ITMWG 102

Chapter 102…

Thanks to you.

“You wrote this after my parents’ funeral?”

“T-that’s right. Isn’t the date written exactly in the document?”

The marquis frowned at Nadia’s calmness

He must have thought that his timid and weak niece would cry and complain that it was fraud as soon as he saw the document.

However, Nadia had no reason to lose her composure at all.

She had never signed a document like this, so she could confidently argue.

Her uncle had even nailed down the time of writing this document in front of everyone, so she had nothing to be afraid of.

“A document created at that time… is really strange.”

“What are you trying to find fault with? You wrote your name and signed it yourself!”

Her uncle snorted and turned his gaze to the emperor, bowing.

“Your Majesty. It seems that my niece is trying to claim that this clear evidence is false. But I am innocent! You can have the Imperial Handwriting Examiner verify it!”

“Yes. The Imperial Handwriting Examiner has more keen eyes than anyone else. If we have him verify it, it will reveal who signed the document.”

When the Emperor agreed with the marquis, the First Prince slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

Judging from the fact that his uncle was deliberately mentioning the ‘Imperial Handwriting Examiner,’ it seemed that they had already been bribed.

They must have thought that it was a constant to block everything without any way out, but from another point of view, there were too many traces of manipulation left here and there.

“Your Majesty, I also have something I would like to request verification.”

Nadia ignored her uncle, who was looking at her with pride, and politely asked the Emperor.

“Is verifying the handwriting not enough?”

“There are many documents I left behind in the Marquis of Vine. I think it wouldn’t be difficult to forge the handwriting.”

She didn’t mention that the Imperial Handwriting Examiner had been bribed on purpose.

This wasn’t something that could be talked about openly in the courtroom.

It could easily damage the reputation of the imperial family, so if she brought it up unnecessarily, she could offend the emperor.

I should convey this directly to the emperor after the part I pointed out is revealed.

After the truth was revealed, the emperor would definitely not forget her contribution in protecting the reputation of the imperial family in front of everyone.

The emperor looked at the document in her hand with curious yet interested eyes.

“If it’s not the handwriting, what can we verify from that document?”

“Paper and ink.”

“Paper and ink?”

The emperor and the onlookers who filled the courtroom began to murmur, as if they thought it was such an unexpected and rather unusual request.

“Paper? Ink? Why?”

“Is she just nitpicking because you are at a disadvantage?”

“I guess that’s what it seems.”

It was clear that the atmosphere of the court was not favourable to her. She must have appeared even more suspicious after the document that she had signed appeared.

Her uncle also laughed in amusement at the atmosphere.

“Paper and ink? Are you trying to waste time by picking on anything you could think of?”

“That’s not the case. The paper and ink tell us a lot in this document.”

Nadia walked toward the emperor with the document in her arms.

The knights guarding the court flinched and tried to stop her, but the emperor raised his hand and they backed away. Thanks to this, she was able to hand the document over to the emperor without any resistance.

“First, please look at the paper carefully, Your Majesty. I believe you have keen eyes, so you will quickly know what this paper is. You just didn’t notice it a moment ago because you were looking at the contents and overlooking the background.”

At her words, the emperor began to carefully examine the paper.

He brought it close to his eyes to check the gloss of the paper and felt it with his hands to determine the material.

“Huh.”

The emperor, who had been carefully examining the paper, paused as if struck by lightning and let out a short sigh.

At the reaction that seemed to have noticed something, the marquis and the first prince swallowed nervously.

“This paper is special.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Ordinary paper is a beige with a yellowish tint, but this paper is perfectly white. It has been bleached several times. In addition, the surface has a shiny gloss. It looks like a diamond has been crushed and applied, and the colour varies depending on the angle.”

“We don’t have this kind of paper in our empire. It must have been imported from another country. Is it from the Duchy of Marang?”

The high-quality paper was a specialty of the Duchy of Marang.

“If it weren’t for Marang, this level of paper could not have been made. If you showed the paper to a craftsman from Maran, he would know right away.”

“If this is from the Duchy of Marang, then it’s really interesting. The Empire just imported paper from Marang… half a year ago.”

The Emperor’s words, which came out as casual, made her uncle inhale sharply.

For over a hundred years, the Duchy of Marang had refused to export to the Empire, claiming that the tariffs on Marang products, including paper, were too high.

It was only half a year ago that the Emperor himself came forward and concluded a tariff agreement.

No matter how old this document was, it was not more than half a year ago.

Naturally, there was a big difference from the time of her parents’ funeral.

As if he realised that, the marquis frantically tried to find a way out. However, his mind had gone blank and it seemed difficult to even come up with an excuse.

The one who was holding his wits a little longer was the First Prince.

“Marquis!”

The First Prince shouted in a voice filled with anger.

“You dare smuggle Marang paper? Or did you resort to the black market?”

Smuggling and the black market!

He pretended to reprimand her uncle but secretly telling him where to run away.

It was true that even before the agreement with the Duchy of Marang, there were quite a few cases of bringing in Marang products through smuggling or the black market.

Of course it was illegal, but in the current situation, it was better to be a person who smuggled or imported paper through the black market than a person who forged documents, so the marquis bowed his head deeply in delight.

“Oh, my apology! I’ve heard that Marang paper is so great, so I’ve been importing paper through the black market for a long time. I’ll gladly accept any reprimands for that.”

In the midst of all that, Nadia was shocked to see him using the black market route as an excuse just because the punishment was a little lighter.

But she still had one more option left.

“If you imported the paper through the black market, what happened to the ink?”

“The ink was also obtained from the black market.”

Her uncle, who had learned of the convenient excuse, made the same excuse. Of course, it was nonsense.

“There must be merchants in the black market who sell items from the future? If so, I’d really like to meet them.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“The ink used here is not ordinary black ink. It has a subtle pearly feel like the Milky Way. It’s a new product from Apron Workshop. It was released right before I got married to Aylesford…How did you get this on the black market during my parents’ funeral?”

“You-, you must have mistaken it for something similar. It’s not the ink you’re thinking of.”

“Then tell me what kind of ink it is. If you bought it on the black market, you must remember what kind of ink it was. If you tell me the product, I can compare them.”

“That-…!”

Her uncle was speechless, his mouth agape.

The emperor looked at his uncle with cold eyes, as if he had already come to a conclusion, and the onlookers in the courtroom did the same.

The judges and public opinion had all turned their backs on him.

The marquis, sensing the cold gazes directed at him, turned to the First Prince, asking for help, but in this situation, there was nothing even the First Prince could do.

“There’s no way someone who tells the truth would forge a document. Isn’t that right, Marquis?”

“Oh, no! I-, I-…!”

Despite the Emperor’s question, he couldn’t say anything and just kept stuttering.

In the end, the Emperor’s eyebrows furrowed. When he sighed tiredly and raised his hand, two knights approached the marquis and dragged him out of his seat.

“Your Majesty! This is unfair! This is a scheme! That wicked woman is deceiving everyone!”

Her uncle continued to complain of injustice even as he was being dragged away. However, no one listened to him.

It felt strange to see her uncle, who had always been so arrogant and high-handed in front of her, being dragged away so helplessly.

Turns out he was someone who could be easily taken down just like that.

Nadia realised once again how much her timidity and fear had been weighing her down.

“I won’t make a final judgment here today. I have to carefully consider in order to come to a conclusion, so I will review all the materials prepared by both sides. In particular, the materials prepared by the Marquis will have to go through a rigorous review.”

The Emperor looked at the pile of documents the marquis had on the table with a fed-up expression. But then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he asked Nadia.

“But how did the Baroness know that the ink was special in such a short time? The paper is definitely special, but ink is something you can’t tell without a meticulous look at it.”

“Because I once heard a long lecture about ink from someone.”

The emperor tilted his head at her vague answer, so she willingly confessed the truth.

“When I was about to marry into Aylesford, my cousin, Lady Melissa, the daughter of the Marquis of Vine, came to brag about the new ink she had brought in from the Apron workshop.”

Melissa, who was anxious as she watched her father being dragged out by her, widened her eyes in surprise.

Nadia smiled at her and told everyone about that day.

“Aylesford is a small town, so they wouldn’t have this kind of ink, let alone the old ink we once used, so she kindly told me to take all the old ink. I guess she didn’t know that it was all ink that already hardened and to be thrown away.”

Nadia said it in a soft tone, but it was clear that she had been ignored and bullied by her cousin, so people started to glance at Melissa and whisper.

At the time, she was used to Melissa’s temper, so she just sighed and let it slide.

She remembered cleaning up the ink bottle by herself because she didn’t want to fight with Melissa since she was going to leave the Marquis anyway.

“Thanks to what happened that day, I was able to recognise the ink today, Melissa. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you helped me uncover the truth.”

She was sincere in her gratitude.

If Melissa hadn’t been so boastful back then, it would have been difficult to figure out the identity of the ink. Even the Emperor didn’t notice it.

“That-, that…What I told you made my father…”

Melissa held onto the hem of her dress with a pale face, trembling, and eventually collapsed on the floor.

Instead, everyone simply stepped away from Melissa as if trying to avoid something dirty.

“It won’t end like this…”

Melissa muttered blankly, but Nadia wasn’t scared at all. Because she knew that the person watching her from behind would be a strong ally.

When she turned her head to where she felt the gaze, Altair was sitting there with his usual calm expression.

Nadia felt relieved because he was so unfazed by the successful trial.

This is not the end.

Retrieving what her uncle had taken away from her…was only the beginning.