Back in the carriage back to the Academy, Yuri was at a loss, and all the strength drained from his body.
"Aslan Vermont wasn't the Dark Man...?"
The pink envelope that Yulia had seen.
Of course, it was something I had sent to the Dark Man.
Of course, I had come here with the conviction that Aslan Vermont was the Dark Man.
Yuri's thoughts stopped when he found another pink envelope stuck in the mailbox.
It wasn't the letter I had sent.
Someone else, other than me, was sending a letter in a pink envelope to the Vermont mansion.
In other words, the envelope Yulia had found might not have been sent by me.
"Let's calm down a little... It hasn't been proven yet that I'm not Aslan Vermont..."
Yuri took a deep breath as «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» calmly as possible, trying to calm his agitation. The trap to find the black man went astray.
That was only because they failed to get confirmation that Aslan Vermont was the black man.
There was no evidence that Aslan was not the black man.
So there was still a possibility that the two were the same person···.
As expected, they didn't use something as shallow as the color of the envelope.
Next time, they would definitely find irrefutable evidence that could never be avoided.
Yuri clenched his fists and made that determination, but
at some point, 'finding the black man' had changed into 'revealing that Aslan Vermont was the black man.'
.
.
.
'It was the perfect opportunity to reveal my identity···.'
The plan was completely revised.
Originally, they had planned to fall for Yuri's envelope operation and reveal their identity. Irene's inadvertent interference at the perfect time led to failure.
In the end, I ended up having to find another way to get Yuri to find out about my identity.
'I can't just wait for Yuri to set another trap. Now, I have to be more proactive and get caught.'
Maybe Yuri has completely stopped suspecting me of being the Dark Man after this incident.
Now, I can exclude myself from the investigation and go around setting traps for other random people to confirm whether I'm the Dark Man.
So now, it's my turn to step forward and get caught.
However, it's not easy to get caught in Yuri's trap, but to show it myself.
If I make even the slightest mistake, it'll be revealed that I got caught on purpose, and I'll be embarrassed.
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I need a sophisticated and perfect plan.
"There's a small church in downtown Vermont for the coming-of-age ceremony. I'll have to do it there." "Isn't that place too small? Didn't you say you were going to invite a lot of people and hold it like a small festival?"
"That's what I originally planned to do... But I changed my mind. I'm going to drastically reduce the number of guests and scale. If I hold it too grandly, Yuri will feel burdened."
"Hmm... I think there's something else going on."
"... No way."
Sylvia glared at me with a suspicious look.
Indeed. The Sword Master's intuition was correct.
Originally, he had planned to gather a hundred guests for Yuri's coming-of-age ceremony.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
And it was a meaningful event that marked Yuri's rise to adulthood.
It would be nice to celebrate his birthday in a small way every year, but he couldn't just carelessly celebrate his coming-of-age ceremony, so he planned to make it as large as possible.
Thinking about it, he realized that if he did that, it would be difficult for Yuri to find the dark old man, which would be a big problem.
'I've already told Yuri that the Dark Man will be attending the coming-of-age ceremony. If there are too many guests, there will be more people who will suspect the Dark Man. I have to reduce the number of candidates as much as possible.'
In short, it's to make Yuri's deduction as easy as possible.
Yuri has already seen the Dark Man's back, so she should have a rough idea of his height and build.
But what if I'm the only person with that height and build at the coming-of-age ceremony?
Then Yuri will have no choice but to be convinced that I'm the Dark Man.
It was a perfect plan.
"Then I'll ask the church for their cooperation."
"Wait. I have to make a few more requests to the church."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"The coming-of-age ceremony will be conducted only by female priests. If there aren't enough people, the male priests must be shorter than me. Make sure to request these two things."
"···."
Of course, it was to reduce the number of people who met the Dark Man's physical requirements as much as possible.
"···What on earth is that request for?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"I don't know exactly what it is···. I feel an extremely ugly and sinister aura coming from the lord, so I think it might be better not to know."
"···."
[The evil spirit, 'Kali', is proud that our escort knights are wise.]
This guy···.
Just because he became a sword master, he's creating an aura that he can't feel?
I felt very annoyed, but since I didn't have any excuses to cut his salary, I decided to just let it go.
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'This time, I'll definitely get caught···!'
As naturally as possible.
Pretending it wasn't intentional.
To get caught pretending it was a mistake.
I decided to risk my life for this coming-of-age ceremony.
***
'It feels like it's been a really long time since I've been to a church···.'
Yuri stood in front of the small church and chewed her lips. It wasn't a place with such good memories.
The orphanage we were in was definitely receiving support from the church, but even so, we had to go through some very difficult times...
"Ah. There's an orphanage here too."
At that moment, Yuri found children running around in the yard.
They looked like they had eaten well and washed well, had clean clothes, and had lively personalities.
Even when the children teased nuns and priests passing by, they all smiled and treated them kindly.
Watching them, Yuri smiled happily.
'There's no more orphanages like the one we were in.'
Aslan Vermont personally advised the Emperor to close all orphanages that were corrupt.
It seems that all the remaining orphanages are run with such sincerity.
There won't be any more victims like us...
Yuri smiled and stepped inside.
The ceremony that was being held today.
It was the turn of the main character of the coming-of-age ceremony to enter.
'Okay. Now let's focus on finding the dark old man.'
There should be a lot of people inside by now.
One of them is the dark old man.
I have the old man's back completely engraved in my head, so there's no way I wouldn't recognize him!
The moment Yuri opened the door with determination.
"It's a little late. Hurry up and come out."
"Oh? Huh? Yes, yes···."
Yuri stuttered in confusion at the sight that was much more desolate than she had expected.
Wait a minute. The attendees were Charlotte, Julia, and the instructor.
And the princess, Lilia, and Irene Vermont.
Is that all?
Really? The end?
Even though I rubbed my eyes and opened them again, the people I could see now were all there were.
No matter how hard I searched, the tall man with a sturdy back that I had seen back then was not here.
'Oh? No way···?'
No. There was one.
Yuri's gaze turned straight ahead.
He met Aslan's eyes, who was standing with his back to the ground.
Now that I think about it, he's about the same height as the dark old man.
His build seems similar, too.
For now, all the conditions fit.
So is Aslan Vermont really···?
'Really? Aslan Vermont was the dark old man? Then he said he'd attend the coming-of-age ceremony, but didn't invite anyone who looked similar to him? Is this just because he wanted to find out who I am and went crazy···?'
Suddenly, as I thought about that, I became more suspicious.
If Aslan Vermont really was the dark old man, this would be too easy.
It's so obvious.
It's as if he was so desperate to find out that he deliberately fed me the evidence.
Could the dark old man really be that ugly and sly? Maybe the dark old man couldn't attend today because of some circumstances?
Such doubts began to grow on him.
'I can't do this anymore because I'm so frustrated...'
Clink.
Yuri stepped forward, gritting his teeth.
This was boring, and my head hurt.
I wanted to stop trying to figure things out.
"Now let's proceed with the coming-of-age ceremony."
"Wait a minute. I have something to say."
"···?"
Yuri looked up at Aslan and faced him.
He let out a small sigh and parted his lips.
"Dark old man."
"···!?"
Aslan's eyes trembled.
That alone was enough to give him the answer.
Yuri let out a snicker and turned around to face the guests.
"I know you're here. I don't know who you are, but... I still have something I want to tell you."
"···."
"I love you. Please marry me. ··· When I'm all grown up."
"···!?"
In an instant, the crowd was in an uproar.
It got hot.