“Josephine…! …you… you evil…”
“Huh? What—”
“It’s you… you’re hiding Anrietta…! Tell me… where…where is my child…!?”
“W, what are you talking about? If it’s Anrietta—”
Josephine, being pressured by the woman who she thought was a ghost, spoke without thinking.
Uni attempted to stop her, but before she could do anything,
“Even if you dress a maid up like her, I won’t be deceived…! The hair… the eyes… no matter what you change… I’ll never mistake the precious girl I gave birth to… bring me the real one!”
With a resounding scream of fury, her words echoed in the court.
The judge, Count Cartan, Josephine, and Marquis Lavallee were struck dumb.
Only Tullius and Uni, who knew the truth, remained unfazed.
Tullius shrugged his shoulders.
“—You don’t know who the real Anrietta is.”
“What… did you say?”
Tullius remained calm despite the mounting instability of the madwoman in front of him. Perhaps he had grown desensitized to emotional outbursts over the course of his experiments. Opus 4 may have been the primary factor in this; Similarly, Uni knew the limits of her sanity. If it was for her master, she was willing to do anything, no matter how repulsive to normal humans.
With a light tap, he rested his hands on Uni’s shoulders.
“This girl here is my Uni. Does she look like your daughter?”
Ah.
She knew she couldn’t do it after all.
Uni could no longer hold back the flood of joy within her heart.
(‘My Uni’, he said. Just like that. He put his hands to my shoulders and claimed them as his!)
Her stone-cold expression began to crack from the waves of ecstasy within.
Still, all that appeared was a small smile, as any more would be unsightly.
“Is that, truly a slave?”
“The birth mother herself denied it. Not a daughter, at any rate, but even so…”
“……what a detestable smile….”
“Hah...”
Not a single sound from the boisterous courtroom registered with her. The temperature of his hand on her shoulder, his breath on her hair. The words that fixed themselves in her mind and bound her to him.
What a wonderful scene it was.
If only it could have lasted a little longer.
Alas, Uni’s hope was short-lived.
“I know it’s not true!”
Uni was forcefully dragged back to reality by the scream.
“My cute little Anrietta… could never grow into such a beauty like that… I know it to be true… I’m not wrong… I’m her mother, after all…”
“Yes, yes! That’s it, that’s it!”
He slowly took back his hand.
While savoring the lingering sensation of his palms, Uni turned back to her raving mother.
Even Marquis Lavallee, the instigator of this chaos, was confused by her actions. He would probably think her spirit had long fled her body, leaving only insanity behind.
What the mastermind didn’t know was that it was not because of the terrible life she had experienced.
—She was brainwashed.
As Tullius yawned, he kept rubbing his left eye.Yes, his left eye. A primary feature of her fellow Opus, as well as his own “work”.
‘Hah. You owe me one, Uni.’
A voice resonated within her mind.
It was no hallucination, but magical telepathy.
Plan D, the escape from the capital. The key lay within Drei.
The dark elf woman was also in the capital. While preparing for the execution of Plan D, she must have searched for Anna Marie, possibly at Tullius’ bequest, and brainwashed her with the magic eye.
The magic eye acted differently from the incense; it’s efficacy increased with the user’s magic power. If the chances of side effects occurring in the target were discarded, orders contrary to the target’s will could be forced into action.
Uni silently gave her thanks to Drei.
‘I was saved by you, Drei. My heartfelt thanks.’
‘Don’t be stiff with me. I help my friends out, you know.’
The connection was cut, and Uni refocused on her surroundings.
“—As you have undoubtedly heard, the mother of Miss Anrietta Pola Cartan has testified that this girl is not her child. Well, this is all thanks to the Marquis. As you said, this would clear the question of her identity beyond a doubt, correct?”
Tullius spoke with a pleasant tone.
His happiness could be heard. Once she thought about it, this was the first revenge he had fully carried out. The satisfaction must have been sweet.
Uni felt just as pleased as he did. The old snake before her was a vile enemy who tried to tear her master and her apart.
Linus? Merely a bump in the road, not a foe like Lavallee.
The Marquis showed no expression on his aged face. He simply sat and listened to Tullius speak, though his shaking hands clasped together showed the extent of his humiliation.
“You must now surely understand! As I have repeatedly said for the past week, and many more times during this trial, Uni and Anrietta Pola Cartan are completely different people!”
“Objection! Anna Marie was incensed by the presence of Madame Josephine, and could not have delivered a sensible testimony in such a state—”
“Oh? You had something to say, Marquis? She was your witness, and you must have known that this trial was suggested by Madame Josephine, as it said so on the subpoena. What is the meaning of this, if you brought somebody who could not make a sane testimony?”
“Tch!”
“I see no wrongdoing in a witness saying something detrimental to the defendant. This is no show trial for the benefit of an individual, we stand here to uncover the truth before the eyes of God! As counsel to the plaintiff, I request that the objection be nullified.”
“Request accepted, objection overruled. Even though the witness has inadvertently damaged the defendant’s own case, withdrawal of testimony shall not be permitted.”
Marquis Lavallee’s request was quickly denied. However, there were others who would not sit quietly.
“O-objection!”
It seemed as though Count Cartan had found his second wind upon his reunion with Anna Marie.
“I, the father, have recognized her as my daughter! Even though the mother may disagree, the score is still tied!”
However, this statement only hurt his beloved more.
“Pierre… do you not believe me…?”
“Ah, no. Anna Marie, I…”
Count Cartan shrank back at the intense heartbreak and loathing palpably flowing from Anna Marie.
…Unsightly.
Uni thought immediately upon seeing him cower..
But then again, it was all well in the end. At this rate, she would be saved from this situation with it ending up as only a minor setback to her master.. Efficiency-wise, brainwashing her mother had been the most effective option. As expected of a follower influenced by her master’s obsessive efficiency.
She pressed forward. As further insurance against the Central faction, she needed to twist the knife in the wound.
With that in mind, Uni opened her mouth.
“Then, I shall convince the Count, Miss Anrietta’s father, as well.”
“What?”
With that, the Count’s mouth dropped open. He had not expected Uni to continue and had been glad that nothing else was yet to come.
From the beginning, Anna Marie’s presence was unexpected. Therefore, it was unnatural to expect her to have countermeasures set in place.
Uni would use this expectation to her advantage.
