The Broken Prince's Love

Lucille was more relieved with each second the trial went on. It seemed like no one here blamed Cedar. No one accused him of committing treason either. She had expected that since Theodore supported him as well, but it was still calming.

That didn't make the atmosphere in the office more pleasant though.

Camille's yelling was painful to listen to, and her unjustified fury unsettled Lucille, even if she didn't dare admit it. But it seemed like the dowager empress would lose anyway. No matter how angry she got, it wouldn't change the result. Everyone was against her. Yet, she yelled as if that would suddenly make everyone pity her. Of course, no one would want to help her because of that though. She only made herself more enemies.

Right now, the empress' guard had affirmed that Cedar had told the truth and that the attack had been justified. So, everyone with functioning ears should understand that the trial was decided.

But still, Camille kept arguing. She raised her head up high and acted like she was sure that she would win this debate. “You are twisting the facts again. Just because you feel like Cedar didn't do it on purpose, you can't act like you have proof. I know him much better than you do! And I was the victim while my own son attacked me. I didn't do anything that would require me to be punished. Why do you keep lying?”

Theodore spoke up here. “If you truly thought that you weren't guilty, you wouldn't have tried to drug my wife, my brother and me today.” He glanced to the side to make eye contact with Camille, who looked like she was dumbfounded. “Do not act as if you are unaware. You certainly did instruct some maid to put a strange substance into our food. You do remember asking that woman to do it when she visited you in your cell, correct? Maybe you should know that we found out that she was helping you a while ago and that she always told us everything she heard from you. So, don't try to deny it. You know that this will end with you being pronounced guilty. Why do you keep arguing?”

Leonard added to that before anyone else could say something. “And if you insist on punishing the person who broke your arm, you are asking for a punishment for you at the same time. You injured His Royal Highness. You said that harming a member of the royal family is treason. You clearly injured the second prince of Artias in front of witnesses, but you didn't defend yourself like he did. So, why would you not receive a much harsher punishment?”

Camille clenched her jaw and whipped her head to the side. She was much louder now. “I didn't try to attack Cedar! He jumped in between me and that wench. That's his fault! Besides, he did much worse to me.”

Leon didn't seem to care for her words and just used them against her. “But you just underlined our argument. He was hurt because he jumped in between the attacker and the victim. And you acted because you wished to murder another person. You claim that his injury was his fault because he was in the way, so to speak. Then we have to accept that you are at fault for moving toward Lady Valerian in the first place. His Royal Highness merely reacted, which happened to break your arm.”

The dowager empress' voice sounded unpleasantly shrill while she refuted that. “No, that's wrong! He came toward me!” She balled the fist of her unhurt arm while glaring at everyone that was in her field of view. “This is the only time that I ever hurt Cedar, and that was because he grabbed the knife! That isn't my fault at all.”

Lucille almost would have liked to say something here. She felt fury bubbling in her stomach when she remembered everything that had happened to Cedar because of that horrible woman. And now Camille had the nerve to claim that she had never hurt her son? Lucille actually opened her mouth for a moment and just stopped herself because someone else spoke.

Theodore laughed at the dowager empress.

Just for a moment, but that was enough to make Camille freeze.

Theodore's expression showed that he was less than amused. He threw the documents in his hand onto the table and grinned at her while pure resentment was visible in his eyes. “The only time you ever hurt him, huh? That's odd. I, who grew up with him, remember that differently. But maybe it just lies in the eye of the beholder. Then we should try letting you experience what Cedar had to endure while he was a child. How does that sound?” He managed to seem ready to kill the woman in front of him with just a few words.

Camille tensed despite doing her best to act like she was indifferent. She gritted her teeth for a moment before replying. “What happened is none of your business. Cedar isn't upset because of that, and he never complained. So, there is absolutely no need for you to get involved, Theodore.” She said his name with a concerning amount of malice.

The emperor saw this differently. His expression revealed as much. This time, he didn't even say anything and just glared at the dowager empress with pure wrath.

Blanche was the one who spoke while watching Camille with a just as grim expression. “Perhaps, the reason why Cedar never complained was connected to how you handled it when he voiced his opinion. I can assure you that none of your excuses will help you. We know more about what happened than you can imagine. And we will make sure that you feel those exact same things in the future. Prepare yourself for that. You should remember what you did, so you shouldn't be too surprised.”

Now the dowager empress fumed quietly. It seemed like she wasn't sure what to say, so she just glared at the people in front of her. Maybe that was better.

Lucille hated the topic since she could only be filled with hatred when she thought about her lover getting hurt, but Cedar hated that subject much more than she did. He didn't like sharing anything about his past with people he was close with and took a long time to admit that bad things had happened. He wouldn't be happy to discuss that in front of so many strangers. And even though he wanted to hide it, he still tensed a bit when the topic was addressed. So, Lucille knew that he wouldn't want to continue this.

At first, she thought that they were lucky since neither Camille nor the royal couple said anything. But then someone raised their hand. It just had to be the most unpleasant person in the room aside from the dowager empress.

Theodore saw that and hesitated for a moment before he allowed her to speak. “You may tell us what you have to add, Lady Peril. Only if it is helpful for the trial though.”

Jenna didn't let anyone tell her that twice. She immediately began while showing an expression of uncertainty and dejection that was rather convincing. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I just wished to address this since I believe that it is important. If we assume that treason, which is connected to injuring members of the royal family, is the worst crime, it should be punished accordingly, should it not? But then all cases of treason should have consequences. You just mentioned what would count as well. My memory may be blurry, but I do remember Her Majesty losing her temper rather often in the past. During some of her...less calm times, she was rather harsh with His Royal Highness. Of course, I did not notice much, but I believe that she used violence to vent her emotions. From what I heard, she used to throw vases at His Royal Highness and hit him on some occasions. Would that not be treason? Even if that happened years ago, it still does not change the fact that she injured the prince of Artias.” Somehow, it wasn't surprising that she worked against the dowager empress now.

Lady Peril had almost been killed because of the other woman. Naturally, she would do her best to get revenge now. So, she just pointed out something she knew and could easily direct the trial in a direction that was more unpleasant for the concerned perpetrator. She was a bit hypocritical to act like she cared for Cedar after molesting him for years, but she got her revenge.

At the same time, this was a clever strategy to make everyone dislike Camille more. Most people here had children they cared about. Duke and Duchess Duremont and Duke Lamont had at least one child each and would never agree with someone hurting their own flesh and blood. Luciano cared for his little sister deeply as well, and he might also be more upset if he heard how badly his cousin had truly been treated. The same held true for Selena, the Duchess of Vasquez, who certainly wouldn't like what her sister had done to a child, who happened to be Selena's nephew, either.

The expressions of the guests were enough to prove that this topic would worsen their image of Camille. This would make them judge that woman more harshly.

Apparently, Camille didn't think about that though. She didn't act to refute those comments and just glared at Jenna. “Shut up. What do you know, you arrogant whore? How I raised my child has nothing to do with this trial. Cedar belongs to me. I can do whatever I want to him.”

Those words hadn't been clever. Not only the guests were rather irritated. Both Blanche and Theodore looked like they wanted to murder Camille.

Cedar just showed his bright smile, which proved that he was in a horrible mood even while Lucille held his hand. He knew that his mother was awful, so the topic itself probably bothered him more than this statement.

Lucille herself couldn't help but fume though. She would have liked to throw something at Camille, but she just moved her chair a bit closer to Cedar's. She considered hugging him and only held back because she knew that he hated showing weaknesses in front of others.

For a few seconds, it was silent before Theodore spoke in a voice that was as cold as a glacier. “I won't bother pointing out that Cedar doesn't belong to you or that you can't hurt a child just because you want to. That is connected to common sense and an understanding of what compassion and affection are. You have neither of those, so I do not need to waste my time explaining. There is something that you could understand though. Your child is the second prince of Artias. That made him the second in line for the throne before I married and had a child. If I had died or if Father had changed his mind at some point, Cedar could have become emperor. That means that he should have been treated with great care. You knew that, and you still hurt him often enough. That could almost be interpreted as you committing the highest level of treason since you harmed a possible head of the family and even risked his death.”

A murmur went through the group. Most likely, since Theodore had openly acknowledged that his brother could have become emperor too.

Camille glanced to the side for a moment, probably in an attempt to get help. But no one spoke up for her, so she raised her voice again. “I never did anything bad to Cedar! You have some nerve claiming something like that. You murdered your father! You deserve nothing but-”

Blanche cut her off here. “Close your mouth and sit there quietly until you are asked to speak. I do not wish to hear any more of the lies that you tell yourself. You purposefully fed Cedar things that could have killed him. That alone qualifies you for an execution. Are you not aware of that?”

Camille didn't move for a moment. She took a few seconds to process that. Then the yelling began as she jumped to her feet. “What are you talking about, you-”

This time, Cedar interrupted her. “Sit down, Mother. It will not do you any good to insult Her Majesty like this. Take a seat, and be quiet.” He might not have noticed it, but his voice had a much sharper undertone than normal. That made it obvious. He didn't want to talk about his childhood at all.

Lucille felt how tense he was, so she squeezed his hand. He squeezed it back, and they used more force to hold onto each other. It seemed like no one noticed, but maybe it gave Cedar a bit more strength.

Camille was actually taken aback by the way her son spoke to her and just looked at him for a few seconds. But surprisingly, she didn't argue. She just sat down quietly without saying another thing and kept her mouth closed. In the meantime, she watched Cedar as if she expected him to do something special.

The prince stubbornly avoided her gaze.

A few seconds of absolute silence passed before Theodore spoke. “As you can see, you cannot gain anything here. If you argue about this being treason, I will simply research everything that happened to Cedar and punish you for each injury. So, we should avoid that topic and focus on the present. You will be punished for attempting to murder someone in the royal estate, and Cedar will not be charged for anything.”

Camille blinked once before her anger came back. Her face returned to her previous expression of fury, which didn't make her look very healthy as she yelled again. “What? You can't just forget about the most important things that happened! He has to be punished for what he did! You can't ignore someone's crimes.”

In a single second, Theodore's expression changed. A little smile appeared on his face. That should have been a bigger warning than his obvious fury before had been. Even his voice sounded cheerful now. “Exactly. We will never forget what someone did to us.” He reached for something to his left and opened one of the drawers of the desk. He lifted a thick folder and let it drop onto the table. The impact echoed through the entire room. This had effectively directed everyone's gazes onto the folder. So, Theodore could continue. “Do you have any idea what this is?”

No response followed. Camille just sat there while clutching her fist.

Theodore continued without paying attention to her. “I wasn't lazy during the past few months. I've been working on this ever since you left confinement first. This is the list of all crimes you committed, whether big or small. From all of your strategies to ruin businesses that wouldn't sell you their stores to your involvement in the disappearance of a few people in Artias, it's all here. I thought that gathering everything in one place would be the easiest thing to do. You can read through it later if you want to, but it will take you a while.” A second passed, and the emperor's expression became serious. He addressed all the gathered people without batting an eye. “I believe that this incident proves that Camille Estien is not sane and also not unwilling to kill a young woman, whose only ‘mistake’ is being in a relationship with Cedar. Clearly, she would kill for other reasons that do not make sense to us. We can all agree on that. How about we use this chance to address some of the countless other crimes the dowager empress committed? I will present you with enough evidence in a few months, but we can start already. This will be the beginning of her end.” That he said that so outright without receiving anyone's complaint only proved how hated Camille was.

But the dowager empress herself already opened her mouth. “What are you referring to?” She sounded extremely upset, but at the same time, she couldn't hide the deep frown on her face and the slight trembling of her voice. She was scared. And she should be.

Theodore gazed at her with nothing but disgust while he replied. “During the past two decades, you have built yourself an impressive tower of lies and deceit. You plunged some into ruin, hired assassins to kill others and brought misery to those around you. I put in enough effort to break apart your foundation. Now there will be nothing to catch you when that tower comes tumbling down. I would like to hold another trial in a week. How about we discuss the demise of Althea Estien there? I believe that we may hear some interesting things if we happen to take a look at who hired the men who killed her seven years ago. Wasn't that during the hunting festival after my coronation? I believe someone attempted to murder me then too. Twice. Maybe we should redo that trial as well. And this time, the dowager empress won't keep delaying it because she fears being sent back into confinement.”

Camille was much louder again. Apparently, her missing confidence didn't keep her from acting like this palace belonged to her. “You can't accuse me of anything. I'm innocent! Do you have any idea what will happen if you try to drag me down even though I didn't do anything? You will finally show your true colors, you monster. You are a murderer! No one will believe you! What are you going to do? Frame me again? I won't fall for that twice. You-”

Theodore only showed her his blank expression while he carefully gestured toward his brother. “You ask what I will do? I will simply ask the person who was present while you plotted back then. Cedar wasn't involved, but he was clever enough to figure it out without you needing to tell him anything. He can reconstruct everything for us. Don't you think that I will find more than enough evidence if I search for a bit longer?”

Camille had already been in the middle of standing up and just stopped when she heard that. She turned her head to Cedar at a painstakingly slow pace. She stared at her son for a moment, and she pondered everything she had done in the past years. Cedar knew more than enough to convict her, and she was aware of that. But a smile quickly came onto her lips. “You surely must not be feeling well, Theodore. There is no way Cedar would testify against me. I didn't do anything. And even if I did do something, my dear son would never betray me.”

Lucille could only watch that scene with worry before she glanced at her lover. Cedar was tense. No one but her would notice, but she could feel how tightly he grasped her hand.

To everyone else, he had to seem like he was genuinely happy. After all, Cedar was beaming once again. His smile only faded away when he focused on it after making eye contact with his mother, probably because he forced himself. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other before he spoke. “I do not understand what you could be referring to, Mother. If there is a trial about that incident, I will speak nothing but the truth. There was an assassination attempt on the emperor, and another member of the royal family was killed. Naturally, we will have to take this seriously.”

Camille didn't like hearing that at all. “What? What are you saying, Cedar? That whore wasn't your father's wife! There is no way. He didn't marry that witch. Theodore just came up with it to upset me. How can you even address her like that? And how can you accuse me-”

Cedar interrupted her and spoke in a calm and steady voice. “Althea did, in fact, marry Father. Have you not requested to check the documents thrice already? A high priest, Theodore and I were witnesses, and we have documents with our signatures as well as the ones of the groom, Father, and the bride, Althea. I was present, Mother. You can rest assured that it did happen. And I will naturally not accuse you of crimes you didn't commit. I will be honest about what kind of strange things I saw though.” It was easy to see how quickly he stopped acting since his smile came back a moment after he had closed his mouth.

Lucille fought the urge to pull him into her arms and just continued to stroke her thumb over the backside of his hand.

Cedar barely reacted since he still kept his eyes on his mother.

Camille seemed shocked upon hearing his words. She slowly sank down to her chair, and then her voice sounded completely different when she spoke in an overly soft tone. “But, my sweet baby, you won't really lie because Theodore planted such nonsense into your head. You can't condemn me because those people are manipulating you. You-”

Leonard interrupted her. “It seems like a conversation with the criminal will not help us. We should not discuss the trial that will happen in a few weeks. For now, this is about the attack on Lady Valerian. We should not delay the judgment when the result is obvious.”

Theodore rested his chin on his hand while he scanned Camille with a derogatory look. “Naturally. I, as the emperor of Artias and the judge in this case, pronounce Camille Estien to be guilty of bringing weapons into the royal estate with the intention of killing Lady Lucille Valerian. She is also guilty of committing treason by harming the second prince of Artias, Cedar Estien. Are there any objections?” His eyes searched the room for anyone who would be stupid enough to openly position themselves on Camille's side.

No one did that. Thankfully.

Camille directly opened her mouth to complain, but she was ignored completely.

Theodore just continued. “Good. Then I will announce her punishment. This one will be light in contrast to all that is to come, but do remember that this was just the beginning. How about we come to the most simple conclusion? Camille Estien is banned from the royal garden and may not take a step into the part of the royal estate that is surrounded by our walls. In addition, she will need to pay a hefty compensation fee to the Valerian family. All of her personal funds should be confiscated, and she shall lose all ability to control any of her belongings, including all the properties belonging to her birth family. Her Grace, the Duchess of Vasquez shall receive all that belonged to their parents. All money still in the dowager empress' hands will be given to the Valerian family as compensation, as I mentioned before. The remaining goods, including luxury items and properties, are handed over to Cedar, including every single object Camille Estien has ever owned. This should make up for her crimes against Lady Valerian and Cedar while not punishing the remaining survivors of her family, who should not have to see their legacy falling apart.”

That was a hard blow. Camille still owned a lot of money, even if she couldn't use most of it. This would make her dependent on whatever Theodore gave her. The humiliation that came with handing over all of her parents' properties was another punishment in itself, especially since she had to give those to her sister and her son.

Not to mention the fact that she would pay the Valerian family more than they had ever owned.

Lucille was absolutely shocked to hear that her father would receive such a big compensation fee. That would probably grant them as much money as the dukedoms had, which certainly came with some power. Had Theodore done this on purpose? Maybe.

Camille definitely hated it.

And Theodore wasn't even done. He happily added more. “At the same time, the dowager empress will lose her right to sign with her full name as she cannot be seen as the voice of the Estien family.” Which basically made her unable to buy anything or even file a complaint about this decision to a judge. “In addition, we will keep her away from anyone she might hurt. She will not be allowed to get closer to Lady Valerian ever again either. If she does come close, the guards will be free to drag Camille Estien away by force. Until the next trial, she will stay in the same cell as before, and the same rules will apply with Leon being the responsible one for her. And...” A little smirk formed on Theodore's lips. “The doctor will not treat her arm until further notice. We will see how it develops. The guards will be willing to help her if necessary, so you do not have to worry.” That sounded like a threat and not like something a judge should say. It was strange to hear that from the emperor, who could control all the knights within the royal palace.

Lucille didn't doubt that he had plans that would make Camille rather unhappy. Even just leaving that arm untreated could lead to severe consequences. It might not even heal properly. And to be honest, she didn't care much either. She didn't have any sympathy for that woman.

It seemed like no one in this room had. After all, no one said anything. Raymond looked like he wasn't happy with the result despite being offered a generous amount of money, maybe a too generous amount, but he didn't complain either.

That didn't keep Camille from blaming those around her though. She began yelling and claimed that she was innocent and that Cedar was the vile one here before asking for his help. It was pathetic. Thus, watching her being dragged away by the guards when she refused to stop wasn't as satisfying as it should have been.

Still, Lucille couldn't deny that she was happy that that witch had received a punishment. Since Cedar would even be rewarded with more properties and funds on his own, that was just even better.