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Chapter 223: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 223



"Sylvia Astra, I’ll give you the opportunity to defend yourself. Tell us why you dragged the entire grade into doing such a thing. What was your reason?"


As Diakonos said this, the crowd’s attention slowly shifted.


Towards the girl standing a step ahead of the other students.


Sylvia, who now stood under the weight of everyone’s stares, felt her hands trembling slightly and couldn’t help but feel puzzled.


Sylvia was someone who was used to being in the spotlight.


Standing in a place where all eyes were on her was something she had done countless times as the heir to the Astra family.


But why was she trembling now?


She muttered to herself to stop, but the trembling didn’t subside. Instead, it spread throughout her body.


Even when she was about to slit her own throat earlier, she hadn’t shaken like this. So why─


As Sylvia puzzled over her state, she heard a hiccup from one of the students standing behind her, likely from nervousness.


Hearing that sound, Sylvia instinctively gasped and turned her head.


There, she saw the students looking at her with anxious yet trusting eyes.


The very people who had trusted her words, followed her lead, and believed in her promise to take responsibility.


Seeing that trust reflected in their gazes, Sylvia realized the true cause of her trembling.


Indeed.


It wasn’t just her future on the line, but also the fate of those who had stood by her.


How could she not tremble in such a situation?


A sudden flash of doubt crossed Sylvia's mind—could she really do this?


Cold sweat trickled down her back.


Ah, she had known this all along, but now that the moment had arrived, the weight of responsibility truly hit her.


How terrifying the word "responsibility" could be.


The burden almost made her feel nauseous.


But she took a deep breath, forcing herself to stand tall.


It wasn’t about whether she could do this or not.


She had to do it, for the sake of her comrades who had trusted her and helped Scarlet.


She had no choice but to succeed.


It's okay, you can do this, Sylvia whispered to herself, clenching her fists tightly before speaking aloud.


“...If there’s a legitimate reason, will we be shown leniency?”


“If there’s a legitimate reason, yes. After all, we wouldn’t want to lose the future heroes who will protect this city.”


Diakonos responded to her question about leniency.


That was exactly what Sylvia had been banking on.


As aspiring heroes, they were invaluable assets to the future defense of the city.


Though they had committed a serious crime, executing all of them would be a tremendous loss and a significant risk.


Not to mention, among those who had helped Scarlet escape yesterday was his own daughter, Florene.


For that reason, Sylvia had been confident that, at worst, no one would lose their head.


Or so she thought.


“Don’t think that just because my daughter was involved, the punishment will be lighter. It pains me, but even if she’s my own flesh and blood, there will be no exceptions in punishment.”


At Diakonos’s words, Sylvia had no choice but to accept that her assumptions had been utterly mistaken.


The look in his eyes was so cold it felt almost cruel.


When Sylvia swallowed nervously at the thought that he would even punish his own daughter, Diakonos spoke again.


“So, it had better be a reason we can all agree on. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to execute my own daughter.”


Sylvia let out a bitter smile.


Of course, expecting an extreme hardliner like him to let things slide had been foolish from the start.


The situation wasn’t as favorable as she’d hoped, but now that she had abandoned her optimism, her mind grew clearer.


Calm once more, Sylvia heard Diakonos ask,


“So, what is this reason of yours?”


"...The reason we helped Miss Scarlet escape yesterday."


In response to his question, Sylvia spoke confidently.


“That’s because we judged her to be a ‘harmless witch.’”


At her words, most of the people in the room twisted their faces into strange expressions.


“A harmless... witch?”


Someone let out a mocking laugh, muttering under their breath as if the words "harmless" and "witch" couldn’t possibly coexist.


Most of them likely thought the same.


In fact, Sylvia herself had once thought the same.


“...What’s the basis for that judgment?”


“There’s a reason we came to think that way.”


Turning her head, Sylvia glanced over at where Jessie was standing.


“Miss Jessie over there encountered the witch when the order to subdue her was issued yesterday.”


At that, everyone’s eyes turned toward the girl wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, who was now looking like she might vomit from the tension.


Someone, noticing her severe injuries, asked,


“Why is her body covered in bandages...?”


“That’s because she fought the witch.”


Sylvia’s reply made someone shout out in shock.


“What...! We told you to avoid combat, why would she do something so reckless?!”


Looking at Jessie with concern, the person then turned to Sylvia and yelled in an agitated voice,


“No, more importantly, how can you call a witch who hurt someone like that harmless─”


“N-no! That’s not it!”


It wasn’t Sylvia who refuted the outcry.


The person who shouted was none other than the girl wrapped in bandages, Jessie.


She hesitated under the gaze of everyone, but then, as if steeling herself, raised her voice and shouted,


“Don’t misunderstand! I got hurt because I pushed myself too hard out of a desire for revenge against the witch. But Miss Scarlet didn’t even counterattack me. Instead, she worried about me and told me to stop! So, so...! Please... don’t say bad things about Miss Scarlet...”


Though Jessie’s voice faltered at the end, as if shrinking under the stares of the crowd, everyone in the room must have heard what she said."


Sylvia turned to face the crowd, who were dumbfounded by Jessie's words, and said,


"As Jessie said, yesterday, Scarlet didn’t even touch Jessie, who attacked her. Instead, she showed concern for Jessie, who was pushing herself too hard and even helped her. If Scarlet had any intention of harming people, she wouldn’t have acted that way. And there’s one more person who encountered her. Dwight?”


At Sylvia’s words, Dwight, standing in a corner, nodded politely to the crowd and spoke.


“I’m Dwight Neinhart. Just as Sylvia said, I also met the witch yesterday and had a conversation with her. In my judgment, she is absolutely not a threat to people.”


Dwight’s words quieted the crowd somewhat.


The Neinhart family, renowned for generations as skilled magicians, were also known for never lying. Naturally, this gave his words considerable weight.


However, some were still not fully convinced, and one person spoke up.


“...Couldn’t it be that you all coordinated your stories just to avoid punishment?”


It was as if Sylvia had been expecting that remark. She reached into her coat and pulled out a small rod.


“I figured someone might say that. Would you take a look at this?”


“What’s that...?”


Without further explanation, Sylvia pressed a button on the rod.


A light burst forth from it, and an image appeared, floating in the air.


The man in the image wasn’t wearing a school uniform but the attire of an active hero.


“...Is this being recorded? Oh, it is? Damn... I don’t know if I should be doing this.”


The item Sylvia had produced was a magical device that contained a recorded testimony.


It was a testimony from a man. Sylvia silently thanked Sebastian once again for all his hard work throughout the night getting this recording.


As Sylvia reflected on that, the man in the video spoke.


“So, yeah, I’m the guy who got help from the red-haired girl... the witch, I mean. Yesterday, I almost died while fighting one of those beasts that invaded the city, but she saved my life. She burned away the tentacles that were about to kill me with fire. In the end, she even took down the beast herself. If more time had passed, there would’ve been more casualties, so in a way, it wasn’t just me she saved—plenty of other heroes owe her as well.”


“Anyway, I owe her my life, so I can’t just say she’s all bad. Even though she injured Captain Yoon Si-woo, the fact remains that she saved my life and defeated the beast. You asked if you could use this as testimony? Fine, go ahead. If saying this gets me fired, so be it. But if there’s any chance that witch isn’t as bad as people think, then this is the least I can do to repay the debt I owe her...”


The video ended with those words, and Sylvia turned to the crowd.


“This is a testimony from someone who received help from the witch—not from any of us. Does this help prove, at least somewhat, that Miss Scarlet isn’t an evil being?”


“Hmmm...”


Hearing the testimony of someone unrelated to the group caused the crowd to murmur, deep in thought.


Yet, amidst all this, one person remained expressionless.


“So, in the end, it’s still true that the witch is the one who harmed Captain Yoon Si-woo, is it not?”


Diakonos muttered coldly.


Sylvia responded with a hardened expression.


“...Yes. But the only person harmed by her was Yoon Si-woo. Before and after that, she hasn’t tried to harm anyone else. It’s possible that, after being corrupted by the beast, she temporarily lost her reason, and Yoon Si-woo brought her back.”


It was a hopeful thought, but not entirely implausible.


Sylvia believed in both Yoon Si-woo and Scarlet and genuinely thought this might be the case.


“It’s possible, you say... But that’s still just speculation.”


However, it was a thought that only Sylvia held.


“Then let me share a theory of my own.”


Diakonos spoke as if he disagreed with her, continuing in a calm voice.


“The witch had been hiding her true nature all this time. When she finally revealed it, she fought with Captain Yoon Si-woo and, after exhausting herself, realized she was in danger. So, she deceived and manipulated the students she had previously acquainted herself with, using them to escape the city.”


The way he said it, so calmly and matter-of-factly, as if to dismiss her thoughts, infuriated Sylvia.


“That’s...! That’s not true!”


“Perhaps. It might not be true. Just as your thoughts are merely speculation.”


But Diakonos continued,


“However, you can’t say with absolute certainty that it isn’t true.”


His voice remained steady and devoid of emotion as he spoke.


Sylvia wanted to shout out.


To say that no, she was absolutely certain that Scarlet wasn’t an evil witch.


But before she could say anything, Diakonos spoke again.


“There’s a well-known story about a witch, the Witch of Greed. At first, she pretended to be nothing more than a weak orphan girl, no different from other children.”


At his words, Sylvia’s body tensed.


There was a famous story about the Witch of Greed that had spread far and wide.


It was a story she knew well, and one she didn’t want to hear right now.


“And so, a man, not knowing her true identity, pitied her and took her in as his adopted daughter, raising her with great care. As you know, that story didn’t end well.”


Because,


“The man who raised her was killed by her own hands. The city he lived in was also destroyed by that witch. And one of the few survivors from that city ended the story with this lesson.”


The moral of that tale was:


“Never, ever trust a witch.”


Because the lesson was,


“Never trust a witch.”"


------------------------


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Comments

  1. 😡😡🤬

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear, should we told them the story of Witch of Wrath? Because that would make them think twice lol

    ReplyDelete

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