Chapter 27
Chapter 027.
The conference room instantly filled with chaos.
Even the Headmaster, who had been trying to manage the situation, looked bewildered.
Dark Arts.
The moment they were branded as heretics, things would spiral out of control.
It would be better to frame one of the young ladies registered in the Dukedom as the culprit.
He trembled, seemingly unable to comprehend the current situation.
The professors were the same.
If anyone among them had dabbled in Dark Arts, they were certainly excellent actors.
‘Perhaps it’s an issue unrelated to the other figures within the Academy.’
If it wasn't related to the professors who could exert influence within the Academy, it could be a problem with the Beryl family or Trevor's personal deviation.
I also hoped for that, and expected it to be so.
Since I had involved Orion, being noticed was inevitable, but it wouldn't be good for the incident to escalate beyond control.
"That can't be, Bishop. Dark Arts, you say?"
The theology professor, looking bewildered, shook his head.
"I didn't sense anything...!"
Although he was teaching theory due to his lack of Divine power, he looked as if he couldn't possibly be unaware if any of the children he taught had dabbled in Dark Arts.
The Bishop seemed to ignore his words, passing by him and calling out to me.
"Miss Merian."
"Yes."
As I slowly bowed in greeting, he nodded with a gentle expression.
"You must have a reason for harboring such suspicions?"
"On the day Trevor collapsed at the Academy, I felt fatigue and a headache, and I fell asleep as if collapsing all afternoon. When I woke up, I found my possession like this."
The blackened locket necklace was placed on the Bishop's hand.
He would probably be able to sense the faint Divine power that remained as a trace within it.
His eyebrows twitched as he held my necklace in his hand.
"It's a necklace containing Divine power that I received from an acquaintance in my childhood. Knowing how precious it is, I never took it off."
Half truth, half lie, I spoke, and the Bishop examined the locket, looking at me with a strange gaze.
As if he knew it wasn't the whole story.
However, as I feigned ignorance and remained silent, he nodded as if agreeing with my words instead of pressing further.
"Indeed, it was an item containing Divine power."
The Bishop's gaze turned to the person standing behind me.
I also looked at Abigail Frey, who was trembling pitifully with an innocent expression.
She was already terrified enough by the murderous intent emanating from the Duke's knights lined up behind me.
I calmly explained the situation.
"On the very day Trevor said he was attacked by me, Abigail harbored extreme animosity towards me even before she knew me. I believe it is difficult to understand her attitude of trying to slander me with only circumstantial evidence and no material evidence."
As much as she was an aristocrat, I understood that she might be bothered by my status as a commoner.
Moreover, it was true that I had spoken with Trevor before the accident.
However, could a mere student lie so brazenly in a hearing with so many people involved?
There wasn't a hint of doubt or falsehood on her face as she rattled off the false situation.
As if she truly believed I was the culprit.
Why would Abigail Frey, a top student, rely on such crude logic to be so sure that I was the culprit?
"N-No, it's not. It's not true, Professor..."
She shook her head madly and turned to run away.
She desperately looked around, but all the professors who had once given her infinite trust turned away from her.
Lord Rune approached and held his sword to her neck.
Quietly, and quickly.
It must have been humiliating for her, who had lived quite comfortably as an aristocrat.
She seemed so filled with terror that she couldn't even feel such a thing.
‘If Abigail Frey is being used.’
Wouldn't it be possible to hypothesize that someone had forcibly implanted or instilled the idea that Trevor's curse being turned back on him was my fault?
The Puppet Curse might not have been used solely on me.
I sat next to her, hoping that the pale-faced professors wouldn't say the nonsense that they believed her testimony.
What better proof could there be that they lacked the qualifications as professors?
They had simply applied the necessary testimony in the appropriate situation without verification.
The Bishop patted my shoulder and slowly moved his steps.
He spoke to the professors.
"It's something that can be confirmed."
His steps stopped in front of Abigail Frey.
As he reached out his hand, Abigail hiccuped with a terrified expression.
Two knights roughly grabbed her as she stepped back in fear.
There was no way a body that had never been trained could escape their grasp.
"Relax, young lady. If you are not tainted by Dark Arts, there will be no problem."
A faint light began to gather in the Bishop's hand as he spoke gently.
As the light slowly grew, Abigail's pupils momentarily lost focus, and her body began to tremble.
And at the same time, faint red spots appeared on her face and soon became clear.
Soon, the color of her pupils gradually changed to red and shone eerily.
M | A silence of evil filled the space.
The problem didn't stop there.
A student next to Abigail suddenly began to tremble.
The focus of his pupils disappeared, and faint red spots appeared on his face and body.
Next to him, and next to him.
One by one, those who had lost focus in their eyes fell down with the light extending from the Bishop's hand.
More than half of the students present.
All of them were students who were considered promising talents with a bright future within the Academy.
The Bishop's face also hardened at the unexpected situation.
Lenny, who had been watching the situation, approached me and whispered.
"Hey, this is getting big, isn't it?"
"...It is."
I blinked, speechless, not imagining that so many people would be involved.
Even if I understood that Abigail Frey, who had always been an extreme aristocratic purist, had easily succumbed to Dark Arts.
‘The other kids…’
Everyone who saw those who had fallen to the floor was unable to break free from the silence of astonishment.
The Bishop, who had erased his gentle smile, glared at the Headmaster with sharp eyes.
Then, he spoke to Orion in a firm voice.
"Close the Academy and investigate the incident thoroughly. Immediately summon all the students into the Academy and cut off contact with the outside world."
"Yes."
"W-Wait a minute. Closure...!"
The Bishop cast a cold gaze at the Headmaster, who belatedly approached in a fluster.
He was a religious person before he was a skilled politician.
At least, he couldn't help but be sensitive to Dark Arts related to black magic and curses.
"What were you doing in that place when so many students were involved!"
"W-We...!"
"If you had properly investigated the case of the young Beryl, you would have easily noticed the problem."
The Bishop's gaze swept over several professors.
Everyone in the room avoided eye contact or lowered their heads.
"All of them can be branded as accomplices of heretics who participated in Dark Arts, and they would have nothing to say. The temple will never question it."
At the Bishop's words, the Headmaster, who had been standing, staggered and sat back down as if collapsing.
The professors were also stunned, as if they couldn't believe the situation.
I watched those who had lost everything in a very short moment and were in despair.
The negligence and laziness they had committed in the process of trying to handle the incident by 'intimidating' the students would add to their sins.
Orion approached me and spoke cautiously.
"It would be good for you to take a rest with Locke. Your complexion isn't good from being subjected to a questioning that wasn't even a questioning."
"Thank you for your consideration."
I quietly nodded.
At least, the others besides Abigail were a situation I hadn't expected either.
I looked up at him, his face full of concern for me.
If he was the highest priest of the temple, and from the central temple at that, even the Emperor could not easily move him.
Even to bring him directly to the Academy on the basis of 'suspicion' alone, Orion himself would have had to bow down, no matter how much he held the status of Vice Duke.
There was not a hint of distrust in his eyes, believing only my few words and bringing the Bishop.
‘Now that this result has come out, he could think that I knew about black magic and intentionally hid it.’
He didn't seem to care at all.
"Don't worry. This 'Oppa' will take care of everything."
Orion said with a bright smile.
Even as I blankly listened to the emphasis on a specific word, I couldn't say anything this time.
Instead, I called his name in a faint voice.
"Orion."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He smiled brightly as if he had been waiting for my words.
Next to us, the other knights were busy isolating the students involved in black magic in one place and confiscating the hearing process and records.
The knights lined up in the hallway bowed their heads in unison as we passed by.
Reinia tilted her head, looking at the heavy spears and shields held by the knights wearing creaking armor.
"Is there a war at the Academy?"
"I wonder."
I inwardly expressed my condolences for their hard work, but feigned ignorance as if I didn't know the details.
All the students who had watched the situation in real time were looking at me and Lenny with anxious faces, murmuring.
Perhaps some of them had spouted inaccurate information about me, and others had reproduced it.
Maybe some of them had spread it to others.
And still others would have openly ridiculed me in front of my face.
Like Abigail Frey.
I walked slowly through everyone's gaze without saying a word.
My mood was complicated beyond description.
