Chapter 166

The investigation continued. But no matter how thoroughly the police searched the academy, they couldn’t find anything.

Students don’t even carry guns around in the first place. The academy teaches weapons that are good for loading mana or ki, like swords, spears, and other arms. Teaching gun-sword techniques is the army’s job.

The only place they found a gun was in history teacher Isaac’s room, but it turned out to be just a hunting rifle, unrelated to the air rifle used to kill Veronica.

However, there were two individuals who had their suspicions about who the murderer might be.

“Ho ho, this is entertaining. Nicely done, Oscar. A mysterious murder in the middle of the night? Maybe I should try something like that next time… though if I do it too often, I might catch the Archangels’ attention.”

The first was Satan, the Great Demon Lord, amusing himself at the academy.

“You crazy bastard Joker! Even if you’re insane, pulling off a murder right in the middle of the academy!? Shit…! Knowing the culprit and not being able to stop them…”

The other was Frey Dr. Siegfried, the hero from another life.

Frey’s hands trembled with anger. She wanted nothing more than to rush forward and swing her sword at Evans.

Of course, that wouldn’t work. So Frey stayed still. It wasn’t solely for that reason, though.

If Frey, as the hero, accused Evans, she could probably have him arrested. But that shouldn’t happen.

Evans needs to stay at the academy. He needs to live alongside Maria and be reformed here.

Only then can the world after defeating Canos have a chance at light.

“Shit, shit! Such a waste of a life!”

Crunch.

Bitter blood flowed from her bitten tongue.

To prevent greater calamities, having to stand by and watch smaller sacrifices… How agonizing.

Frey wondered what choice Maria would’ve made if she’d been in the same situation.

This had happened before in her past life.

When the Kingdom’s Tank Corps got surrounded deep within the Demon King’s Army. Logically, they should’ve been abandoned. Despite being the hero, Frey chose to leave them behind to avoid greater losses.

But Maria didn’t. Entering alone into the Demon King’s Army, she performed an almost legendary feat and successfully rescued the Tank Corps.

What Frey felt back then was awe, reverence, trust.

She had tried to mask it as ugly jealousy when tricking Joker in Tartarus before.

***

A murder occurred at the academy.

It was the most shocking event Maria had ever experienced in her 18 years of life.

Maria, a girl who had barely even seen injuries, let alone death, was suddenly confronted with death and a corpse. Though it wasn’t someone she knew personally, her mind quickly went blank.

“Huuh… What, what happened…?”

Instinctively, Maria leaned on the person beside her. Her legs had gone limp.

Her hand touched someone’s shoulder.

“Saintess.”

The person standing beside her quietly called out to Maria.

“H-His Majesty the Princess…?”

The identity of the person was Princess Albrecht of the Empire. They had been roommates who came out together after hearing the commotion.

Maria realized she had committed an impoliteness. As she hurried to remove her hand—

“Just a moment, there’s something I need to clarify.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Don’t feel wronged. This is on you.”

Thud.

Albrecht’s pale hand grabbed Maria’s wrist. Maria’s mind filled with question marks.

“What do you mean, ‘this is on me’? Me?”

“Yes, you. Saintess Maria. Don’t worry, I won’t report you without knowing the full story. But I do need an explanation.”

“E-Explanation? Did I do something wrong?”

“…Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to?”

As Albrecht prepared to press further, she glanced around at the surrounding students.

Albrecht then pulled Maria along briskly toward a bench in the academy park. Once seated, she quietly asked:

“Where were you last night?”

“Where was I…? I fell asleep reading a book beside Your Highness, didn’t I?”

“Hmm? Some trickery, huh. You did go outside through the window last night, didn’t you? Even if I don’t usually pay attention to you, I can’t overlook a murder case.”

“M-Me? Go outside? Jumping out the window?”

The revelation shocked Maria so much her mouth dropped open.

Watching her reaction, Albrecht began to doubt whether this girl was sane. Dark circles under her golden eyes deepened with suspicion.

“Your acting skills are impressive. But didn’t you leave the dormitory every night? Even with my permission, are you going to deny it now?”

“B-But that’s impossible! My notebook clearly says I just read books and slept in the dormitory… What… What is happening? Am I developing a new personality…?”

“…?”

At that, Albrecht sensed something was seriously off. She asked:

“Personality? Are you trying to say you have dissociative identity disorder?”

“Eek…! W-Wait…!”

Maria tried to wave her hands in denial. But now that she’d been caught, hiding everything wasn’t the best option, especially with the princess who shared her days and nights.

“Actually… Y-Yes, I do have dissociative identity disorder…”

Maria confessed while bowing her head deeply.

Albrecht wasn’t particularly surprised. Instead, she nodded thoughtfully.

“Dissociative identity disorder… So there’s a nighttime personality and a daytime one?”

“Yes…”

“The personalities switch regularly, around 8 AM and 8 PM, right?”

“H-How did you…? Did you know all along?”

“I just figured it out. When you suddenly pause at exactly 8 o’clock and the atmosphere changes around you, anyone but the most oblivious would notice.”

“Gulp…”

With each precise detail, Maria was amazed by Albrecht’s memory and reasoning ability.

“You always wrote something in your notebook before 8 PM. Afterward, you’d go somewhere outside through the window. I didn’t care much until now, but since it involves a murder, things are different.”

“Are you saying… that maybe my nighttime self committed the murder? No way! Why would I…!”

“Well, I don’t know. But look at the circumstances. No one else in the academy except the guards has been wandering around. Only you went out. The air rifle could’ve been hidden anywhere.”

“Gulp…”

“Even if you didn’t commit the murder directly, you might’ve seen or heard something. Moving a body from the dormitory to the main building wall would’ve drawn too much attention.”

Logical arguments left Maria unable to refute.

Besides, there was no real reason to refute. She didn’t know what her nighttime self did at all, relying only on what was written in her communication notebook.

“Could it be… my nighttime self really…?”

“Jumping to conclusions is premature. Regardless of recent events, we haven’t found any air rifles on you. Also, when you returned, there was no smell of blood on you.”

“W-What time did I return?”

“You left at 8 PM and returned sometime after 7 AM. That’s roughly 11 hours spent outside. I received your apologies, though it seems you didn’t report it to yourself.”

“Ugh… I had no idea…”

Though she never conversed with her nighttime personality, Maria had some vague understanding of her character. Since childhood, observers had praised her: “Maria reads quietly at night. What a well-behaved child.” Thus, Maria assumed her nighttime self was calm and intellectual.

That made the current situation even more shocking.

Even if her nighttime self had nothing to do with the academy murder, simply going out without telling her anything felt like betrayal. Maria had always reported everything about her life to her nighttime counterpart.

“Why… why is she doing this…? Did she do something she’s ashamed of…?”

“Your Highness, may I ask one favor? You’re the only one who knows about my dissociative identity disorder…”

Maria cautiously spoke up.

Princess Albrecht exuded the authority of someone accustomed to commanding others. Asking her for a favor wasn’t easy.

“What is it?”

“C-Could you… keep an eye on where my nighttime self goes?”

It was an extremely cautious request.

“Very well.”

For some reason, Albrecht readily agreed.

“R-Really?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t? I was curious myself, so I’ll check it out this time.”

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