Chapter 46
[The gallery is currently under maintenance!! Scheduled maintenance: April 11, 00:00 ~ 23:59!]
The gallery wouldn't open.
But the gallery wasn't what mattered right now.
‘...Don't get nervous. Just act naturally.’
I steeled myself and opened the classroom door.
“Oh! I~an~.”
A chill ran down my spine when I sat down and saw Iveline smiling brightly as she spoke to me.
“Hello, Iveline.”
“Yeah! Hello, Ian. Here, take this. Someone came by yesterday and left it for you.”
Swoosh─
What Iveline handed me was, of course, a student ID.
“Ian. That student ID... I wonder who could have given it to you?”
“...Who knows?”
“It was personally handed to you by Yuris-nim, the next saint candidate.”
“What?! Yuris-nim!! Really? How? Why?”
I sprang to my feet and desperately put on an astonished act.
“Hmm? ...Hmmm?”
Sex!
Practicing in front of the mirror all night had been worth it.
Perhaps my acting had worked, because Iveline tilted her head with an expression that said, ‘This isn't right.’
“Ha... Hey, Ian. Come clean. What did you do yesterday that made you skip the academy?”
“I didn't do anything. I was just tired, so I took the day off.”
“Don't make me laugh. I know you. Are you the kind of person who'd skip the academy just because you were tired?”
Iveline narrowed her eyes and interrogated me, but the level of suspicion in her expression had clearly dropped.
“I really mean it... And I have plenty of reason to be tired. I've had a lot of opportunities to expend my energy lately. You know that better than anyone, don't you?”
“Ugh...!!”
As expected of Iveline, who had 3,000 attack and 0 defense, even a light counterattack was enough to turn her face red.
I didn't let the opportunity slip and pressed my advantage.
“More importantly, Iveline, there's something I've been wondering about, too.”
“...What?”
“Come closer.”
“Tsk... What nonsense are you planning to spout this time?”
Even while irritated, Iveline brought her ear close, and I couldn't help letting out a laugh.
Whisper whisper─
“I-I-I!!... You crazy bastard!!... What the hell are you asking me first thing in the morning!!... Did you get horny because you went a whole day without it?!”
Astonishingly, Iveline gave me the rare spectacle of shouting in a tiny voice.
“So you're not going to tell me?”
“No!!”
“Really...?”
“I said I'm not telling you!!”
“...Really? Even if I ask you like this?”
“Ah!!... Ugh!!... Aaaagh!!... I don't know!!”
Bang-!
As though she absolutely refused to tell me, Iveline buried her face in the desk.
‘...Still, was the plan a success?’
It was unfortunate that I couldn't hear her answer, but diverting Iveline's attention was enough.
Just as I was thinking that...
Swoosh─ Swoosh─
Still with her face buried, Iveline wrote something on my thigh with her finger.
[Number 2, red]
***
April 12
Click- Click-
A silver-haired woman with a black coat draped over her shoulders strode down the hallway without hesitation.
Even though the hallway was packed with students heading home since classes had just ended...
Whoosh─!
A path opened every time she took a step, as though she were cutting through a snowy field.
In the end, the silver-haired woman stopped in front of her destination: Second-Year Class C.
“Excuse me for a moment. Is Ian still here?”
Laplace said as she opened the classroom door without the slightest hesitation.
At the same time, the eyes of everyone who had yet to leave fixed on Ian.
The saint candidate the day before, and a princess today.
What on earth had he been doing for such big shots to come looking for him?
Of course, the most shocked person of all was Iveline.
“...Why?”
I could understand Yuris-nim coming to look for Ian if I made a hundred concessions.
I had been a little suspicious because Ian had happened to be absent, but...
Yuris-nim was so kind that she really might have found his student ID ‘by chance’ and brought it to him personally.
But...
Laplace-nim was different.
There was no way Laplace-nim would come all the way here for no reason at all.
Click- Click-
“You are Ian, correct?”
The princess approached my desk and spoke, somehow knowing who I was.
“...That's right. What brings you here?”
When I looked up and answered, I saw nearly white silver hair, symbolizing her imperial bloodline, and shining red eyes.
The Second Princess, who, despite being certain to win if she ran for student council president, valued upholding ‘
justice
’ and chose ‘
disciplinary committee chairwoman
’ over the presidency,
Laplace Mayflower
was.
“I have a few questions for you. I ask that you accompany me voluntarily for a moment.”
“...Me?”
“Yes, you.”
The princess's expressionlessness was different from Estelle's.
If Estelle's blank expression was meant to hide her emotions, the princess genuinely seemed to have no interest in the world.
‘What could she possibly want to ask me?’
While I was wondering what she could want to question me about, Iveline interrupted.
“...W-wait a moment, Laplace-nim.”
“I am still on official duty. Address me as Chairwoman.”
“Ugh... Chairwoman... Why are you trying to take Ian away...?”
“Didn't I say? I have a few questions for him. Are you worried I might eat him?”
“...It's not that.”
“Don't be nervous. That was a joke.”
The princess didn't even twitch an eyebrow while making the joke.
Creak-
“...If this is voluntary accompaniment, can he refuse?”
This time, Estelle asked the question.
“Of course. It is voluntary accompaniment, after all.”
“Then please go back for today. I'm sorry, but Ian has a prior appointment with me....”
“But if I come here again, it will no longer be voluntary accompaniment.”
.....
After glancing at Iveline and Estelle in turn, the princess spoke to me once again.
“Then let me ask you one more time, Ian. Will you come with me?”
“Understood... I'll go.”
“Good choice.”
Swoosh─
When I stood up, Iveline and Estelle approached me.
“...Ian.”
“....”
“Don't worry too much. What could possibly happen? I'll be back soon.”
I said it to ease their worries, but I meant it.
I hadn't done anything wrong, so I had nothing to feel guilty about.
“Then, shall we go?”
***
“Ian, you had sex at the old school building, didn't you?”
“....”
It was the princess's question, fired at me the moment I sat down in the disciplinary committee office.
“...I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Are you planning to pretend you don't know? Then let me be more precise. Ian, you had sex with Iveline Marigold, didn't you?”
“I believe Chairwoman has misunderstood something. Iveline and I are merely childhood friends, not that kind of relationship.”
“Is that so? Despite that, the two of you entered the old school building together during lunch today.”
Clench-
At the princess's words, I clenched my fist tightly.
‘Don't get drawn in. She has no proof.’
Yes, she couldn't have any proof.
If she had proof, this would have been
‘voluntary accompaniment’
rather than
‘forced detention’.
“I won't deny entering the old school building. But we only went there to eat lunch.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. If you're referring to entering a restricted area....”
Swoosh─
The moment I saw the photographs the princess pulled out, I was rendered speechless.
[A photograph of a condom box in a trash can]
[A photograph of a bottle of birth-control pills in a trash can]
[A photograph of a blanket with a particular area soaked]
[A photograph of a well-used shower room]
...
They weren't photographs of sexual intercourse itself, but they were more than enough evidence to imagine that intercourse had taken place.
“I won't need to show you more, will I?”
The princess continued, shaking the camera in front of my eyes.
“For your information, I haven't even developed the photographs I took today yet.”
“....”
“I believe every photograph here is evidence that you engaged in sexual activity... What do you think?”
“....”
“Denial, followed by silence? How typical.”
Thump- Thump-
I had to keep the conversation going somehow and buy myself time to think.
“Why was it voluntary accompaniment?”
“What?”
“With this much evidence, couldn't you have forcibly detained me instead of asking me to accompany you voluntarily?”
“Are you admitting that you engaged in sexual activity?”
“...No.”
I absolutely could not admit it.
Once I admitted it, it was over.
That might not have mattered with someone else, but
‘Laplace’
this person was thoroughly obsessed with
‘justice’.
“The reason is simple. If I forcibly detained you, I would have to do the same to Iveline Marigold.”
Laplace continued speaking while spinning her pen, her face still devoid of emotion.
“The Marigold family is a fairly powerful family, even if it is not one of the primary-colored houses such as Red Rose, Blue Tulip, and Yellow Pansy. The daughter of such a family being expelled from the Holy Academy over an unfortunate incident... It would not be a pleasant sight.”
“But since I have no such background, you can expel me without a second thought... Is that it?”
“Think whatever you like.”
“...What do you want from me?”
“I want nothing from you. I merely wish to execute ‘justice’.”
Swoosh─
Laplace held out a sheet of paper before me.
“These are withdrawal papers. I have filled them out already, so all you need to do is sign.”
“What if I refuse to sign....”
“I will forcibly summon you and Iveline, announce that you violated the school rules, and begin expulsion proceedings.”
“....”
That was the one thing I couldn't allow.
I could not let Iveline get dragged into this, even if I did.
“Could you give me a little... time?”
“I will give you one day. Come back after classes end tomorrow.”
“...Understood.”
Step- Step-
I could barely breathe.
It felt as though I had been caught in a spiderweb that only ensnared me more tightly the harder I struggled.
‘...I have to... find a way.’
How could I escape this web without causing Iveline any harm?
I agonized over it desperately, but only one conclusion emerged.
“Ian!!”
I turned toward the voice calling my name and saw Iveline waving through the open carriage window.
“Iveline? Were you waiting for me?”
“...Never mind. Just get in.”
“Yeah.”
Tight─!
The moment I got into the carriage, Iveline grabbed my hand and asked in a worried voice,
“...Tell me honestly. What happened? It isn't something serious, is it?”
“It's nothing. She just asked why I was absent the day before yesterday.”
“Hey! Are you kidding me right now? The chairwoman wouldn't come personally just because you missed one day!! Do you even know how many people Laplace-nim has expelled?”
“No... I was surprised, too, but apparently someone stole something yesterday and their appearance resembled mine. But I hadn't done anything wrong, so they let me go like this.”
The lies I told Iveline kept piling up.
“Really? That's all there is to it? You're not lying to me, are you?”
“Of course that's all.”
“Whew... Then that's a relief. I was nervous for nothing... Then let's stop by the shopping district. We haven't gone lately because you've been working in the library.”
“Sorry. I have something to do today, so I can't. The chairwoman told me to write down what I did the day before yesterday and bring it to her.”
“Hey... Ian.”
When I, who had tried to brush it off lightly, turned my head at her trembling voice,
Iveline looked as though she were about to cry.
“Are you... are you really all right?”
“I told you I'm fine. Don't worry, and let's go after school on Friday. Here, promise.”
“...Okay. Since we promised, I'll believe you.”
Just as we had in childhood, I hooked my pinky with Iveline's and made a promise, and at that moment, the carriage arrived in front of my house.
“Well, I'm off. See you tomorrow, Iveline.”
“Yeah... See you tomorrow, Ian.”
Clip-clop- Clip-clop-
After confirming that the carriage had completely departed, I made up my mind.
‘I'll find it no matter what.’
To keep my promise to Iveline...
I absolutely had to find Laplace's weakness. për?
I absolutely had to find Laplace's weakness.ぜ
I absolutely had to find Laplace's weakness.♀
I absolutely had to find Laplace's weakness.ⓘ
I absolutely had to find Laplace's weakness.