Chapter 92: Digging a Bigger Pit!

Chapter 92: Digging a Bigger Pit!

Langer appeared very cautious as he greeted Vézinier, introduced himself, and then handed a letter to the chief judge. Vézinier checked that the wax seal on the envelope was intact before slowly opening it while casually asking about Varel's situation.

The Intelligence Bureau had already gathered all this information, so Langer answered smoothly.

Only then did Vézinier put on his glasses and begin to read the letter.

In the letter, Varel first reminisced about some past events between them. He then mentioned that the bearer of this letter, Langer, was his most loyal servant and could be fully trusted.

Vézinier hadn't seen Varel in three or four years but vaguely remembered that his friend did indeed have a servant named Langer.

He continued reading.

Varel stated in the letter that a relative of his, Viscount Monteret, had gotten into some legal trouble. He had only recently learned from the newspapers that the judge presiding over the case was his old friend. So, he wanted to ask his old friend for some help. However, since he wasn't feeling well, he had sent his servant to Paris to handle the case for now, with plans to visit his friend as soon as the weather improved.

Varel then asked if Vézinier could give a lighter sentence to Lunache. As for the expenses involved, the Monteret family had prepared everything, ensuring that their old friend wouldn't be inconvenienced.

Yes, according to Vézinier, Monteret's relative was now Varel.

Vézinier put the letter away and looked at Langer. "Of course, I'll help Victor. But the young man went too far, and there were witnesses. The minimum sentence will be flogging and at least thirty years in prison."

Langer nodded, nervously rubbing his hands together. "My master's wish is that the best outcome would be a not-guilty verdict..."

Vézinier was about to shake his head when Langer's next words made his eyelids twitch. "Viscount Monteret is willing to pay 35,000 livres."

After a moment of silence, Vézinier sighed. "The witnesses will be difficult to deal with..."

"We'll take care of that."

Vézinier suddenly turned around and waved his hand. "You should go now. I'll give you an answer in a few days."

That afternoon, as soon as Vézinier returned home, he immediately wrote a letter, sealed it with wax, and called his trusted servant Bruno, instructing him to deliver the letter to Viscount Varel in Caen as quickly as possible.

Bruno hadn't even boarded the carriage when the "glassmaker" in Vézinier's household relayed the news to the Intelligence Bureau agents stationed outside the villa.

Bruno hurried for two days straight and finally arrived in Caen.

This small city had only one main road leading to Paris. At that moment, the vendors on either side of the road were huddled in the cold, listlessly trying to attract customers.

Bruno checked his map and got out of the carriage to ask a nearby vendor for directions to Viscount Varel's house.

Varel was the "deputy mayor" of Caen, so everyone knew him. After receiving 5 deniers, the vendor eagerly pointed out the way.

Bruno resumed his journey, and when he reached the city center, he got out of the carriage again to ask a young man for directions.

The young man was about to respond when he noticed a fight breaking out nearby, with the altercation quickly moving toward them. Frightened, the young man turned and left.

Bruno looked around and grabbed a middle-aged man passing by, asking him for directions to Viscount Varel's house. He received the same answer as the vendor had given him earlier.

When Bruno finally arrived at Varel's villa, it was already dusk.

A servant warmly welcomed him inside. As Bruno observed the Varel family crest on the walls and the stair railing, he nodded to himself.

Soon, he saw the ailing Viscount Varel, bundled up tightly, nodding to him from the second floor.

Bruno quickly handed his master's letter to the servant, who then took it upstairs to Varel.

About half an hour later, Bruno received a reply from Viscount Varel and immediately set off for Paris.

However, he failed to notice that the gardeners, servants, and others in the villa bore an uncanny resemblance to the vendors on the road leading into Caen.

The maid who served him tea was one of the people involved in the earlier fight in the city center, though now dressed as a woman—the Intelligence Bureau was so short on female spies that they had to make do with substitutes.

As for the person who greeted him as "Varel," in the dim light and from such a distance, anyone could have been made to look like Varel with a bit of makeup. Even Varel's own mother might not have recognized the difference.

The real Varel residence was actually several kilometers away...

When Bruno returned to Paris and delivered the reply to Vézinier, he confidently reported that he had met Viscount Varel and even had tea at his house.

It's not Bruno's fault. In this era of poor communication, it was nearly impossible to verify someone's identity in a distant city in such a short time. Even if Bruno had gone directly to the city hall, the Intelligence Bureau had already planted agents there who would ensure he caught a glimpse of the "Viscount Varel."

At this point, Vézinier had no more doubts. He immediately summoned Langer and told him that he could arrange for Lunache to be acquitted, but due to the high-profile nature of the case, the price would be 40,000 livres.

Langer readily agreed but requested that the trial be expedited, as Viscount Varel's nephew, Lunache, had grown up in luxury and couldn't endure the hardships of prison.

Vézinier, of course, agreed.

Langer returned to Viscount Monteret's house to deliver the good news and then sought out a doctor. On the pretext that the key witness in the Lunache case was a frequent drinker and wife-beater, he paid the doctor to issue a certificate stating that the witness had mental problems.

Meanwhile, Viscount Monteret had to mortgage his villa and art shop, scraping together just over 30,000 livres. Langer "reluctantly" chipped in the remaining 6,500 livres himself.

With everything in place, Langer repeatedly warned his "cousin" that as relatives of the accused, they should avoid too much contact with the judge. Then he took them to Vézinier's villa.

Viscount Monteret handed over the bank notes to Vézinier's servant and saw the chief judge nod to him from the window, finally feeling a heavy burden lift from his heart.

That evening, Langer visited Vézinier's home again, this time to thank him on behalf of his master and request that he write a letter of acknowledgment to prove that he had successfully completed his task.

Vézinier, having just made 40,000 livres, was in an excellent mood. He promptly wrote a three-page letter, primarily describing the great effort he had put into the case, asking his old friend to remember the favor, and even praising the servant.

Langer left with the letter.

A few days later, another messenger from Varel delivered a letter of thanks to Vézinier.

The chief judge read the letter and promptly burned it, instructing the messenger to tell Varel to burn all recent correspondence as well.

Having been involved in so many miscarriages of justice, Vézinier knew the importance of destroying evidence.

Five days later, the Lunache case was reopened.

First, the key witness was discredited due to mental issues, rendering the testimony invalid.

Then, it was found that the so-called belongings of the victims, which had been found in Lunache's home, did not belong to them at all—thanks to Vézinier tampering with the evidence in the evidence room.

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