RETURN OF THE FEMALE KNIGHT

132. Feeling Trapped

"Is it my turn to show you what I've prepared?"

At the same time, Jungkook's eyes turned towards Taehyung, who was standing by the entrance and waiting for his orders.

"Bring him in."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Taehyung gave a low bow and immediately brought in Smith, the head of the Casey family. As soon as he entered, he gave his greeting to the Imperial Family.

"Hail to Their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress. Eternal glory to the Ruford Empire."

The man's sudden appearance set of a wave of murmuring in the conference hall. Smith, however, acted as if he took no notice of it, and simply strode forwards next to Cesare and handed a file to Gongyoo.

"What is this?"

"You are aware that Flower Bridge was constructed by the Casey family. These documents are proof that Her Majesty the Empress tried to destroy the bridge."

The buzz in the conference hall grew ever louder, and Ophelia's expression darkened as she watched the situation unfold. She suspected something would happen once Smith appeared on Jungkook's side, but it was not easy to rectify things as they were happening all at once. Ophelia spoke, attempting to stem the accusations against her before the mood soured against her.

"Your Majesty, this is someone's trap."

Smith spoke in protest.

"There is evidence that Her Majesty attempted to replace the bridge's building materials to compromise it. So far, that evidence is not yet unequivocal...but we know that some time ago, someone tried to blow up Flower Bridge."

Gongyoo, who was listening to the two, spoke up.

"Did someone confess to it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The men captured confessed to following the Empress' orders."

Ophelia's brow lifted sharply at Smith's reply. She would not let herself roll over and lose.

"I have tens of thousands of followers because of my position as empress. While it is my responsibility to manage them properly, there is no guarantee that they acted on my orders."

She had already planned to place responsibility of the incident to another noble, but avoiding suspicion was not easy, and she had to resolve each issue one by one. She was supposed to be dealing with Mingyu at the moment, not the Flower Bridge. However, she maintained her composure in the face of the accusation.

"I request that you reinvestigate the incident at Flower Bridge. It is a great shame at the Empress' name is spoken in such a disgraceful way. But for now..."

She looked around at the nobles gathered in the conference hall and spoke with authoritative strength.

"I believe we should settle the matter about Second Prince Mingyu first, not the one about me."

Ophelia turned her attention back to Jungkook. Regardless, an investigation of the Flower Bridge would take time to complete. Several nobles rushed to agree with Ophelia.

"Her Majesty is right. Rather than questioning the Empress, whose guilt is not certain at the moment, it is imperative that the Crown Prince be punished for illegally detaining the Second Prince."

"Your Majesty, please continue!"

Jungkook gave the nobles a cold glare.

"The crime of not officially investigating Mingyu...should I explain why?"

Ophelia and the nobles looked in astonishment towards him. An ominous feeling hovered over the Empress' mind.

'Does he has a reason? What does he has that he thinks he can confidently prove in front of everyone?'