Chapter 3: The Killer’s First Deed?!

“Th-this is all your fault anyway! I wrote you so many times asking to see you, but you kept refusing! I even wrote to you at school!”

“Leave.”

“A-and besides, what happened with that girl wasn’t my fault! She’s the one who didn’t tell me her name sooner! If I’d known she was a Sylvie, I would’ve—”

“Leave.”

Ticky kept piling on excuses as Gilbert refused to listen. Apparently, the reason the teacher had summoned Gilbert at the academy the other day had something to do with Ticky.

“H-hey, Gil. Why don’t you give him a fair shot and listen to what he has to say?” Cecilia suggested, feeling a little sorry for the noble and sending him a lifeline.

He eagerly lapped it up. “See! Even she agrees!”

Gilbert turned back to her. “Please stay out of this and focus on getting treated. It’s all right. I’ll have him removed from here very soon.”

“Hey!”

“As I’ve been saying: leave,” Gilbert demanded flatly. He wasn’t budging one bit. He was in an extremely bad mood.

“I just wanna ask you to work with me!”

“And how many times have I told you that I’m not interested?” Gilbert spat back. Evidently, this was some House Coulson family dispute.

Upon asking for details, it turned out that as the second son, Ticky’s position in House Coulson was precarious. As the spare for the heir, his older brother Nichol, he had been very carefully raised to adulthood. However, their father’s health was failing, and soon Nichol would inherit the estate—and Ticky, no longer needed, would be kicked out.

Ticky dreaded the idea of becoming a commoner, so he’d hatched a plan to knock his older brother down a peg. That was what he wanted Gilbert’s assistance for.

“I know you have info that I can use against Nichol!”

“Of course I don’t. Where would I have even gotten information like that?” Gilbert retorted. Incredulity blended with the suspicion on his face. He looked utterly harangued and sick of it.

“I mean, you resent all of us, don’t you? So—”

“So you think I’ve been gathering info to do something to House Coulson? Ridiculous,” he interjected dismissively.

“Come on!” Ticky protested, gawking at him.

“Let me tell you one thing. I don’t care one iota about any of you anymore. I also have no desire to involve myself in your business. Whatever you’ve heard is a total fabrication. So please, rest assured I cannot help you. Get out.”

“Heeey!”

“If you won’t leave on your own, you’ll be escorted away,” Gilbert revealed coldly. Just then, the door burst open without so much as a knock.

Oscar, who’d been standing by the entrance, jumped aside. “What in the—?”

“Hey! Have any of you seen Lean?” shouted Huey as he barged into the room.

Cecilia reacted first. “What? Lean?”

“She—she said she was going to her room to get something she forgot, but it’s been half an hour, and she still isn’t back! Do you know where she went?!”

Just then, two words scrolled across Cecilia’s mind: the Killer.

Everyone stepped out of the cottage into a scene of absolute chaos. Mordred had also come back with his guards, either because he’d heard what happened or because he’d finished investigating.

“So? Gil and the others don’t know anything?” asked Jade once he saw Huey come back outside.

“No,” Huey responded bitterly, shaking his head.

“There was just that kidnapping. This is so worrisome,” added Mordred.

“Do you know anywhere she might’ve gone?” Dante asked with concern.

“No idea. I watched her go inside the cottage… But…”

Cecilia glanced at the servants. “You’ve searched inside her room, haven’t you?”

“Yes, madam.”

“And you found nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Out of the…ordinary?” answered a maid, exchanging glances with the others. “Yes, let’s see… I’m not sure it counts as out of the ordinary, but the window was open.”

“It was?”

“Yes. And I’m certain it was closed when I made the rounds earlier…”

Cecilia circled around to the back of the house. She looked up and confirmed that the window in their room was open, curtains fluttering in the breeze.

I know I shut it before we left…

“Wait—”

She slid her gaze over to the woods, right toward where she’d bumped into Ticky and Bernard.

“Oh, Oscar!” she shouted.

“Wh-what?” he replied, flinching at the sudden call.

“When you came to get me, did you run into any guards?”

“Yeah.”

“How many?”

“Just the one who was watching over that area.”

“I knew it!” Cecilia cried, running off to find a servant. “Go and get a map of the section behind the cottage.”

“Pardon?”

“Now!”

“Y-yes, madam!”

“What’s going on?” asked Gilbert, approaching Cecilia as she spread out on the desk the map that had been brought over.

“I ran into Ticky and Bernard here,” she told them, pointing to the outermost ring of the concentric circles that made up the security layout. “Gil, if I walked normally from here to this spot, how many guards would I run into?”

“At least one and as many as seven.”

“What are the chances I’d run into just one?”

“It wouldn’t be impossible, but the chances would be pretty low. They’re supposed to be making the rounds of their posted areas. Oh—is that what you’re getting at?”

She appreciated how quickly he got it. A frown came over his face. “Let me go look,” he said and left the room.

“So? What did any of that mean?!” cried Jade, who’d been listening in, peering down with utter confusion at the map.

Cecilia continued her explanation. “Both Oscar and I only ran into the guard on the innermost security ring while getting from here to there. It was the same going back. We only encountered a single lookout in the whole zone that goes from behind the cottage to where security ends. Do you think that should be statistically possible?”

“To borrow Gilbert’s phrasing, the chances of that would be pretty low,” Jade agreed, sounding unnerved by the anxious atmosphere.

“A statistically improbable event wouldn’t repeat that often. But including the return trip, altogether we’ve experienced it three times,” she said.

“Once is a coincidence. Twice is a miracle. And thrice is fate…,” Dante murmured, picking up what she was getting at.

“In other words, it’s highly likely that several of your guards have been removed from their posts,” put in Mordred.

“Yes,” concurred Cecilia with a firm nod. When Gilbert had said he’d go and look, he meant that he would search for the missing guards. Dead or unconscious, they must have been somewhere in those woods.

“So that means Lean’s been abducted, doesn’t it? By whom? Where has she been taken?!” Huey demanded.

As Cecilia stared at the diagram, memories of her past life came rushing back. This all had to be somehow related to the Killer.

Some sort of event involving them set in a waterfront or forest…

Cecilia ran her finger across the map. The Killer must have abducted Lean before going in and removing the guards. But the woods were large. There was no way he would just wander through them haphazardly.

Remember, remember, remember! she exhorted herself desperately. The Killer had murdered Lean across countless waterfronts and forests. But among them, there had to be some sort of distinctive place where she would get done in, a location that could only be in this region.

Suddenly, Cecilia slapped the map. “I’ve got it! It’s here!”

“What?”

“Lean is here!” she shouted, pointing to a limestone cave even farther past the spot where she’d run into Ticky and Bernard.

In the game, Lean gets whacked in this cave when the player is unable to enter anyone’s romantic route from the common route and when they lack the necessary affection points for the normal ending.

All of a sudden, she receives a fishy letter requesting she head to a certain location. Thinking nothing of it, she goes to the spot and is abducted. Then she comes to in the cave, whereupon someone slits open her belly and ends her life.

And since the cave where they find her body is located on House Sylvie property, Cecilia becomes the primary suspect, goes to jail, and is executed.

It’s certainly no coincidence that the Killer assassinates Lean in a Sylvie territory grotto. They must have deduced that by murdering Lean there, it would implicate Cecilia as well. That way, another potential Holy Maiden would die without them so much as lifting a finger. It also came with the added benefit of pinning the entirety of the crime on Cecilia.

“Dante!” she cried. He was right next to her, so she tugged on his sleeve. “You’re the fastest runner out of all of us, aren’t you?! Go there right away! We’ll catch up later!”

“Uh.”

“Oh, but be careful, because someone with a knife might be in there!”

“……”

After scrunching up his face reluctantly, he ruffled Cecilia’s hair and responded, “All right.”

For a second, she puzzled over why he was staring at her like a hapless little sister, but before she could ask, he’d taken off.

“Dante, I’m going, too!” shouted Huey, chasing right after him.

“I don’t want anyone holding me up, got it?”

“That won’t be a problem!”

They were both former trained assassins, after all. No one could surpass them in fleetness of foot or wits. They dove into the forest, leaping over boulders and swinging on tree branches. In an instant, they disappeared from sight.

“Jade, you can come a little later. Bring blankets and a first aid kit for when we find her!” commanded Cecilia.

“O-okay!” he replied.

“Dr. Mordred and Oscar, you come with me! Once we find Lean, she might need immediate medical treatment!”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

“Lean!”

When Cecilia reached the cavern, Lean was already cradled in Huey’s arms. She was unconscious, and at her side were cut ropes and a bit of cloth that must have gagged her mouth. Her skin was deathly pale from being abandoned in such a cold place, and her lips were blue.

Mordred, who’d arrived at the same time, ran over to her and began to heal her with his Sacred Artifact at once.

“We need to start by getting her body temperature up,” he reported.

A faint glow enveloped her as color started to return to her skin.

Cecilia leaned in close to him. “How is she, Doctor?! Is she going to be okay?!”

“She doesn’t have any external injuries. As for poison…it doesn’t look like that, either. I think she just passed out,” Mordred answered, conducting a thorough examination.

Cecilia heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh, I’m so glad.”

Huey must have felt the same way because he slumped back in sheer relief. But even then, he still held Lean tight in his arms.

But why…?

Why hadn’t the Killer murdered Lean? If they did away with her there, they might have been able to pin the entire crime on Cecilia…

Then she clapped a hand over her pursed lips.

Oh, but in this world, the Killer doesn’t know I’m a candidate for Holy Maiden.

They had no reason to implicate her in a murder. Additionally, unlike in the game, Cecilia and Lean were good friends, so her death wouldn’t become Cecilia’s fault simply because it happened on Sylvie territory.

So the Killer couldn’t blame it on anyone else and was about to kill Lean here just because…

It was hard to believe the Killer would hesitate to strike down a potential Holy Maiden when they had her right in front of them. At least they never hold back on murdering a candidate in the dating sim. In fact, they generally only postpone an assassination in the hopes of incriminating someone else. And in the game, that’s invariably Cecilia.

So is the Killer also trying to pin it on someone else this time?

That was when she heard an animalistic growl ringing out from somewhere. She looked up to find black shadows standing in the entrance to the cavern.

Wild dogs?!

She gasped. It was the pack of dogs the Obstructions had possessed during the school camping trip. They trained their bloodshot red eyes right onto Cecilia’s group, snarling menacingly. A black mist emanated from their bodies.

“Hey, Doc, I found what you were looking for,” remarked Dante breezily as he turned back to Mordred—whose face went ashen as he beheld the sight before him.

“Cecilia, hide,” urged Oscar, moving in front of her protectively. He was already gripping his Sacred Artifact tightly.

Oh, I see…

Cecilia was the only one who understood what this meant—that the Killer was trying to pin the blame on something else. If wild dogs ripped Lean to shreds with their jaws, then it was a pure accident; it couldn’t be anyone’s fault.

But that means the Killer is—

Just then, a mutt came sliding toward her with a high-pitched yelp. After whirling around, she saw it was already unconscious, and the black mist around it had dissipated.

“Aw man, I wish I’d gotten a cool Artifact like Oscar’s,” whined Dante. The crown prince’s attack had managed to pierce the Obstruction. Wielding a blade that could slice only the things he wanted it to was incredibly convenient.

“If you’ve got time for commentary, then use it to think up a plan or something! There’s too many for me to take care of them all on my own!” Oscar shouted.

“So true,” Dante replied, easygoing as always. The beasts had them surrounded, but he seemed more relaxed than ever. “I guess now’s going to be my Artifact’s time to shine.”

Right, Dante’s Sacred Artifact is—

But before Cecilia could plunge into memories of the past, Dante stomped his foot hard. A gust of wind whooshed up around him, forming a cloud of grit that crackled with bits of electricity and light.

“Whoa!” she cried.

“Lights out,” he announced with a smirk. In an instant, the dogs all slumped over, knocked unconscious in a matter of seconds.

I thought this while I was playing the game, too, but that Artifact of his really is cheap.

Dante’s Sacred Artifact grants him the power to render his enemies temporarily unconscious—which includes every opponent in range of him. How long they would be knocked out depends on their intelligence; the smartest don’t stay down for long. In the game, this translates to inflicting the Sleep status on humans for a single turn; for animals, three. She had no idea how many seconds of real-world time one turn encompassed, but there was no denying the utility of his accessory.

“Sometimes this thing won’t put human opponents to sleep, so I thought it was kinda useless. But fortunately, animals take about five minutes to wake up. I’ll go ahead and get the Obstructions exorcised before then,” he said, touching a dog’s forehead. Although it was difficult to tell amid its black fur, it had a mark somewhere on its body. Dante’s Artifact could knock out his foes using Sleep, but that alone wouldn’t exorcise the Obstruction.

Oscar turned to Mordred, Huey, and Cecilia. “Looks like that’s that, so all of you head back first. It would be better to heal her at the cottage instead of this place, right? The two of us can clean up here.”

“Got it,” Huey replied, getting to his feet while flashing a glance at Cecilia and Mordred that meant it was time to go.

Cecilia ran up to Oscar and Dante. “Be careful! I’ll be very upset if either of you comes back injured!”

“Oh—yeah,” replied Oscar. “Wait, I’ve been thinking for a while now that the way you talk sounds a little—”

Dante interrupted him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah. Okay then, Oscar, let’s get this done!”

He steered away a very confused-looking Oscar.

Once the group returned to the cottage, they left Lean in Mordred’s care while everyone else took over a room. Occupying it were Huey, Cecilia, and Jade, who had met up with them on the way back. Oscar and Dante hadn’t returned yet.

When Gilbert rejoined them, all three were uncharacteristically quiet. After looking at each of their faces in turn, he sat down in a chair. “After Lean, we found the security guards. They were all just unconscious. Their memories of getting knocked out are fuzzy, and they didn’t see whoever did it.”

“So you’re saying we don’t know who did that to Lean,” Jade commented.

“Yes, essentially,” Gilbert agreed with a nod. Then he went on. “All we can do now is ask Lean what happened, but considering trained guards can’t remember anything, the chances she will are fairly—”

“We don’t need to do that, do we?” interrupted Huey, breaking his silence up until that point. He lifted his head and stared straight at Cecilia. “Isn’t it obvious that she did it?”

“What? Me?” Cecilia squeaked, caught off guard by this turn of events. The other two looked equally surprised, eyes wide with bewilderment.

“But why would she do it?” asked Jade, utterly perplexed.

“I mean, it has to be her, right? Otherwise, how would she have guessed exactly where Lean was? There were tons of other sketchy-looking areas out in that direction! And she didn’t even need to hide Lean in a cave anyway. She could’ve just left her in the woods.”

“I—I…”

“Back when she told us she knew where Lean had been taken, I was so frantic that I just believed her. But when I thought more about it, I realized how suspicious it was. How could she possibly have guessed Lean’s exact location?”

Cecilia instinctively shrank away.

“And you just conveniently happened to not be around when she disappeared. You could’ve led her away without anyone suspecting a thing. And since you were staying in the same room, all you had to do was leave the window open.”

“Um.”

“Whatever you have to say for yourself, go ahead and say it!”

Cecilia’s eyes darted all around. She was completely rattled.

Things were headed in a bad direction. An awful one. This happened time and time again in the game. It was good that Oscar wasn’t here, too, because if he was, all the criteria for her death sentence would be checked off.

I—I need to think of an excuse! Anything!

But what could she say for herself? It was memories of her past life that had led her to guess Lean was in the grotto. Even if she did confess to that, though, he definitely wouldn’t accept it. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t even believe her.

But the longer I go without saying anything, the more suspicious it looks! I have to blurt something out!

“Um, so actually—”

The instant she piped up, the door to the room opened, and the person she least wanted to see walked in.

“We’re back,” said Oscar.

“It’s done!” Dante sighed.

Cecilia inhaled sharply. What do I do now?

Now all the elements for her execution had fallen into place. She broke into a cold sweat.

Cecilia and Oscar were on good terms at the moment. However, if he erroneously got it in his head that she’d hurt his beloved Lean, Cecilia knew he’d start to hate her, just like in the game.

Noticing the unusually tense atmosphere, Oscar and Dante became confused.

“Did something happen?” asked Oscar.

“It feels pretty weird in here,” said Dante.

“Ummm, Huey just said it’s probably Cecilia who attacked Lean,” Jade explained, frowning. The other two instantly followed suit. Cecilia couldn’t read their expressions. It could be, I knew it. It could be, Oh, I see. It could be, No way.

After a while, the crown prince opened his mouth to speak. Cecilia froze up.

“Aren’t you being a little hasty?”

It wasn’t Oscar who’d said that—it was Gilbert. He unrolled a map of the area around the cottage before Huey.

“Look at this chart. Yes, you’re right in that there are lots of places to hide an unconscious girl. But all of them are open to the elements.”

“What’s your point?” demanded Huey.

“Whoever did it left Lean there for the dogs to assault her. The rain could have caused her to wake up, but the perpetrator wanted her to be unconscious during the attack. If she had roused and called for help or fled the scene, that would be pretty annoying, right?”

Gilbert pointed to the area outside the window. “Today was very windy, with storm clouds to the east. Chances of rain were high. So if they wanted to ensure Lean wouldn’t be found for a long time and wouldn’t get rained on, that cave was the only place to put her. My sister must have foreseen that. Right, Cecilia?”

“Oh…yeah!” She nodded, although of course she hadn’t foreseen that at all. Her brother really was a quick thinker.

Gilbert continued, driving his point home. “Besides, when Lean disappeared, Cecilia was with other people. If you want to check with them, I can take you to where they are. Do you want to?”

He was referring to Ticky and Bernard. Her encounter with them had been awful, but now she could only feel grateful that it had happened. They could give testimony verifying her alibi.

Huey fell silent. Dante clapped him on the back. “Look, I get why you’d feel that way, but you need to take a step back.”

“Yeah. Think about it rationally,” put in Oscar.

“I…guess,” responded Huey, still looking unconvinced, which was to be expected. His girlfriend had been in a critical state. He couldn’t possibly be thinking about things with a level head.

“Plus, I believe it’s impossible for a woman to have done this,” noted Oscar. Huey looked up as he went on. “When we got back just now, I talked to the guards posted at the front and back doors to the cottage. During the span of time when Lean went missing, no one saw her.”

“The ones at the front door, too?” asked Huey.

This time it was Dante who nodded. “Yeah. Which means she was abducted from the window—and whoever did that leaped with her straight into the woods to avoid the guards spotting them at the rear of the house. That sort of stunt would be hard for any of us to pull off, so how could a delicate young girl like Cecilia do it?”

“Oh. Yeah…I guess that’s true,” Huey admitted, scratching his head. Then he turned to face Cecilia. “Sorry. I got the wrong idea.”

“Oh, it’s all right. I’m just glad you understand,” Cecilia answered politely, breathing a sigh of relief. She’d managed to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Gilbert spoke. “For now, let’s all call it a day here. I’ve exponentially increased the number of guards, so while we don’t know who abducted Lean, they probably won’t try pulling anything for the rest of the day, at least. Let’s talk more about it at dinner.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Lean still hadn’t woken up by dinnertime. Huey refused to leave her side, so everyone else held the discussion on what to do.

They decided on two major things. First, everyone would go back to their homes the following day. In other words, no more sleepover. While security was tighter now, there was still no real benefit in sticking around here.

Second, House Sylvie would take responsibility for investigating the situation. It had happened on their territory, so that was only natural.

“But still, who in the world did that? And what was their objective?” Mordred sighed as he took a bite of food. Obviously, he was going to call off his research in the vicinity.

“Exactly. If they just wanted someone to ransom, she would have been a better choice,” noted Jade, his gaze sliding over to Cecilia.

“So then was it because she’s a potential Holy Maiden?” Dante piped up.

“What motive would they have for offing a candidate?” Oscar mused.

Who was the Killer, and why were they targeting Holy Maiden hopefuls? Cecilia didn’t know that, either. All she knew was that they had broken their silence and begun to act.

Afterward, Cecilia took in the night air on the cottage’s wraparound porch. To make it easier on the guards, she and Lean had moved from the smaller cottage next door to the main building.

In spite of her dreary mood, the stars glittering in the sky overhead were breathtakingly beautiful.

With the Killer becoming active, I’ll need to pull myself together and be even more vigilant than before.

Cecilia sighed and let her head slump. According to Huey, Lean had woken up just once about an hour ago. But she’d still seemed incoherent and foggy-headed, so she went right back to sleep soon after. When Mordred heard that, he’d bitterly postulated that she may have been drugged. His Sacred Artifact could heal only symptoms he could see and understand himself. Poisons and mystery illnesses fell out of this area.

Is she really going to be okay?

Cecilia also wanted to be at Lean’s side. But she felt like she couldn’t get in the way of Huey, who was sticking to his girlfriend like glue. All she could do was go out on the porch and look up at the room she thought Lean was in.

I sure hope she gets well soon…

“Cecilia,” a voice called out suddenly, and she looked to find Oscar there.

“Oh, Your Highness,” she replied, whipping up her fan immediately to cover her face. Behind the bulwark, her features tightened.

It’s probably way too late to use this thing. I’m sure he’s caught more than a glimpse of my full face by now…

When Lean had disappeared, Cecilia had been too flustered to remember to cover her face with a fan. She’d also dropped the formal speech and had started talking as casually as she did when she was Cecil. To be honest, it wouldn’t be surprising if he suspected her.

Oh, but still! Even Oscar wouldn’t think that a proper and respectable duke’s daughter would be cross-dressing to go to school! I bet it’s okay!

All she could do now was try to comfort herself with that. Giving up and telling him the truth was out of the question, and she didn’t think he’d accept her story about past-life memories like Gilbert had.

While she was fretting over all that, Oscar came next to her and gently draped a jacket over her shoulders. “It’s all well and good to cool off outdoors, but don’t catch a chill doing it.”

As he smiled at her, it didn’t seem like he suspected her of anything at all. He was the same sweet, good-natured boy as always.

Cecilia pulled the edges of the jacket together over her chest and smiled back. “Thank you.”

“Sure,” he replied, breaking into an even wider grin.

Looks like I’m…safe.

She breathed an internal sigh of relief. Of course he wouldn’t end up concluding that a duke’s daughter would be masquerading as a boy. Either that or he was just dense. Who could say which?

As nice as Oscar is, he’s a bit slow on the uptake, after all.

If she got busted here, throwing Huey off the trail during the day would have been all for nothing. Well, Cecilia couldn’t take credit for doing that, but still…

Her mind was wandering when Oscar suddenly placed his hand atop hers on the porch railing. “Even though things turned out the way they did, I had a lot of fun spending time with you.”

“Oh, yes! I did, too.”

“Will you let me see you again?” he asked, and her thoughts jumbled. As the duke’s daughter, Cecilia, she could only say yes, but as the baron’s son, Cecil, she could only say no. But it wasn’t as if she could simply come out and say that.

“No?” he pressed.

“Ummm…”

It would be so easy to answer him with, Of course. But then she’d end up making concrete plans with him because he was so proactive when it came to her.

“Cecilia,” called Gilbert from beyond the sliding glass door to the porch.

She still hadn’t come up with a graceful way out, so she threw a desperately grateful look his way. “Gil!”

She attempted to run over to him when—

“Aaah!”

“Cecilia?!” cried Gilbert.

She stepped on the hem of her skirt and tripped, squeezing her eyes shut as the ground rushed at her.

But no impact came.

“You’re a bit more careless than I realized,” Oscar chided.

“Oscar…I mean, Your Highness,” she murmured.

The next thing she knew, he was holding her steady. He had his arms wrapped around her belly, taking on her full body weight. When she tripped, her fan had gone flying forward.

“Be more careful. We’d all be sad to learn you’d gotten hurt.”

“Oh—yes. Thank you so much,” she responded, embarrassed and blushing.

That was when Oscar’s eyes widened.

“I’ve got you, Cecilia,” insisted Gilbert, running up and getting an arm around her to help her walk away.

“Oh, okay.”

“Be careful, all right?” Oscar reminded her.

“I’ll see you later,” she said and left.

Oscar watched the two of them walk away, rooted to the ground in shock. He looked at his hands that had just been wrapped around her and inhaled sharply.

“I knew it. She’s…”

It was Cecilia’s bashful smile that had done it. Until then, he hadn’t been willing to believe it, but that had fully convinced him and rid him of all doubt. There was absolutely no mistaking it now that he’d seen her face from so close.

When Oscar looked up, he locked eyes with Gilbert, who was staring back over his shoulder at him. Gilbert gave him an expressionless but significant nod.

His pointed gaze made Oscar want to rub at his temple in frustration. “What does she think she’s playing at, dressing up as a boy…?”