What could she prepare before the hearing?
Estella was notified about the Royal Council's hearing three days after the tea party incident. The hearing was in ten days. During that time, both sides were given time to organise their claims and prepare their evidence and testimony.
Estella sat at the writing desk in her room and wrote down Mille's 'victim testimony'.
At the tea party, Mille claimed, "threatened me when no one was around. She told me to stay away from His Highness. She said, You know what will happen if you disobey."
She didn't specify where this had happened. She also didn't give a date nor a time. When asked, "When did this happen?" Mille would choke back tears and say, "I was too scared to remember exactly when..." Vagueness became her weapon. Estella couldn't disprove the things Mille said as long as she remained vague about them.
But what if her vagueness could be narrowed down to a specific date and time?
And what if Estella could prove she had been somewhere else at that date and time?
The Royal Council placed great importance on physical evidence and the credibility of testimony. It was a place where the power of tears held little sway. If she could expose contradictions in the testimony there, the basis of Mille's words would crumble.
The problem was how to gather that evidence.
The pretense of exchanging documents naturally felt in place the second time it happened in the academy corridor.
Leonhardt stood by the corridor window while holding a stack of documents. He handed her the documents and whispered as Estella approached with her lady-in-waiting,"Did you hear about the hearing?"
"Yes. It is ten days from now."
"There's something that concerns me about Millefeuille's testimony."
Leonhardt continued speaking while going through the motions of handing over the documents, his gaze fixed on the papers. From an outsider's perspective, the distance between them and the volume of his voice made it look like nothing more than an administrative meeting.
"That girl's testimony is vague on the date and time. But at the tea party, she said she was 'threatened when no one was around.' Disproving that would be difficult if she doesn't provide a date and time for when it happened. However..."
Leonhardt slipped a slip of paper between the documents.
"Specific details will be demanded at the hearing. The Chancellor is a meticulous man. He will always ask 'when and where.' If Millefeuille gives a specific date and time..."
"If I can prove I was somewhere else at that date and time."
"Exactly."
Estella glanced at the piece of paper that he had slipped in between the documents. It was filled with numbers and dates.
"What is this?"
"As an administrative aide, I have the authority to review the civil official's attendance documents. It falls within the scope of my regular duties. I've looked up the attendance logs for official events over the past several months," Leonhardt stated. He spoke without emotion and only stated facts.
"Official event attendance logs record the names and times of the attendees as transcribed by the civil official. Lady Granzheim, you have attended nearly all of the official events at both the academy and the court over these past few months. In other words, it's highly possible that a record exists which shows you were somewhere else for the majority of the periods Millefeuille would use."
Estella accepted the documents and mulled over the implications.
It would be difficult to disprove what Mille says if she continues to remain vague. But at the hearing, she will be asked to specify the date and time. If those details contradict Estella's attendance record, her testimony will collapse.
"This isn't a direct attack, is it?"
"All I did was gather evidence that undermines the credibility of her testimony. I'm not attacking her. I'm just setting the stage so that the other person's words will contradict themselves."
Estella let out a small sigh.
It reminded her of handling complaints in her past life. When a customer insisted "I was told such-and-such at that time," she would verify the timestamps on security camera footage. The method of settling he-said-she-said disputes with concrete evidence.
It was the same. The principle was identical.
"Why are you going this far for me, Your Highness?" The question slipped out before she could stop it. She was aware it was pushing beyond the bounds of their corridor conversation.
Leonhardt raised his gaze for just a moment and looked at Estella.
"I told you I wouldn't use the word 'ally.' I gather facts and make judgments based on those facts. As it stands, the facts simply happen to point in a direction unfavorable to the other side."
"Is that all?"
"That's all." A curt reply. But within that curtness, Estella sensed he wasn't lying. This man was true to his principles. He acted based on logic, not emotion. That was precisely why she could trust him.
Leonhardt collected the remaining documents and turned to leave.
"I'll slip in a copy of the attendance log in tomorrow's documents too. You'll need to cross-reference them against Millefeuille's testimony, Lady Granzheim."
"Understood."
"And..."
Leonhardt stopped moving but he didn't turn around.
"Us meeting more often will become gossip given that your lady-in-waiting is watching us. Don't make up any excuses beyond the exchange of documents."
"I'm well aware."
Leonhardt left without so much as a nod and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
The next day, true to his word, a copy of the attendance log was tucked inside the documents.
Estella spread them out in her room and began cross-referencing them against Mille's testimony.
She reconstructed what Mille had said at the tea party. "She threatened me when no one was around." She hadn't said when this had happened, but it must have occurred sometime after she was enrolled in the academy which was last year. Over the course of a year, how many opportunities would Estella have to be alone with Mille in a secluded place?
She went through the attendance logs day by day.
The result was clear.
Estella's attendance rate for official events and classes over the past few months had been nearly flawless; this was expected, since absences reflected poorly on her as the duke's daughter, but having it recorded down carried a lot of weight.
Especially Estella's movements during the period when Mille could claim to have been threatened by her, that is, after she began to grow close to Alvin, was almost entirely corroborated by the logs.
The gaps in her schedule were limited and only included early morning hours, nighttime and private time in her chambers on her days off.
If Mille specified a date and time at the hearing and if the logs showed that Estella had been attending an official event at that time...
"This is the day."
Estella pointed at a specific date; the day Mille was most likely to state as the day she was threatened. It was around the time when Alvin and Mille's closeness had become known to those around them. A period when the narrative of Estella threatening her out of jealousy would be most convincing.
On that day, Estella had been in attendance at a royal garden party from morning until evening. The civil official's attendance logs clearly noted her arrival and departure times.
For the first time, a concrete crack appeared in Mille's testimony.
Estella carefully folded the copy of the logs and placed it among the documents she had prepared for the hearing.
This would be her weapon at the hearing. Not tears, but documents; evidence unswayed by emotion.
That night.
Her lady-in-waiting came to Estella's room.
"My lady. I've been told that Lady Millefeuille visited Prince Alvin's chambers today. His Highness's chamberlain mentioned that she spoke with him for quite a long time."
Estella's hand stopped.
"About what?"
"I am not sure but it seems Lady Millefeuille was crying."
Crying.
What had she pleaded for in tears?
Estella had a bad feeling.
Mille was growing desperate. She was anxious about being dragged before the Royal Council, a place where tears hold little power. That desperation was driving her to make a new move.
Whatever Mille had tearfully told Alvin would become the next attack aimed at Estella.
The next morning, her feelings proved correct.
In the academy corridor, she could hear a young noblewoman she passed avert her eyes and whisper to her companion, "Did you hear? Lady Estella and Prince Leonhardt have been awfully close lately."
"What? Surely not. She has a fiancé..."
It was Mille who had tearfully tattled to Alvin about the closeness between Estella and Leonhardt.