The awe and astonishment in the woman’s eyes as she looked at him made Kennel unable to hide his excitement.
How badly had he wanted to boast about his achievements all this time?
Watching the woman react to each thing he said was more thrilling than seeing the fear-filled gazes the dying animals gave him.
Did it not truly make him feel as though he had become someone remarkable?
Kennel laid out everything he had done, one by one, as if bragging—from the method he used to dispose of the bodies to the places where he had hidden them.
“And so, at the end......”
“You know.”
“Yes?”
“I think that’s enough now.”
“......?”
Kennel, who had been chattering excitedly for quite a while, failed to notice it.
The woman’s expression was growing more and more indifferent.
“My stomach is a little weaker than I thought. I don’t think I can listen to any more.”
“What do you......?”
“I said that’s enough, so shut up.”
Only after hearing the woman’s voice, filled with coldness, did Kennel finally sense that something was strange.
What is this?
...That expression?
The awe and interest that had filled her face until moments ago had vanished without a trace, and now the woman’s face was openly stained with contempt.
“What are you saying right now......?”
“I said I understand perfectly well that you’re insane, so you can stop talking now. I can’t listen to any more.”
The woman clicked her tongue lightly and unfastened the bracelet around her wrist.
FWOOSH.
Then her appearance changed in an instant.
Her black hair became pink bronze, and her black eyes turned red. The shape of her face also changed.
“Y-you are......!”
Kennel’s mouth fell open when he saw the woman’s transformed face.
Because it was a face he knew. Was there anyone in the academy who did not know that person?
Lady Sorpel!
Camilla Sorpel.
It was her.
“You... what are you?”
Kennel’s eyes shook without pause as he clenched his fists. He simply could not believe it.
Why was that woman here? No, why had she approached him?
No way.......
Everything she had shown him until now was fake? Did that mean he had been tricked?
No, that was real!
The expression she had worn when she first looked at him, that gaze! It had definitely been the face of someone who had committed murder!
Kennel whipped his head from side to side. That had been a lie? Impossible!
When it’s not a lie, that’s what people call premium acting, kid.
Camilla kept clicking her tongue inwardly, fully able to guess what was confusing Kennel so badly.
I happen to be good at playing one hell of a psychopath.
I was the one who once shocked people with a psychopath performance.
It had been a work she appeared in as a cameo at the request of a director she knew. It was an investigative drama, and the role Isia had played was that of a nurse working at a children’s hospital.
A psychopath who worked at the hospital and drove children to their deaths.
She had only appeared for two episodes, but the buzz had been enormous. Enough that she had received what could hardly be called praise—people calling her a true psychopath—for a long time afterward.
Perhaps one could say the emotions and acting from back then had helped this time.
“Hey, psycho.”
“Psycho?”
“Why? Don’t like hearing it?”
Looking at Kennel’s face crumple violently, Camilla threw him a sneer. Strangely enough, the lunatics themselves hated being called crazy the most.
“Don’t you dare turn yourself in.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you not to think about confessing so you can get a reduced punishment.”
“Ha!”
Kennel burst into an incredulous laugh.
“What am I supposed to turn myself in for?”
Kennel tilted his head with an innocent face, as though he had no idea what she was talking about.
“What I was just babbling about a moment ago?”
He let out a small laugh and kept clicking his tongue as if he found her pitiful.
“I’m actually very good at crying in front of other people. If I cry and say you’re framing me, probably no one will believe a word you......!”
“Are you stupid?”
“What?”
“They said you were smart, but you’re just a moron.”
“What do you......?”
Camilla gave a faint laugh and removed the brooch attached to her chest, showing it to him.
“Did you think I went through all the trouble of changing my appearance and approaching you for no reason? Shouldn’t you have expected I’d at least have a video stone on me?”
“...A video stone?”
No way......!
Kennel’s face turned white in an instant.
Was she saying that brooch was a video stone?
“Everything I said is in there.......”
“Mm-hm.”
“...Big sis.”
Kennel’s voice and expression changed again in an instant. As if he might burst into tears at any moment.
“Everything I just said was a lie. I was just playing along because I thought it would be fun with what you were saying, big sis.......”
His voice was terribly pitiful too. To be honest, watching that, Camilla was inwardly impressed.
You have talent for acting. Of course, the problem is that it doesn’t work on me.
“What about the bodies you hid? Were those lies too? I’m going to take people and go find those bodies right now.”
“.......”
Kennel could say nothing more.
The brooch Camilla was holding bothered him terribly.
If only he got rid of that......
No.
If only that woman disappeared......
Killing intent gradually spread through Kennel’s eyes.
He quickly pulled the small knife he always carried from his pocket and charged at Camilla.
“Ha.”
Seeing that, Camilla instead gave a hollow laugh.
Is this your last struggle?
Or... are you looking down on me because I’m a woman right now?
This bastard must not have heard the rumors about me.
I’m pretty good with a sword.
Do you know how many people around me have mastered the sword? Even without Xeno entering my body, I can handle one of you by myself now.
And as for this bracelet, I could use it to hang you from that tree right this—
THUD!
...Huh?
“Guh... ack!”
Camilla, who had been preparing for Kennel’s attack with the bracelet, paused.
Because Kennel had flown all the way into the corner with the same momentum he had been charging with and crashed there.
“Hey, psycho. Who do you think you’re attacking right now?”
“Ghh... ugh!”
Press. Press!
The person stepping on Kennel’s fallen face, grinding down with an indifferent tone.
“Arsian?”
Camilla called his name, full of surprise.
Chapter. Graduation
“Camilla.”
“Hehe.”
“.......”
“.......”
...All right. I won’t smile.
Camilla, who had been trying somehow to get through this situation at the Duke of Sorpel’s call, ultimately had no choice but to lower her head.
As expected, when my father is angry, even a smiling face is useless.
Still, he isn’t making me hold my hands up like last time.
Was that at least fortunate?
By the way.......
...How did he find out?
While carrying out this matter, Camilla had moved with what she considered caution, worried she might get caught and scolded like she had during the Professor Jaybi incident.
Why do you think I didn’t use Luve’s help!
Luve, the butler and the head of Black Shadow. If she had received his help, she would have been able to shake out Kennel’s information very easily.
But the moment she told him, it was obvious a report would go straight to the Duke of Sorpel.
That’s why I only received help from ghosts and divine beasts.
The ghosts could not tattle to Father anyway.
The divine beasts were not the sort to run their mouths carelessly to other people either.
They visit me at the drop of a hat these days, so there was no reason I’d be caught.
Ever since the incident where the divine beasts had run away from home, Jeti and Luna had sometimes come to see her by themselves, without the dukes.
This time as well, even if people saw them gone for a long while, everyone probably just thought, They must have gone to House Sorpel to play again, and let it pass.
It would have been perfectly over if I’d handed the video stone to the guard and handed over only the bodies that bastard hid.
Ravi had upgraded the bracelet by adding magic that changed her appearance.
That had been the key tool in this matter.
If I approached him with my original face, that bastard would never open his mouth.
First, to make Kennel open his mouth, an item that changed her appearance was absolutely necessary.
And one more thing, as a bonus.
If her face changed, then she could hide the fact that she had gotten involved in this case too. How perfect was that?
Of course.......
That damn main-character disease was the problem.
Camilla scratched her cheek. She should have hidden her identity until the end, but in the end, that habit of a protagonist who reveals her identity at the last moment to make the villain panic had popped out.
Seeing Kennel proudly rattle on about murdering a child as if he had become some kind of god had turned Camilla’s stomach, and before she knew it, she had ostentatiously removed the bracelet.
Still, when I dragged that bastard to the guard, I had the bracelet back on properly.
Kennel, that bastard, had not said much about her identity even after they went to the guard.
Because he knew very well that testimony from someone with the status of a ducal lady would be even more disadvantageous to him. Rather, hiding his opponent’s status would have been better for him.
And yet......
When she left the guard building, someone far too familiar was standing in front of it.
Standing there with his radiant silver hair flowing and his expression somewhat stiff was Brother Ludville.
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