Leopold, having read the dorm supervisor's expression, spoke.
“Sir, the royal family is always rooting for the Royal Academy to thrive. We put a great deal of effort into maintaining professors and students of the highest quality. The same goes for criminals.”
Teron looked at Leopold. He seemed tired, yet remarkably composed.
“So I believe it's only right that the royal family take responsibility for this unfortunate incident. As the First Prince of Deluah, I would like to bear the weight of this responsibility and see the matter to its conclusion. Would that be acceptable?”
The supervisor let out a sigh of relief. What this meant was that if the affair were kept quiet, the First Prince would handle it himself.
“Then there's no need to summon the guard, Your Highness?”
“No. Though I'd ask you to reinforce the Academy's security. And please see that everything is kept strictly confidential.”
“As you command.”
“Then send word at once to my escort knight, Sir Aim, so that he departs for the palace with the assassin before sunrise. Until then, I'll keep this man with me.”
“That won't do, Your Highness...! I cannot leave a student together with a criminal, it's far too dangerous-”
“Sir, I am not merely a student. I am a prince of Deluah. No harm will come to you because of this.”
It was an order. The supervisor was only a baronet who had once been granted a knighthood, so he had no choice but to do as he was told.
It would be at least a few hours before someone from the royal family arrived. Once the supervisor had gone, Leopold locked up the room and coaxed Lloyd.
“Pull yourself together, Lloyd. The Acker name has appearances to keep. It won't do to be this out of your mind.”
“...Why did they try to kill me?”
“May I speak honestly?”
“Tell me.”
“Reason it through, and there's no one it could be but the people of your own house.”
“...No. That's absurd. Father acknowledges me as the heir. What fool would go against that? And I'm not even on bad terms with my brothers.”
Teron gripped the fallen masked man by the hair and watched the two of them in silence.
Lloyd's hands were trembling faintly. It struck Teron anew that the boy was only sixteen.
“Teron. What do you think?”
The sudden question came while he was lost in thought. Teron snapped back to himself, blinked, and answered.
“How would I know?”
“Why so cold? I'll still share the truth with you once it comes to light.”
Leopold replied without the slightest fluster.
He looked at the bloodied, unconscious assassin, then at Teron holding the man by the hair, and added in a teasing tone.
“You're the one who knocked him out. Without you, Lloyd would be dead.”
“...”
“House Acker is close enough to the royal family to be called cousins. You've as good as saved a friend of our house. I'll be sure to repay this debt, so don't you worry.”
Leopold clapped Lloyd on the back.
“Isn't that right, Lloyd?”
He stared blankly at the unconscious assassin, then asked in a small voice.
“Why did he keep that thing alive?”
Four eyes turned toward Teron at once.
Teron answered in an irritated voice.
“Should I have killed him, then?”
“What are you talking about?”
Useless bastard. Teron cursed Lloyd inwardly. When he stayed silent, Lloyd spoke.
“He even used a healing potion to keep that thing alive.”
“...Really?”
When no answer came back, Leopold gave one of those maddening smiles.
Leopold approached Teron and crouched down in front of the assassin.
“Teron, I'll keep watch, so get some rest. He's already out cold. Do you really need to keep holding onto him?”
“...”
“Tired? Want to sleep? Then should I just have this man sent somewhere else entirely? I was going to hold out here just in case, but I thought you might not like that.”
Teron obediently did as he was told. He threw the assassin down onto the dormitory floor and slumped down beside him.
Leopold, too, settled himself comfortably on the dorm floor and gave the fallen assassin a few pokes.
“Completely out. So this is how Lloyd got taken down by Teron last time.”
“Leo, how can you say such a thing...! You didn't even punish him for the crime he committed then-”
“Lloyd, are you going to keep talking like that? Teron saved you. You're not unaware of that fact, surely.”
“...”
Lloyd cast his eyes down. It was the first time he'd ever looked so cowed.
“And of course it's better to keep this man alive. We have to find out who it is that's trying to kill you.”
It was an obvious point. To investigate, you need the culprit. That the eldest son of House Acker hadn't even thought of that. Lloyd bit down on his lip.
“Teron, did you use a healing potion?”
The two sitting on the dorm floor met each other's eyes.
The moonlight lit the room brightly, so their faces were clearly visible to one another. Teron nodded.
“Where would you even get something that precious?”
“That's none of your concern.”
“I'll buy you a new one. That's fine, isn't it?”
“...Even if I said no- do as you please.”
Leopold snorted a laugh and looked around.
Entering another person's dorm room was against the school rules to begin with, so this was practically the first time he'd set foot in theirs.
The space Teron used had several books sprawled open in disarray. On the wall hung the robe he wore whenever they met outside, and several daggers lay scattered across the floor.
He tilted his head.
“That's not your blade, is it?”
“The assassin threw them.”
“So he used daggers. From how valuable the material looks, he must have been quite the professional.”
“He was strong. Whoever tried to kill the young lord is probably raising a toast right now, certain of his death.”
“Lloyd, you heard that? You need to think it over. If my guess is right, keep your wits about you. When the break comes, go back to the estate and settle the matter for good.”
“...Don't talk nonsense, Leo.”
But Lloyd looked deeply tormented. He covered his face with his hands.
After that, silence fell. Teron sat where he was, staring blankly into his thoughts, until at last he drifted off to sleep.
When he opened his eyes, several knights in armor bearing the palace crest had stormed into the room and were hauling the assassin up.
Leopold seemed to have stayed up all night. The smile on his face carried a faint trace of exhaustion.
“Thank you for staying with me. Today's a holiday, so rest well.”
Once Leopold left, Teron crawled to the bed and collapsed face-down onto it.
Lloyd stared fixedly at Teron, then jerked his head away.
Teron prayed.
Please, let Leopold's guess have been right. Let it have nothing at all to do with black magic. Let it have been that, even in my past life, I simply hadn't known.
Then a voice came.
“How much is that healing potion?”
It was Lloyd. Thinking he was just looking to pick another fight, Teron didn't answer, and a cracked voice came again.
“I asked how much.”
“That's none of your concern, young lord.”
“...”
Lloyd said nothing more. Teron closed his eyes.
Just as he was slowly sinking into sleep, the irritating presence disturbed him yet again.
“If it'd been me, I wouldn't have helped.”
“Shut your mouth, would you. You're loud.”
“I'm saying I'd have been glad if you'd died. I wouldn't have helped you, wouldn't have tried to save you.”
So what. Teron covered his ears.
“Shut up, Lloyd Acker.”
“...Did you even understand what I said? I'm telling you I wish you were dead!”
Teron let out a dumbfounded breath of air.
“I'm well aware.”
“You are?”
“How could I not be? So keep quiet and leave me alone. I want to sleep.”
“Then why did you save me?”
Teron pressed the pillow over his ears. Thankfully Lloyd fell quiet and said nothing more.
Birds chirped. Wherever the full moon that had been flaunting itself earlier had gone, now there was only the blue sky and clear clouds.
It was a weary holiday morning.
Thwack-!
In the underground dungeon, a shackled man gasped, coughing up blood.
“Still no intention of talking?”
A groan spilled from the man's torn and split lips. The groan soon turned into a confession.
“Ivan, it was Young Master Ivan! That's exactly what he said, urgh!”
The knight administering the torture in the dungeon turned his head.
Beside him, a boy with dark brown eyes stood with his fists clenched. Inwardly, the knight mourned for him.
A brother. Not even a half-brother, but a younger brother born from the very same mother, who had tried to kill him. How shocking must that news be?
The brown-haired boy with the gentle features was the friend of Aim's liege, the prince. They'd been inseparable since childhood, so it had been more than ten years since he'd first seen the boy's face.
Today, the two who should have been at the Academy had made their way to the palace on a precious holiday. And the prince had even gone off somewhere, saying he had things to attend to, leaving only Lloyd van Acker to remain with him the whole time in the dungeon's torture chamber.
If I'd known it would be like this, I'd never have let the young master in.
Aim regretted it. From the glances he stole to the side, the boy looked thoroughly shaken, which soured his mood all the more.
