Sien replied with a light smile to Count Yoter’s words.

“May I return those words to you exactly as they were?”

“What?”

“I’m just kidding. Let’s go then!”

It was an irritating attitude, as if she strangely knew everything.

Count Yoter frowned and glared at Sien.

But Sien simply maintained her bright, smiling expression.

The trick to drive me to trial was intricately planned from the beginning.

The first charge was ‘impersonating nobility’. Apparently, testimony poured out that I was a fake daughter, having bribed who knows how many maids.

The core of the trial was that the imperial palace would directly punish me for daring to impersonate nobility and disturbing the discipline of the empire.

Like saying this was the end of my arrogance, the trial proceeded quickly and sloppily.

I was dragged into the courtroom. With no courtesy befitting a noble lady, my pink hair was completely tangled.

Slumped down in the defendant’s seat, I looked around the entire courtroom.

And I looked at the judge, and the arrogantly seated crown prince beside him.

‘So that’s the male protagonist from .’

When I first met him, I thought his blonde hair and blue eyes truly made him look like a knight. But now, he just looked vile.

‘So these people think they can mess with me and get away with it?’

I didn’t know they could be this stupid, but it seemed this crown prince was truly incredibly foolish.

‘None of our family members are here. They said they’d punish the fake.’

But it didn’t matter.

I looked around the courtroom again. I deliberately smiled more gently as I looked at Count Yoter seated in the witness stand.

“Pardon my rudeness, but allow me to say a word.”

Count Yoter, who opened his mouth, had a shameless expression as if he held everything in the palm of his hand.

I tilted my head while looking at Count Yoter. His expression suggested he had something great, but what could it be?

“This Sien Mirmode here is a fake.”

“You’re saying I’m fake?”

“That’s right.”

Receiving Count Yoter’s heated gaze, I nonchalantly crossed my arms over my chest. He’ll surely say next that ‘our Yoter Company can prove it’, right?

“Our Yoter Company can prove it.”

I can’t believe this. It seemed I needed to lay out a mat.

Just then, I heard the door click open behind me. And footsteps approaching from the doorway. Though it was a small bird-like movement, everyone’s senses were on high alert in that situation.

“This child here is the ‘real’ Mirmode!”

It was the little girl who had been mistreated everywhere. I looked at her and quietly pressed my lips together.

‘How cliché.’

But unlike my indifference, everyone else was in stern silence. In this situation and atmosphere, only two were at ease.

The crown prince, and me, pointed out as the fake daughter.

I leaned back in the wooden chair, breathing and thinking. Now the crown prince or his close aide would soon catch the wind.

“Is there anything more to see? The Yoter Company’s technology is the best in the empire.”

Sure enough, the uncle-like sycophant standing next to the crown prince gestured with his chin.

Since it’s come to this, what can I do?

I spoke out like a frightened culprit making a final roar.

“But, you know. Can Your Highness the Crown Prince really vouch for the Yoter Company? Count Yoter could be lying.”

As I said that, Count Yoter immediately began to lose his temper.

“What? What nonsense is that? Now that you’ve been called out as a fake, you’re feeling wronged, aren’t you?”

Seeing their attitudes, I came to realize something.

‘Judging by that unpleasant attitude, it seems they have some definite evidence?’

It was as if they had prepared a secret trump card. Eventually, he whispered to me with a sneer.

“Because I invested. Of course, that doesn’t mean I vouch for everything about the Yoter Company.”

“……”

“But the affairs of the Yoter Company have been vouched for by the imperial palace administrators for generations.”

I stared at the crown prince and thought. I disliked everything about him, from the flush on his face to his pleased tone of voice. But what annoyed me most was…

‘That bastard, trying to weasel out sneakily? Determined not to fall for any leading questions, huh?’

It was a snake-like tone suggesting he would absolutely not fall for any leading questions.

Hearing those annoying words subtly trying to slip away by saying it wasn’t him but the imperial administrators who vouched for it, I felt quite irritated.

I parted my lips to add one more thing.

“Shouldn’t we hear Mirmode’s position first, as is proper?”

The crown prince, seemingly no longer interested in responding to my words, gestured with his chin and said.

“No need to go as far as Mirmode. Just drag that fake out now and notify Mirmode, that’s all.”

I detected urgency in his words and momentarily felt puzzled.

‘Why go this far? What am I to him?’

I, Sien Mirmode, may bear the Mirmode family name, but I’m just a mere child after all.

Although my company was threatening Count Yoter’s company, whether I was fake or not shouldn’t have been such a big deal to the crown prince.

Rather, messing with me could clearly be seen as offending Mirmode’s pride.

‘So why is he so urgently trying to get rid of me? What am I to him?’

As I glared at him with my lips tightly pressed, the corners of the crown prince’s mouth slowly turned upwards.

“Deal with her immediately.”

As soon as the crown prince finished speaking, soldiers began approaching to grab my arms. I glared at them and bit my lip hard.

‘If I’m dragged away like this…’

I might be detained, or they might cast magic on me.

I recalled my father’s naive face.

“Now, let’s go.”

But even as the rough-looking soldiers drew near, even when one soldier finally roughly lifted my body, my father, the relief pitcher, had not made an appearance.

I glared at the soldier holding my arm and declared.

“I am Mirmode. Don’t touch me!”

At the word Mirmode, one soldier flinched and retreated for a moment. But of course, the crown prince opened his mouth.

“What are you all doing? That child is nothing but a fake.”

As he said, in this place I was nothing but a ‘fake’. A soldier carefully watching the crown prince’s displeased expression cautiously reached out towards me.

“Come.”

The intimidating aura was a bit less intense than before. This was enough.

‘Father will come to save me. I’m sure of it.’

I stuck my body firmly to the chair, intending to stall for a bit more time.

“…Get up!”

As the soldier’s breathing became rough and his hand was about to touch me, finally…

The door clicked and opened quickly. The situation of almost kicking the door down froze everyone, including the crown prince, Count Yoter, and all the noble jurors.

“…Duke Mirmode?”

The atmosphere turned icy cold.

Except for me, who had remained still.

I looked behind me with gently curved eyes.

Round eyes, an expression trying hard to look cold, lips full of gullibility – it was the familiar face of our father.

In the end, as I had expected, our father had arrived to save me.

Father raised his eyebrows while diligently acting out a terrifying expression.

The crown prince then rose, breathing heavily.

“What are you doing? We are in the middle of a trial.”

“Your Highness, what exactly are you doing? Confining my daughter in a courtroom.”

“That is-”

“It seems you are prepared to directly confront Mirmode.”

The chilly atmosphere grew even colder.

I inwardly cheered for my father and thought.

‘Our father, not bad at all?’

Gone was his gullible appearance, now looking like a cold villain. It seems the effort put into educating him to be a villain has paid off!

A noble dared to be insolent to royalty. This was clearly overstepping bounds.

But father was Mirmode. Moreover, the crown prince was guilty of hastily putting Mirmode’s daughter on trial.

‘Crown prince, how will you get out of this situation?’

Bringing Mirmode’s daughter to trial by intimidation could also be seen as overstepping into family matters.

I looked around with an interested gaze. Then father spoke fiercely to the guards surrounding me.

“All of you, get lost.”

I flinched at father’s chilling voice.

‘Father, you’re so villainous!’

But it seems I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as the soldiers who were about to grab my arms began to flinch.

I looked at father with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

But when father met my gaze with a deeply nervous expression, he soon opened his mouth again.

“So, I mean. How dare you do this to my daughter?”

‘A leaky jar leaks outside too!’

Father slightly stumbled over his words!

As father’s weak side showed a bit, I looked around nervously. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be flinching. I tried to hide the smile at the corners of my mouth as I looked back at father.

But…

‘Father’s face has turned cold again.’

I felt a bit puzzled.

Right now, father seemed to be deliberately stumbling over his words to appear gullible.

‘It must be my imagination. Surely that can’t be the case?’

I clenched my fists and looked back into the courtroom. Except for stumbling over his words a bit, father had perfectly accomplished his mission, so it was time for the next step.

‘Let’s deal with the crown prince first.’

I took my eyes off father and looked at the judge’s bench.

The crown prince’s expression at the judge’s bench was a sight to behold. With his face all contorted, breathing heavily, anyone could see it was the face of someone whose plans had been ruined.

But then the crown prince’s face suddenly changed to a bright expression.

‘As expected, there must be some other scheme hidden.’

I stared at him, then gazed at the trembling girl. The girl quickly ran towards father and said.

“F-Father! I was so scared!”

But father…

“You are not my daughter.”

“…I am the real one.”

Father hardened his expression coldly, as if he had no empathy at all, and said again.

“No. You are not my daughter. You are just a swindler who dared to make my daughter, Sien, show tears in her eyes.”

He emphasized it twice, no less. I tried to raise the corners of my mouth in a wide grin but barely held back.

However, the trembling girl, as if she had nowhere else to retreat, opened her eyes wide and shouted brazenly.

“What are you saying? I am Sir Matthias’s real daughter. Sir Matthias, you are being deceived by a fake right now!”

‘She’s strangely overflowing with confidence. What if father gets caught up in that confidence?’

Father tended to be soft-hearted. I looked at father and clenched both fists, sending a signal to stay strong.

After meeting my expression, father seemed to steel his heart that was about to weaken like a pushover, and put on a cold expression. Then he coldly declared again.

“Can you prove those words?”

“Of course. The paternity test kit directly funded by the Yoter Company proves it!”

“How dare a mere Yoter Company try to tarnish Mirmode’s daughter by claiming she’s fake?”

As soon as I heard father’s chilling voice, I instantly sensed something strange.

‘Father is acting too villainous!’

I even heard the crown prince gritting his teeth, unable to refute.

‘Why is the crown prince backing down to our father?’