Part 348: Maribelle A

I am in your debt, Gaius.

You are?

Yes. I wrote down everything you told me and sent it to my father.Now he will be able to turn the tables on the dastards who plotted against him.

Well, I... I hope it works out for him.

If it does, it will be thanks to your willingness to tell the truth. So again, thank you.

Don't thank me, Twinkles. I don't deserve it. It was a cowardly thing I did, and a day doesn't go by that I haven't regretted it. I even sent a letter after the trial, but too little, too late, I reckon.

Wait, that was you?! That letter rescued my father from the headsman's axe!

I'm pleased to hear it. But I should have done more.

Gaius, you saved my father's life! Admittedly, your actions put him in danger in the first place... But still! You wrote that letter knowing the schemers would try to hunt you down!

That wasn't a worry. I'm pretty good at running away from things.

I've been very unfair toward you, Gaius. I spoke before I knew all the facts.

Hey, I'm the one who broke into your royal treasury. ...Twice.

Thief you may be, but you are more honest than half the so-called nobles I know. But, there is still one thing you haven't told me... When the plotters secured your testimony, who did they threaten? It must be someone important to you.

Nope, I'd never met her. Never even saw her, in fact. All I knew is that she was a young girl who didn't deserve to die. Even if it meant sending her father off to swing.

W-wait. Those blackguard nobles threatened to kill ME?!

Yep.

You testified against my father to save my life...

Seemed the best option of a bad lot at the time. And now that I know you, I'd make the same decision a dozen times over.