Chapter 31

Trial

If someone asked Aiden how he felt about courtrooms, he would answer that they were not places he particularly enjoyed.

That was only natural for a man whose primary occupation was fraud. For him to voluntarily walk into a place like this was highly unusual.

Then again, considering how aggressively he was acting right now, perhaps it was only natural.

Noel kept glancing sideways at Aiden, who sat right beside her in the gallery. The moment he heard the Prince was attending, he had come straight to the courthouse without any of his usual hesitation or reluctance.

Unfortunately, the trial currently underway was exactly the sort of proceeding likely to make him even angrier. It was being held to determine the punishment for Sir Levant, who had previously spearheaded the attack against Katya.

“…”

There was one thing Noel deeply disliked about this situation. Both the Prince and the Minister of Administration had clearly seen her and Aiden arrive, yet neither had shown any particular reaction. It almost felt as though they had known the two of them would come—as if an elaborate trap had been prepared long before they stepped through the doors.

Noel found the entire atmosphere intensely unpleasant.

“…Mr. Aiden, are you truly all right?” she asked quietly.

There was a good reason she kept pressing the question. It might have sounded strange coming from a woman who normally charged into enemy lines on a battlefield without flinching, but Aiden looked genuinely dangerous right now.

“I’m not all right,” he replied flatly.

That answer alone confirmed Noel’s growing concern.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t even like the fact that I have to sit here and wait.”

“…”

While Noel was left momentarily speechless, Aiden glared toward the Prince, who sat on the raised judicial platform with his eyes closed. Aiden’s gaze contained a quiet, concentrated rage.

‘Sometimes, he loses his brakes entirely.’

Noel released a weary, silent sigh. She had only managed to stop him from causing a scene earlier by reminding him that interfering with an Imperial Family member during official proceedings was a severe crime—and that they had to at least wait for the trial to end.

She had noticed this trait more than once: Aiden let almost anything slide when it came to his own mistreatment, yet the moment someone targeted those close to him, he completely abandoned his restraint.

‘He’s a different gender, sure, but doesn’t he resemble Theresa quite a bit?’

The words Levant had spoken about the Lord Protector—Noel’s beloved mentor—replayed unbidden in her mind.

“…”

Without realizing it, Noel squeezed her hand into a tight fist against her thigh. She tried her best not to show it, but the terrifying encounter from the previous night still clung to her thoughts like dark soot.

‘Why?’

According to common knowledge, two strict conditions were required for a spirit to manifest physically in the world: it had to have achieved an extraordinary level of power in life, and it had to retain an intense, unresolved regret.

Theresa had returned as a ghost and attacked Noel, almost as though targeting her was the lingering attachment holding her back from passing into the afterlife.

‘Why would she do that?’

By the time Noel’s thoughts reached that dark question, she was squeezing her fist so hard that her knuckles turned stark white. Memories of that tragic night years ago surfaced in her mind—the final words Theresa had left behind as she sacrificed herself.

‘I’ll stay behind, Noel.’

‘You know it too. You’ll become someone far greater than I ever could.’

‘You have to protect the people.’

‘That’s what you were born to do.’

‘All right?’

What snapped Noel out of her downward spiral was the sudden warmth of blood trickling between her fingers. Her nails had dug so deeply into her palm that she had broken the skin.

“…”

She discreetly tucked her hand away to hide the wound and closed her eyes, taking a steady breath.

‘This is dangerous.’

She needed to maintain her composure, especially in front of the Prince and the Minister of Administration. Aiden might act recklessly at any moment, so she had to remain the grounded one.

“Therefore, on the aforementioned date, the defendants instigated a severe crisis near the Imperial Capital headquarters, and this…”

Noel glanced over and saw Aiden frowning at the Minister of Administration, who was currently speaking from the witness stand. She had to admit she completely understood his irritation.

The Minister of Administration, Rad Ilza Barfon.

He looked completely harmless on the surface with his smooth demeanor, but Noel could smell something foul beneath the facade. He was a hunter, a predator—or perhaps a venomous snake waiting to strike. There was something deeply insidious beneath his polite smile.

That impression was instantly confirmed when Rad casually shifted the direction of his speech.

“As it happens, the primary figures directly involved are present with us today.” Rad’s gaze drifted over and settled smoothly on Aiden and Noel sitting in the audience.

“…?” Noel’s brows furrowed at how naturally he pulled them into the center of the trial.

“Then perhaps I should raise an interesting subject for discussion,” Rad continued, his smile bright and theatrical. “As those of you who follow current affairs already know, a rather peculiar event occurred last night.”

Noel’s expression hardened instantly. This was clearly not a topic that belonged in a formal sentencing hearing for Levant.

“First, there was the illegal weapons-smuggling incident at the Imperial Capital docks—a grave crime involving banned Hellfire Bombs,” Rad enunciated clearly. “Then came the sudden terrorist attack inside the Imperial Capital headquarters. And just yesterday, the vengeful spirit of the Lord Protector manifested in broad daylight…”

Rad raised his hand and pointed a long finger directly at Noel. The movement was dramatic, staged, and dripping with unmistakable malice.

“Don’t all of those incidents share one single, common factor? They seem to continuously revolve around one specific person.”

Noel could agree with one thing: it certainly was a convenient line of reasoning.

She glanced around the room. The presiding judge, the defendants, the prosecution, and every spectator in the courtroom had fallen completely silent. The entire hall was focused on the Minister of Administration, as if the court were nothing more than a stage set up for his performance.

‘He’s doing this right out in the open?’ Noel stared at Rad in pure disbelief.

At this point, she finally understood why Aiden—who had never even met the man before—was glaring at him as if he wanted to tear him apart. Rad had anticipated their arrival and designed this entire spectacle specifically to ambush them.

“…What exactly are you trying to imply, Minister?” Noel asked, her voice turning icy and rigid.

Rad stroked his chin thoughtfully before speaking at a deliberate pace. “It simply appears that nearly every recent disaster in the Imperial Capital has originated somewhere near you. Curious, isn’t it? One could almost get the impression that Lionheart herself is orchestrating all this turmoil in our city. Ah, of course, I am not explicitly claiming that is true.”

Rad added a deliberately mocking smile. “Not yet, at least.”

He truly possessed a world-class talent for infuriating people.

“…In other words,” Noel stated evenly, her tone carrying far more disdain than anger, “you are suggesting that the smuggled military weapons, the daytime assault on our headquarters, and the sudden return of the Lord Protector’s spirit all happened because of me?”

“I am merely stating that there is more than enough evidence to justify a formal investigation.”

“…”

The accusation was so fundamentally absurd that Noel found it difficult to even take it seriously. It barely felt worth a response.

“I consider this claim completely irrelevant to the matter currently before the court,” she said sharply. “An accusation only holds weight when supported by lawful testimony under oath.”

“Ah, naturally.”

The Minister of Administration snapped his fingers with a sharp clack. The gesture looked exactly like a director cueing an actor who had been waiting for his mark.

“Then tell us, Sir Levant—who is lawfully seated among the defendants,” Rad commanded. “Who was truly behind the attack on the Imperial Capital headquarters?”

“…I acted directly under Lionheart’s orders,” Levant answered.

His voice was entirely flat and emotionless, yet the single sentence dropped like a falling anvil, causing nearly everyone in the room to gasp.

“And her motive?” Rad pressed smoothly.

“She resented her husband. It was a political maneuver designed to alter her standing.”

The moment Levant finished the sentence, an explosion of shocked muttering burst through the courtroom.

Those who had coordinated the plot in secret might have seen it coming, but every uninvolved official in the room wore an expression of sheer horror. This was formal testimony delivered in a high court presided over by a Prince, coming directly from a decorated veteran knight of the Empire. No matter how ridiculous the story sounded on paper, it could not simply be dismissed as a random lie.

Whether the claim was eventually proven false or not, the allegation alone was an explosive scandal. It would spread through the capital like wildfire within hours. That by itself was enough to cripple Noel’s standing.

“…”

Noel ground her teeth as the cruel mechanics of the scheme clicked into place.

Levant was taking the fall for everything, agreeing to ruin his own honor in exchange for his subordinates being spared heavy sentences. Whatever Levant felt toward Noel, he cared fiercely for the knights under his command. Convincing him with a bargain like that would have been effortless for a snake like Rad.

It was an obvious farce—a desperate attempt to throw dirt at Noel whether the story made logical sense or not.

What infuriated her even more was the true purpose behind it. Ruining her reputation was only a stepping stone.

‘The real target isn’t me.’

When she connected this circus with the Prince’s previous behavior, his ultimate goal became glaringly obvious: the Prince was targeting her fiancé sitting beside her.

Aiden had drawn attention through a few recent events, but he possessed zero political backing within the Empire. Everything he had accomplished so far merely satisfied the bare minimum expected of Lionheart’s spouse. The only reason Noel had been able to make her marriage to an unknown outsider acceptable to the high nobility was her own spotless reputation and influence.

If the legendary Lionheart vouched for him, no one dared to openly mistreat the man she chose.

That was the pillar the Prince was trying to destroy. By shattering Noel’s public credibility, he intended to create a scandal massive enough to tear her and Aiden apart.

“If you spread such baseless lies in open court, you will find yourselves unable to bear the consequences when the truth is revealed,” Noel stated, keeping her posture upright and her voice firm.

For now, her best defense was to deny every word calmly and unequivocally. She had nothing to hide; all she needed was a proper investigation for the facts to come out.

Unfortunately, there was one specific vulnerability her calm denial could not protect against.

“Ah, but…” Rad purred, leaning forward slightly. “The Lord Protector’s vengeful spirit clearly attacked you in front of witnesses, did it not?”

Noel felt the blood drain from her face.

“Answer directly, Lionheart,” Rad demanded, his voice ringing across the silent room. “Was the Lord Protector the kind of person who would ever draw her blade against someone who was not an enemy of the Empire? Even by mistake?”

“…”

“She was a national hero who threw away her life for this country without hesitation. How do you explain her spirit returning specifically to strike you down?”

When it came to the political fabrications, the truth was entirely on Noel’s side. But against this specific question, she had no answer to give.

The reason was painfully simple: Noel herself didn’t know.

She had no idea why Theresa’s ghost had tried to kill her. Or perhaps, in the darkest, most terrifying corner of her heart, a tiny voice feared that what these men were implying might actually be true.

“…”

That hesitation ruined her composure, and in a high-stakes political court, even a second of silence was an immediate admission of guilt.

The most dangerous lies were always the ones wrapped around a single grain of truth.

The expressions of the observers around the room began to shift. Noel’s failure to immediately refute the claim was making people wonder if the Minister’s wild theories actually held weight.

“…”

“…”

The courtroom remained quiet, but the tide had shifted entirely in Rad’s favor.

‘Every recent crisis in the capital is Lionheart’s fault.’

They were seconds away from planting a permanent seed of doubt in the minds of the public—a suspicion that would linger forever, even if no charges were formally proven.

‘This is bad…’ Noel thought, her skin pale.

Her momentary hesitation had handed control of the room over to the enemy. From this point forward, the public would view her with suspicion, and the political attack on her marriage would begin in earnest.

That was precisely how the trap was meant to spring—until a man suddenly stood up from his seat in the gallery and walked directly into the center of the courtroom floor.

“You know, I’m starting to feel a little left out here.”

Every head in the room snapped toward the man speaking in a low, quiet voice. His tone was strangely relaxed for a room thick with tension, sounding almost detached from the gravity of the trial.

Anyone who actually knew the man, however, would have recognized the warning sign immediately.

“There’s one person you keep leaving out whenever you bring up this ‘common factor,'” Aiden said smoothly as he strolled forward. “I was present at every single one of those places, too. The weapons-smuggling dock, the headquarters attack, the ghost appearance—all of it.”

This was what happened when Aiden was so utterly furious that he had to force his entire body not to explode on the spot. The casual tone was nothing more than a thin mask, held together by cold logic desperately clamping down on a boiling rage.

“So, as someone who was actually standing right there,” Aiden continued, stopping at the base of the judicial platform, “let me say this directly.”

It was crystal clear where his wrath was focused.

“My wife isn’t that kind of person, so how about you cut the bullshit?”

The words were not directed at Minister Rad, despite him being the one spouting the accusations. They were aimed straight at the man sitting above him—the one who had obviously ordered the circus to take place.

“Your Highness,” Aiden said softly, stepping right up to the edge of the high platform.

He dropped the profanity directly in front of the Prince, who had remained silently seated on his throne the entire time.