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T/N: Today I’d like to thank my Cookie Donors, Wilder and Sunny! Thank you so much for the sweets~! ❤
“What do you mean?” Henry-Oniisama asks, his brows knitting.
“That wolf was a beast that someone purposely sent into the magic academy.”
” “I knew it,” ” Gilles and I say together.
I’m acutely aware of Paul-san’s pupils dilating upon hearing us.
“….You already knew?”
“More or less,” Gilles shrugs. “It seemed the most likely explanation.”
“It at least made more sense than a rabid wolf just suddenly wondering into the heavily guarded magic academy somehow,” I add.
Henry-Oniisama doesn’t say anything. He just continues to stare at Paul-san, his expression unchanged.
….Henry-Oniisama must have already known that someone had purposely brought the wolf into the academy.
Actually, the fact that he’s not letting any of his emotions show on his face is extremely suspicious. It makes me think that Duke-Sama and the rest know far more about this whole incident than they are letting on….. Though the main question still remains: who caused all this?
“Did it come from the Ravaal Kingdom?”
“…..Yes, that’s right.”
At Gilles’s query, Paul-san freezes for a moment, but then he answers, giving one deep nod of his head.
As we thought, the wolf came from the Ravaal Kingdom. Which means that someone from there must have infiltrated this country. This incident is becoming more and more complicated.
“I already knew that,” Henry-Oniisama huffs impatiently. “What I want to know is who did it? Who’s the b*stard that smuggled the wolf into our country?”
So he’d already figured things out to this degree? As expected.
“What– You already knew?” Paul-san asks incredulously.
“Yeah. Since a long time ago. I’ve been tangled up in this incident from the beginning, you know.”
“…..So, the only thing you want to know now is the guy’s name?”
Paul-san doesn’t quite seem to have understood the situation yet.
Though, for him to find out that we already knew all the information he’s managed to dig up, I guess it makes sense that he’d be a bit flustered.
The odd thing is though, don’t wolves from the Ravaal Kingdom usually have collars on them? So, how is it that Henry-Oniisama still doesn’t know the owner’s name?
“Wait. What happened to the wolf in the end?” I ask.
At my question, both Henry-Oniisama and Paul-san stiffen. What is that reaction supposed to mean…? Did I end up asking a sensitive question? But it should be fine for me to want to confirm whether it’s still alive or not, right?
“After Liz captured it using magic, it seems that,” Henry-Oniisama swallows, and looks away before finishing, “she set it free.”
What!? He can’t be serious. I have to have misheard him.
“She…. let it go?”
“A rabid wolf?”
“What’s going to stop it from attacking someone else?”
“Where did she even release it?”
Gilles and I ask, shooting the questions off one after another like machine gun fire. Our voices are incredulous, and louder than necessary, as if we’re blaming Henry-Oniisama for this ludicrous situation.
We are both fully aware that it’s not his fault of course, but that fact can’t stop our tirade. This piece of information was just ridiculously unbelievable.
“I don’t know. And we didn’t tell this to Liz, but the next day we discovered the wolf’s corpse.”
“So you even knew about that…?” Paul-san says, letting a bitter smile slip onto his face.
“Someone killed it?” Gilles guesses, his expression turning complicated.
…..This is a lot. Isn’t it a bit too much if someone purposely sought out the wolf and killed it? This is an otome game, you know? The plot isn’t supposed to be nearly this heavy!
“Ha! Liz Cather acting so pretentious, like she cares oh-so-much for animals! It must all have just been one big, fat lie,” Gilles says with a fierce glint in his eyes.
I highly doubt that Liz-san would have been able to come up with such a scheme. She’s literally a lump of positive vibes and good will.
“She may have even planned the whole thing,” he adds darkly.
“There’s… no way,” Henry-Oniisama says, forcing the corners of his lips up in an unnatural, strained smile.
“Normally, you’d never stand up for and protect the people that were bullying you. But if Liz Cather already knew that the wolf wouldn’t kill her, then she could purposely act like she’s protecting them without endangering her own life.”
“…..That would definitely raise her popularity,” Paul-san muses, seeming to have understood what Gilles was trying to get at.
Wait a second. That’s clearly just reading too much into the situation. I mean, Liz-san is the heroine, you know! There’s no way she’d have to go through with such a meticulous plan just to gain a little favor within the school.
Gilles’s hatred of Liz-san must have clouded his judgment and allowed him to have such biased thoughts.
“She’s the real pestilence,” Gilles mutters vindictively, a half smile forming on his face.
…..This is bad.
“Gilles?” I say, looking him straight in the eyes.
He must have noticed that I’m being serious right now, since he slowly shuts his mouth and looks back at me.
“You’re thinking about this too subjectively. You need to consider only the facts that we’ve confirmed without letting your personal feelings affect your judgment,” I tell him quietly without averting my gaze.
“Let’s focus solely on the wolf for a moment. So, we know that it came into our country from the Ravaal Kingdom, and that it somehow was able to sneak onto the magic academy’s grounds. We also know that after Liz-san managed to capture it, she let it go, and the next day it turned up dead…. From this information, what can we surmise?” I say, glancing around at the three of them.
Each of their expressions just look somber.
Certainly, I’m also very curious about who might have orchestrated this. But, as of right now, I can’t even guess.
So instead of focusing on that, shouldn’t we be thinking about more productive things, like why the wolf was brought here in the first place…..?
“….What about its collar?” Gilles asks, still not able to forget about the culprit, but Henry-Oniisama simply gives a small shake of his head.
…..What? It didn’t have a collar?
“It was gone? Even though it’s made of iron?” Gilles questions skeptically, his words mirroring my thoughts. His brows furrow, a small wrinkle forming between them.
“Yeah, it didn’t have one.”
“Could magic have been involved?”
“…..Definitely possible,” Henry-Oniisama murmurs, his face lost in thought.
Outside of this country, there are very few people that are able to use magic. Only noble emigrants or expatriates from Duelkis should be able to wield it, so the three luminaries that were exiled by the king’s mother to the Ravaal Kingdom may very well be the only ones.
Not to mention, although I’m not sure what positions they’ve taken up within Ravaal, I’m quite certain that if this incident was planned by them, the downfall of this country isn’t far. Just thinking about it logically, it becomes obvious that they’d be the most likely suspects.
Uncle Will said there was likely three people who were banished. Three extraordinary people who were involved in government.
To those three, destroying a little iron collar should be child’s play. Plus, it wouldn’t be surprising if they held a grudge against Duelkis.
They have a clear motive. And they have the means. The only question remaining is why bother sending the wolf into the magic academy…..? It seems an oddly roundabout way to ascertain the academy’s current state of affairs. Maybe they wanted to test the current strength of the Duelkis Kingdom….?
Wait…. didn’t the wolf appear near Liz-san?
Sucking in a breath, I jerk my head up and turn towards Gilles. Gilles meets my gaze and we stare at each other hard for a moment before he gives a little nod of his head.
It seems that he must be thinking the same thing as I am.
His gray eyes shine brilliantly as he whispers, “So they were targeting Liz Cather?”
T/N: Hello everyone! I’m sorry I haven’t been uploading consistently recently!! (Or, for a while really ^^’) I’ve been busy and just not feeling too well for quite some time now. It’s not serious, and it’s not COVID though, so don’t worry haha. I am currently looking into it, so hopefully soon I’ll get some energy back and get back into the groove of things 🙂 But for now, I can’t make you any promises. I don’t want you guys to be disappointed if I can’t keep them T-T Just know that I haven’t forgotten about this story and I still think about you all almost daily!
On a completely separate note, did anyone else notice that Ali was like, “Let’s not guess who the perpetrator is!” *then proceeds to speculate who it is.* LOL. Gotta love her consistency haha. But that’s just another one of her charms XD
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