https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/88/
Trial
“It would be unthinkable for a member of the Ruhuna family to trip someone during a wedding, but to think you would go so far as to stab the other party! And not satisfied with that, you would even lay your hands on the soldiers meant to protect our peace….have you gone mad!?”
Akatsu turned the silent hall into a court to judge Lily.
Akatsu is the presiding judge alongside the head of the Candy family, and the pair have taken a seat at the head table where the main characters Lily and Nerine’s older brother should have been sitting.
Back in my home town, tripping people during a dance is a common way to come on to them, but for nobles, forcibly tripping someone during a dance is the same as annulling an engagement.
Olive tripped me when we first met, and when Lily pointed that out to her, Olive got extremely upset. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but in aristocratic circles, it’s apparently considered an extremely rude act that a higher level noble should never do.
It would be scandalous for someone from the well-renowned Ruhuna family like Lily to do something like that. It would create a dark stain upon the Ruhuna family name. The knife part was a bit of improv on Lily’s part, but it was the perfect accent to sell the crazy.
“Just as you hoped, this engagement will come to a decisive end. It is only thanks to your friends’ skillful healing that the young boy has come out unscathed and Lord Candy has decided to forgive the transgression. Be grateful.”
“Yes….my thanks, Lord Candy. You are too kind, showing forgiveness for my rudeness.”
At her father’s urging, Lily bowed her head and thanked Nerine’s father. They’re talking like he has a generous heart, but I doubt anyone’d be able to say no to Akatsu.
As expected, if they were to ignore this level of disrespect and continue on with the marriage, the future balance of power between the Ruhuna and Candy families would be tumultuous at best.
It’s in Akatsu’s best interest to pretend that this whole incident never happened. If he does that though, the problem of how to effectively deal with Lily after this comes up. They had already put her under house arrest, confining her inside, and as a result, she’d become a bomb that could explode at any moment. The risk of her going mad and tearing through the mansion will always be there.
“However….I do not think anyone who would do something like this has the right to refer to themselves as a Ruhuna. You are disowned! Those not worthy of the Ruhuna name should gracefully depart the stage!”
“T-That is….”
“You always wished for freedom right? It appears I’ve been a tad too lenient in your education. Have your freedom and live on your own two feet!”
Lily must be smiling on the inside. If anything, she might be a tad worried since things are going a little too well. Her father had disowned her just like I told her he would.
From Lily’s point of view, her father would never obediently nod his head even if she did promise to leave the family, and that’s probably true. So I came to the conclusion that if we gave him a reason to kick her out himself, he would do just that.
Just doing something corrupt would make Lily no different from any other noble, and it wouldn’t be enough to get her disowned. On the other hand, if she did something too serious, Lily would end up with a prison cell along with that disownment.
She needs to cause just enough trouble that her father could disown her after a short containment here. The plan we came up with was to have an “insane” Lily forcefully break the engagement in an unseemly way.
“I….I understand.”
I could tell Lily was trying hard to not laugh as she accepted Akatsu’s words while she pretended that this wasn’t exactly what she wanted.
“Lord Ruhuna. I wonder if leaving her without any capital may be too harsh a sentence. How about leaving her in the care of my house?”
Heath had been quietly standing to the side while watching things unfold, but he took this opportunity to speak up. This was also a part of our plan.
“Hmm….very well. Does that mean you intend to adopt her into the Gray family?”
“We are a declining household as it is. There’s no harm in accepting a daughter who has gone a little mad.”
Heath declared his own family’s unfortunate circumstances with a smile.
“Then let us go through the proper procedures. Guards! Take Lily to the mansion!”
Lily was yanked to her feet when the guards grabbed her arms. We shared a look between us for a moment before she was led out of the hall. She’s smiling, relieved that we had succeeded.
This is the plan I laid out for Lily. She would be taken in by the Gray family, and with nothing to else to bind her down, she would continue to live as Lily Gray. From here, she’ll “just happen” to run into the hero party during her travels and help them how she can.
It might be a good idea to bring Lily on a trip, just the two of us for a while. I never really realized until I was one myself, but the life of a hero is surprisingly carefree. It’s like they’ve chosen a handful of people from the populace and told them they can live like nobles from now on.
Once Lily was gone, Akatsu turned his eyes to everyone else in attendance.
“Everyone, I would like to apologize for the insane behavior of my former daughter. Lord Candy, let us talk more together about our peaceful futures. Thank you to all the heroes who worked together to catch that stupid girl. It is good that things managed to end as they did. If she had managed to escape, a nationwide search would have begun.”
Lily’s acting ability is probably something she inherited from Akatsu. He knew exactly what was going to happen here today, yet he is doing a great job making it look like he’s as surprised as anyone and coming up with solutions on the spot.
The only thing I didn’t tell Lily about the plan is that I included Akatsu into it. Olive was right to worry that Akatsu would take measures we couldn’t have anticipated if things went too far. That’s why, even though I wouldn’t say there was any trust there, I still felt more at ease tentatively calling him an ally.
To him, Lily is nothing more than a thorn in his side. However, it would be impossible for him to banish Lily from the family without a just cause. That’d be its own stain on the family’s reputation.
That’s why I told him that I could get Lily to publicly become a liability to the Ruhuna family, so he could kick her out with no worries.
It’s a super simple solution really. It would’ve been great if Akatsu and Lily could’ve worked together to do something like this from the beginning, but since they would’ve been so busy probing each other’s intentions, they never would’ve gotten anything done. They’re too alike, meaning they could never trust each other, and a collaboration between them would never work.
If something like that was ever possible, he never would’ve tried kidnapping Lily to get her out of the audition in the first place.
This deep-rooted mistrust between them apparently started after Lily’s biological mother suddenly disappeared one day. I don’t have the power to solve a problem like that, so I just did what I could and took advantage of the situation.
Anyway, with this, Lily has been disowned from the Ruhuna family with Akatsu’s blessing. Lily gains her freedom while losing her family name and reputation.
The hundreds of participants here are the witnesses, so the rumors will have spread to every corner of the city by this time tomorrow. Lily’s reputation will naturally fall as a result.
We couldn’t get what we wanted without giving something up. Even if you don’t consider the loss of the Ruhuna family name, it was the reputation Lily had built up that was the real problem for Akatsu.
However, whatever fame Lily has built so far will be a fart in the wind compared to what she’ll do in the future. Lily and I are going to travel the world together, helping all kinds of people, and show these people what unprecedented success really looks like.
“Everyone. I would ask for your cooperation in this matter. Today, my daughter broke off her engagement by her own free will in order to walk a life supported by her own two feet, and I along with the Candy family accepted her wishes. We decided to give her up for adoption as a sort of precaution and for her own well-being. Other than that, nothing else happened today. At no point did anyone get tripped during a dance nor were there any acts of violence, and nobody connected to the Ruhuna family ever dared to attack our nation’s soldiers. If a false and damaging story like that were to ever make its way to the streets, I promise you the Ruhuna family will use its full resources to find where such rumors had come from. The guest list we have kept will assuredly assist us in this endeavor.”
It was a bit roundabout, but Akatsu’s threat against everyone here was easy to understand. He’s the one with the greatest power here, so the responsibility of deciding what is and isn’t the truth lies with him. And with that power, he has decided to create a new truth.
But, he never brought up that statement when we were making our plan.
Sure, doing something like that would keep the Ruhuna family’s reputation intact. However, it would also almost completely protect Lily’s reputation. This whole fiasco is going to be deeply engrained into the minds of everyone here, but memories always fade.
After a couple weeks, almost nobody is going to readily remember the quarrel that took place between a young lady and lord who have nothing to do with them personally. The fewer people who are willing to bring up this incident, the more Lily’s reputation is going to be preserved–especially with the commoners.
Is this….Akatsu’s final goodbye to Lily? A statement meant to reduce Lily’s losses as much as possible. I always thought this guy completely lacked any kind of fatherly side, but maybe there is a small trace of humanity somewhere in there.
Akatsu took one look at me before striking a conversation with Nerine’s father and leaving the room.
The invited guests who had remained slowly began getting ready to make their own exits.
“Good work out there Lily. And thank you for trusting me enough to allow me to participate.”
Heath came over with a large smile on his face. I wonder if the reason Grandma ended her relationship with this guy is because of how clingy he is.
Since it’s tangentially related to Grandma, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just did what I asked without thinking about any of the details.
“Well….I’m exhausted. All it would’ve taken was for those two to have an honest conversation, and all of this could have been avoided….being a noble sounds like a pain.”
“Haha! I suppose it is. Do you have any desire to inherit the Gray family?”
“None at all. Just becoming part of your family would mean I’d become Lily’s relative. No, I guess if she’s going to technically be your daughter, that would make her my aunt, wouldn’t it?”
“Relations with nobles are always a complicated affair. I believe the formalities will all be sorted out at my mansion after two, maybe three days. Will you be coming to pick her up when it’s done?”
“Of course.”
Heath’s smile deepened, giving me a knowing nod before walking away.
Experimental Translations 