Chapter 39: Discovery and Suspicions
The etiquette class with Professor Wilda passed faster than I expected.
She evaluated me twice. Basic noble curtsy. Open hands. Chin parallel. Smooth sweeps.
Each instruction was followed as best I could, exactly as Lianza had taught me in our private lesson. At that moment, although everyone was expectant for my failure, the only gaze that weighed on me was Lianza's.
Failing her was out of the question. The bodyguard of the future Garnet Ice Queen couldn't have bad manners.
"Almost acceptable," she said after the first evaluation.
The second time she said nothing. That was better than "insufficient."
Lianza gave a slight nod when my turn ended. I knew that gesture was directed at me.
And truth be told, being "almost acceptable" to Professor Wilda or anyone else mattered little to me. All that mattered was having shown her that my manners were up to her level.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽ ☆ ☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
The first thing I noticed upon leaving class was that the east wing hallway was full. Nobles walking in groups. Some whispering. Others hurrying so fast they seemed to be jogging.
For a noble to jog through Mayorka's hallways, things couldn't be right.
I could already form an idea of what was happening.
A gardener crossed the central courtyard at full speed. His face was white. It reminded me of the whiteness of that cat who yesterday had been left without its owner.
"They found a body!" he shouted, alarmed. "In the greenhouse! A student!"
The whispers ceased. Everyone stood motionless.
"Who?" someone asked.
"Ascalar. Dayne Ascalar."
The nobles exchanged glances. Some widened their eyes. Others brought hands to their mouths. Ardwyn stepped out of Etiquette class with furrowed brows, while Lianza had stopped at the door. Her garnet Empero began to churn.
I stayed still. Three meters behind Lianza.
The gardener's account was as follows: Dayne Ascalar had been found against the wall of the abandoned greenhouse, atop a puddle of his own blood. Eyes and mouth ajar. Crushed bones and a perforation in the middle of his chest.
Mayorka's guards arrived in minutes. Four. Silver armor. Empero Council seals on their breastplates. They sealed the east wing with ribbons. No one could enter...
And no one could leave either.
"Name?" one of them asked me. They were conducting a quick interrogation with everyone who had shared classes with the deceased.
"Dariel Elcronne. Personal bodyguard to Princess D'Tariel."
Only in the afternoon, looking for Miss Canaria's lost cat.
The guard looked at my bandages. The bruises. The dark circles.
He raised an eyebrow and jotted something down in a small notebook he carried.
That was when I realized I had the appearance of a complete suspect.
"Did you find the cat?"
Although Canaria wasn't its true owner, the fact that I knew Dayne was the real owner could raise suspicions. And my appearance already gave them enough to think about, so I decided to answer as simply as possible.
"Yes. I returned it to its owner."
"Did you see anything unusual?"
"No," I lied, looking him in the eyes.
"Do not leave Mayorka without authorization."
"I won't."
The guard nodded and turned toward the rest of those present.
"Very well, ladies and gentlemen," he said after a couple of claps that drew everyone's attention. "Classes will continue as normal."
"How will classes continue in the face of an inadmissible situation like this?" Ardwyn protested after pushing his way through the crowd, his Empero agitated.
"I understand your concern, crown prince, but Mayorka's priority has always been academic excellence. You have my word that we will find the culprit and bring them before the Empero Council."
"And if that doesn't happen?"
"It will. In cases like these, the Council must intervene in person."
After saying that, the guard left.
Everyone fell silent. The Empero Council counted among its ranks several of the most capable Empero users. One of the requirements to join such a prestigious group was to be, at minimum, a Rank S Knight or Lady. Zaleador D'Tariel and Varanian IV of Jahke were part of this group, as were some other kings.
The sea of nobles resumed its course. Some went back to whispering among themselves, others walked faster than usual. The murmur grew: "Ascalar is dead." "Crushed." "Who did it?" "Could it be a senior noble?" "What if it was a commoner?"
Gossip spread through the hallways as fast and silently as Analazze poison.
It seemed strange to me that none had dared to say, even in whispers, that the professors could also be suspects.
I stayed in the hallway. Lianza's garnet eyes scanned me from the Etiquette classroom door.
"Did you cease your duties as my bodyguard to look for a simple cat?" she demanded. "Is what my ears heard true, Dariel Elcronne?"
"It was just something I did along the way..."
"The way to where?"
Everyone turned toward Lianza. A complicit silence ran through the hallway; Lianza D'Tariel never raised her voice. Upon realizing this, she simply turned and headed toward the library.
Of course, I followed.
But before turning the corner, I looked around for Layda. She had been very quiet lately. And seeing Layda quiet did nothing but raise my alarms.
I managed to spot her in the distance. She was writing in that diary of hers. It seemed as though the situation didn't matter to her. As if a dead student was nothing more than another entry in its pages.
Layda noticed my gaze and turned toward me. She smiled.
Once again, that smile that differed from what one would expect of a damsel. Brief, flat. Full of a malice that apparently no one else noticed.
Turning forward, I pretended I hadn't been watching her.
And I followed in Lianza's footsteps, thinking about how disturbing that smile had been.
Thinking that Dayne Ascalar was dead. Crushed by someone I knew. And the heroine of the original novel, Layda Alaranne, only smiled at the situation.