Aww, my little…(16)
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“Oh my word, so Prince Marten paid off these people to frame Her Majesty the Queen.”
Aristine spoke, her voice trembling with shock. Her pale face looked weak and pitiful.
The queen’s eyebrow twitched.
It was odd to see Aristine reacting this way.
‘Is she trying to protect Tarkan by taking my side and condemning Marten?’
Hah. If that was the case, then Aristine was sorely mistaken.
“Indeed, this is a deplorable matter. Although not borne of myself, Marten and Tarkan are both sons of myself, the Queen.”
The Queen let out a heavy sigh, looking deeply troubled.
“But today, after being framed by two of my sons, it makes me doubt my life so far.”
“Did Khan frame Your Majesty the Queen?”
“He believed Marten’s words without proper verification and accused me of being a criminal. What can you call that, if not being framed?”
The Queen raised a brow and looked at Aristine.
‘You can try to play tricks, but Tarkan won’t be able to escape. Since he declared me a criminal in front of so many people.’
The queen was confident.
Confident that she would never let this victory slip out of her hands.
‘I can admit you have some political savvy. But you can’t beat me.’
However, Aristine’s reaction was strange.
“Oh my, are you saying Khan should have tortured Prince Marten or something before coming here?”
Aristine widened her eyes and tilted her head.
“Indeed, my husband is so outstanding that he is first in line to the throne, but he has not been crowned the crown prince yet.”
The queen’s jaw clenched when she heard ‘first in line to the throne’.
The victory in this situation might be intoxicating but in fact, it was a reminder that she had truly lost.
“The law dictates that brothers of the same rank cannot interrogate each other on their crimes. That is not my husband’s role but the duty of His Majesty, the investigator, or the judge.”
Aristine spoke softly like she was teaching a lesson, in a relaxed voice befitting the final winner.
‘Is this girl looking down on me?!’
Needless to say, her tone of voice upset the Queen.
“Last time, you accused me of calling you a criminal after hearing a weak testimony, but your husband has just done the same thing!”
Aristine smiled to herself when she saw the Queen screaming in agitation.
Because of this incident, the Queen had lost Nephther’s trust and her influence as queen had diminished significantly, so Aristine knew that with a little provocation, the Queen would open her mouth.
“I think this is a completely different situation from when Your Majesty accused me of being a poisoner without proper verification.”
Aristine stared straight at the Queen and smiled.
“After all, not only did Your Majesty have your position as queen but you also had the right to investigate back then, but you failed to conduct a proper investigation.”
The queen had missed the real issue.
She spoke without thinking because she was irritated by Aristine’s behavior. She was never such as easy opponent to deal with.
However, it was already too late.
“If Khan were to conduct interrogations as he pleased without the right to do so, that would be an abuse of authority.”
In the blink of an eye.
The victory that was tightly in the queen’s grasp, slipped away like grains of sand in the blink of an eye.
With just a few words from Aristine.
‘This bitch…!’
She wanted to cut off that smooth tongue of hers.
The sounds of people whispering and mumbling wrapped around the queen’s limbs like a murky fog.
Her whole body felt clammy with a sickening wetness.
Meanwhile, Aristine was leaning against Tarkan’s chest, feigning shock again, and seeing this, fury surged in the Queen’s chest.
‘No.’
She couldn’t let herself be caught by wordplay.
‘Alright, I admit it. Dragging Tarkan into this has failed.’
Both her claim that Tarkan had instigated Marten or that he’d rashly framed the queen, nothing was successful.
For a moment, she recalled the look in Tarkan’s eyes when she asked if this was his scheme.
《So I, put my wife thorough such crap, to get rid of someone like you?》
《Are you seriously saying that?》
《Huh? Answer me?》
Calling that gaze chilling was not enough; it was beyond horrifying.
Just thinking about it again made her fingertips and lips turn cold.
‘Yes, I shouldn’t be too greedy. Either way, it’s more important that I’m not involved with this, so let’s not touch Tarkan anymore.’
The queen refused to admit that she was overwhelmed by Tarkan’s pressure and made up an excuse.
“…Well, I didn’t exactly torture Marten just now and I simply asked them a question. But wasn’t that enough for them to tell the truth?”
Still, since it would be too unsightly to back out immediately, the Queen added one more word.
“Khan also asked them to verify. But their answer was very different then,” came Aristine’s reply.
The woman wouldn’t even let her get a word in.
The veins on the queen’s forehead bulged.
However, even if Aristine could nitpick, the Queen still held the advantage.
The Queen spread her fan and looked away from Aristine.
“In any case, I can’t help but sigh at this matter. To be framed of ordering my son to assault my other son’s wife… I don’t even have the strength to be angry.”
Now, she had to reemphasize the fact that she was a victim.
“I truly understand how Your Majesty is feeling. If I were framed like that, I would feel the same.”
Aristine looked down and nodded her head.
Once she heard that response, the Queen became anxious.
‘What does she plan to say now?’
As if she could hear the queen’s thoughts, Aristine opened her mouth:
“However.”
And she was off to an uneasy start.
“Does this mean Prince Marten deliberately allowed himself to be caught at the crime scene?”
The queen furrowed her brows, wondering what sort of absurd remark that was.
“That has to be it,” Aristine continued, “Because in order to frame Her Majesty the Queen, he has to reveal the crime first, no?”
You can’t frame someone of a crime that doesn’t exist.
Only after the crime was revealed would he be able to frame the Queen and claim that she ordered him to do it.
It was a valid point, and a fact that everyone had overlooked while dealing with this turbulent situation.
“He tried to scare his pregnant sister-in-law.”
Aristine’s voice rang clearly throughout the banquet hall.
“Regardless of whether he was instigated, this is not something that can be easily forgiven.”
At those words, the nobles began to nod.
“That’s true. This is a disgrace that will follow you for the rest of your life… no, even after death.”
“In addition, he’ll actually have to pay for his crime. The punishment for an offence like this cannot be avoided just because you’re a royal.”
“So even with everything at stake, he tried to frame Her Majesty the Queen…?”
“Hmm, I have doubts.”
The spark thrown by Aristine began to ignite people’s suspicions.
*.*.*
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Thank u soo much ruby💖💖💖. Way to go Rineh, my girl slayyed💅💅
She really thought Aristine was going to step off her neck.😂
Fantastic translation as usual, Ruby!💖
I tried to comment before, but it didn’t appear. Anyway, thanks again Ruby.