Do not look at the teacher.
Once I wrote those words on the blackboard, the sentence hurt more than I expected.
If I was the one teaching them, it was only natural for my students to look at me.
When they wanted to confirm an answer.
When they wanted to know whether they were wrong.
When they were anxious.
When they had to hold back their anger.
But in tomorrow’s interrogation chamber, that very naturalness would become evidence.
`Leon Cart instructed their answers.`
`The candidates watched for his reaction.`
`It was collusion in a private classroom.`
That was the picture our opponents wanted.
I stood before the blackboard, and the four of them looked toward me.
Then, no matter how much we claimed independence with our words, we would lose in the scene itself.
Aristocratic society remembered scenes longer than words.
I wrote a second line beneath it.
`Places you may look while answering: questioner / recorder / your own materials / principle statement`
Eveline raised her hand.
"What about the ceiling?"
"Possible, but avoid it. It looks like you are trying to escape."
"The floor?"
"It looks like remorse."
"Outside the window?"
"It makes you look uninterested."
Eveline looked genuinely irritated.
"Then there is nowhere to look."
"That is why I am specifying them. The questioner, the recorder, your own materials, and the principle statement."
Adela spoke.
"Eye contact is part of protocol, too."
"That is right."
"But you are weak when it comes to the protocol of eye contact, Teacher."
"This is candidate training right now."
"Your weaknesses spread to the candidates as well."
That hurt.
It hurt even more because it was accurate.
Seria spoke quietly.
"Lady Carmion is unusually strict with you today, Teacher."
Adela replied as if it were nothing.
"It is structural distrust that began with the coat."
Eveline finally burst out laughing.
Liana covered her mouth as well.
Martin gripped his pen tightly to keep himself from laughing.
Clarisse did not write it down.
Apparently, she had decided it was not important.
Thank you.
I clapped my hands.
"These are the training rules. If you look in my direction while answering, that answer will be stopped and restarted."
Eveline asked,
"What if you deliberately make a strange face?"
"I will manage my expression, too."
Adela immediately said,
"That is difficult to trust. Your eyebrows move ever so slightly when you are calculating something."
"You noticed that too?"
"Yes."
Terrifying.
Social villainesses were terrifying.
I thought for a moment.
Then I walked away from beside the blackboard toward the back.
To a position completely outside the four girls’ field of vision.
At the rear of the lecture hall, farther to the side than the observation seats.
A blind spot between the door and the blackboard.
"Then I will stand where you cannot see me."
Liana immediately looked anxious.
Eveline also tried to turn her head.
Seria’s fingertips stopped moving, while Adela checked my position.
I spoke.
"From now on, do not turn your heads."
The four of them froze.
Good.
They were struggling.
Which was why they had to do it.
Martin spoke from the recorder’s desk.
"Should I record their eye movements too?"
Clarisse replied,
"Yes. But write it as observation, not evaluation. Record only `how many times each person looked toward the teacher.`"
Martin nodded.
"Understood."
Kaiden raised his hand.
This time, he raised his hand before speaking.
The training was having an effect.
Clarisse started to look at me, then stopped.
Because I was standing where she could not see me.
"Instructor, the observer requests permission to speak."
I spoke from the back.
"Granted. One sentence."
Kaiden smiled.
"May I take the role of interrogator?"
The atmosphere in the lecture hall changed immediately.
A prince as the interrogator.
Bad.
Dangerous.
But its practical value was unmatched.
Arsene raised his hand.
"I request to serve as assistant interrogator as well."
Worse.
More dangerous.
But necessary all the same.
I fell silent for a moment.
The four girls were positioned where they could not see me.
Even so, none of them turned their heads.
Good.
"Granted. However, neither of you may make evaluative remarks after a question. The candidate answers, Martin records, and Clarisse only confirms procedural violations."
Kaiden said,
"Accepted."
Arsene said as well,
"Accepted."
Martin wrote it down.
His hand moved a little faster.
I had thought tension would slow him down, but Martin was the opposite.
He would make a fine ledger copyist.
The first subject was Eveline.
Kaiden walked to the front.
He deliberately smiled gently.
The gentler a prince’s smile was, the more pressure it carried.
"Candidate Eveline Rosette. You acknowledged the possibility that you might resort to violence. Then do you agree to disarm before entering tomorrow’s interrogation chamber?"
A good question.
Sharp.
Disarmament.
For Eveline, it was a matter of pride.
At the same time, it was a matter of safety.
Eveline’s eyes wavered.
Instinctively, she tried to look toward me.
Her head moved the slightest amount.
Martin said,
"One eye movement detected. Shall we stop?"
Eveline stopped.
"Damn it."
Clarisse said,
"That would be inappropriate in an official interrogation."
"I know. Correction."
Eveline drew in a breath.
"My previous response was profanity. I will answer again."
Good.
She had immediately corrected her wrong answer.
"I will answer after confirming the scope. I would like to know whether the disarmament is a procedure meant to reduce my potential for violence, or a public measure meant to diminish the honor of House Rosette."
Kaiden’s eyes smiled.
But he did not evaluate her.
He was forbidden from speaking.
Arsene asked a follow-up question.
"If the disarmament is for safety, do you agree?"
This time, Eveline did not look at me.
She looked at the questioner.
"I agree. However, the same standard must apply to every other armed candidate. If it is used solely to publicly humiliate me, I will request that it be entered into the record."
Good.
Very good.
Martin wrote.
`Candidate Eveline Rosette: Conditional agreement to disarmament. Demands equal standards. Requests a record if publicly humiliated.`
A system window appeared.
`[Eveline Rosette: Desire to check Leon occurred once / Correction successful]`
`[Gaze Independence Training initiated]`
The second was Liana.
Arsene asked the question.
This was his turn.
"Candidate Liana Bell. You refused to submit private letters in relation to the Cathedral official disguise clue. Does that mean a Saint Candidate is concealing letters?"
It was practically a noose, not a question.
Liana’s fingertips moved.
She tried to look toward me.
Only the slightest bit.
Martin said,
"Eye movement detected."
Liana stopped immediately.
She closed her eyes, then opened them.
"I will not stop. This is not a correction. I will adjust."
Good.
She had not answered yet.
Therefore, it was an adjustment, not a correction.
"That sentence sounds like pressure rather than a question. Please ask a question meant for confirmation."
Arsene asked,
"Here is a confirmation question. Who do you believe should determine the scope of materials necessary for the official comparison procedure?"
Liana looked at the recorder’s desk.
She looked at Martin.
Then she looked in Clarisse’s direction.
She did not look toward me.
"The records office, the infirmary, and the clothing consultant should each specify the necessary scope, and I will comply within that scope. I will not submit my entire private life first."
Good.
Arsene went quiet for a moment.
He probably wanted to press further.
But he was the assistant interrogator.
He was forbidden from making evaluative remarks.
Martin wrote.
`Candidate Liana Bell: Refuses wholesale submission of private materials. Will cooperate within the necessary scope of each procedure.`
A system window appeared.
`[Liana Bell: Desire to check Leon occurred once / Self-adjustment successful]`
`[Shielding Resistance Rate increased]`
The third was Seria.
Kaiden asked,
"Candidate Seria Blanc. You said you would prevent Candidate Eloise Berhardt’s case from becoming a battle of reputations. But is not your very existence already at the center of such a battle?"
Seria’s eyes wavered for the briefest moment.
That question was cruel.
Her very existence.
It was difficult to answer.
Because it meant that anything she did would be a problem.
Seria tried to raise the corner of her lips.
Then stopped.
And this time, she did not look at me.
Instead, she looked at the blackboard.
`Questioner / recorder / your own materials / principle statement`
Good.
"I will not answer a statement of judgment. Please present the scope of your question."
Kaiden’s eyes gleamed slightly.
"Then I will ask a question. When Candidate Eloise Berhardt’s name is mentioned in tomorrow’s interrogation chamber, what action will you take?"
Seria spoke slowly.
"First, I will confirm the scope of Lady Eloise’s statement. I will distinguish whether the matter I must answer concerns my past remarks, whether I carried out the poisoning incident, or whether I respected the victim’s wishes. And I will not apologize unless the victim asks for one."
Good.
Truly good.
Arsene raised his hand.
"Follow-up question."
Clarisse said,
"It is within the permitted scope."
Arsene asked,
"Does that mean that unless my sister requests it, you will refuse to apologize until the very end?"
Seria’s fingertips stiffened.
This one was genuinely difficult.
She breathed very slowly.
"No. It means I will prioritize whether the victim is ready to hear it over my own desire to apologize. It does not mean I will not apologize. It means I will not force my apology upon the victim."
Silence.
Arsene said nothing.
He may have wanted to, but he did not.
Martin wrote.
`Candidate Seria Blanc: Explains that this is not a refusal to apologize, but an effort to avoid forcing an apology upon the victim.`
A system window appeared.
`[Seria Blanc: Successfully answered a high-difficulty question without checking Leon]`
`[Trust Restoration Training Progress: 47% -> 50%]`
Fifty percent.
Halfway.
It was still dangerous, but we had made it halfway.
The last was Adela.
Arsene asked,
"Candidate Adela Carmion. You suddenly involved yourself in the case today, then immediately evaluated several candidates’ belongings and conduct. Are you perhaps using the incident to expand your own social influence?"
Adela’s eyes turned slightly cold.
The question was aggressive, but permissible.
Adela was the kind of person who could draw such suspicion.
If she were the Adela from the original story, she likely would have been doing exactly that.
Adela did not look toward me.
She looked at the edge of her own sleeve.
Apparently, she had chosen it as a focal point.
"I will answer after confirming the scope. Are you treating gaining influence and providing physical-evidence consultation as the same act?"
Arsene replied,
"I am asking whether the two may be connected."
"They can be connected."
Silence.
Adela did not evade the point.
"Clothing consultation can create social influence. It would be a lie to say I do not know that. That is why my consultation must be limited to items of physical evidence. I will not judge people’s reputations, the dignity of their houses, or their social suitability in the interrogation chamber."
Good.
Very good.
Kaiden raised his hand.
This time, he truly raised his hand.
"May I ask an additional question?"
I spoke from the back.
"Granted."
Kaiden asked,
"Then, Candidate Carmion. Who is the first person you should not evaluate?"
Adela paused.
Only briefly.
Then she answered.
"Myself."
The lecture hall fell quiet.
"If I first judge myself capable, I begin measuring others against a standard. If I first judge myself useless, I try too hard to prove myself. Both interfere with consultation."
Kaiden’s expression changed slightly.
It was no longer interest. It was closer to recognition.
Martin wrote.
`Candidate Adela Carmion: Must not evaluate herself first. Prevents excessive judgment and excessive self-proving.`
A system window appeared.
`[Adela Carmion: Recognizes the danger of judging herself]`
`[Further delay to entry into the Fake Dress Incident Route]`
Good.
All four succeeded once.
But the training was not over yet.
The real problem was that even if I stood where they could not see me, they still knew I was there.
The candidates had not looked at me, but they knew I was behind them.
That fact alone could mean they were leaning on me.
Martin cautiously raised his hand.
"May I speak?"
Clarisse asked,
"Is it an observation?"
"Yes."
"Speak."
Martin looked at the four girls.
"You did not look at the teacher just now. But before answering, all four of you were conscious of the direction where he was standing. You did not turn your heads, but your shoulders or hands reacted in that direction."
Ah.
Martin was truly observant.
Too observant.
One scholarship candidate was becoming an observer of the incident.
The kind of person nobles would hate.
Eveline said,
"Even that is a problem?"
Martin flinched, but did not back down.
"If tomorrow’s interrogator is sensitive, they may take issue with it. They could say, `They did not look at him, but they were conscious of him.`"
Seria spoke quietly.
"That is right. It may become an even worse accusation than looking. They could call it a hidden signal."
Liana’s face stiffened.
Adela gave a very small nod.
"There is still the issue of seating arrangements."
Right.
I stepped out from the back.
This time, the four girls could look at me.
The training had paused for the moment.
"Let us summarize. Tomorrow, I cannot sit behind all of you in the interrogation chamber."
Eveline immediately asked,
"Then where will you sit?"
"At a witness seat or an instructor’s seat separate from the candidates’ seats. Not merely outside your field of vision; it must be a seat assigned to an entirely different role."
Liana asked,
"Then will it not be difficult for you to help us?"
"It should be."
The words fell heavily over the lecture hall.
Seria said quietly,
"It has to be difficult for you to help us, so that our answers will look like our own answers."
"Yes."
Eveline looked displeased.
But she did not argue.
Kaiden rose from his seat.
"I will handle that matter."
Everyone looked at him.
Kaiden was not smiling.
He spoke like a prince.
"At tomorrow’s preliminary interrogation for temporary admission, Leon Cart will not sit at the assistance seat for the candidates’ side. As the named holder of the forged ledger and the instructor in charge, he will be placed at a separate witness seat. Any position where he can exchange glances with the four candidates will be avoided."
Liana’s hand stiffened.
Eveline’s face crumpled.
Seria lowered her eyes.
Adela seemed to already be drawing the seating arrangement in her head.
Arsene said,
"That is appropriate."
Those words felt even colder.
Clarisse said,
"I will record Your Highness’s proposed arrangement as an opinion on the temporary procedure. The final arrangement will be decided by the interrogating official."
Martin wrote it down.
A system window appeared.
`[Interrogation Chamber Variables Updated]`
`[Leon Cart: Increased possibility of being barred from the candidate assistance seat]`
`[Requirement for four candidates to answer independently strengthened]`
Do not look at the teacher.
That training had succeeded.
And because it had succeeded, tomorrow I would have to sit even farther away.
Good.
It was necessary.
Yet, strangely, seeing the four girls’ faces made me feel a little anxious.
I had taught them.
But tomorrow, they must not look at me.
If that was a teacher’s role.
It was a lonelier place than I had expected.
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