They don't want me to try anymore.

After uttering those words, the store manager trembled violently, then hurriedly corrected himself: "No, no, what I mean is, those words weren't mine, someone must have forged them! That's right, they were forged!"

What kind of explanation is this?

Seeing the witness's strange change in demeanor and his completely broken expression, many onlookers had their own guesses, but since the Dulles family was involved, they dared not speak this time.

Hamilton was also in a panic, sweating profusely, and hurriedly thinking about how to refute the evidence.

Ugh……

With a soft sigh, Linda Dulles stood up.

Da da da.

She walked gracefully onto the stage, maintaining a classic aristocratic smile, and said in a clear voice:

"Teacher, I cannot stand by and watch my family's reputation be tarnished. Please allow me to say a few words."

Logically speaking, allowing audience members to speak directly from the floor is not in accordance with the hearing procedure.

But seeing that it was the beloved daughter of the Duke of Fire Horse, all the teachers on the jury happily gave their consent.

Linda stood in the center of the hall, facing everyone.

"Dear students and teachers, please forgive me for abruptly interrupting the hearing. Some of you may not understand why I did this, but that's okay. You will understand after you hear my self-introduction."

“I am Linda Dulles…”

Many of the new students below looked on with expressions of long-standing admiration.

"...It seems everyone recognizes my surname, which is my honor. But many students may not know that seven hundred years ago, our Dulles ancestor was just a farmer who grew potatoes at the foot of the mountain."

The crowd gasped. They were used to hearing nobles recount the nobility of their ancestors, but rarely had they heard them speak of their ancestors' decline.

"Fortunately, in that turbulent era, our Dulles ancestor met the great Saint William..."

Saint William, William the Great Conqueror... the name Linda was referring to was the founding emperor of the Holy Roland Empire.

Now, all the imperial citizens in the seats showed expressions of longing...

Chapter Thirty: Scent of a Woman? No, it's A Song of Ice and Fire!

Linda spoke eloquently, recounting the great achievements of her ancestors who followed the emperor in his campaigns.

They swept away the orcs of the eastern grasslands, defeated the demons in the northern snow sea, and slaughtered countless barbarians in the south...

And the most classic battle of Idaril.

Under the wise and powerful command of the emperor, the first Dulles broke through the defenses of this city that would never fall, and was the first to ride through the still-burning city gate, thus announcing the demise of the ancient dynasty—which was also known as the Fire Horse.

And so on, blah blah blah.

Many Imperials in the audience listened intently, for this was not only Dulles's legendary story, but also a part of their proud history.

However, Richard also noticed several brown-skinned foreigners with expressions of pride, and he was both amused and exasperated—the "barbarians" that the woman spoke of, the barbarians who were slaughtered… they were you!

What are you guys so excited about!

In just a few dozen seconds, Linda recounted the empire's glory and her own family's honor, but then she abruptly changed the subject:

"To be honest, being born Dulles puts a lot of pressure on me. I'm afraid that I'll ever be unworthy of this family name, so I hold myself to high standards every day..."

Putting everything else aside, there's nothing wrong with Linda's last half of the sentence.

Even Richard, who doesn't pay much attention to school news, knows that during her years at school, she not only successfully advanced to Silver rank but also won almost every honor she could get, making her a top student who dominated the upperclassmen.

However, Linda didn't go into details about this. Instead, she changed the subject and raised an eyebrow, saying, "...Sometimes I study too much and don't even have time to watch the opera 'The Eastern Expedition,' which everyone talks about. As a result, my classmate spoiled the play for me the day before yesterday, and I regret it very much now."

The audience burst into laughter.

If the first paragraph had made them understand what the Dulles surname meant, now they felt that Linda was not only noble but also very close to them, very talented and hardworking, making them both envious and ashamed.

Although Richard, being a time traveler, didn't appreciate these words, in an era where nobles ruled everything and the concept of equality didn't even exist, ordinary people readily accepted this kind of talk.

Finally, after a minute of rambling, Linda turned to look at Richard.

“Some may think I’m overreacting… but precisely because I was born into the Dulles family, I am born with a mission and honor, so I will never allow anyone to tarnish my family name!”

"The recording just now is a complete fabrication! It's just the drunken ramblings of a street vendor—and it might even have been distorted by magic. How can it be used to accuse a duke at Saint Goethe's solemn hearing?"

Linda softened her tone slightly: "Perhaps this wasn't Richard's intention, and maybe he was also deceived. After all, he comes from Connaught, thousands of miles away, so it's normal that he doesn't understand some things. But in any case, someone must have used dirty tricks behind this."

"I'm only making this announcement to those people!"

"Stop trying to resort to underhanded schemes, or I won't hesitate to use force and a duel to uphold the family's honor!"

When this statement came out, everyone was lost.

Fighting the daughter of a Silver-rank Imperial Grand Duke is no easy task.

Some people stood up excitedly and shouted, "Senior Linda, we support you! We will never allow any villain to insult the descendant of the Empire's heroes!"

Others glared at Richard, their eyes undoubtedly condemning him for daring to tarnish Dulles's glory with despicable means and for angering the noble and beautiful Miss Linda!

"Those barbarians from Connaught, those country bumpkins, disgusting..."

Linda's words, like the call of the goddess of victory, stirred up the indignation and protective instincts of the Imperial students present.

In this atmosphere, even if a few people were convinced that something was amiss because of the shopkeeper's expression, they would never dare to speak up.

Tom, who risked his life to get the recording for Richard last night, looked even worse and didn't dare to show his face.

As for the teachers' temporary committee at the hearing... who would want to offend Dulles? In fact, if the principal hadn't insisted, they wouldn't have wanted to hold the hearing at all, let alone hear any testimony.

On stage, Richard's gaze grew increasingly deep.

He knew perfectly well that the woman was lying!

Beyond the recording, last night Alice also used her connections to investigate and discover that Linda frequently visited Hamilton's club, as well as the fact that the Dulles family held a large stake in Standard Fruit Company.

Considering the principal's strange behavior in the second simulation, Richard could confirm that the person who had tried to harm him time and time again was the polite young lady from the duke's family whom he had met for the first time!

How ridiculous!

This person is standing right in front of me right now, pretending to be a victim with a righteous expression!

She said all the nice things on the surface, but did all the bad things behind the scenes... No, perhaps it is precisely because she could say all the nice things on the surface that she could do all the bad things behind the scenes?

Richard looked at the moved and excited students in the audience and thought to himself, "This woman not only harmed herself, but also hurt all the students who entered the Red Prison Mine by disrupting the illusion world... The latter were completely unaware of this and were instead completely deceived by her."

Really...

I have never seen such a shameless person!

With all these thoughts accumulating, Richard's anger grew increasingly uncontrollable.

jingle!

Just then, a bird suddenly flew in through the window.

It cried out and circled three times in mid-air before landing in the hands of Kalanish, who was presiding over the meeting. Its body twisted and deformed, turning into a small note.

Kalanish glanced at the evidence and said loudly, "By order of the principal, the evidence presented by all parties at this hearing is insufficient. The school needs to conduct further investigations and will not impose any penalties on anyone for the time being."

The teachers in the audience nodded in unison, all of them breathing a sigh of relief.

Further investigation also means a shift to behind-the-scenes operations, which could mean it won't necessarily take months or years.

Just make sure they don't question the Duke of Huoma's beloved daughter in front of the whole school.

Linda raised an eyebrow slightly and said no more.

She was naturally dissatisfied with the outcome, but things had escalated to this point and were indeed beyond her control, so it was better to end it sooner rather than later.

As for the unexpectedly troublesome Richard Targaryen...

Sooner or later, one day, she will make that man submit and kneel down!

This is what she, as the eldest daughter of the Dulles family, truly felt after her "speech on justice"!

And Richard himself...

He recalled the scene from the simulation—it was essentially the same, both involving situations where the outcome was known but difficult to handle, and the witch principal stepped in to suppress everything.

Logically speaking, he should probably back down and stop taking risks, otherwise he would really be going against public opinion.

But if it happens once, and twice, what about the third time? I can rationally compromise, but... will the enemy be so sentimental as to let me off the hook? They still want those benefits; their outstretched claws remain unscathed, not even their most superficial reputation is damaged...

At that moment, he suddenly had a deeper understanding of the words he had once uttered.

The adventure began the moment I stepped into the Empire… no, the moment I was born into this world as Prince Connaught…

Small countries that want to survive and weak peoples that want to win must go against the current and fight for survival!

That being the case...

What is there to be afraid of?

...At least break her teeth!

"Pfft! Hahaha!"

Richard suddenly burst into laughter, which was very conspicuous in the solemn hall and drew everyone's attention.

He slowly stopped laughing, stood up, and said:

"It seems that the justice I'm looking for isn't here."