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CHAPTER 93…………………………
– Different Dreams
At Akkia’s answer, every noble in the hearing chamber gasped.
“The head of the Magnolia Trading Company is… Akkia?”
The emperor’s hand, resting on the armrest, had gone completely white.
Magnolia—an emerging trading company rivaling, no, even surpassing the long-dominant Parcia Trading Company, once called the Empire’s cornerstone.
“But that company’s head is Akkia…?”
That same Akkia who had been frail and rumored not to live long—when had she built a trading empire?
Illei bit her lip, unable to hide her shock.
Unlike Illei, who soon managed to erase her expression, one man sat there gaping—Count Leorod.
He, too, was among the central nobles attending the hearing.
“That brat is the head of Magnolia? Not the Duke of Bellarus?!”
Leorod swallowed a groan. He had assumed Magnolia’s acquisition of the lucrative hot spring business meant the company was tied to the Bellarus family.
But the head turned out to be the Duke of Heidern’s wife.
“So I was the fool who pushed for this hearing… This doesn’t feel right.”
In truth, he hadn’t wanted this hearing in the first place.
For good reason—the “botox” that the Baroness Ruicel had used was one he had personally ordered altered.
When botox swept the Empire in popularity, Leorod had tried to develop a similar drug.
But reproducing it wasn’t easy.
Still, he couldn’t just sit by and let Magnolia monopolize the market.
[If Parcia cannot make it, then see to it that the drug disappears from this world entirely.]
Following the Empress Dowager’s orders, he conspired to accuse Lady Bellarus of creating a dangerous drug with side effects.
Magnolia’s botox was so popular that waiting lists stretched endlessly, driving people to buy it in the black market.
Leorod had his men mix corrosive chemicals into the illegally distributed doses—enough to cause mild side effects in most nobles, but…
The Baroness Ruicel’s dose contained a far greater concentration, melting her face.
“The distributor is reliable—there’s no problem.”
That distributor was an employee Leorod had secretly planted inside Magnolia.
Or more accurately—
“—a man I embedded there myself.”
Thus, no one could ever trace the scandal back to him.
After the Baroness’s death, Leorod even smuggled the distributor away, ordering him to hide.
The whole affair would soon be blamed entirely on Magnolia and Lady Bellarus, the supposed creator of the tainted drug.
“Still… her death bothers me.”
He couldn’t figure out why the baron’s daughter, who had appeared healthy at the party, suddenly dropped dead.
He certainly hadn’t ordered her killed.
“Nor would my sister ever give such an order.”
Leorod shook his head. Maybe the side effects had been stronger than expected—but it didn’t matter.
“As long as that woman takes the fall, all’s well.”
Even if her husband, the Duke of Heidern, was Magnolia’s head, there’d be no escaping this hearing.
Leorod glanced toward Lea with a cold smile.
If she had only accepted the emperor’s proposal, things wouldn’t have come to this.
“Tch. Foolish girl.”
With a bang of the gavel, the hearing began.
The questioning toward Lea and Akkia was merciless.
They accused Akkia—Magnolia’s head—of distributing the drug without proper verification, citing her connection to Lea.
They accused Lea of developing it without clinical trials, doubting the drug’s safety.
But Lea calmly listed dozens of clinical test results, asserting her innocence.
Watching her, Leorod stroked his chin.
“Something’s off.”
Both women were too composed.
Akkia’s calm was one thing—but Lady Bellarus, whose drug had supposedly killed someone, should’ve been distraught.
Even as the nobles cornered her with evidence, she stood unshaken.
“Are they fearless… or do they have something up their sleeve?”
Leorod eyed Lea suspiciously. She must be relying on her family—the old duke who adored his kin would surely be promising her protection even now.
“Well… she’ll regret that.”
There was no way he’d let her off.
Not when the Empress Dowager herself expected Bellarus’s daughter to be ruined.
While Leorod waited for the “inevitable” verdict, Akkia suddenly stood.
“I would like to call a witness.”
“A witness?”
“Yes. A witness who can prove the investigation has gone in the wrong direction from the start.”
The Chief Justice glanced toward the emperor for approval.
When Illei gave a subtle nod, the request was granted.
“Bring them in.”
A man entered.
Leorod’s face stiffened the moment he saw him.
“That man…!?”
It was the very distributor Leorod had planted inside Magnolia.
At that instant, the source of Leorod’s unease became clear—why Lea and Akkia had been so calm all along.
“No… it can’t be!”
Akkia’s sharp eyes glinted toward him.
“It was a trap! Damn it—!”
His instinct was right again, but too late.
“M-my name is Trigger. I handled the distribution of botox for Magnolia Trading.
Or… to be exact…”
He met Leorod’s gaze and spoke with difficulty.
“I was a Parcia employee forced to infiltrate Magnolia under Count Leorod’s orders.”
The hall erupted.
“A Parcia man?! You mean—a spy?!”
Trigger continued, his voice cutting through the noise.
“Yes. Many of you have heard about tainted botox circulating on the black market.
I was ordered by Count Leorod to steal real botox, alter its formula, and resell it there.”
Every gaze turned toward Leorod.
“I have a sick mother. I couldn’t afford treatment.
The Count promised to help her—and me—if I completed the job…”
“W-What nonsense! I’ve never seen you before in my life!”
But Trigger presented documents proving his employment at Parcia.
“What is this? Did Parcia plot this to sabotage Magnolia?!”
“Yes! The drug that harmed the Baroness Ruicel wasn’t Magnolia’s at all—it was one altered under Count Leorod’s orders!”
Gasps filled the chamber.
“Count Leorod! Is this true?!”
“No! It’s a lie! The Baroness herself said she used Lady Bellarus’s botox!”
“That’s false,” said Akkia. “The Baroness never purchased anything from us.
We operate strictly by appointment, and every sale is recorded in our ledgers.”
Akkia handed over a book.
“As you can see, her appointment was scheduled for three months later—she never received the drug from us.”
“That ledger could be forged!”
“Forged? When we have both records and witnesses?”
“Just admit it already, Count!”
The nobles’ gazes turned icy. Akkia looked toward the emperor and smiled faintly.
“Your Majesty, I request one more witness.”
“…Bring them in.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the emperor allowed it.
A veiled woman entered.
“That woman is…?”
When the veil was lifted, everyone froze.
“It—it can’t be…!”
The woman believed to be dead—Baroness Caroline Ceril de Ruicel—stood before them.
“She’s alive?! What in the world—!”
Even the emperor’s mask of composure cracked.
Akkia ignored the commotion and asked gently,
“Are you indeed the daughter of the House of Ruicel?”
“Yes. I am Caroline Ceril de Ruicel.”
“Did you purchase botox directly from Magnolia Trading?”
“No. I bought it from a man who came to my estate.
He said it was an officially distributed Magnolia product, and I foolishly believed him.”
She pointed toward the distributor.
“So you didn’t buy it directly from Magnolia?”
“Correct. When my face began to melt, I panicked.
I’ve realized now that I blamed the wrong people. The true culprit was someone else entirely.”
Caroline’s eyes hardened as she turned.
“The man who sold me a fake drug under Magnolia’s name—
and then tried to kill me—is sitting right there!”
Her trembling hand leveled squarely at Count Leorod.
