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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Chapter 9 Their Wounds (3)
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"..."
Sei-an and Lark exchanged hushed words, feigning ignorance of the bewildered gazes from others.
"I'll ask again."
After that hushed conversation with Lark, Sei-an turned his head and posed another question to Rubin's group, who were staring at him with puzzled eyes.
"The testimony you just gave."
"…!"
"Are you absolutely certain there isn't a single lie in it?"
"O-of course!"
"What kind of place is this? How could we lie!"
Rubin's group answered Sei-an's question in intentionally louder voices, trying to mask their flustered emotions.
"..."
Sei-an strode purposefully closer to them, meeting their eyes directly as he spoke again.
"Are you truly... truly saying that testimony is correct?"
"Th-that..."
"I-it really is..."
Those who had been shouting with conviction just moments ago stammered, unsure of what to do under Sei-an's seemingly indifferent yet cold gaze.
'Those idiots!'
Meanwhile, someone was cursing vehemently to himself upon seeing Rubin's group's reaction: Illnis.
'I'm a fool for trusting such imbeciles with this task!'
Illnis glared at them with a displeased expression, believing that partnering with such foolish individuals from the start of this plan was a mistake.
Just moments ago, Illnis had inwardly rejoiced when Sei-an, following Lark, intervened in the trial.
He had even harbored hopes that Sei-an might be implicated for obstructing the trial.
'Damn it!'
However, seeing Rubin's group's hesitation, which effectively admitted their lie in response to Sei-an's question, Illnis could only grit his teeth.
He worried that this whole endeavor might fall apart because of them.
"Alright then."
Fortunately, a moment later, Sei-an stopped questioning Rubin's group and walked over to Japhiro, the academy dean, who was seated on the side, attending the proceedings.
"…!"
Japhiro, who had been sitting among the professors as if he had no involvement in the matter, noticeably blanched and stared at Sei-an.
"Dean Japhiro."
"Wh-what is it?"
"You know a lot about the two deceased individuals, don't you?"
"What? Know a lot? I only know they were students at our academy, nothing more."
At Sei-an's follow-up question, Japhiro hastily blurted out words and vigorously shook his head.
As if to declare that he had no connection whatsoever with the deceased women.
"You're aware that both deceased individuals were scholarship students, aren't you?"
"Were they?"
"Yes, they were."
"So what about it?"
As the word "scholarship student" was mentioned, Japhiro's expression hardened further, and he challenged Sei-an as if he were angry.
"As everyone knows, if scholarship students' grades drop, they must immediately pay their own tuition, and if they cannot, they face expulsion."
At Sei-an's words, students and professors alike nodded, acknowledging the truth of what he said, as it was well-known information.
"In other words, for scholarship students, a drop in grades is equivalent to their dreams and goals vanishing."
At Sei-an's continued words, some students nodded, displaying sorrowful expressions. They, too, seemed to be scholarship students at this academy.
Graduating from here meant they could climb the social ladder even as commoners.
They could enter imperial or royal administration, or even if they sought other work, they would receive proper treatment.
Thus, those who were poor and had no guaranteed future feared leaving this place due to failing grades more than death itself.
"The two deceased individuals chose a misguided method to somehow raise their failing grades."
"…?"
As Sei-an continued speaking, murmurs and reactions began to ripple through the students once more.
"Of course, there was someone else who first suggested that method to them."
"…!"
As Sei-an uttered those words, he shifted his gaze back to Japhiro. Japhiro visibly flinched, unable to hide his panic.
"Dean."
"Wh-what is it?"
"Are you perhaps aware?"
"Of what?"
"That paying money or goods as compensation for a woman's body is illegal."
"…!"
"As far as I know, it's a common law across the continent, not just in the Chezaros Empire that I belong to."
"…!"
At Sei-an's words, Japhiro's face turned ashen.
"What are you talking about!"
"Pay money for them?"
"No way!"
And everyone around who had heard Sei-an's words looked shocked and began to cast sharp glances at Japhiro.
Everyone had understood what Sei-an implied.
"N-no! What nonsense are you spouting! It wasn't me!"
A flustered Japhiro hastily rose from his seat and began to spout out defensive remarks.
"Are you saying you never approached them with the condition of manipulating their grades?"
"Th-that's false information! It's a lie!"
At Sei-an's continued words, an uproar began again inside the courtroom.
Japhiro kept spouting excuses, but the atmosphere had already turned against him.
"You! Where did you hear such baseless claims to put me in such a predicament!"
"I told him."
"…!"
Japhiro, who had been loudly pressing Sei-an, flinched at that moment as a faint female voice echoed from a distance.
"G-Glomi."
It was Glomi, the very woman who had attempted suicide just recently and been saved by Sei-an.
At her appearance, Japhiro stumbled, unable to properly conceal his panic.
"Both I and they received the same offer from the Dean."
"…!"
"I thought if I could just graduate from here, I could start everything anew."
At Glomi's words, a chilling silence instantly fell over the courtroom. Everyone began to look at Japhiro with disbelief.
"I tried to endure it to the end, but seeing others in the same situation choose death... I, too..."
At her confession that she too had tried to die, people fell silent, watching her.
Conversely, they showered Japhiro, who had dared to prey on academy students, with gazes full of anger and contempt.
"Dean Japhiro!"
"Hee-egh!"
Makesha, who had come as Duke Jaimel's representative for this trial, also called out Japhiro's name with a furious gaze.
"You are dismissed. You will be immediately escorted to the Royal Castle of Elomaha!"
"…!"
The trial, which had begun to question Lark's guilt, thus transformed into a reckoning for Japhiro's crimes.
"I apologize, but could you please wait just a moment longer?"
"…?"
But then Sei-an's voice was heard again. Everyone focused their attention back on him, waiting to hear what he would say.
"Glomi, I'm sorry, but I have another request."
"..."
Receiving the people's gazes, Sei-an once again asked something of Glomi.
With a sorrowful expression, she let out a long sigh, then slowly opened her mouth again.
"I received healing for the wounds inflicted by the Dean from someone else."
"…?"
"What are you talking about?"
And at her continued words, people looked at her again with puzzled eyes.
"There was someone who knew all my pain, told me it was alright, embraced me, understood everything, and said they loved me."
Glomi, by now shedding tears, continued speaking as if confessing.
"But it turned out that love wasn't just for me."
She had believed it was a tender love meant only for her. Glomi had truly fallen in love with him, envisioning a future together, as he had embraced all the wounds inflicted by the Dean.
"The other deceased individuals were also being manipulated by the very same person."
"…!"
It turned out that he had extended his hand not just to her, but to all the women wounded by the Dean, approaching them with the same lines and the same smile, manipulating them all.
After saying that, Glomi seemed to have nothing more to say, quietly shedding tears.
"..."
Sei-an watched her for a moment, then turned his gaze to one person with eyes colder than ever before.
Seeing the man sitting with a stiff, pale face, Sei-an quietly called his name.
"Professor Joy."
"…!"
At Sei-an's call, all eyes in the courtroom turned to the man sitting in the professor's section.
He was a mathematics professor at Juist Academy, a young man beloved by both students and faculty for his cheerful personality and bright smile.
Consequently, everyone looked at him with even greater disbelief than when Japhiro's crimes had been revealed moments earlier.
"N-not me!"
Under the people's gaze, Joy, like Japhiro, loudly denied his guilt.
"It was all the Dean's doing! I was just trying to comfort their wounds!"
"What, you bastard! It looks like you were the bigger problem!"
"What did you say! Shut up! How dare you commit such dirty deeds and try to pin everything on me!"
Then, as if he had found an escape route from the situation, Japhiro hastily tried to shift his guilt onto Professor Joy, who in turn struggled to deny it, leading to a fight between the two.
"..."
"..."
Everyone watched the scene, utterly dumbfounded and speechless.
The same was true for Glomi, who had been shedding tears.
The fact that she had loved such a person and, due to betrayal, even tried to commit suicide, felt more shameful than anything else, and her tears no longer flowed.
"Someone once told me,"
"…!"
At that moment, someone quietly spoke to the two men again: Sei-an.
"That the one who tried to kill and the one who killed would both be held equally accountable, so there was no need to fight."
Uttering words Prince Idis had once said, Sei-an conveyed that their fighting was unnecessary and continued speaking.
"Both of you will pay the same price for your sins, so stop fighting."
"…!"
"…!"
At those words, Japhiro and Professor Joy's expressions froze, and they simultaneously bowed their heads, as if resigning themselves to their fate.
"Take them both away!"
"Yes!"
And as soon as Sei-an finished speaking, Makesha's command was given, and the soldiers waiting outside began to escort the two men away.
"Wait, I have something to say."
"…?"
At that moment, Sei-an called out to them again, slowly walked over to Professor Joy, and spoke in a low voice.
"You didn't kill two people."
"What?"
"...You killed three."
