Identity Exposed
I stepped out of the concert hall.
Tilting my head toward the sky, I took a deep breath.
'Hoo... That feels good. I can finally breathe again.'
I'd been teaching classes for over a decade, yet somehow I'd still gotten that nervous. What a joke.
When I lowered my head and glanced around, I saw countless people laughing and chatting happily. Most of them were commoners. The academy's founding festival was open to everyone for five full days.
Families and groups of friends wandered together, enjoying the festivities.
I slipped into the crowd, wanting to savor this rare moment of solitude.
Or at least, I tried to.
Squeeze.
Someone tugged at my clothes. I turned my head.
There stood a child with hair as pure white as fresh snow piled on a winter rooftop. He looked about eighteen or nineteen, with bright blue eyes. When our gazes met, he flashed me a bright smile.
Then he spoke in a whisper only I could hear.
"Aslan?"
"Kyaa...! Isabel, come on in♥♥"
"Isabel~"
At her friends' cheers, the woman with golden hair gave a small smile.
She still looked quite young, with a relatively petite frame. Her eyes were a vivid green, like a summer meadow captured in her gaze. This was Isabel Grayport, currently a third-year student at the academy.
The youngest daughter of the family that guarded the southern gate of the capital. At the academy, she was the self-appointed enforcer who kept the commoner students in line.
Her appearance made the girls who usually hung around her squeal with delight, while the commoners trembled in fear and quickly moved out of her way.
"Did you guys behave while I was gone?!"
"Hehe. Yeah. It was so peaceful without you, I thought I was gonna die."
"Totally."
"Why the hell would you be happy about that?"
When Isabel asked, one of the girls answered on their behalf.
"Not us. The commoner bastards. Snicker."
Isabel and her group decided to throw a private party to celebrate their reunion.
She told the maid who had followed her to relay the message to her family.
"Miss, are you really sure this is okay?"
"Yeah. Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to get lost in the academy, or get into any trouble, right?"
"That's right, miss. Isabel's magic skills are among the top five in the entire third year~"
The students were clearly excited.
They grabbed some snacks with familiar ease and headed toward Isabel's dorm. After all, her room was the only place big enough for seven people to eat and drink comfortably.
But on the way there, a child suddenly came running and playing, accidentally crashing straight into Isabel.
The child had been carrying food, and as a result, Isabel's clothes were now completely ruined, covered in sticky sauce.
"Ah..."
A brief silence fell.
A woman who appeared to be the child's older sister rushed over and dropped to her knees, begging for forgiveness.
"I-I'm so sorry...! Please forgive us! J-just spare our lives...!"
The little boy, who looked no older than seven, became terrified by his sister's behavior and burst into tears. Still, he knelt beside her and apologized as well. Seeing his sister's actions, he had realized the person before them was a noble.
Isabel looked down at her dress.
Fuck... It's annoying, but I'll just let them go.
"Get lost. While I'm still asking nicely."
But her friends seemed to have other ideas.
"Isabel. You're really just going to let them walk away?"
"Yeah. We need to make an example out of them."
"Look around."
At her friends' words, Isabel scanned her surroundings.
Countless people were watching them.
She fell into deep thought.
If she let them go now, the commoners would praise her mercy. The rumors would spread quickly, and her name and family would be celebrated everywhere.
But among her friends—and among the nobles—she would become a laughingstock. It would be unbecoming of a noble.
Yet the thought of making an example of them... Isabel still couldn't forget the terror from that day.
The things that had happened at the Christian estate.
She hadn't told anyone about what occurred there. She couldn't.
Only she and Christian knew the truth.
'It definitely looked like he was retaliating for me bullying the commoner students.'
There was no reason for him to mimic the squeals of a horny pig or emphasize that she was a commoner.
She hadn't wanted to come to this festival in the first place, but staying cooped up any longer would have drawn too much attention from her family.
Still, the fear from that day hadn't faded.
'I'm also worried about that Jeffrey guy suddenly disappearing.'
For various reasons, she had intended to simply forgive them. But her friends had already taken action.
They dragged the woman and her little brother toward the academy dorms. Isabel simply followed along with a whatever-happens-happens attitude.
'Yeah. It's not like anything serious will happen...'
Slap.
Her head snapped to the side.
Every time one of the women swung her arm, the woman's head in front of her jerked violently left and right.
The other girls watching laughed. The little boy cried. And Isabel simply wore an expressionless face.
Blood streamed from the woman's nose and mouth.
She was completely naked from head to toe, her body covered in bruises as dark as her face.
"I mean... just how weak did we look that your little brother's friend would ruin our Isabel's clothes like this? Hm?"
"I-I'm... s-sorry... Please forgive me..."
"Do you even realize that this dress is worth more than both your pathetic lives combined?!"
"P-please... just spare our lives..."
When the woman knelt and grabbed the foot of the one abusing her, another girl kicked her away.
She tumbled across the floor, crashing into furniture and knocking things over.
"What are you going to do about it? Huh? Instead of that, why don't you pay for it with money? Isabel, how much did this cost again?"
"Three hundred and forty gold."
"You heard her?"
At those words, the beaten woman slammed her head to the floor and lay flat on her stomach.
Even one gold coin was enough for a commoner family to live comfortably for an entire year.
Tears streamed down her face as she begged, overwhelmed by humiliation and the cruel reality she faced.
"P-please... have mercy... Please..."
"M-me too... I b-beg you..."
The little boy who had been crying on the side also prostrated himself again.
The women laughed and sipped their drinks at the sight.
Then one of them spoke up.
"Then how about this? What's her name again... our junior?"
"Ah, it's Aisila. But what...?"
"We'll introduce you to a brothel. You can work there for the rest of your life to pay it off. How's that sound?"
"T-that's..."
"Since you're an academy graduate, you might even get premium treatment, you know?"
"Ooh! Marianne, that's a great idea!"
At the girl named Marianne's suggestion, her friends cheered and laughed along.
Aisila could only watch them with tears in her eyes.
To her, they were no different from demons, devils, or monsters from the demon race.
"So, what will it be? Do you want to get beaten to death and buried over there with your little brother? Or will you sacrifice yourself so at least he can live?"
"I-I..."
There was no way out.
No other choice.
Only one path lay before her.
Aisila answered through her tears.
"I-I'll do it..."
But before she could finish, the people in front of her suddenly began collapsing one by one.
The women fell to the floor like puppets with their strings cut.
Even the little brother beside her collapsed with a thud.
A wave of drowsiness poured down along with a surge of mana. She tried to resist, but it was useless.
Her eyes slowly closed.
'N-no... I have to run away right now...'
By the time Aisila herself had fallen, only one person in the room remained fully conscious.
The woman with golden hair.
Her green eyes shook violently from side to side.
"It's been a while, hasn't it? Isabel."
She slowly turned her heavy head toward the door where the voice had come from.
Tap. Tap. The sound of dress shoes echoed as a figure wearing a black robe from head to toe appeared.
Even under the bright light, their face was hidden in shadow, but the moment she saw him, Isabel knew for certain.
This was the same man who had appeared at the Christian villa that day.
"It seems my warning back then wasn't enough, was it?"
It couldn't be.
Isabel shook her head desperately, denying it.
And then she cried.
"...Hic."
"Aslan?"
"What...?"
— What the hell? You know this kid?
'J-just shut up for a second.'
I tried to calm my chaotic mind as I stared at the child before me.
I knew that face all too well.
How could I not?
This child had played the most decisive role in why I was executed.
It was because of his secret communication with the enemy nation.
Of course, the child himself had done nothing wrong.
He was simply a pitiful boy taken as a hostage from another country.
He had no friends, no acquaintances, no one at all... which was why he had eventually come all the way to me, who was buried in magical research, just to have someone to talk to.
'That was how I first met him.'
But how did he know I was Aslan?
When I simply stared without answering, the boy laughed and spoke again.
"Are you confused?"
"Huh?"
"Aslan, you always go completely silent and shut your mouth when you're confused, don't you? Seeing you like this, you really are Aslan!"
I looked into his eyes.
They were filled with certainty.
How had he recognized me?
Then came the decisive clue from the child's mouth.
"By the way, who's that woman?"
"What woman?"
"The woman hiding between your legs, watching me."
— Hup!!
He saw Beres...?
How? I grabbed the boy's shoulders, about to demand an explanation, when a loud commotion erupted right beside us.
I tried to ignore it, but the noise was too loud. I had no choice but to turn and look.
I didn't know the full details, but a commoner girl and a young boy were on their knees, begging for mercy from noble female students.
And among them, I saw a familiar face.
— Huh? It's her. That Isabel or whatever girl!
She was dressed in a rather beautiful gown, but the expensive blue dress was now a mess, covered in food stains.
The situation was obvious at a glance.
In the end, the two commoners were dragged away by the nobles.
The people around them simply whispered among themselves, expressing their pity.
After watching for a moment, I turned my head again.
The blue-eyed boy was looking at me.
He wore a bright, playful smile, as if something about this was very amusing.
"Aren't you going to go?"
"Why would I..."
"Because that's what Aslan would do. The kind of person who pretends not to care but secretly looks after the students he taught. By the way, the one who was dragged away is Aisila."
Aisila...
A commoner student in her second year.
Despite the nobles constantly framing her and forcing her to attend their suspicious social gatherings with unknown purposes, she had never missed a single one of my magic classes. A truly passionate child.
"...Let's talk again later."
"Okay! I'll wait!"
Carrying a strange unease and many unanswered questions, I started walking.
For now, rescuing the two children who had been taken seemed like the priority.
Once we had put some distance between us, Beres spoke up.
— Who the hell was that kid?
'He's a prince from another country. Taken as a hostage... basically a political prisoner. But how did he see you? Do you have any idea?'
— I have a guess, but... wait, a prince? Aren't you mistaken?
'Why?'
— That kid's a girl.
'What...?'