Chapter 178
'To the Spider-Loving Clayman, let's compare notes on the "Horrifying Truth" you mentioned. I'm waiting to hear from you. From the Silent Witch'
It was a message printed in the advertisements section of the largest newspaper in Ridill Kingdom's capital.
Euan, whose primary duty was espionage, naturally read various newspapers from home and abroad every day, so he noticed this advertisement immediately.
"This is undoubtedly a message from the Silent Witch."
With that, Euan offered the newspaper to his master.
Euan was a man who changed his face on a whim, but in front of his master, he always used the same flat face with slightly narrow eyes.
It was a face Euan had once been forced to abandon, and at the same time, the face that placed the least strain on him when using body-manipulation magic.
"Let's see."
Euan's master read the newspaper with gleaming black eyes.
The man was young, with gently waving black hair. His deeply chiseled features were as heroic and beautiful as a statue from mythology, yet filled with a vitality and intensity no sculpture possessed.
As his sharp eyes slowly traced the newspaper's text, his lips curled into a wide grin. That alone gave him a ferocious air, as though a beast had bared its fangs.
"The Silent Witch... If I recall, she was one of the Seven Sages of that other country. I like it—the Seven Sages. It has a nice ring to it. The Four Heavenly Kings, the Three Musketeers... Don't those names set one's heart racing when they appear in stories?"
The man looked as though he were lost in a world of stories, then clapped his hands together.
"All right, shall we make one too? Let's see. If they have the Seven Sages, we'll increase the number on our side. The Ten Retainers, the Twelve Sword Saints, or the Thirteen Knights are tempting too... Hmm, which is best?"
When Euan wryly said, "What a jest," at his master's seemingly irrelevant remarks, his master chuckled with obvious delight.
"You fool. How many times have you seen me turn a 'jest' into an 'accomplishment'?"
"If I may say so, perhaps it would be better not to increase the number indiscriminately? If there are too many, they start to feel cheap."
"Hmm, you have a point. All right, let's make it six or fewer. Now, what do you think of this so-called Silent Witch?"
This man was always liable to make remarks that sounded like jokes, then abruptly return to the matter at hand.
Accustomed to conversations with his master, Euan answered without hesitation.
"The Silent Witch's chantless magic would be the envy of anyone who makes a living as an assassin."
If the Silent Witch put her mind to it, she could behead an enemy without uttering a single word. There was no technique better suited to assassination.
"More than anything, her precision is extraordinary... That would be even more devastating against people than in battle against dragons."
"You mean she could serve as a weapon in war?"
"She's a monster. I can't imagine her being the same kind of creature as us."
At Euan's words, his master threw back his head and cackled.
"Wouldn't people call you the monster, Euan, seeing as you are the one without a face?"
"Then you may consider the Silent Witch a monster even greater than me."
"...Oh?"
Euan's master smiled cruelly and tapped his fingertips against the armrest of his chair.
"Fascinating. By the way, Euan, is this Silent Witch a beautiful woman?"
Euan fell silent, thinking, There he goes again.
As Euan did so, his master spoke while crossing one leg over the other.
"I want a beautiful woman with big breasts and a big butt, her eyes gleaming with ambition and grand schemes. Ideally, she'd be a poisonous seductress like the first Thorn Witch."
"...Unfortunately, she is the exact opposite in every respect."
"What a bore! ...Still, I am interested in this so-called chantless magic."
Sensing something ominous in those words, Euan's cheek twitched.
"My liege? Surely you don't mean..."
At Euan's dubious look, his master grinned, showing his canine teeth.
"I'm going too. To Ridill Kingdom."
Euan let out a near-hysterical "Oh ho ho ho," then spoke to his master with a rigidly expressionless face.
"...You're joking, riiight?"
His master laughed heartily, as though trying to outdo Euan.
"I love putting my jokes into action at full force!"
＊ ＊ ＊
Ten days after Monica and Bridget infiltrated Duke Clockford's estate, the student assembly that had long been scheduled was held.
"With that, I declare the student assembly closed."
As Monica listened to Felix deliver the closing remarks, she let out a sigh of relief.
As the treasurer, Monica had been invited to tea parties by several club presidents over those ten days and had scarcely had a moment to rest, but with Bridget's support, she had made it through safely.
With this, every event the student council was involved in—apart from the graduation ceremony—was over.
"...I'm glad it ended without incident."
When Monica murmured this from behind the scenes, Cyril nodded repeatedly with his arms folded.
With his blue eyes, Cyril gazed at Felix standing on the stage as though overcome with emotion.
"After this, the only time I'll see His Highness standing on that stage will be at the graduation ceremony..."
Shortly before the graduation ceremony, the student council officers would hand over their duties.
The next time Felix stood on the stage, it would not be as student council president, but as the representative of the graduating class.
For Cyril, who had supported Felix all this time, it must have been deeply moving.
(His Highness is loved by so many people.)
Though some called him a puppet prince behind his back, almost all the students at the academy still respected and admired the prince known as Felix Ark Ridill.
(And yet, for my own selfish reasons—for the chance to learn the truth about my father's death—I'm trying to expose His Highness's secret...)
Even if Monica learned all his secrets, she had no intention of making them public. She was investigating only because she herself wanted to know.
...Even so, she still felt guilty about trying to probe the inner self of Felix—or rather, Ike.
"...Cyril-sama, you really do respect His Highness, don't you?"
At Monica's murmur, Cyril shifted his gaze from Felix to her.
"Of course I do. That he saw something in me is the greatest source of pride in my life."
Monica wondered what expression Cyril would wear if he learned Felix's secret.
For Cyril, the fact that Felix, a member of the royal family, had recognized him was a source of strength that spurred him onward.
Exposing Felix's secret would, in itself, rob Cyril of that pride.
(I want Cyril-sama to remain unaware of everything.)
Graduation was just around the corner. Monica did not have much time left to spend at this academy.
Monica wanted to cherish what little time remained, not as the Silent Witch, but as "Monica Norton."
──Once she learned the truth, the Silent Witch would say nothing and keep it all in her heart.
That was what Monica thought at the time.
＊ ＊ ＊
While the students who had attended the assembly filed out one after another and returned to their classrooms, the student council officers spent their time clearing up the venue and meeting with club presidents.
Felix and Elliot were busy discussing future matters with teachers and club presidents, while Neil directed the cleanup, so Cyril, Bridget, and Monica—the three who happened to be free—naturally ended up putting away the materials.
Monica rolled up a large sheet of paper, stealing occasional glances at Bridget.
Since returning to the academy, Bridget had not mentioned the infiltration operation at all.
Bridget must have had countless thoughts on her mind, yet she continued to conduct herself with her usual composure. That was a little painful for Monica to see.
Bridget was strong, beautiful, and, above all, intelligent.
Even after being confronted with such a cruel reality, she continued to carry herself with dignity, like the protagonist of one of the novels Isabel loved.
But while the protagonist of a novel would ultimately be united with the person she loved, Bridget's feelings would surely never be reciprocated.
"We've finished sorting the materials. I'll take the biggest box to the student council room ahead of you."
Saying this, Cyril stood up with the largest box in his hands. Monica hurriedly gathered as many of the nearby bundles of documents as she could carry. Bridget, too, silently lifted a bundle of documents.
As the three of them headed for the student council room, they saw a female student coming down the stairs. Seeing that Cyril and the others were carrying things, she courteously stepped aside.
Cyril and Bridget went ahead, and Monica was about to follow when the female student who had yielded the way moved just slightly closer to Monica and slipped a small, neatly folded piece of paper into her uniform pocket.
(...Huh?)
Monica involuntarily looked up at the girl's face.
The girl who had slipped the paper into Monica's pocket had straight black hair and cool, refined features. More than her features themselves, Monica recognized the slightly thick eyebrows above her narrow, sharp eyes.
She was the girl named Heidi who had been with Euan at the school festival.
"...Ah."
By the time Monica turned around, Heidi had already hurried down the stairs and disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
Monica stopped halfway down the stairs and followed Heidi's figure with her eyes, until Cyril called to her suspiciously from above.
"Treasurer Norton?"
"Ah, sorry. It's nothing."
As Monica climbed the stairs, she supported the materials with one hand and took the scrap of paper from her pocket with the other.
It contained the following brief message:
'Wait for me tonight at the entrance to the woods behind the academy.'
There was no turning back now.
At long last, it was time to compare answers about the "Horrifying Truth".