A reprieve is not an escape.
At least, not if that is how one chooses to use it.
Delaying an answer buys time, but at the same time, it also increases one's responsibility by the amount of time gained.
Especially when that reprieve was requested in the middle of the Academy Central Corridor, before an Archives Office assistant, and against the eldest son of House Berhardt.
Seria Blanc deferred her answer.
With those words, she avoided the immediate blade.
But the blade had not disappeared.
It had simply moved to the next room.
Eloise Berhardt.
The victim of the poisoned tea incident.
She had regained consciousness and wanted to give her first statement.
And she had requested that Seria Blanc be present.
Arsene still wore a courteous expression.
"There is no need to answer in haste. We have today's principles, after all."
His words sounded considerate.
But they also sounded like shackles.
As though he were saying, Try binding yourself with the rules you created.
Seria did not look at Arsene.
She looked at the four lines on the notice board.
"1. No one speaks for another person. However, when the person explicitly requests help, that request shall be recorded."
"2. An unwanted conversation may be stopped. Penalties, mockery, or pressure in response to a request to stop a conversation shall be subject to observation."
"3. Protection cannot be used as a reason to erase the wishes of the person concerned."
"4. A request to stop may halt insults and presumptions. However, it cannot erase a review of the effects of recorded actions."
Four lines.
There was one more than before.
Arsene was the one who had created that extra line.
Ironically, it was also the line Seria needed most.
Stopping was not running away.
Nor was a reprieve.
The question was what came next.
Seria opened her mouth.
"I would like to request assistance."
I raised my head.
Eveline and Liana both looked at Seria at the same time.
Arsene's smile deepened ever so slightly.
Clarisse immediately asked,
"State the person from whom you are requesting assistance and its scope."
Scope.
A good word.
Assistance needed a scope as well.
Without one, it would immediately become speaking on someone else's behalf.
Seria looked at me.
"The person I am requesting assistance from is Instructor Leon Cart."
My throat felt a little dry.
I did not respond.
She had not stated the scope yet.
Seria spoke slowly.
"Please make sure that I do not take Lady Eloise Berhardt's words from her, and that I do not use an apology as a shield."
The corridor fell silent.
Not using an apology as a shield.
Those words meant Seria saw herself quite accurately.
Words admitting wrongdoing were beautiful.
But beautiful words could easily become self-defense.
"I've reflected this much, so please stop asking me about it now."
"I apologized, so you should let it go too."
"I bowed my head, so why are you still angry?"
An apology could demand someone else's silence too.
Seria knew that.
Clarisse wrote it down.
"Lady Seria Blanc requests assistance. Scope: prevention of infringement upon the victim's right to speak and confirmation that an apology is not being used as a shield."
Then she looked at me.
"Leon Cart. Do you accept the request?"
Before answering, I looked at Seria.
Seria did not look away.
She did not look unafraid.
But neither did she look like she was running away.
I spoke.
"I accept. However, I may only comment on the manner in which Lady Seria speaks, and I will not explain Lady Eloise's emotions or judgment on her behalf."
Clarisse wrote.
"Supporter's scope confirmed."
Arsene said smoothly,
"Excellent. It is becoming a rule worthy of being called a rule."
Eveline muttered softly,
"The way he says it like praise is what pisses me off the most."
"Eveline."
When I called to her quietly, Eveline immediately said,
"I'm angry. And I'll hold it in for now."
Clarisse wrote.
"Lady Eveline Rosette declares her emotion, then ceases speaking."
Eveline's eyes widened.
"You're writing that down too?"
"It is an improvement."
"Then write it down. Write lots of it."
Liana gave a very small laugh.
It was brief.
Soon, it turned into concern.
"Should I... go too?"
The question seemed directed at me, but Liana immediately shook her head.
"No. Let me correct that. I should first say why I want to go with you."
Good.
Liana was correcting her own words now.
"I thought words similar to those associated with a Cathedral Office candidate might come up in Lady Eloise's first statement, so I felt that I should verify it. But that must not come before Lady Eloise's words."
Clarisse's pen moved.
Liana continued.
"So I will wait outside. Please call me if necessary."
Eveline looked at Liana.
"Are you really okay with that?"
"I'm not okay."
Liana answered honestly.
"But I think not going inside can be a form of protection too."
I paused for a moment at those words.
Liana was changing, slowly but surely.
The old Liana would have been swept along by someone else's words.
By the name Saint Candidate, by the name Cathedral Office candidate, by the role of a good girl.
Now, she was saying she would not go inside.
And not for someone else's sake, but after acknowledging that her own actions could drown out another person's words.
A system window appeared.
[Liana Bell: Successfully adjusted the scope of her own intervention]
[Resistance to being used as a shield has increased]
[Saint Candidate frame stabilized]
Good.
But this was not the time to be pleased.
We headed to the infirmary.
The infirmary was not far from the Academy Central Corridor.
Yet today, it felt strangely far away.
The candidates moved aside to either side.
They whispered each time we passed.
"They say Eloise woke up."
"Apparently, she called for Seria Blanc."
"Then does that mean Lady Blanc was involved?"
"Shh. They'll record that kind of thing now too."
"That's even scarier."
Was it a good thing that records had become frightening?
Half of it was good.
At least when people had something to fear, they spoke a little less.
The other half was not good.
Because people who spoke less did not necessarily stop thinking.
The words they held back became sharper behind closed doors.
Two people stood outside the infirmary.
One was a medical officer in a white robe.
His name tag read, "Madel Rowin."
The other was a servant of House Berhardt.
The servant bowed as soon as he saw Arsene.
"Young master."
Without even looking at him, Arsene said,
"From now on, Eloise's request takes priority. I will not answer on her behalf."
The servant hesitated.
Clarisse immediately wrote it down.
"Young Duke Arsene Berhardt declares his restraint from speaking on another's behalf."
Arsene smiled.
I really hated that.
He turned even words that favored him into a record.
Medical Officer Madel opened the door.
"The patient is awake, but she does not have enough strength. The statement may last no more than fifteen minutes. I may stop it midway."
Clarisse confirmed it.
"Medical authority to halt proceedings recorded."
"Furthermore, apologies, interrogation, and interpretations that the patient has not requested are forbidden."
Medical Officer Madel's voice was firm.
Good.
At least this man was worthy of being called a medical officer.
Seria said quietly,
"Understood."
I stood one step behind Seria.
Arsene stood beside the door.
Clarisse held her record board.
Eveline and Liana remained outside.
Eveline looked deeply dissatisfied, but she did not insist on entering.
That was growth too.
Very noisy growth.
The door closed.
The infirmary was white.
The curtains, the sheets, the walls.
White made people look clean.
At the same time, it made sick people look even paler.
Eloise Berhardt was half-reclined on the bed.
Her hair was pale gold, and there was still little color in her lips.
But her eyes were not cloudy.
They were far too clear for someone who had only just regained consciousness.
She looked at Arsene first.
"Brother."
Arsene's expression softened ever so slightly.
"Eloise."
"Please do not answer on my behalf until I have finished speaking."
Arsene's smile stopped.
The first sentence.
With her first sentence, Eloise bound Arsene.
Clarisse wrote.
"Lady Eloise Berhardt requests that her family guardian be restricted from speaking on her behalf."
Arsene was silent for a moment.
Then he lowered his head.
"Understood."
Good.
The principle worked here too.
The very principle Arsene himself had brought in.
Now, that principle had closed Arsene's mouth as well.
Eloise next looked at Seria.
Seria's fingertips stiffened.
She tried to bow her head deeply.
"Do not apologize yet."
Eloise spoke first.
Seria stopped.
"I am not ready to hear an apology yet. And if I hear one when I am not ready, it will make me seem like someone who has to accept that apology."
The room fell silent.
Exactly right.
Too exactly right.
If someone who might have harmed the victim apologizes first while the victim is not ready to hear it, it creates a scene.
The person with their head bowed.
The silent victim.
And the people around them say:
"They apologized that much."
In that moment, the victim became the person who refused to forgive.
Eloise knew that.
Seria's face turned pale.
But she did not retreat.
"Understood," Seria said.
"I will not apologize."
Eloise nodded.
"Good."
Clarisse wrote.
"Victim requests a reprieve from hearing an apology. Lady Seria Blanc accepts."
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully suppressed the impulse to apologize]
[Risk of an apology being used as a shield has decreased]
[Trust recovery training progress: 38% -> 41%]
Forty-one percent.
Even though the number rose, I could not be happy.
This was not experience.
It was someone's wound.
Eloise looked at me.
"Instructor Leon Cart."
"Yes."
"Please do not interpret my words either. If necessary, I will request it myself."
I lowered my head.
"Understood."
I answered briefly.
Nothing more was necessary.
Eloise looked at Clarisse.
"Please record this. From now on, I will only say what I remember. I will not speak of intentions I do not know. If I am not certain who spoke words I heard, I will say that I am not certain."
Clarisse's pen moved.
"Statement criteria confirmed."
Eloise closed her eyes for a moment.
Medical Officer Madel checked her pulse.
Eloise gave a tiny nod, as though to say she was fine.
Then she spoke.
"First. I did not drink the first cup."
The past records rapidly flipped through my mind.
The first cup was bait.
The owner of the second cup.
The scent of tea.
The last words that had been too neatly arranged.
Eloise continued.
"Because someone told me not to drink the first cup."
Arsene's hand twitched.
But he did not speak.
Because Eloise had bound him at the start.
Clarisse asked,
"Did you see that person?"
"No."
Eloise answered immediately.
"I only heard a voice. It was a woman's voice. Low, and very calm."
Seria's brows trembled slightly.
Eloise saw it.
"It was not Lady Blanc's voice."
The air in the room stopped.
That single sentence could save Seria.
But it was also a new trap.
A woman's voice that was not Seria's.
A calm woman.
The person who had told her not to drink the first cup.
Had that person tried to save Eloise?
Or make her drink the second cup?
Eloise continued.
"Second. I picked up the second cup with my own hand. No one forced me."
Clarisse wrote.
"Second cup taken voluntarily. No memory of coercion."
"But I saw the cup being switched."
I held my breath.
Eloise opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.
"To be exact, I did not see the hand that passed the cup. I saw the sleeve that moved the cup. A white sleeve. Silver embroidery. It looked like a Cathedral Office uniform... but it was not a Cathedral Office uniform."
Liana.
Liana's face, waiting outside, came to mind.
Cathedral Office.
Saint Candidate.
The shield route.
Eloise stopped speaking.
Medical Officer Madel checked her breathing.
Clarisse asked softly,
"What is the basis for your judgment that it was not a Cathedral Office uniform?"
Eloise moved her fingers slightly.
"The fastening was reversed. Cathedral Office uniforms fasten from left to right. That sleeve fastened from right to left. I... learned such things in House Berhardt's etiquette training."
For the first time, Arsene's expression completely hardened.
This was information even he had not known.
Clarisse's pen moved quickly.
"White sleeve. Silver embroidery. Similar to a Cathedral Office uniform, but the fastening direction was reversed. Possibility of disguise."
A system window appeared.
[New clue: White sleeve with reversed fastening]
[Possibility of a disguise resembling a Cathedral Office uniform]
[Risk of Liana Bell's shield route reactivating has increased]
Just as I thought.
The fire we had failed to put out had not gone away.
It was spreading somewhere else.
Seria drew in a tiny breath.
Eloise looked at her.
"That is why I called for Lady Blanc."
Seria's eyes wavered.
"Me?"
"Yes."
Eloise's voice was weak, but clear.
"I thought that when I woke up, people would first talk not about why I collapsed, but about who hated me. And I thought Lady Blanc's name would be the first to come up."
Seria's lips stiffened.
"I..."
"I told you not to apologize yet," Eloise said quietly.
Seria immediately closed her mouth.
Eloise continued.
"I did not call Lady Blanc here to forgive her. Nor did I call her here to accuse her."
She steadied her breath.
"I called her here to say that I do not want what happened to me to become a battle over someone's reputation."
The room fell silent.
Those words were not only for Seria.
They were for Arsene too.
For me as well.
For Clarisse.
For Liana and Eveline outside.
And for the entire academy.
The victim had not answered yet.
Only now was the victim trying to become the owner of her own case.
Seria slowly lowered her head.
Not deeply.
Only enough that it would not look like an apology.
Only enough that it would look like acknowledgment.
"Understood," she said.
"I will not use what happened to Lady Eloise as material to restore my reputation."
Eloise looked at Seria for a moment.
Then she gave a tiny nod.
Clarisse wrote.
"Lady Seria Blanc accepts the prohibition against using the victim's case as material for restoring her own reputation."
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Accepts the victim-centered principle]
[Major branch of the ruin route delayed]
[However, a new conflict has arisen due to the disguise clue related to Liana Bell]
Eloise closed her eyes again.
Medical Officer Madel spoke at once.
"That is enough."
Clarisse stopped her pen.
"First statement concluded."
Arsene tried to step forward.
With her eyes closed, Eloise said,
"Brother."
Arsene stopped.
"Please do not use my words to target anyone first."
Arsene said nothing.
For the first time, he truly said nothing.
Eloise added in a tiny voice,
"I did not wake up so that someone else could speak for me."
With those words, every conversation in the room ended.
We left the infirmary.
As soon as the door closed, Eveline and Liana approached.
"What happened?" Eveline asked.
Liana did not ask.
But her face was already full of questions.
I started to answer, then stopped.
Eloise's words belonged to Eloise.
How much could I say?
Clarisse spoke first.
"The scope of a summarized disclosure will be decided after the speaker's approval. However, a clue that affects the direction of the investigation has been confirmed."
Liana's hand stiffened.
"Is it a clue related to the Cathedral Office?"
Clarisse looked at Liana.
"It is the possibility of a disguise resembling a Cathedral Office uniform. It is not being conclusively attributed to the responsibility of Cathedral Office candidates."
Liana slowly nodded.
"I will not make assumptions."
She said that, but her face had gone white.
Arsene spoke behind us.
"How truly strange."
His voice was low.
Some of his earlier polite smile had disappeared.
"Someone made my sister collapse, someone else made the Cathedral Office look suspicious, and someone made Lady Blanc the easiest target."
He looked at me.
"Leon Cart. Have you ever seen a board like this?"
I had.
In the game.
Seven times, even.
But not this same board.
Not even a similar one.
This time, too much had changed.
I answered.
"I have not."
It was not a lie.
This board was a first.
Arsene looked as though he did not believe my answer.
But he did not ask further.
Instead, Clarisse said,
"The investigation will transition into a joint effort between the Archives Office and the infirmary. Related candidates are forbidden from making private contact."
Eveline immediately asked,
"Does that include us?"
"Yes."
"Liana too?"
"Yes."
Liana nodded quietly.
"I accept that."
A system window appeared.
[Event: The Awakened Victim]
[First result: Statement secured]
[New investigative axis: White sleeve with reversed fastening]
[Danger]
[Liana Bell's shield route may reignite due to the Cathedral Office disguise clue.]
I looked at the infirmary door.
Eloise had awakened.
Seria had not apologized.
For the first time, Arsene had swallowed his words.
Liana was in danger again.
A reprieve came with responsibility.
Today, Seria had accepted the first piece of that responsibility.
And the next piece would likely go to Liana.
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