How To End This Marriage-Chapter 100: Betrayal

"Who is she, Duke?"

"I have never once seen her with you," Crown Prince said while looking at Vix.

"Greetings, Crown Prince!" Vix finally opened her mouth and spoke.

"Greetings, young lady! But I still didn’t get your relationship with the Duke?" He kept on asking the same thing.

"This will be revealed soon, Your Highness the Crown Prince, so it is better not to dwell on this too much," Duke said and walked toward the court session, while Crown Prince’s eyes were still fixed on Vix.

"Duke, are you sure this is going to be okay? I’m not sure what you are going to do, but this prince has been staring at me so much. I’m so uncomfortable," Vix whispered to the Duke.

"It is okay," he said while escorting her inside the court session where the emperor was shackled in metal cuffs and locked in a cage like a criminal.

"I greet every judicial member of the empire, and I’m glad I have been given a chance to state my point here in this court," the Duke said.

"It is a rule, Duke. This case revolves around your parents’ death. Of course, your place is important here. You need to be here to state your opinion no matter what," the judicial member said.

"But before that, I would like to mention another criminal who has played a big role in this matter. He had been living in my place for years, disguising his crime, and now it has been revealed, and he will say what you want to know," the Duke said, while the guards pulled the strings connected to the cage where Grant had been placed. He had been brutally injured, but he had no fight left in him.

"Who is it, Duke?" The Crown Prince asked.

"He used to be the butler of the Agnes house. But for a few days, we have been getting assassination attacks on the Duchess, and one of the main culprits already died, leaving the butler a suspect," he said.

"The moment the assassin died, the butler was placed there to make him stop before ruining something. But when we arrived at the place, the assassin was found dead."

"This has not happened once but twice. After that, another assassin came, and the Duchess caught him red-handed going to the dungeon late at night when no one had given him any kind of order," he stated.

"So why did you come to the conclusion now that he has committed all of these?" the judicial member asked.

"I have come to the conclusion since the letter received by me, letting me know that the emperor is the one who has killed my parents. I remember that day the butler was forcing me to go with them as well, and he was the one who presented the letter from the emperor calling the Duke and Duchess for the meeting. He was present at every place the crime happened. So he is the one placed by the emperor in my mansion. He is from the tribal empire, which is confirmed by the ruler of the empire in front of me and the Crown Prince."

"You can check that from him also," the Duke said.

"Is that true, Crown Prince?" They asked.

"Yes, the time I was locked up, the ruler confessed that they were ordered by the emperor, which is why they took revenge on me for this," Crown Prince said.

"No, all of this is false. I have done nothing. All are accusing me of nothing. It is all pre-planned," the emperor screamed from the cage loudly, while the empress among the crowd started glaring at all of them who had been speaking against the emperor.

"Everything Duke has said is true. I did all this because His Majesty told me to. I have no selfishness in this," Grant spoke in a low tone.

"So it is clear the emperor has concluded all of these crimes," the judicial teams were about to deliver their verdicts, but the Duke stopped them.

"What is it? Is there more to this crime?" They asked.

"Yes, there is more," he said, pushing Vix forward.

"Here, can you see this beautiful lady in front of all of you?" He asked, making everyone confused.

"Yes, but what is there to link her to the case?" the team asked.

"This is the true heir to the royal family’s crown," as he said, the chaos grew, making everyone shocked, including the Crown Prince, who had been continuously looking at Vix from the moment she arrived.

"She is the lost first princess of the empire, who was born to the first empress of this empire, Princess Vixara Jessica Belenus," he said, shocking everyone.

"Duke, what are you saying? I and the princess, don’t lie," Vixara tried to cope with the situation.

"This is the truth, princess."

"The day the princess was born, the day the empress came to the chamber of the previous empress Jessica. They tried to stop the princess from being born, but the princess was born, so the maid had to run off to the Duke’s mansion to save the princess. Here is the proof that was brought with the princess to Ablia," Duke said, showing the royal emblem cloth placed in front of the court, which had blood spots on it.

"I have no idea of what happened there, but I can clarify one thing: the empress was not dead. The empress was killed. She was killed by the royal family. The princess tried to be killed too, but nothing happened, as my mother hid the princess’s identity among the maids."

"She had strict rules to not come out of the mansion to let her identity be known by anyone. But now I’m here to fulfill my promise to the empress. Here the lost princess is submitted to the empire where she belongs," Duke said while taking his step back.

"Why didn’t you bring her before?" One of the higher authorities asked.

"Didn’t you see what has happened to my mother? Do you want me to see the same fate as the princess? To get killed? To get killed and not be aware of who she is killed by?" Duke mocked, making him shut his mouth.

"No, it is not true. I have never tried to kill my child," the emperor tried to plead.

"Then why didn’t you try to find the princess all these years? Why did you keep erasing the fact that an empress existed before this empress? Why did you hide the crown prince was the second child of the emperor when there is one more heir to the throne?" the judicial team asked.

As soon as he asked, arrows started bursting out of nowhere, hitting Princess Vixara’s shoulder.

"Princess, are you okay? Can you move?" Duke held her supportively.

"Yes, Duke! I’m fine. I’m more than fine. Seeing all of this, I now realize why aunt used to tell me that if one day I will become aware of all the truth, I should take revenge, not shed tears, and I will do so," she said

despite being in pain. The judicial session was abruptly interrupted, and the princess was taken inside the palace.

"Duke, I need to talk to you," Crown Prince finally said.

"Yes, Crown Prince! I know what you want to talk," Duke said while coming out of the room.

"Is this true? Is whatever you said the truth? Is she the princess of the empire? Is she my sister? Elder sister? Is she really the true heir to the throne?" He kept on asking numerous questions.

"Yes, your Highness. Things would have been easier if my mother explained, but now I have. I have promised the ruler of the tribal empire that I will fight for them, and this is the least I could do to break the emperor’s bone. I’m sorry if you have felt betrayed, but this is the truth," Duke said.

"No, no, I haven’t felt betrayed at all. But actually, I was guessing something is cooking inside the palace, and this is finally coming out," Crown Prince said.

"Duke, I would like to see the princess," the doctor said as he reached in front of the door, interrupting their conversation.

"Yes, go ahead. She is inside. She is bleeding, so you should check her soon," Duke said.

"Yes, that is why I’m here," he said and entered the room.

He entered inside while both Duke and Crown Prince stayed outside, but as they heard the scream, they ran inside, seeing the hand of the princess turning blue as the doctor tried to put a needle in her hand.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill her?" Duke hurried while the guards surrounded around the doctor.

"Take him into custody!! This is why I was not showing her to the empire. I knew something like this would happen," Duke mumbled as he was ordering.