The next day, the preparations for trial of the Elms family begun in earnest. Charlotte, Frederick, Quentin, and Curtis decided to arrange a meeting to organize the information from the investigation.

Presently, Charlotte, Quentin, and Curtis were in Frederick’s office. They were waiting for him as he was away on another matter.

The room was filled with tension.

Quentin and Curtis were nervous about the confrontation between Charlotte and Frederick. Charlotte herself was completely calm, staring listlessly at the documents.

Since yesterday’s incident, Charlotte hadn’t exchanged a single word with Frederick. They even ate separately and hadn’t seen each other since. The two were probably worried they’d clash again.

Charlotte, who went about her paperwork, sensed the atmosphere. She couldn’t care less, so she left them be.

A few minutes later, the owner of the room finally arrived in the office where the atmosphere was still not the slightest bit peaceful.

“Older Sister!”

Juliet, who wasn’t supposed to have been invited to the discussion, had been brought along by Frederick.

Juliet hugged Charlotte, who was sitting on the sofa, and peered into her face.

“Father is so mean!”

Juliet’s delicate fingers touched Charlotte’s face. Although she wore makeup, there was no concealing her red, swollen cheek. Feeling a sharp pain, Charlotte frowned and brushed Juliet’s hand away.

“Ah, forgive me, that must’ve hurt…” Juliet seemed downcast.

Since Charlotte had been slapped in public, it wasn’t surprising that Juliet would also hear about it.

Juliet went over to Frederick, who hadn’t budged from the entrance, and led him by the hand, bringing him closer to Charlotte.

“Come on, Father!”

Juliet urged angrily, and Frederick frowned slightly before looking down at Charlotte.

“I’m sorry for hitting you.”

Charlotte was astonished when she heard those words. She couldn’t believe that man had apologized to her.

“I was shocked when I heard that Father hit you! But he didn’t mean any harm. He only did that because he was worried about our safety! We were in danger, after all! Father is always thinking and worrying about us. You know that, don’t you?”

After giving Charlotte a misguided reassurance, Juliet took her hand.

“So now, we’ve made up!”

Juliet’s cheerful smile made Charlotte feel as if she was face-to-face with an antagonistic character in a story.

Charlotte and Frederick’s relationship wasn’t so comfortable that she could forgive him with just a simple apology. She’d rather slap him just as hard.

However, saying that would only cause trouble.

“By the way, Your Highness

Charlotte had remained silent, and the atmosphere grew awkward, so Curtis asked Juliet instead.

“I came along to make Father talk and apologize to my sister as soon as possible! But I’d like to make a request…”

“A request?”

Curtis asked, looking puzzled.

Juliet let go of Charlotte’s hand, adjusted her dress, and sat on the sofa. Why had she even bothered to sit beside Charlotte?

Frederick sat in front of Charlotte and the others. Juliet could’ve sat there too?

“Uhm, Sir Malcolm and the people who raided the carriage… I don’t want them to be executed.”

Curtis and Quentin were shocked by her request.

Harming or attempting to harm the royal family warranted a death penalty, especially with the involvement of illegal magic tools. There could be no punishment other than death penalty.

But the victim of this case wished to overturn that.

“They harmed the royal family. Don’t you realize that?”

“I know, but there were no fatalities, and I… was also partially at fault when it came to those who attacked the carriage.”

Unexpectedly, someone had told Juliet the motive of the four bandits. And here Charlotte thought that everyone would absolutely prevent that from happening. Maybe something went awry along the way.

Charlotte was somewhat surprised by this, but Quentin spoke up.

“They were just resentful! Her Highness Juliet has no reason to worry about them!”

“But I let the pickpocket get away…”

Juliet clutched her dress tightly with both hands. Her face was pale, seemingly fearful of something.

…That’s to be expected.

Juliet felt responsible for their actions and couldn’t bear the thought of them getting executed.

“As for Sir Malcolm… What he did was bad, but I don’t think he deserves such a harsh sentence, especially when he was so kind to me…”

“You’re too kind.”

Frederick looked at Juliet with a gentle gaze.

She didn’t wish for them to be saved out of genuine kindness. She did it for herself.

Someone who had no knowledge of magic had recklessly used such a dangerous magic weapon. Actually, it could be considered a miracle that no one died at that time. And yet.

“I’ll consider reducing the sentence a little. Even so, he may spend the rest of his life in prison or in hard labor.”

Said ‘miracle’ was in Juliet’s favor.

“Thank you, Father!”

After Juliet had accomplished her goal, she left the office. Charlotte gave Frederick a skeptical look.

“Do you really intend to reduce the sentence?”

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***T/N: It’s all up to Juliet and she isn’t even the queen yet.

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