The last turn is the heaviest.
Because every word left behind by those before them piles up.
The first person’s cautious answer.
The second person’s denial.
The third person’s emotions.
All of it comes back to the fourth person as questions.
And if the fourth person is Seria Blanc, the interrogator will surely use that weight against her.
Seria is someone whose words are sharp.
Sharp words cut through heavy things.
But they can also cut things that must not be cut.
What Seria needs to do today is not cut.
It is to feel the weight without escaping into words.
A Secretariat employee opened the door.
"Candidate Seria Blanc. Please enter."
For a brief instant before the door shut, I saw Seria’s profile.
She was pale.
But she had not fallen apart.
She entered the interrogation room.
She sat in the center chair.
Her hands were neatly folded.
The corners of her lips were not raised.
That alone let me breathe a little easier.
It was a good sign that Seria was not smiling right now.
Her smile could be a shield at times, and a blade at others.
Today, both were dangerous.
Interrogator Barkhan Dello laid out the records of the three previous candidates side by side on his desk.
Deliberately where she could see them.
Adela.
Liana.
Eveline.
Three records.
She could not read them, but she could see that they were there.
Seria glanced at the papers once.
Then lowered her eyes.
Good.
Those papers were bait.
Barkhan spoke.
"Candidate Seria Blanc. This interrogation is a preliminary inquiry for provisional admission, a procedure intended to verify testimony concerning Candidate Eloise Berhardt and the candidate’s eligibility. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
Her voice was low.
Barkhan immediately asked his first question.
"The preceding candidates were all cautious in their attitudes toward you. They did not say they trusted you completely. Were you aware of that?"
Accumulated pressure from the very first question.
Seria’s fingertips moved ever so slightly.
They did not reach for the envelope inside her sleeve.
She was holding on for now.
"I have not verified that. I will answer within the scope of what I know."
Good.
"I did not hear the preceding candidates’ answers. Therefore, I cannot verify how they assessed me. What I can answer is that I used sharp words in the past, and those words damaged trust. I will not demand complete trust."
Barkhan’s eyes shifted slightly.
Good.
Seria had not demanded trust.
Elma, the recorder, wrote it down.
Barkhan continued.
"You will not demand complete trust. Then do you admit that you are unworthy of being trusted?"
A trap.
Not demanding trust and being unworthy of it were different things.
Seria answered.
"That sentence sounds like a judgment, not a question. Please ask the question you need answered."
Barkhan immediately changed course.
"Then I will ask. What can you offer for your testimony to be trusted?"
"I will not claim that my words alone are sufficient. Please review the records, the victim’s wishes, and the scope of what I personally witnessed together."
Good.
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully Resisted Pressure to Demand Trust]
[Trust Recovery Training Progress: 60% -> 62%]
Barkhan lifted the second record.
"Candidate Liana Bell admitted that your words could be hurtful."
Was that an exact quote?
He had probably taken only part of what she said.
Seria did not raise her eyes.
"I have not verified that. I will answer within the scope of what I know."
Good.
"I did not hear what Candidate Liana Bell said. However, I personally acknowledge that my words can be hurtful. That acknowledgment does not depend on another candidate’s answer."
Barkhan asked.
"Then did you hurt Candidate Eloise Berhardt?"
Seria paused.
She had to be careful here.
If she definitively said that she had hurt her, she would be speaking in the victim’s place about her feelings.
If she said she had not, it would be evading responsibility.
Seria touched the envelope inside her sleeve.
She did not open it.
"Whether I hurt her is for Lady Eloise to say. What I can say is that my past remarks may have made Lady Eloise appear to be an easy target. I will have that possibility examined."
Good.
Very good.
Barkhan tilted his head slightly.
"Possibility. Examination. You keep hiding behind words."
That was not a question.
A provocation.
The corner of Seria’s mouth moved just slightly.
Dangerous.
The old Seria would have shredded that sentence.
With something like, "It seems the interrogator has never stood before words himself."
But Seria stopped herself.
"That sentence is not a question. Please ask the question you need answered."
Good.
Barkhan was silent for a brief moment.
He must have known it, too.
That Seria had just swallowed a venomous retort.
"Then I will ask. Do you wish to apologize to Candidate Eloise Berhardt now?"
Silence.
It was one of the hardest questions.
Seria would want to apologize.
Not because she wanted to make herself feel lighter, but because she genuinely felt she had done wrong.
But Eloise had said she did not want to hear an apology.
Seria’s wish to apologize was true, and the victim’s statement that she did not want to hear it was true as well.
Neither could be erased.
Seria answered.
"Yes."
The interrogation room fell quiet.
"I want to apologize."
Barkhan’s eyes gleamed slightly.
Seria continued.
"But I will not apologize now. Because Lady Eloise said she was not yet ready to hear an apology. If my desire to apologize comes before the victim’s readiness, then it is not reflection, but an act to lessen my own burden."
Good.
Truly good.
Elma, the recorder’s pen, moved quickly.
Barkhan immediately asked,
"Then where is your reflection? If you neither speak nor apologize, how will you prove it?"
Seria steadied her breathing.
"I will not claim it as proof. Let my actions be examined. I will not use the victim’s testimony as material to restore my reputation, and I will have the possibility that my past remarks affected the structure of the incident verified through the records."
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully Avoided a Forced Apology]
[Victim’s Wishes Prioritized]
[Trust Recovery Training Progress: 62% -> 66%]
Sixty-six percent.
Good.
But it was not over yet.
Barkhan picked up the third record.
"Candidate Eveline Rosette said that she was afraid."
There was a high chance that was an exact quote.
But Seria had never heard it.
"I have not verified that answer. I will answer within the scope of what I know."
Barkhan said,
"If she said she was afraid, do you admit that you are someone who inspires fear in those around you?"
Ah.
That was cunning.
He had made Eveline’s fear Seria’s fault.
Without confirming what that fear was directed toward.
Seria raised her eyes.
"I have not verified what Candidate Eveline Rosette was afraid of. Therefore, I will not conclude that I was the object of that fear."
Good.
"However, I acknowledge that I can make those around me tense with my words. That is why, during this interrogation, I will not answer statements of judgment and will confirm the scope of each question."
Barkhan asked,
"Then are you making people tense even now?"
Seria was silent for a moment.
"I may be. That is why I am trying to establish whether my words can be put on record before deciding whether they are correct."
Good.
Kaiden leaned back slightly in the observer’s seat.
Not out of interest, but careful observation.
Arsene remained expressionless.
But one of his fingers pressed the armrest once.
Barkhan now moved to the final topic.
"I heard that Candidate Eloise Berhardt’s initial testimony included the statement that it was not your voice."
I heard.
The source was vague.
Seria immediately said,
"I have not verified that. I will answer within the scope of what I know."
"Will you not use that testimony as evidence in your favor?"
Seria’s expression stiffened ever so slightly.
This was difficult.
Eloise had said, "It was not Lady Blanc’s voice."
Those words favored Seria.
But if she used the victim’s words as material for her own defense, Eloise’s incident would become a tool to restore Seria’s reputation.
Yet if she did not use them at all, Seria would be disadvantaged.
How much could she use?
Seria took out the envelope from inside her sleeve.
This time, too, she did not open it.
She merely pressed it with her fingertips.
"That testimony is not mine."
The interrogation room fell quiet.
"It is Lady Eloise’s testimony. Therefore, I will not put it forward first as proof of my innocence. However, if it is included in the official record and the interrogator verifies its scope, then I will let it be examined only within the limits of what that testimony means."
Barkhan asked,
"What are those limits?"
"The limit that the voice was not mine. It is not proof that I had nothing to do with the entire incident."
Silence.
Seria had stated the limits of evidence favorable to herself.
It put her at a disadvantage.
But it was strong.
When you do not exaggerate what favors you, your words carry more weight.
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully Avoided Exaggerating Favorable Victim Testimony]
[Trust Recovery Training Progress: 66% -> 70%]
Seventy percent.
I slowly unclenched my hand in the witness seat.
Seria had made it to seventy.
But the interrogator was not about to stay still.
Barkhan brought out one final document.
I had never seen it before.
A small card with a black border.
It looked like official interrogation material, but the seal was unfamiliar.
Clarisse’s eyes shifted slightly.
She found it unfamiliar as well.
Barkhan said,
"Lastly, we will verify the candidate’s linguistic habits. Read this sentence and answer."
He placed the card before Seria.
It read:
"Accurate words bear no responsibility, even when they wound."
Ah.
A contaminated phrase.
The same kind as the Blue Chalk.
It looked like a maxim, but it was a sentence demanding an answer.
And it was aimed at Seria.
Seria’s eyes read the sentence.
For a brief instant, the corner of her mouth moved.
This sentence insulted Seria.
It resembled the way she had thought in the past.
As long as it was accurate, that was enough.
If the other person was hurt, it was because they were weak.
That kind of thinking.
Seria saw her former self upon the card.
The interrogation room was quiet.
Barkhan said,
"Answer."
Seria raised her head.
"That sentence is not a question."
Good.
Barkhan’s eyes hardened.
Seria continued.
"I will classify it. This is a statement of judgment intended to separate accuracy from responsibility. Since it is not phrased as a question, I will not answer it. Please ask the question you need answered."
Perfect.
Last night’s training had carried straight into the real thing.
Barkhan said,
"Then I will ask. When accurate words cause hurt, does the person who said them bear responsibility?"
Seria answered.
"They may. Accuracy does not erase responsibility. However, the scope of responsibility must be examined through the content of the words, the circumstances, the other person’s wishes, and the response afterward."
"Then do you bear responsibility?"
"Let it be examined."
Short.
Good.
Barkhan did not ask any further questions.
He must have known, too.
If he pressed any further here, it would become pressure rather than an interrogation.
And Seria was already prepared to turn that pressure into a matter of record.
Elma, the recorder, wrote down the final sentence.
"Candidate Seria Blanc. You may leave."
Seria rose.
She lowered her head.
She did not look at me.
She did not look at Arsene, either.
Nor did she look at Kaiden.
The door opened.
Seria left.
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Passed Key Branch]
[Major Branch of the Venomous-Tongue Ruin Route Delayed]
[Trust Recovery Training Progress: 70%]
[Fourth Individual Interrogation: Conditionally Passed]
All four of them held on.
Adela.
Liana.
Eveline.
Seria.
In their own ways.
With their own words.
Without looking at me.
Without answering for one another.
I slowly let out a breath in the witness seat.
Then Interrogator Barkhan spoke.
"This concludes the individual interrogations of the candidates."
Was it over?
No.
There was no way it could be.
Barkhan received a fresh sheet of paper from the recorder.
Then he said,
"We will now proceed to the witness interrogation of the instructor in charge, Leon Cart."
The air in the interrogation room sank once again.
As expected.
If the students had held on, the teacher was next.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register