Chapter 24

"Hold up—stop, stop!"

Her body moved before her thoughts caught up.

"The hell? Who're you?"

"That guy a lawyer?"

"Yeah, what of it."

"I'm hiring him!"

"This trash heap? Bastard's got no skill, loses every case. And you're hiring him?"

Iberin looked at the man curled into himself with only his eyes peeking out—the so-called lawyer—and asked,

"I'll pay your fee, whatever you want. Will you take the case?"

"…Uhhh…"

"Hold up, you wanna deal for this one, you deal with me."

"How much?"

The thug looked Iberin and Lyssel up and down.

Clearly not commoners, and his eyes lit up at the read that they were nobles with money to burn.

"He's pricey, this one."

"How much."

"Fifty million gold."

Iberin grinned.

She'd brought along exactly fifty million gold for the lawyer's fee.

She tossed the coin purse at the thug's feet and lifted her chin.

"Hand the lawyer over."

"Take him. Heh heh."

The thugs in the shadows laughed, their eyes gleaming.

---

Once they were out of the alley, the man kept his head down with a gloomy expression and said,

"You're going to regret this."

"Why?"

"Because there's no way those bastards are going to leave me alone."

"Hmm. You were making yourself sound like a really incompetent lawyer back there."

"Having ability doesn't matter if I can't use it. They sabotage every case I take and follow me everywhere."

"Oh."

"If you want to win, cancel the retainer while you can. The money… you won't be able to get back, unfortunately."

It sounded like he was tangled up in something pretty nasty.

But Iberin wasn't fazed.

"It's fine. We were having trouble finding a lawyer anyway. Those guys won't be able to push us around either."

"…What?"

While they were talking, they reached the estate.

Pons came out to meet them, looking grim.

The lawyer search must've gone badly on his end too.

Then his eyes flicked to the pulped man behind Iberin and Lyssel, full of question.

"Got a lawyer."

"Surely not…?"

"Yep. Mr. Pulp Face."

"Excuse me, Mr. Pulp Face…? My name is Nais."

"Oh, right. This is Nais, our lawyer."

"His condition…"

"Let's head inside and talk."

Pons looked at the dust-covered, beaten-up Nais like he didn't trust him in the slightest, but couldn't exactly throw out the lawyer the couple had brought home and reluctantly opened the door.

---

The couple walked into the parlor with Nais.

The servants' eyes darted between the pulped Nais and the ducal couple, faces going chalk-white.

The fear they'd started to shake off—that the family wasn't actually that scary—snapped right back into place.

"T-t-tea. I'll bring tea."

The servant gave a trembling greeting and bolted off, and Nais tilted his head, puzzled.

"Your servants seem awfully tense…?"

"Yes."

Lyssel nodded as if it weren't worth dwelling on.

There was something strange in the air.

Nais felt his way through it carefully, hoping he hadn't just stepped from a bad situation into a worse one.

"Anyway, as I said, my name is Nais. I'm a commoner. The first commoner to become a lawyer, actually."

"The first?"

"Yes."

Nais smiled, pleased with himself.

"So how'd you get mixed up with people like that?"

"Ah, well—I spent all my time studying and didn't know how the world worked."

"A textbook case of a sheltered scholar."

"…."

Bones rattled, and Nais couldn't even mount a defense—he just mumbled on.

"When I passed the bar, it actually made the papers, since I was the first commoner. I didn't have the money to set up my own office, but I thought I'd manage. Then those guys came to me with a case. They came at me with this terrible sob story, and I fell for it completely."

"What story?"

"…They said their younger brother had been beaten up by a thug and hospitalized. Turned out the thug was actually a regular guy who'd snapped after being harassed by those guys for ages, and they were the actual thugs. By the time I tried to back out, it was too late. The contract said canceling meant paying ten times the retainer as a penalty, and I didn't have a single coin to my name."

"Idiot."

"…Hrgh."

Iberin muttered it, and Nais's bones finally gave out.

"I know I'm an idiot… Anyway, since then they've been chasing me down for the penalty money and making my life hell, and nobody will hire me anymore. The organization told me to come work for them as their lawyer, but that's completely against the reason I became a lawyer."

He'd been duped because he didn't know how the world worked, sure, but Nais had genuinely believed he was helping someone in real trouble.

"You became a lawyer to help people who were struggling?"

"Yes. That's right. My parents got falsely accused by a noble and no one would take their case. They lost. They were beaten brutally and died."

It sounded like the thugs had been harassing him for a fair while.

After that much, most people would've given up and gone to work for the organization defending them.

But Nais hadn't.

Iberin grinned.

"You're a good one, you."

"Heh heh…"

Nais grinned and scratched the back of his head.

Granted, grinning with a face like that was pretty unsettling.

"While we're at it—you do our case and I'll get you free of those guys."

"…You can do that?"

Nais's eyes went round.

The confidence radiating off her made it clear this wasn't just some moneyed noble, and Nais's tone shifted to something more deferential.

"May I, um, ask your names?"

"Sure. This is my husband, Lyssel Lecashe, and I'm Iberin Sherburn Lecashe."

"…Lecashe…?"

Nais blinked a few times.

"Lecashe…"

He mumbled the name a few more times as if chewing on it, then yelped.

"Lecashe—the Grand Duke's house?!"

"That's right!"

Iberin smiled brightly, and the color drained out of Nais's face.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire indeed.

The retainer was already in the thugs' hands, and Iberin had said she wasn't canceling, so Nais took the case with no real choice in the matter.

"…You have to make sure those bastards are dealt with. And you can't use this to push new demands on me, either…"

Nais worked up the courage to say it, and Iberin nodded reassuringly, then turned to Lyssel.

"Your Highness."

"Yes."

"This is how I'm collecting on you deceiving me all this time. Take care of Mr. Pulp—I mean, the lawyer's people for us."

The lawyer's sudden appearance had cut the earlier conversation short.

Honestly, Iberin knew Lyssel hadn't actually been playing coy.

She just thought his reactions were cute and wanted to tease him.

"…I'll take care of them, but I haven't deceived you—"

"You were playing coy."

That word again—Lyssel reacted to it like he'd been stung, fidgeting under her gaze.

"…."

"You completely had me fooled."

"No… that's not…"

"Then what was it?"

"…I'm sorry."

Iberin pressed back her laugh, and Lyssel surrendered, apologizing meekly and dropping his head.

Watching it unfold, Nais had a very clear picture of who held real power in the Lecashe Grand Duke's house.

And he thought:

Looking at the pale Grand Duke and the wickedly grinning Iberin, the rumors clearly weren't to be trusted.

Plus, since she'd promised to free him from those guys, maybe things would work out somehow.

"Right, that's settled."

Iberin clapped her hands and slid a contract across to him.

Having been burned once before, Nais went through the contract meticulously.

If there was even a single poison clause he wouldn't sign, but no matter how he looked at it, it was a standard contract.

"…I'll do my best for you."

"It's not a difficult case, so don't get too tense. Your life is going to be all roses from here on out!"

He'd thought he'd sell his soul to the devil if it got him free of those guys.

These weren't literal devils, but something close enough had shown up.

The Lecashe rumors had been so ominous he'd just been afraid of them, but watching them like this, he started to think maybe this house wasn't only frightening after all.

---

With the lawyer hired, all that was left was for the six nobles to make it to the capital and a court date to be set—then everything would move briskly.

As long as the emperor didn't pull anything, that is.

In the middle of all that, an invitation came for Ether and Crown Prince Yel to meet.

When Ether got the news, he was so excited at the idea of seeing Yel that he didn't sleep well the night before.

The moment they entered the palace, they went to greet the emperor as protocol demanded.

"Your Majesty."

"Yo Magesty."

The emperor watched Ether with deep affection and told him to have a wonderful time.

"Oh—the empress is waiting for you at the Crystal Palace. Enjoy yourself there as well."

That was all.

She'd been bracing for some kind of pressure campaign, and the meeting was so unexceptional that Iberin started worrying the empress might be where the real play was.

Following the steward's lead, they arrived at the Crystal Palace—the crown prince's residence.

A breathtaking palace, with all manner of crystals set throughout.

"Whoaa…"

Ether's eyes were riveted by the shimmering crystals.

After a long stretch of gawking around, Ether spotted Yel waiting to greet them.

Beside Yel stood a woman who had to be the empress.

"Welcome. I'm Aris Bel Areta."

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."

A striking beauty.

The bold smile at her lips was the most arresting thing about her.

"H-hello, Empress. I'm Ether Lecasi."

"Yes, young master Ether. Thank you for coming to see our Yel."

Ether greeted the empress, and Yel greeted Iberin in turn.

Shortly after, the empress suggested letting the children play among themselves and led the way to the tea table.

The kids played nearby, but they didn't play the way you'd expect a five-year-old and a seven-year-old to play—it was a very quiet affair.

Then again, picturing the crown prince of an empire rolling around in the dust was a stretch.

Iberin had been watching the children for a moment, then snuck a look at the empress.

The empress felt the look and smiled as she opened the conversation.

"It must've been quite a while since the Grand Duchess visited the capital."

"Yes."

"How is it?"

"Lively. Busy. Always."

"I see. Married life seems to be going well. That's surprising."

"…Is it?"

"Well, every Grand Duchess Lecashe has been miserable for generations, so I'd assumed the same. I have a lot of questions."

The empress was a very direct, candid person.

She didn't talk in circles.

"Is the Grand Duke good to you?"

"Mm, he's fun and adorable."

"Oh… To talk about that Grand Duke that way—you're a rather unusual woman."

She was less of a bad person than Iberin had expected, and the conversation flowed comfortably until the empress said,

"Enough small talk. Let's get to the point."

So the emperor did slip her something after all, Iberin thought, and met the empress's eyes.