An Overheard Secret

Margaret was about to offer us some advice, so the Young Miss and I naturally listened attentively.

She slowly began, “As I said, each victim was attacked in a strict order… To achieve that, the culprit must be very familiar with the school layout. We can preliminarily conclude that the perpetrator is someone within the school.”

“And the crimes are all at night… We can investigate which students went out at night during those days. Cross-reference that with students who witnessed the victims doing bad things during the day, and we can basically narrow down the first batch of suspects.”

She lowered her head, stroking her chin. “The victims all said they saw red eyes… So we can also pay attention to students with red irises. However, given that everyone’s reactions are surprisingly consistent… the culprit probably has the ability to directly interfere with the mind, so the red eyes might just be a decoy. Best to take that as a reference only.”

As expected of Margaret, her analysis was thorough, and her suggestions were quite useful.

“Miss Margaret is so smart!” Calu looked at Little Black Seaweed with eyes full of admiration.

Margaret puffed out her chest, which was even flatter than the Young Miss’s, looking smug. “Hehe, feel free to praise me more.”

“Clap clap clap!” “So amazing, so amazing~” The innocent Calu clapped and flattered Margaret…

“Indeed, very impressive.” Teresa also offered praise.

Looking at Little Black Seaweed, her chin was raised even higher… This overly smug look was both cute and a bit infuriating…

“Anyway… Now we have a clear direction for the investigation. Let’s divide the work first.” With Margaret’s analysis, the Young Miss simply arranged the investigation tasks for the three groups.

The Young Miss and I would investigate students who had gone out at night, while Teresa and Calu would investigate students who had witnessed the scenes. As for Margaret… since she contributed the most ideas, the Young Miss gave her the easiest task of compiling a list of students with red irises.

“It’s getting late… Let’s call it a day. We’ll continue the investigation tomorrow.” And so, our temporary investigation team disbanded.

The other four probably went straight back to their dorms… As a student council member, the Young Miss had the duty to compile today’s investigation results into a file and submit it to the student council. So, we headed straight to the student council room…

The Young Miss stopped in front of the door. Just as she raised her hand to knock, she suddenly froze, her right hand suspended in the air. “The door… is open?” Hearing this, I leaned in to look… Indeed, there was a noticeable gap.

Why was the student council room door left open? Had some scatterbrain forgotten to close it? Just as I was lost in thought, the voices of Prince Edwin and the others came from inside.

“Donix… one of the chief bishops of the Church of the Goddess. At this juncture, suddenly sending his daughter to the school? After the previous nun demon incident, the church’s credibility at the school plummeted.”

“Rather, perhaps it’s precisely because they want to restore credibility that they sent his daughter? But what’s puzzling is that Miss Donix is just here as an ordinary student…”

“Maybe there’s that reason, but the main trigger isn’t that.”

It seemed the Young Miss and I had accidentally overheard something significant. Should we really be listening to such private matters?

But the Young Miss showed no intention of leaving; instead, she eagerly widened the gap and peeked inside with great interest.

Inside, the three people were all dealing with piles of documents on the table, and of course, their mouths never stopped moving. But their talking didn’t affect their speed in handling the papers.

“Hmm? Windsor, do you know the inside story?”

“Yes… My family is quite familiar with another bishop, so I heard it from him… Actually, the eldest son of the Donix family—the legitimate heir—unfortunately passed away from illness last month.”

Prince Edwin was intrigued by this information. He looked up at Olivia, even forgetting his work.

“…You deliberately mentioned the heir, are you suggesting…”

“That’s right, Teresa Donix is the heir after the Donix young master. However…” Olivia also looked up, raised an eyebrow, and pretended to be mysterious.

“She was born to Bishop Donix and a prostitute. Because it was so indecent, he abandoned his daughter to an orphanage, letting unsuspecting nuns raise her for him.”

Rarely, Prince Edwin frowned, showing anger. “What a scumbag.”

“I feel the same… But if so, how do you know such a thing?” Hearing Claude’s doubt, Olivia just shrugged.

“I don’t know how that bishop found out… but the information is accurate. Let’s just say that the Church of the Goddess is not a monolith; many people have their own agendas, especially those who climb to the position of bishop.”

“…Even if this is true, isn’t it contradictory? If the identity is sensitive, why would that bishop bring his daughter back into public view?”

“That’s where the earlier content comes in. Because the heir is gone, the position of bishop in the Church of the Goddess requires a successor. Without an heir, he would be ousted from his current position… So Bishop Donix had to quickly find a new heir.”

“That person is Teresa Donix?” Hearing this, Olivia nodded slightly.

“He knows that this will expose his impurity, and the church may not recognize Teresa Donix as the heir, but the only lifeline before him forced him to grasp it tightly… even if it’s just a spider’s thread. The church is still dependent on the kingdom, and the previous incident greatly damaged the church’s prestige, so the Church of the Goddess is eager to regain the kingdom’s trust… Bishop Donix believes that by sending his daughter to the academy, letting her study for a while, gaining trust, and then becoming a nun to manage the church on campus, he can regain the kingdom’s support. With such outstanding contributions, Teresa would naturally become the legitimate heir of Donix.”

“…Filthy power struggle.” Prince Edwin’s expression grew darker. Standing at the center of the struggle for the throne, he probably empathized with Teresa’s situation…

Even the Young Miss, eavesdropping outside, clenched her fists in indignation.

“Well… Miss Donix seems to be quite happy living at the academy, so I guess we don’t need to worry too much about her.”

“Yeah… And she has her friends from the orphanage with her.”

“Ah, her maid? The one named Calu?”

“So Calu is also from the same orphanage as Teresa?” No wonder she didn’t have any maid training… Their relationship was completely unlike that of a normal mistress and servant. The doubts I had since our first meeting were finally answered through others’ words.