wrong?” Dietrich asked. “The crepes and pudding were prepared by your House Servants, yes? You have applied for a patent for the latter, right? If so, please start making them here now. Oh, don’t buy them from somewhere else. I will specify the vessel with which they will be served. Please make them and serve them in the Hexen White Porcelain vessel used at the evening party. How long will it take? How many minutes will we have to be patient? Well? What’s wrong? Come now!”

“Uh… ah…” Alto stammered, “th-the cook that made the pudding is, no longer here… uh…”

His voice had faded to the point where you couldn’t make out what he was saying. Still, Dietrich continues his pursuit.

“It doesn’t have to be made by the same person as the day before, yes? It’s been patented,” Dietrich said. “Do you know the recipe? Anyone can do it with that. I don’t care if you have to cook it yourself, I don’t care about the taste or the result, okay? I only wish to know the cooking method is followed properly. You just need to prove you know it, are we clear? Now then? When will it be ready? How long do you want me to wait?”

“………………”

In his complete silence, Alto told everything. The audience already has an answer. But Dietrich didn’t stop there.

“Shall I tell you one more thing?” Dietrich said. “13 days before Miss Helene’s evening party, that is, the day after the soiree hosted by Second Queen Amelie, His Majesty Wilhelm and I were presented with new sweets at a certain place. King Wilhelm and I both took more of it home and treated it to our families as well, so the Royal Family of Ploiss, the family of Duke Kreff, and the Daughter of House Greif who is staying at the royal castle all tasted this new sweet that night.”

Though the sudden reveal made the audience a little noisy, Dietrich continued:

“Furthermore, the next day, 12 days before Lady Helene’s evening party, the person who made the sweets entered the castle in person, demonstrated the cooking method at the royal castle and presented the sweets again to the members of the royal family who were there at the time. And the court cooks who were taught the recipe and process then are already able to cook those sweets by themselves.”

The noise in the audience seats gradually increased. Everyone knows it now.

“And this is a sealed document of the two documents I submitted earlier….” Dietrich said. “This is the patent document regarding the manufacturing method of a certain sweet that was submitted to the Patent Office, 6 days before Lady Helene’s evening party. This sweet has been christened… Pudding. Yes, a patent for pudding had already been approved before Lord Alto filed his application.”

The noise in the audience seats reaches its climax.

“And then… 4 days before Lady Helene’s evening party is when Duke Alto claimed to have entered the royal castle and then the Patent Office… but there is no record of him coming to the castle,” Dietrich said. “3 days after the soiree, Duke Alto’s patent application was forged.”

The courtroom suddenly falls silent. It was as if the buzz earlier had never happened.

“Viscount Hermann Herlitz, an official of the Patent Office, has already been arrested and has admitted to forging documents at Duke Alto’s orders,” Dietrich said. “Bring Hermann in.”

When Dietrich gave the signal, Hermann went from waiting outside the court to entering the room. He was bound by rope and completely treated as completely guilty.

“Hermann, you forged the date on this patent application at the request of Duke Alto. Is that correct?” Dietrich asked.

“Yes… there is no doubt…” Hermann said.

“Hermann, you bastard!” Alto cried, breaking his silence and yelling again.. “Who ordered you to do this?! This is a conspiracy to undermine me!”

But no one believes Alto anymore.

“Then yet one more thing,” Dietrich said. “This is Duke Alto’s patent application, but it is presumed that nothing is written inside. Your Majesty, please allow me to open this sealed document.”

“This time it can be evidence of an important case,” Wilhelm said. “Therefore, I authorize you to open the sealed letter in the name of Wilhelm von Ploiss.”

“Sire! Thank you very much,” Dietrich said.

Normally, no matter what happens, it is not allowed to open without permission. However, by the Authority of the King, it was declared a special case to open and use as evidence in a trial. No one objected to that.

“St-Stop, don’t~~~~~….!” Alto cried in vain.

But, his application was unsealed, and they were blank but for the name “Pudding.” Other than his signature and the alleged product, there is nothing.

“Please take a look,” Dietrich said. “The document that Duke Alto submitted as a piece of evidence does not contain any manufacturing method. This is a clear criminal act of registering only the name for the time being and stealing the rights of the true inventors of pudding.”

As the almost blank document was exposed under the bright sunlight, Alto almost collapsed in his chair. After that, Hermann’s testimony continued, revealing the guilt of Alto and Hermann, but Alto no longer made a fuss and just stared at the proceedings with dead eyes.

“Oh, dear? It looks like it’s finally arrived, as well,” Dietrich said. “Everyone, it seems that House Bayen’s Hexen White Porcelain has arrived. Next, let’s clean up the matter about this accusation of theft. First, lay them out here, please.”

The tableware from the Bayen Residence is carefully arranged. There were as many as 40 of them, including different types of tableware and cups. Just having 40 pieces of Hexen White Porcelain is expected of a duke who has such a large territory.

“Everyone, did you know that with Hexen White Porcelain, each plate and cup can be distinguished from another?” Dietrich asked.

“Huh?”

The audience was noisy again. No one knew that. It was inevitable. It was so cleverly hidden that no one could tell…

“I didn’t know until I heard from the distributor who was involved in this case, but…” Dietrich said, “I was told that Hexen White Porcelain has a serial number engraved on the backs of each piece, hidden in the patterns. Can you see it? This is the series. It is what makes this a one-of-a-kind piece of tableware, with no two items with the same serial number.”

And with that, Dietrich presents several plates that are different from those of House Bayen. There was certainly some kind of symbol or number written in the art. The series on the plates were consecutive numbers, and no two codes were the same.

“And Caanza Trading Firm, the official distributor of Hexen White Porcelain, seems to have records of the production numbers of all pieces of Hexen White Porcelain alongside the first person who bought them,” Dietrich said. “Here is another document. The types and serial numbers of the pieces sold to House Bayen are written in it.”

“Wha…?!” Alto gasped.

After sinking as if he had lost all signs of life, Alto raised his head again at this evidence exhibit and looked startled to discover it existed.

“Originally, sales records like this are information that should be kept secret for each House. But this time, the plates were alleged stolen, so they are relevant to the trial,” Dietrich said. “Your Majesty, may I release this information to the public?”

“You have my permission,” Wilhelm said, ignoring House Bayen’s consent.

But no one can dispute it.

“Then let’s unseal it,” Dietrich said. “The Hexen White Porcelain that house Bayen has already purchased are ‘large plates’, ‘small plates’, ‘teacups’ and ‘teacup set saucers’, 10 of each. And here are their serial numbers. Please make sure the prosecution and the court officials are certain of them, as well.”

The serial numbers on the exhibits and the documents opened matched, they were House Bayen’s. It all lined up perfectly.

“Yes, are we certain now?” Dietrich said. “As you can see, Caanza has a record of whoever is the first buyer of all the Hexen White Porcelain pieces it sells. Of course, we can’t know about subsequent owners if they resell these pieces without Caanza’s knowledge. Now then… according to this, Duke Bayen only purchased 40 pieces of tableware, as displayed here. What happened to the rest?”

“Ugh… guh…” Alto choked as he looked down.

“You don’t mean to say you bought them through reselling so it’s not in Caanza’s records, do you?” Dietrich said.

“Yes, that’s it!” Alto said, taking the offered way out. “I bought it from someone other than Caanza. So even if the information isn’t listed there…”

But, Dietrich’s mouth only twisted into a grin.

“Houh! Houh! You said it was bought from someone other than Caanza?” Dietrich said. “Then there should be a record of the person who bought this plate from Caanza first, yes? But there is no such record anywhere. These plates were not sold to anyone!”

And when Dietrich motioned toward the door, servers entered the court with a large number of bowls, plates, and transparent glasses, all moving so beautifully and with posture so perfect you’d think they had sticks rammed up their backs. Seeing those figures, the audience and witnesses remembered something, going, “They seem familiar.”

“These were the servers at the evening party!?”

Their posture and demeanor were so elegant that even among the highest-ranking maids and waiters of the highest-ranking aristocrats, you’d be hard-pressed to find them there. That left a deep impression on the witnesses, and even if they didn’t remember all of their faces, they could definitely say that they were the people who catered to them then.

“These servers and this tableware were used on the night of the party,” Dietrich said.

With that, they can only assume that it is true. They don’t remember every single plate, every single server, but it would be impossible to collect so many similar items. So it’s reasonable to think that these are just collections of things that were used at that time.

“These are alleged to be the tableware that was stolen from Duke Alto…” Dietrich said. “But, Caanza never sold them anywhere. It is clearly reflected in their sales records.”

“Th-Then where did this tableware come from?” someone from the audience asked, breaking their silence.

Originally, the audience is only allowed to listen silently without interrupting, but since so many hear the answer, no one complains that that was against the rules.

“No matter where you ask, you’ll never get an answer, won’t you?” Dietrich replied. “Caanza, which handles everything from manufacturing to sales of Hexen White Porcelain, won’t say openly anything about where they source and how they use their products, right?”

Dietrich’s words… those who don’t understand the meaning tilt their heads. Those who knew figured it out from “the same company that made crepes and pudding” and “the company that runs the crepe cafe.”

“The company that runs both the crepe café and the store that sold pudding, the company that catered crepes and pudding at Miss Helene’s evening party, the company that prepared these servers, and the company that prepared Hexen White Porcelain and other tableware, it was all Caanza,” Dietrich said.

“”””Huh…?!”””””

The courtroom was filled with shock when Dietrich gestured with his hand to the three people who were standing in the defendant’s box.

“You’re, joking…” Alto whispered. “That… Caanza Trading Firm?”

“Oh-ho? Didn’t you know Duke Alto? Neither the prosecutor nor the judge, as well?” Dietrich said. “Goodness, gracious? You don’t even know the name of the defendant’s firm? This is strange, isn’t it… well, it’s fine. Why did Caanza lend a hand to Lady Helene’s evening party? Let the person who holds the key to all of this take to the witness stand.”

And with yet another signal, the doors opened and another witness enters the court.

As she sat next to Alto, Helene saw who they were and stood up from her seat.

“Wha…?! You’re… Christiane?!”

The young lady entered the court, sat on a slightly higher seat than Helene’s, and exchanged glances as she looked down on her.