Silence.
The heavy weight of silence hung in the air.
Why wouldn’t it?
The Head of the Desgarron Household had just shared the most grim news imaginable.
Amara, the shining star of the Family, had been poisoned, and among the kneeling servants was the culprit.
’This is really bad! Why am I among the suspects, though? Amara and I only t in public spaces! I’m also not in charge of her als, and I couldn’t have done so forcefully since she is stronger than . Above all else... I have the Slave Contract restricting . I couldn’t possibly—’
"Fortunately, she is still alive. The poison is rather potent, and it will negatively affect her health. Even if she recovers, there is a high chance that her exceptional talent will be compromised. Whoever planned this really sought to wound the Desgarron Family, which is the ultimate betrayal since this Household has always been fair towards even those lesser then us. You all have enjoyed many privileges die to our grace, yet this is how we are repaid?" Rey kept shivering as he heard Lord Dreyfus’ voice.
It esd very clear that the man was very upset.
As he should be.
This was his daughter.
But... Amara was more than that.
She was a once-in-a-generation talent that even the top Noble Households didn’t have very often.
Doing somwthing like this to her was tatamount to clipping the wings of the Desgarron Household.
If it were Augustus who was poisoned, while the Lord would still be furious, he would operate more rationally.
But now, such things were out of consideration.
He desperately wanted to find the culprit.
"Now, I am a fair man." Lord Dreyfus sighed, slowly easing the pressure he released as he looked at his audience who were barely hanging on to his words.
"We wouldn’t have called you all here if we didn’t do so due diligence. Everyone here is a suspect for a reason. Either you attended to my daughter personally, or you were involved in those things in so way. There are so of you whom my daughter was very fond of, and she interacted with to a large extent."
Rey felt a piercing gaze on him the mont he heard those lines.
’So that’s why—!’
Rey understood it all now.
’These people are quite thorough. They’ve gone through the list of suspects and are determined to root out the culprit.’
He could understand them completely.
In fact, he wanted to find the culprit just as badly.
After all, not only had this person ruined his plans by compromising Amara, but his life was now in danger thanks to their actions.
It was sothing he couldn’t forgive or ignore.
’I have no problems with sches. Everyone has their own agenda, and their actions should be done towards furthering their interests. What I have a problem with is that this implicates . If the culprit is truly in this room, then...’ Rey began scanning the kneeling servants and slaves.
He knew them all well.
’... I have to flush them out, and fast!’
"Now, all of you may try to defend yourselves and present alibis. We have already confird all of these things. In fact, it seems rather impossible that such a thing could have happened when it did. That ans the culprit must have poisoned my daughter a while back, but delayed its activation until now. All of you could have done this. Now, I could use Soul Art to make you confess, and one way or the other, you will confess, but I am giving all of you a chance now. Even if you aren’t the culprit, if you have so information that could be useful in helping us identify the culprit... you had better speak up now."
"..."
Rey was quiet.
’Should I say sothing?’ He silently wondered, staring at all the faces present.
So appeared more culpable than others, and based on his deductions, he was already quickly eliminating so suspects while narrowing down the list.
He was beyond determined to find this mastermind, no matter what.
But he needed ti to conclude this process.
’Should I share so of my thoughts now and delay the decision? It’ll buy so ti at the very least.’
Rey knew he wasn’t guilty.
And normally, he would have even preferred the Head of the Desgarron Family to use Soul Art to decipher the culprit among them.
But... There were two main problems.
’One is the fact that I am not originally from this world, and my true identity may be found out if they use Soul Art on . The second issue is that I may be forced to reveal other plans I have that pertains to Amara, including how I plan to use her to obtain my freedom.’
These were two things he could not afford to expose to anyone.
Plus—
’It’s possible that they discover the weakened Curse Imprint on and just how powerful my Ether Core has beco once they start fumbling around my body.’
For these reasons alone, Rey had to quickly think of a solution out of this.
It was in his best interests to do so.
"L-Lord..."
Right as Rey was about to speak up, his trembling voice already leaking into the hall, soone else spoke out.
"L-Lord Desgarron, Supre Head of this Household, I have a few things to say. I humbly ask for permission to do so."
The man, Dreyfus, finally saw soone cooperating and nodded.
"Just to correct you, there is no one Supre besides the Ancient Chaos God. You may speak."
"Y-yes, definitely Great Lord!"
"Speak."
"I-I believe... the culprit is none other than Young Master Augustus’ slave, the cursed half-breed!"
’What?!’
The mont Rey heard this, he felt his heart nearly skip a beat.
"What makes you say so?" Lord Dreyfus asked calmly, not showing any emotions.
"F-forgive my crude way of speaking, but the cursed child has an unnatural closeness with the Young Lady. I found it strange, so I began observing him closely. I found him thinking aloud to himself in the garden many tis, and it seems he has fantasized about her on many occasions. He has said many crass things about her and describes them to himself in vivid details. From the way in which he constantly spoke about the Young Lady and how she will soon be his, I believe he has sohow chard her. It would explain her recent fixation on bringing him along with her to the Academy and why she keeps him around despite his filthy status."
’What is all this nonsense?’ Rey found himself confounded as he heard the words of the servant who spoke.
He knew who this lady was.
’She is one of the Senior Maids. I rember she used to co with us to the Coliseum when I first arrived here, and I did speak to her once when I shared the sa carriage with her and Logan.’
Back then, this maid made her disgust in him very evident.
But he didn’t think it was to this extent.
Fabricating so many lies that even Rey found difficult to swallow.
’You cannot despise to the point of this level of slander. Especially in front of the Head of Household. Do you really think you won’t get caught?’ Rey felt a tightening feeling in his chest.
He was guilty of many things, sure.
There were also many suspicious actions of his that he didn’t want getting out.
But everything this woman said were lies.
’Surely, the Head of Household isn’t stupid enough to believe these things without confirmation.’
"You are certain that you saw and heard all these things? I will be confirming if all your words are the truth."
"Yes, I am certain, Lord. I would never lie to you or about Young Lady Amara. I have even seen him gloating to himself about how the Young Lady’s touch feels like and how, in his words, he wishes to kiss her again."
"What?!"
Dreyfus Deagarron’s aura rose to the extre almost imdiately.
"M-my Lord, I never—!"
"Silence!" He quickly stopped Rey from saying anything. "I haven’t given you permission to speak."
’What the fuck?!’
Rey felt srized by the absurdity of this servant’s claims. How in the world did she believe she could get away with sothing like this?
"It is due to these reasons that I believe the cursed thing sohow corrupted the Young Lady and infected her sohow. That is all I have to say, My Lord."
The maid fell silent afterwards, leaving Rey stunned by everything.
"I will personally confirm the veracity of your words..." Lord Dreyfus cast his gaze on Rey after saying those words. "What do you have to say for yourself before then?"
"I never did or said any of those things, Great Lord." Rey pressed his head against the ground. "Please believe !"
"Well... both of you can’t be telling the truth, which ans one of you, at the very least, is lying."
"Please confirm the truth, Great Lord."
At this point, Rey could only surrender to the use of Soul Art. It was uncertain what would happen once it was his turn, but he highly believed it wouldn’t get to that extent.
After all, the woman was lying.
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