The Villainess Woke Up Mid-Confession novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Mad

Ravielle unfolded the summons and read it twice.

Mirabelle watched her read.

"You could run," she said. "Tonight. Before they lock you up."

"Your brother's lands are my surety."

"I know." Mirabelle pulled her hood up. "I wanted to see if you'd remember."

At noon the throne room was fuller than it had been for the confession.

People had come to see the villainess declared mad, and they had brought their friends.

Ravielle stood on the open floor below the dais in her black riding habit.

The Emperor sat above her, chin on his fist.

To her right, the court physician waited in his dark robes, holding a leather case.

To her left stood Damien, in a fresh pair of dove-grey gloves, with her notebook in his hand.

"Read it, Master Ardentis," the Emperor said.

Damien opened it with reverent care.

"It breaks my heart, Majesty," he said. "She's my cousin. I'd give anything not to stand here."

He would have given nothing.

Ravielle could see it in the little crease of pleasure at the corner of his mouth.

He turned to a page near the middle, marked with a grey ribbon, and read it out in a voice that carried to the gallery.

"'Day two hundred and four. I rang for the maid and asked her to send a letter home. She asked which estate. I couldn't name my own street in any language she knew.'"

The murmur went round the room.

He shut the book and sighed.

"A woman who can't name her own street can't run a duchy, Majesty. I ask only that the steward's keys go back where they've been safe for three years. With me."

The physician stepped forward.

"A fall from height," he said. "Eleven days of fever. The mind can be damaged in ways that don't show. In my opinion she can't be held to answer at the Assize, and she isn't fit to hold an inheritance. She should be confined. For her own safety."

"With the Sisters of the Faith," Damien said softly. "Where she'd be cared for."

The Emperor looked down at Ravielle.

"Lady Ravielle. Is that book in your hand?"

Kyrian stood in the pillars on the left.

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