---
Duke Bovary rose from his seat in excitement.
"What do you do?"
"They were all in a relationship with the defendant, a married man.
They severely hurt the plaintiff, who was hoping to preserve her family."
“Ha.
You are the one who filed for divorce, separating the family!”
I smiled comfortingly at the still oblivious Duke.
"Is that so?
I will submit as evidence a letter from the defendant's current mistress, Miss Stephanie.
I will read it to you here."
[Madam, it seems that you have finally lost your mind, blinded by jealousy.
I checked everything with the Duke, and he confirmed that what you said was a blatant lie!
First, the Duke presented Miss Rosaline with a three-carat diamond ring and three dresses.
Secondly, he only covered Miss Lillian's living expenses for five months, and gave her a boat, not a yacht.
Third...
Fourth... (to another)
The villa he had given to Miss Patricia X was restored and given to me.
The Duke says he doesn't love her at all, she's a weird old woman.
You said you want to keep your family together, but the Duke says he has no intention of going through with the marriage.
Of course, he plans to buy me more gifts than he gave the previous ten women.
I have attached a memorandum from the Duke proving the accuracy of the content I mentioned.
– Stephanie Bovary]
The courtroom erupted in uproar over the shocking content.
Everyone, not believing their ears, began to accuse the Duke of inappropriate behavior.
“Oh my God... how dare a mere mistress write such a letter to the Duchess!”
“Did you hear how she called herself Stephanie Bovary?
What a slut!”
“I knew Duke Bovary was a playboy, but I didn’t know he would be so debauched...”
I smiled as I looked at the letter I had kept so carefully.
Stephanie was both bold and arrogant, and even sent disrespectful letters to the Duchess from her pastry shop.
Furthermore, she manipulated the Duke into humiliating the Duchess.
And of course, in an attempt to maintain their relationship, the Duke gave his young lover everything she wanted.
As a result, I expected that if I wrote a provocative letter to Stephanie, she would become very angry and oppose me.
Therefore, I made Duchess Bovary exaggerate the gifts the Duke had given to his former mistresses.
As expected, Stephanie was furious, and to prove that she was the Duke's dearest mistress, she even revealed information about his previous mistresses.
Finally, I delivered the letter, the proof, to the Duke.
“Didn't you personally write a statement confirming that the content of the message is accurate?”
“That…that…”
“How could the Duchess, the plaintiff, remain silent after hearing such a shameful story from a simple mistress?
Moreover, the defendant was the first to mock the plaintiff, who wrote a letter saying that she would protect her family, and declared her intention to continue the marriage.”
The duke's lawyer, with a pale face, read the contents of the letter, then collapsed in his chair, with a look of astonishment on his face.
The judge was also speechless in front of the clear evidence of this relationship, and stammered a few words before he could speak.
“Ah, ah.
It's unusual to sue eleven people at once, but… I'll allow it.”
“Oh, actually, there's someone else I'm going to sue.”
“Are you going to file another lawsuit...?”
The judge looked at me with a pleading look, begging me to stop.
The idea of dealing with twelve lawsuits at once seemed astonishing.
But I continued anyway.
“I intend to accuse Duke Bovary of his crimes.”
“Nonsense!
How can love be a crime?”
Duke Bovary's face was now red and he stared at me angrily.
She glared at him fiercely in return.
“All the gifts mentioned in this letter were purchased with the Duke’s property.
Without the consent of the Duchess, who is the administrator of the joint property.
Therefore, I will sue you for embezzlement.”
“Ha.
This is my property too!
Don’t you know that embezzlement is not practiced between spouses?”
“Sure, that's true between spouses, but it's different when it comes to the property of a trading company.”
The Duke paused for a moment, his movements stiffened, and he stared at me blankly.
I continued speaking quietly.
“Currently, all of the Duke’s properties are managed in the name of the trading company.
This is in accordance with the agreement made between the two families upon the marriage of the Duke and Duchess.”
The reason the Duchess postponed the divorce for twenty years was precisely the joint work associated with their marriage.
But now it was the Duke's own business connected with their marriage that confronted him.
“The Duke’s property belongs not only to the couple, but to the trading company.
In other words, if he took the money without the permission of the wife, who is the manager of the joint property, it would be embezzlement.”
The Duke, feeling very embarrassed, began to chatter.
“That woman spent her business fortune recklessly!
She used the Duke’s money to buy jewelry, dresses, and parties!”
“Didn’t you easily allow for all the expenses incurred by the Duchess?
As a generous husband, you said it clearly earlier.”
"this …!"
“I want to argue that the defendant’s unlawful embezzlement should be reflected in the division of assets.”
The Duke's mouth fell open, speechless.
The odds were already against him.
The reporters in the hall quickened their pace.
Some even ran out of the courtroom to break the news.
I smiled at Duke Bovary, who was in a daze, for the last time.
“Love is not a crime, but embezzlement is, Duke Bovary.”
Finally, it was a brilliant victory.
∗ ∗ ∗
[Breaking News] Duke Bovary arrested on charges of embezzlement.
Duke Bovary lost more than 70% of his wealth.
The Duke of Bovary was punished, and the division of assets was negatively affected by the ruling, as he was found to have squandered the joint property for the sake of his mistresses.
Finally, I returned to the Archduke's house with a proud invitation to the summer ball.
It's only been a few weeks since I traveled to D.C. because of the lawsuit.
The Duchess of Bovary, or rather Claire Zacharias, was so moved that she announced that she would arrange everything related to the party herself.
After everything was resolved smoothly, I proudly ran to the Archduke's office.
“Archduke, I'm all set for the party!
What do you think?
I told you it would work, didn't I?”
But for some reason, the Archduke was not there.
I blinked, staring at the empty desk.
“Lady Perona, where did the Archduke go?”
“This... um, he's been gone for a while.”
"Where?
No, how long has it been?"
I frowned when I heard those words.
During my stay at Bovary's palace, I sent him several letters informing him of my recent situation, but I received no reply from the Archduke.
I thought this was the Archduke's usual behavior in business matters.
Could it be that the Archduke was absent during my absence?
“I-I...I'm not sure...”
Mrs.
Perona seemed nervous for some reason.
I felt worried, so I raised my eyebrows.
“The summer party is coming up...he's not planning to miss it, is he?”
“Oh, no!
The Archduke said he would definitely return before the ceremony.”
There was clearly something to hide.
But before I could search further, Mrs.
Perona ran away, under the pretext of preparing dinner.
In the middle of the night, everyone is asleep.
Bang, bang.
I suddenly opened my eyes to the sound of light footsteps echoing in the hallway.
'The Archduke has returned.'
I instinctively felt that the voice belonged to Archduke Richard, and I tiptoed out of the room.
A large shadow loomed over the dark hall.
I approached him quietly.
Finally, I spoke to the person standing in front of the Archduke's room.
"Where were you?"
“...!”
The one who turned around in surprise, as expected, was the Archduke.
He stopped turning the doorknob and stood still, staring at me.
His face was hidden in the complete darkness.
I walked up to him and said.
“You're too late.”
“…I had some work to attend to.”
He hesitated and took another step back.
I narrowed my eyes.
“What's wrong?”
This afternoon I checked with Madame Perona, who was unusually reserved, the status of the Archduke at work.
If my calculations are correct, he was gone for two weeks.
“You have already returned from the capital.
I heard that you succeeded this time as well.”
It was clear he was changing the subject.
I approached him with quick, long steps, making sure he couldn't retreat.
The moonlight illuminated the Archduke's face, contorting in confusion, and the shadows lifted.
Then finally his heavily messy locks of hair and his dirty face appeared.
I've never seen him look so messy before.
“What on earth were you doing...!”
I paused for a moment.
A strong smell of blood invaded my nose.
Could it be...?