“Your jaw's going to fall off.”
Those were Grand Duke Richard's first words to me after several days apart. He promptly dropped into the chair across from me.
I could only stare at him in a daze.
His once-shaggy hair had been neatly trimmed and combed back, and his freshly washed face practically radiated elegance. The smooth forehead and thick eyebrows that had previously been hidden beneath his overgrown hair only served to accentuate his striking, masculine beauty.
“Uh… well…”
The sudden visual assault left me stammering.
I'd seen all sorts of things in court, so it usually took quite a lot to leave me speechless. But the sight of him freshly washed and groomed was enough to rob me of words.
“The female guards have been strangely friendly these past few days.”
“Th-that's good.”
A tragic prince born out of wedlock. A war hero driven to darkness after losing the woman he loved to his half-brother. A new love that transcended class differences. And now, another cruel twist of fate as he languished in prison.
The story of a dangerous man falling into forbidden love with a commoner woman, only to suffer one hardship after another, had become every bit as popular as a romance novel.
Thanks to that, the Grand Duke's popularity among the empire's women had recently skyrocketed.
As I continued staring at him, he abruptly turned his head to avoid my gaze. Apparently, he still hadn't entirely forgiven me.
“Stop looking at me like that. Victor came by and said I needed to look neat and presentable to make a good impression in court. That's the only reason. Don't get the idea that I made myself look presentable for your sake.”
“O-of course! Yes, absolutely! The trial! That's exactly what I wanted to talk about.”
I nodded rapidly, still looking rather dazed.
The Grand Duke glanced at me before speaking.
“I'll say this again. I have never loved Vivian.”
Unlike the cold, uncompromising declaration he'd made last time, he now seemed almost concerned about how I would react.
Perhaps our previous argument had been weighing on his mind.
For someone who was supposed to be the Hidden Villain, he might have a surprisingly soft heart.
I'd already realized that prolonging our cold war would do neither of us any good. So I put on my brightest professional smile.
“I believe you when you say you've never loved the Crown Princess, Your Grace. And I'd like to apologize for what happened that day. I was thoughtless.”
My apology apparently caught him off guard. He looked slightly flustered.
In any case, I meant it.
After listening to enough clients, you developed an instinct for whether someone was telling the truth. And the Grand Duke's eyes and voice had both conveyed genuine sincerity.
But the novel had explicitly stated that he loved Vivian.
That was when a strange inconsistency struck me.
A possibility flashed through my mind.
The novel was told from the heroine's perspective. Not once did the narrative shift to the perspective of Grand Duke Richard, who was merely the Hidden Villain.
In other words, everything about Grand Duke Richard supposedly being in love with the heroine had been narrated exclusively from Vivian's perspective.
But what if Vivian had misunderstood something?
After all, wasn't the entire empire now convinced that the Grand Duke and I were deeply in love, based solely on a newspaper article presenting events from my perspective?
“And…”
The Grand Duke suddenly assumed a grave expression, as though he'd made an important decision.
Is he going to demand that we terminate the contract?
I couldn't let that happen.
My palms grew damp with nervous sweat.
“I don't love you, either.”
“…?”
What?
All the tension drained out of me.
Why was he declaring something so obvious with such solemnity?
As I stared at him in confusion, my eyes darting about, Grand Duke Richard placed the article from Lady Aria in front of me.
His gaze was serious, as though he intended to extract some hidden truth.
“You're quite an accomplished liar.”
“Ahem. Well… I mean… it's not as though every word was a lie…”
Apart from my claim that the Grand Duke had been falsely accused of murder, everything in the article had been fabricated. Still, I cleared my throat awkwardly.
I'd had no choice. It was necessary to turn public opinion around.
The truth was, the difference between a lawyer and a liar was only one piece of paper.
A License to Practice Law.
“So… it wasn't a lie after all.”
His red eyes darkened briefly as he murmured something I couldn't quite make out. Then he looked straight at me.
“I'll cooperate with you. It's the only way I can escape this hellish prison and protect my people.”
“…”
Our gazes met across the table.
His beautifully shaped lips parted, and he spoke with firm resolve.
“But the terms of our contract must be honored without exception. We are bound by a contract, nothing more. Don't expect anything beyond that.”
“…I won't.”
My eyebrows drooped, and I looked downcast.
What a coldhearted man.
Was it really necessary to announce so sternly that no matter how spectacular the outcome, I wouldn't receive a special bonus beyond my contracted fee?
For someone so physically imposing, he was remarkably stingy.
The Grand Duke turned his head away, avoiding my resentful gaze.
The crimson light of the setting sun filtered through the narrow window, tinting the tips of his ears red.
******
At last, the day of the trial arrived.
Apparently, all my efforts to manipulate public opinion had paid off. The courtroom was packed.
Reporters had come to cover the proceedings, and citizens curious about Grand Duke Richard's fate had crowded in as well.
At least half the spectators were women who had come to admire the face of the Grand Duke, one of the central figures in the love story that had taken the empire by storm.
“Do you really think they'll sentence the Grand Duke to death?”
“They might! They say he murdered the father of the Crown Princess, whom His Highness absolutely adores!”
“True. The Crown Prince went so far as to marry her despite His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress being completely opposed!”
“There's even a rumor that His Majesty collapsed from the stress.”
That was right.
With the Emperor having suddenly collapsed and fallen unconscious, the most powerful person in the empire was now Crown Prince Lawrence, the male lead of the original novel.
A fitting conclusion for a novel's protagonist, I supposed.
Of course, having Grand Duke Richard executed for allegedly murdering the heroine's father would be an equally fitting end for the novel's Hidden Villain.
But not while I'm representing him.
I clenched my fist, burning with determination.
Just then, Grand Duke Richard entered the courtroom with his hands bound by a rope.
The murmuring spectators fell silent for a moment before the room erupted into excited chatter.
“Oh my goodness, he's so handsome!”
“A man like that, a murderer? Impossible! He looks like someone who wouldn't dream of breaking the law.”
The reaction was understandable.
He had appeared in court looking more impeccably groomed and handsome than ever.
Against the backdrop of excited whispers, I turned to him.
“You look wonderful today, Your Grace. I think you're about to steal the hearts of every woman in this courtroom.”
I gave him a satisfied smile.
In a public trial like this, it certainly couldn't hurt for the defendant to win over the spectators.
To my surprise, however, he dragged a hand down his face and asked in a troubled voice,
“Do you… think so too?”
“Of course I do.”
“Ha… Naturally. I hadn't considered that.”
“…?”
He was talking such incomprehensible nonsense that I could only assume even the Grand Duke was nervous about the trial.
“Are you nervous?” I asked casually.
“Not particularly. Are you?”
His answer was brief.
He stood ramrod straight, a step away from me, as though an invisible boundary had been drawn across the floor.
I suppose military discipline really does become second nature.
“Not especially.”
I shrugged and answered with a cheerful smile.
Far from being nervous, I felt as comfortable as though I'd come home.
The surroundings were incredibly familiar to me.
In fact, this courtroom wasn't much different from the courtrooms where I'd worked in my previous life.
There was only one notable difference: an elaborate, separate spectator's gallery positioned high above the rest of the courtroom.
After some time had passed, the Grand Duke, who had been staring straight ahead for quite a while, apparently grew curious about the heavy sack beside me.
He spoke again.
“What's in that sack?”
“Things we'll be using in today's trial.”
I answered confidently.
A derisive laugh came from across the room.
The representatives from the Police Bureau wore relaxed expressions. They seemed to consider it a foregone conclusion that the Grand Duke would receive a death sentence today.
“All rise!”
At last, a booming announcement rang through the courtroom.
Crown Prince Lawrence and Crown Princess Vivian entered the special gallery reserved for them at the very highest point of the courtroom.
So I finally get to see the protagonists in person.
I raised my eyes to look at them.
Unlike Grand Duke Richard, whose features were strong and imposing, Lawrence was a handsome man with dazzling blond hair and a gentle appearance.
Vivian, meanwhile, was a delicate-looking beauty whose silver hair shimmered like moonlight.
They certainly made a beautiful couple worthy of being the male and female leads of a romance novel.
I was so absorbed in admiring their faces that I suddenly found myself making eye contact with the Crown Prince.
“…!”
For some reason, his red eyes instantly flashed with an intense light.
His gaze narrowed as he scrutinized my face, as though studying me.
Aha. Trying to intimidate the opposing counsel right from the start, are we?
Rather than looking away, I opened my eyes even wider and stared right back.
I refuse to lose before the trial even begins. Especially not in a staring contest.
Tug.
Our fiery gazes were still locked in their silent confrontation when Grand Duke Richard suddenly pulled me aside.
Before I knew what was happening, I found myself half-hidden behind his broad shoulders.
Startled, I looked up at him.
“Your Grace, is something wrong?”
“You…”
At that moment, the Grand Duke's red eyes wavered.