The Red-Eyed Ghost

（Katerina’s Perspective）

“Hey… did you know? Lately, there’s been a red-eyed ghost wandering the school?”

In the darkness, Olivia shone a flashlight upward from below her chin, creating a mysterious and terrifying atmosphere.

…To tell a ghost story, she even drew the curtains tightly in broad daylight. It was far too deliberate.

Come to think of it, isn’t this usually Margaret’s role?

“I heard that everyone who sees it loses consciousness after immense suffering. Their memories become blurry, leaving only fear…

Without a doubt, this is the ghost’s curse!”

As she said this, Olivia suddenly thrust her face close to Eileen’s.

“Ei—!”

With a shiver, Eileen quickly pressed against me, her little hands gripping my clothes, too afraid to let go.

…Eileen is still terrified of ghost stories as always.

Well, she’s soft and nice to hold… Actually, I should scare her even more!

I thought, covering my nose.

“Alright, alright, stop scaring Miss Eileen.”

Unexpectedly, Prince Edwin came to the rescue.

He pulled open the curtains.

With sunlight’s protection, Eileen stopped trembling and loosened her grip on me.

My soft, warm comfort!

I glared at him angrily.

Can’t this guy read the room?

No… precisely because he can read the room, he said that to save her.

He’s always been perceptive… probably a skill born from his background.

But I’ve never hated that perceptiveness of his more than right now!

“Ahem. Anyway, there’s a strange person causing trouble on campus.

Several students have been attacked. Without exception, they all lost their memories of the incident—only remembering a pair of red eyes.

So today, your assignment is to investigate the true culprit behind these attacks.”

“…Are you sure it’s okay to leave those subjugation requests untouched?”

In fact, we still had some unfinished subjugation requests, including some public dangerous monsters.

Well… that said, for Eileen and me, they’re a piece of cake.

Especially lately—for some reason, Eileen’s magic has improved drastically, making those subjugations as easy as drinking water.

While I was spacing out, Prince Edwin explained:

“The situation is urgent, so it needs priority. But since you’ve already completed most of them, the remaining requests aren’t that pressing. Don’t worry too much.”

“I understand. Leave it to us.”

“Good. Safe travels.”

With Prince Edwin’s blessing, Eileen and I left the student council room.

…

（Still Katerina’s Perspective）

“Do you remember the details of that night?”

The boy standing before us was the first victim.

That’s why I decided to ask him about what happened.

“Hey, isn’t this the scumbag who picked on Miss Donix the other day?”

“I… I don’t know…”

His arrogant, overbearing attitude from that day was gone. Now he hugged his large frame, trembling like a newborn fawn.

“Could you please try harder to recall?”

“Ah… ah… ah…”

He closed his eyes, seeming to remember… but before long, he suddenly grabbed his head, his face twisting into a grimace, pained groans leaking from his lips…

It was as if his body was rejecting the memory.

“No… no! Don’t stare at me!!”

He collapsed to his knees, giving up on recollection, gasping heavily.

“Haa… haa…”

Eileen crouched down to pat his back to ease his symptoms…

Though I was a bit annoyed, it would be troublesome if something happened to him, so I allowed it for now. I’d make it up to Eileen later.

“Probably PTSD… In this state, we can’t get any more information.”

Eileen made her judgment.

So it’s no good after all…

“Let’s go ask the other victims.”

（Still Katerina’s Perspective）

“In the end… we got no useful info?”

We interrogated every victim, but didn’t get a single word of intel.

All of them showed fear toward their memories…

According to some, whenever they tried to recall that night, a pair of red eyes would appear in their mind, their mental pressure skyrocketing, and even breathing became difficult.

If it were just one person, it might be understandable… But for all of them to react this way was too strange.

However, questioning these people probably won’t work…

Well, if it were useful, Prince Edwin and the others would have found the culprit already, right?

Let’s change our approach and start investigating those around them.

“Huh? Isn’t that Miss Eileen and Miss Anis? Hey! Hello!”

Just as I was thinking that, someone shouted in the distance.

That voice was so loud, it could probably be heard five kilometers away…

The moment Eileen and I turned around, a green-haired maid came running up to us with a “pata-pata” sound.

Hey hey hey, didn’t you leave Miss Donix behind?

As a maid, not only do you not let your mistress walk ahead, but you even abandon her?

I could hardly believe my eyes.

Eileen sighed and patted my shoulder.

“Can’t be helped, young lady… That’s just how she is.”

“What are you up to?”

“We’re investigating the school rumors.”

Hearing this, Calu’s blue eyes widened.

“Ehh—! Investigating rumors? Sounds fun!”

“If only it were that fun… Right now, we have no leads at all.”

“Miss Anis… are you troubled?”

At that moment, Miss Donix caught up… She was panting, so she must have run over.

“But shouldn’t she be blind? Running isn’t dangerous?”

Although the path looked flat, there could be pebbles or dips that trip someone up.

Why aren’t they worried about this at all? Are they just carefree?

“In that case… let us help you!”

Her proposal snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Consider it a return gift for helping me the other day!”

This was originally student council work, so it wasn’t right to involve outsiders… But right now we were at a dead end, and the investigation needed lots of manpower. If only Eileen and I searched, who knows how long it would take.

Though they seemed unreliable, they were indeed valuable help.

After a brief thought, I nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll leave it to you all.”