The second thing I did with Grand Duke Richard's handwritten Power of Attorney was this: spray a little insecticide on the parasites that had been feeding off Elena's life.
"W-wait, officers… A-assault on a member of the nobility? That's ridiculous!"
Elena's older brother stood with his arms twisted behind his back and bound, looking utterly bewildered by what was happening.
"We received a report that two commoners in this house were assaulting a noblewoman named Elena Richard."
"R-Richard? That's impossible! That girl is nothing but a commoner! She's my daughter!"
Elena's father, likewise bound and unable to move, blinked rapidly as he looked between me and the officers. One of them glanced at me before asking, his voice suddenly less certain.
"Er… Are you really Elena… Richard?"
Apparently, my shabby clothes weren't doing much to convince him I was a noblewoman.
The moment the officer looked doubtful, the two men hurriedly put on their most servile expressions.
"There must be some mistake. R-Richard… Isn't that the man who's in prison right now?"
"That girl must have lied to you. She's always been a habitual liar. That's why we have to discipline her like this."
To my astonishment, the officers nodded along as though they agreed and began moving to release the two men.
Unbelievable! And these people call themselves police officers!
My eyes widened in outrage.
Noblewoman or not, they had just witnessed the aftermath of domestic violence, yet they were apparently willing to accept the word "discipline" as an excuse.
I pulled the Marriage Registration from inside my clothes and held it out in front of the two men who called themselves my father and brother. Then, deliberately adopting a stern voice, I recited:
"Article 262, Paragraph 1 of the Imperial Penal Code. Any commoner who assaults a member of the nobility shall be severely punished."
"……!"
I whipped around toward the officers and thrust the document in their direction.
"Article 262, Paragraph 2. Anyone who witnesses such an offense and fails to take appropriate action shall likewise be severely punished."
Their mouths fell open when they saw the official document bearing the unmistakable imperial seal.
The registry of nobles, updated when I submitted my Marriage Registration with the Grand Duke, now unquestionably contained the name Elena Richard.
Fortunately, Lawrence, the Crown Prince and male lead of the original novel, had changed the law when he married Vivian, a commoner. Under the amended law, commoners who married nobles could themselves acquire noble status.
That was also how Vivian's father had received the title of Baron.
Elena's father let out a shriek.
"Y-you really married that murderous Grand Duke?"
"As you can see. And he happens to have a great many strong, capable soldiers under his command. I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased to learn that his wife has been treated this way."
The two men went deathly pale.
They had clearly taken my words as a warning that I could have the Grand Duke's soldiers kill them if I felt like it.
Of course, there was no chance he would actually do such a thing for a wife who was only his wife on paper.
Next, I turned on the officers, who were still standing there looking utterly lost.
"Police Bureau, Local Administration Division, Public Safety Section. Officer identification number 11349, Smith Leonard, twenty-seven years old, born February 4. Same department, identification number 10447, Peter Theodore, thirty-two years old, born April 17. Your superior is Jared Cooper, identification number 9913."
"W-what? How do you know all those personal details about us…?"
I'd taken a quick look at their records when I visited the police station.
And now, at last, I whispered the magic words guaranteed to get civil servants moving.
"If you don't arrest these offenders caught in the act right now, I'll file a formal complaint against you. Every. Single. Day."
The instant those words left my mouth, the officers lunged at Greg and Kane.
******
The next day.
I sat across from Benedict Richard, Grand Duke and my newly acquired husband, in a dim, musty prison visiting room.
"Our Marriage Registration was accepted without any problems. We're now a perfectly legitimate married couple in the eyes of the law."
"……"
For some reason, he simply stared at me without saying a word.
Still, his expression seemed considerably less severe than it had yesterday, so I gave him a bright smile.
"Looks like we're in the same boat now, trying to escape Hell. I look forward to working with you."
"What happened to your face?"
Instead of a handshake, I received a completely unexpected question.
I awkwardly rubbed my cheekbone, which had turned a vivid blue from the beating my family had given me.
"Oh, it's nothing. I had a bit of trouble exterminating some household pests yesterday."
Rather than tell him the truth, I offered a convenient excuse.
After all, hadn't I used the Grand Duke's name to threaten both the police officers and my family yesterday?
I couldn't let him find out that I'd dragged his name into my personal family affairs, which had absolutely nothing to do with his trial.
Worried that he might consider it a breach of contract, I hurriedly changed the subject.
"Now, let's discuss your trial. Your Grace, you're currently accused of stabbing to death the father of Vivian, the Crown Princess."
"Hah. You certainly sound like a real lawyer."
"That's because I am a real lawyer."
"You lie without so much as blinking."
"Well, I am your Defense Counsel, aren't I?"
He let out a quiet sigh, as though he'd given up.
Then again, I could hardly blame him for finding it difficult to believe I was a lawyer, given my current circumstances. He apparently thought I was still lying.
I shrugged.
As long as I won the trial, whether my client believed in me wasn't particularly important.
I twirled my pen between my fingers and looked at the Grand Duke.
"Very well. Then let me begin with the most important question I can ask as your Defense Counsel."
A faint tension settled over the small table between us.
I took a deep breath before continuing.
"Do you love Vivian?"
The question must have caught him off guard, because a tiny crack appeared in Benedict Richard's otherwise composed expression.
As I watched him remain silent, I recalled the original novel.
Hmm. Did I hit a little too close to home?
According to the original novel, Grand Duke Richard had been born as the Emperor's illegitimate son and had spent his entire life in loneliness, with no one to rely on.
Then Vivian appeared before him, the heroine who was like a ray of sunshine…
He had already been struggling with an inferiority complex toward Lawrence, the novel's male lead and the Emperor's legitimate son. When Lawrence also took away Vivian, the woman Benedict loved, he began tormenting the couple.
And eventually, after the novel's ending, he went on to murder Vivian's father.
The Grand Duke seemed lost in deep thought.
Finally, his lips parted.
"No."
Good. That's the right answer.
I nodded in satisfaction.
Whether it was true or not, that was exactly how he needed to answer if the same question came up in court.
Of course, there was a good chance he was telling the truth.
He was sitting in prison with his life hanging in the balance. Who had time to worry about love under those circumstances?
If there was anywhere that could cool even a thousand years of passionate devotion, it had to be the cold floor of a prison cell.
"Excellent. Then let me rephrase the question."
I moved on to my next inquiry.
"Did you love Vivian in the past?"
There was a reason I kept asking about his feelings for her.
It all came down to his motive for murder.
When defending someone against a murder charge, motive was extremely important.
The outcome of a trial could vary enormously depending on whether the crime was impulsive or premeditated, or whether there were mitigating circumstances that might justify a degree of leniency.
After all, you couldn't possibly treat a case in which an abused child impulsively killed a parent the same way as one in which a child murdered a parent simply because they refused to lend them gambling money.
In any case, the Grand Duke was accused of murdering Vivian's father.
If he had still been in love with Vivian at the time of the incident, the murder could be portrayed as a crime of passion fueled by the twisted resentment of a man furious over losing the woman he loved.
And the Police Bureau seemed to have already reached precisely that conclusion.
"No."
His answer came without the slightest hesitation.
I smiled gently, the corners of my mouth curving upward.
This was exactly why people needed defense counsel.
After all, a trial was little more than a theatrical performance in which scattered evidence and testimony were assembled into the most convincing story possible.
"That's the wrong answer this time. You don't necessarily have to be completely honest in court, but telling an obvious lie creates a bad impression. It could even undermine the credibility of your other statements."
His love for Vivian was a fairly well-known story around here. Even if acknowledging it put him at a slight disadvantage, we needed to concede at least part of it.
So I kindly supplied him with the correct answer.
"You should say something along the lines of, 'I loved her once, but after she married Crown Prince Lawrence, I accepted it and moved on.' In other words, you were no longer in love with Vivian at the time of the incident."
Understand?
I gave him a playful wink and was about to move briskly on to the next question when his firm voice suddenly cut in.
"I have never loved Vivian. Not for a single moment."
Clatter.
The pen I'd been twirling slipped from my fingers.
Ah.
Well, that changes things a bit.