Celebrity Lady

Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Lark hastily cut off the recording and asked, “What’s going on?” Confusion was evident on his face.

“It was recorded well, right?” On the other hand, Rubette, who jutted her chin toward the projector stone, was calm.

Tak. Lark, who snatched the medicine bottle, checked it out.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a weight loss drug. I got it as a gift from Princess Lisbeth.”

“What?”

“By any chance, did you find a good way? I heard that the princess would be unable to avoid her dethronement.”

“...” Lark, who had calmed his excitement, slowly closed his eyes and opened them. “I am not sure if the real culprit even exists. It’s nearly impossible to catch the shaman by next week when we have our last debate in Congress.”

“Then, the abdication of the princess would be certain. Can it be removed?”

“I’ll just have to stop it somehow. So far, confinement is a majority in the parliament.”

“What do you mean by confinement? The princess is innocent.”

“Damn it, I know.” Lark, who had had a hard time maintaining his composure, collapsed. Holding his head with trembling hands, he took a painfully harsh breath. “There’s nothing I can do about the deposition. However, after we catch the real culprit, we may be able to reinstate her.”

“How long does it take to catch the real culprit? One month? Two months? Or a year? Ten years?”

“...”

“I’m sorry to say this, but even in the future I saw, the whereabouts of the shaman were forever unknown. If the dethronement of the princess is decided this time, it must be said that there is no way for her to be reinstated again. We always have to assume the worst.”

Not a word was wrong. Lark, with his eyes closed, took a breath.

Rubette, who was looking sadly at Lark, dragged an empty paper and pen that was on his desk.

“There is no way for the princess to escape her responsibility. So, from now on, we should aim for a way to reduce her sentence so that the dethronement of the princess can be prevented.”

“... What?”

“Can I use this?”

As Lark nodded, Rubette scribbled something on the blank paper without hesitation.

A witness to prove that the shaman exists.

“Princess Lisbeth’s claim is being dismissed because the shaman cannot be found despite her claim of getting the poison from the shaman. They could’ve risen to the sky or gone underground, for all we know. It’s unclear if they exist.”

“...”

“Then we need to make a fake witness who saw the shaman.”

Lark’s eyes narrowed.

That’s the idea. It’s not that he hasn’t tried it, but...

“It would be even better if it was someone who had gotten medicine from the shaman themself.”

Rubette scribbled using the pen again.

The circumstance is that Princess Lisbeth did not find the shaman first but met the shaman through the introduction of a witness.

“The witness introduced the shaman to the princess, and the princess only met the shaman from the introduction.”

Rubette tapped and lowered the pen.

“This is enough. It will prove that the shaman exists, and it wasn’t the princess who visited the shaman first.”

“Now, that’s-”

“Yes. My plan.”

“Ha.”

“Can you come up with a more complete alternative than I thought by the last meeting next week?”

“...”

“No, right? Then you’ll do as I say?”

“No. I can’t let you take responsibility for things you didn’t do. As you say, you will not be sentenced to death, but you’ll have no way to avoid a trial. You will get punished, either heavily or lightly.” Lark rubbed his forehead as if confused and met Rubette’s clear gaze. “I don’t quite understand. Why on earth are you doing this? I’ve never pressed you to help me or asked you to sacrifice, but why every time, so unconditionally-”

“I feel responsible. Because the future has changed, and Princess Lisbeth is framed because of my actions. Because I made a different choice than the original.”

“No, please. Let me be clear. You should never feel any sense of useless responsibility or guilt. I was stupid, and it was all my fault.” Lark bit his lip tightly. A sense of shame and helplessness, which he had never felt before, appeared clearly on his distressed face. “From the moment you made it clear that my enemy was the second prince, I wasn’t careful and acted like a fool-”

“In the end, I was the one who made you move,” Rubette smiled and stroked Lark’s clenched fist as if to soothe his trembling fist. “It is meaningless to argue further with each other. I’ve told my dad that I will cause trouble, so...”

“...”

“I’ve been thinking about it for days and came to turn myself in. Directly to the crown prince, the head of the investigation of this case,” Rubette smiled broadly, tipping her head toward the turned-off projector stone. “Then turn that thing back on.”

***

“Damn it.”

Sitting in the corner of the empty training ground, where dusk fell, Lark cursed repeatedly.

A sense of helplessness, and guilt, tormented him to the point of distraction.

“Uwa, that’s a little scary. Your Highness, can you use your power so I can get a light punishment?”

For the entire hour, Rubette went back in perjury for Lisbeth in front of the recording projector stone.

Her terrified expression, trembling voice, and crying act in the middle of the testimony were all unimaginable as perjury.

Lark couldn’t even guess how much she had thought and tried to make such a show alone.

‘A kid who knows the future...’

Rubette looked like someone who had returned directly from decades of firsthand experience.

“Hey, why do you look like that? Everything has almost been resolved. Why is the person who should be most happy so gloomy?”

On the contrary, standing before her made him feel more like a child.

“Smile. Laugh. Relax!”

When he remembered his ugly self, who couldn’t even manage his facial expressions due to a sense of guilt, and Rubette, who even comforted him before going back.

Lark said to himself with a distorted face, “Haha... seriously. If you keep doing this...”

What should I do?

“Brother, the evening breeze is cold.”

At that time.

Lark slowly raised his head after hearing the familiar voice behind his back.

‘Nathan.’

Lark’s, who had his back on Nathan, face was horribly distorted with a burst of anger.

Soon Lark slowly raised himself and turned around.