[Maya's POV]
December 24th.
A joyous Friday.
The day before Christmas.
The air is filled with excitent and anticipation as families prepare to celebrate the holiday with festive cheer. Underneath beautifully decorated trees, presents are carefully arranged, awaiting the delight of loved ones.
Children eagerly await Santa's arrival, while the world unites in kindness and compassion.
Laughter and warmth fill hos as loved ones gather, cherishing each other's company and spreading the true spirit of Christmas but instead of being with family, I was investigating a rumor.
The rumor ca from one of my precious mbers of the secret club I created.
I call them precious but in reality, since communication among club mbers is anonymous and online, I don't know any of their real identities.
I don't know who they are and they don't know who I am.
Nobody knows that the leader of the club that publishes jaw-dropping articles all the ti is Maya, .
Almost nobody.
A certain soone by the na of Bell Agnus discovered my secret due to a negligent mistake of mine; I should've checked beforehand where all the rooms in the academy that had mana cancelation were.
I can't claim to have an infinite source of mana but it's vast enough that I can leave my ability on for hours on end without having to rest it for a recharge.
That's how I'm able to go around the academy without getting caught and it's why I'm so confident about my ability to follow people around.
Nobody can even sense when I'm invisible regardless of how powerful they are.
The only weakness of my invisibility is rooms that cancel all mana.
How unlucky of to have encountered such a room monts after acquiring the biggest, juiciest, tastiest scoop of my entire life.
Get this. A vampire exists, that's right. A vampire.
A creature that I've only heard of from old stories and textbooks. They still exist and one of them attends the sa academy that I do.
I wish I could've typed out those words onto paper and shared them around the academy but if I do — the punishnt that awaits is so heavy that I can only keep my mouth shut. Reluctantly.
Goddamn blood oath.
And that's not all.
If it was just a vampire living amongst us then I'd already be satisfied by oh no — there's way more information that I'm unable to reveal to the world.
The person who discovered my secret identity, Bell Agnus, he's nothing like everyone thinks he is.
He even tricked , soone who prides herself in knowing everything about everyone of importance.
At first, I heard of him through the grapevine. Since he was a direct family mber of the most prestigious family in this city, everyone knows about him, including .
Then, the first ti I really heard about him in any circles around was after he sexually assaulted a student at the school who coincidentally is the vampire I was referring to.
Piece of shit thing to do and he deserved to have his private part chopped off for that.
His identity as an Agnus kept his punishnt light and all he received was a suspension.
Then, however, the truth is revealed. Or rather, I listened in on the conversation he shared with the headmistress and I learned that the incident that occurred between him and his victim wasn't his complete fault as he was influenced by the demon curse mark on his back.
After making sure that he wasn't faking it, I thought that was all and called the investigation a wrap.
I published and shared the article with the student body, ready to move on to my next scoop.
After that, I was caught in a drought where nothing was catching my interest. I published a few secrets here and there but overall, it was lackluster.
Then, on my way to lunch as I was late to leave class due to a project, I saw suspicious movent of the person who was my target of interest just a while ago so naturally, I followed him.
I was wondering if it was for naught but when I saw Diana and Bell in a room together, I held my breath.
Culprit and victim.
His crush and the one who was crushed by his curse.
'Why are they in this room all alone instead of eating lunch?' I wondered.
The next thing I know, she was drinking his blood and without a doubt in my mind, I knew instantly that Diana was a vampire.
'Oh... my... god.'
Normally, I would follow my subjects a little longer to confirm what I had overheard or seen just to ensure that I didn't jump the gun.
However, this was different. I didn't need anything else.
This was enough for to publish the article; no more investigation was needed.
But I got greedy. I shouldn't have — but greed is a cardinal sin for a reason and it took over .
"Are you going to head to lunch?" Bell asked her.
Diana nodded her head and then asked him, "Why? What about you?"
"No. I have sothing to do after this."
Sensing that there was another scoop for to acquire with how he answered her, the mysterious tone in his voice, and the way he suspiciously walked out of the room — I followed him.
I followed him all the way to the damn room that sealed off all my mana, deactivating my ability and turning visible.
I wanted to run away but in a flash, he appeared before and slamd the door shut.
With only my pure physical strength available as I was alone in that room with him, I couldn't help but feel fear as if I was a trapped bunny and he was an angered wolf.
Physically he towered over and he looked like he could carry two of with ease.
On his own, he quickly deduced that I was the one who stalked him and released the article revealing his secrets.
Wait, no. Not stalking him. I didn't stalk him. I just — investigated him.
Yeah, that's right. Investigation.
Fear isn't sothing that can dictate my moves. I fear getting caught all the ti but I always keep it pushing.
But in that room, I did fear Bell Agnus and what he might do to in a fit of anger.
That was partially why I agreed to the blood oath that I myself proposed to him.
A lot was sacrificed, and I an a lot, but in the end, keeping my secret identity a secret was the most important thing and I was able to accomplish that.
Anyway, I'm getting out of track.
It's currently afternoon, the sun is about to hit the horizon soon.
I heard from my club mber that a certain baron was secretly a bloodsucking monster wearing the skin of a human who covers up his evil deeds by pretending to be a saint and donating to charity.
If it was from a few months ago, I wouldn't have even considered investigating such an outlandish rumor because of two things.
Firstly, as it doesn't involve the academy, it doesn't involve .
That was the rule that I lived by.
Secondly, the rumor is so farfetched that the likelihood of it being true is abysmally small.
But present-day , I can believe in this rumor to a certain degree because I personally know of a bloodsucking student whose identity I'm oathed to not leak to the public.
And although it doesn't involve the academy, I've been thinking about branching out anyway since the biggest scoop of news at the academy I've ever had spilled out of my palms like a slimy fish.
Gabriel Webmour, son of deceased Grayson Webmour, is the na of the baron I'm investigating.
When I asked my precious club mber where they heard about this rumor and if it had any credibility behind it, they shared a few downloaded articles with .
The articles were obscure as they were written by small publishing companies and independent bloggers writing for fun but they mostly referenced police reports made by forr employees of the Webmour's household.
Obscure articles and yet, they were deleted from the internet as if soone is trying to hide sothing.
These articles claid that Baron Gabriel was an evil person and that he ate flesh and drank blood.
Eating flesh had slightly perplexed since vampires didn't consu flesh but I just tossed it up to the forr employees being so terrified that they exaggerated their stories.
"Baron Gabriel," I muttered to myself as I entered a tavern a couple of miles away from his territory.
Before I use my invisibility to stalk the inside of the baron's ho, I thought it'd be smarter for to investigate elsewhere and see if the rumors are indeed credible or if they were just fabricated lies that were wasting my ti.
"Rare to see a young lady like you in this sort of place," comnted the waitress who looked overly friendly.
She plucked the pen from her ear and asked, "What would you like to order?"
I looked down at the nu in my hands and I wasn't familiar with anything on it. "What would you recomnd?"
"Starting off with drinks, since Christmas is around the corner, most people around themselves eggnogs. But clearly, you're underage," she chuckled, "so how about this?"
Pointing down to a drink on the nu, I read the na, and after reading the ingredients, I nodded my head in agreent.
Then she asked what I wanted to eat and like before, I told her to just give her recomndation.
"Okay. I'll be back with your drink then your food," she said.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Now alone, I began listening to my surroundings.
Naturally over the years as I'd spent most of my ti eavesdropping on others' important private conversations, my ears had honed themselves to listen to everything while simultaneously separating the conversations in a manner where I was able to understand and digest everything in a single sitting.
'Nothing there. Nope. Definitely not there. Who cares about your interest in a woman's buttocks? That's an interesting convo but... not exactly what I'm looking for.'
People were just conversation about the usual topics. Nothing too important.
'The baron?' my ears focused in on a group of two who had ntioned the person I was investigating.
Listening in a little longer, I shook my head. 'Not what I was hoping to hear,' I sighed.
They were just discussing how the baron looked extrely similar to his father and his grandfather.
'Obviously, they would look alike,' I rolled my eyes. 'It's called genetics.'
When the waitress arrived with the drink she recomnd to , I took a quick sip to find that it was rather tasty.
"That's quite good," I said as I handed her a banknote.
She looked down at the banknote in her hand and then at . "What's this for?" she asked.
"It's a tip. In exchange for information," I answered her.
Looking around the room to see if they were desperately in need of her help, she then sat down, taking a seat beside .
"That's not what a tip is," she giggled. "I'll bite though."
She then proceeded to stuff the banknote in between her bosom.
I was a little flabbergasted but seeing that she had no pockets in the uniform skirt that she was wearing, I ignored what she had just done.
I explained to her in a quiet voice, "I'm not exactly from around here. I ca on a little trip because I heard... certain rumors about the baron. Not good ones."
The waitress glared at with these eyes that almost lit up.
"I was wondering if these rumors were true... or if they were just a load of nonsense."
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