Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: 5. Confusion (5)
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No need to overthink it. There's no reason to refuse the goodwill that's been offered with such effort.
To sum it up, Kaen was still the prime suspect for now.
The others had all shown behaviors too suspicious to brush off.
This should be enough.
With a sigh that swept away my stray thoughts, I tuned into the Saintess's voice.
"Baekya-nim?"
"Yes. It was written right there at the beginning of the novel. That she's been tormenting Luke because she wants to be raped."
"R-Rape... um, yeah."
I was a little taken aback by the Saintess's surprisingly blunt wording.
Rape? Even she, who usually indulged in dirty talk, had never used a word that extreme.
The crudest she'd gotten was pussy or cock.
Why did hearing something like that from the Saintess's mouth make me feel guilty, like I'd sinned—even though I hadn't forced her to say it?
With all I'd done, heaven in this life was off the table anyway.
I shot a glare at the clock past midnight and said,
"...She did torment me quite a bit. Especially physically, compared to the others."
"Right? Just yesterday, she smashed my shoulder."
"...Hmm."
"Doesn't it smell super suspicious?"
The Saintess's eyes sparkled like it was her own case as she pushed her "Baekya author theory."
My response to that?
"Well..."
"Pardon?"
It was utterly lukewarm.
If I'd reached that conclusion on my own, fine—but with her insisting so strongly beside me that Baekya had to be the author, it made me poke at the oddities first.
Was this contrarian streak?
Not quite the perfect fit, but it wasn't a bad thing anyway.
When someone's that fired up, you don't just nod along—you assess the situation coolly.
Beyond the degree of torment, there were still plenty of details to scrutinize one by one.
"But that's all there is to it."
Consider Kaen's case.
She'd normally trail after me clingily, being a nuisance, until she finally crossed the line by showing up at my room.
With Yuzu, who'd tried to burn me this time, she'd tested my patience with all sorts of drugs before finally dropping formal speech while pretending to be aroused as I grabbed her breast.
But Baekya?
Aside from beating me senseless on the training grounds every sparring session until I was sprawled on the floor, nothing particularly suspicious stood out.
If I had to nitpick, her calling me to the library under the pretense of sex ed matched a scene from the erotic novel to some extent,
and afterward, when I massaged her shoulder, she showed more sensitivity than expected...
But compared to Kaen barging straight into my room or Yuzu calling me "Luke-nim" with her own mouth, it felt less suspicious—more like coincidences piling up.
"'All there is'? Isn't this plenty suspicious?"
"There are too many suspects if we base it just on the tormenting."
"I-Is that so?"
"It's faster to count the ones who didn't do it. Actually, no need to count at all."
"Huh? No way. Even if others didn't, I did. That's one."
The Saintess, half-lidded with fatigue as she crossed her arms, furrowed her brows.
It felt like her usual teasing, but the sly grin she always wore in those moments was nowhere on her lips.
Within seconds, I reached one conclusion.
"You weren't even aware you were tormenting me?"
"...Me? You're not joking, right?"
"Yes."
She nodded, then widened her eyes in disbelief.
"I've only ever had fun chats with you this whole time? Compared to the other girls, wasn't I a pretty decent noble?"
"Sure, compared to Baekya-nim or Yuzu-nim, it was nothing... But you never noticed how hard it was for me to respond?"
"Of course. What was there to be troubled about in the first place?"
"Do you remember what you said around three days ago?"
"...Yin-yang treatment?"
"Maybe at first, but by the middle, it was nonstop cock treatment."
"S-So? Guys love that kind of naughty talk anyway. Especially when a girl like me brings it up first—they should love it even more, right?"
Unlike her usual composure, words tumbled out of the Saintess in a rush.
She seemed to catch herself getting worked up and demurely sipped the last of her cooling tea.
Well, she wasn't entirely wrong.
I liked it, at least. Others, who knows.
But that only held for equals chatting.
Flip the genders, and it was like a countess's son prattling about pussies and cocks to an innocent country girl.
Chiming in with "Yeah, sure" felt off,
but pushing back with "Isn't that a bit much?" felt awkward too.
The Saintess apparently hadn't picked up on that subtle vibe all this time.
"Saintess-nim."
"Yes."
"I've never had the chance to say it before, but I don't like that stuff. ...Not really."
My voice, packed with lies, crossed the table.
Only after saying it did I realize my mistake—but no taking it back.
Then why are you hunting down the erotic novel author? Because you want to go wild with the author sexually?
One simple counter like that would've dismantled it instantly.
No choice but to tack on a late escape hatch.
Not really.
"...?"
But the Saintess just stared blankly into my eyes.
For some reason, her clear ice-blue irises seemed to tremble faintly.
Before I could grasp what that meant, her fidgeting lips parted slightly.
"Y-You... disliked naughty stuff?"
"..."
This time, my lips pressed shut tight.
I should seize the chance to refine my words.
But across from me, the Saintess's cheeks flushed pink, drawing my attention.
Cheeks that hadn't changed even when she once asked my preferred pussy style.
Cheeks that stayed the same, dimples only deepening, when I'd hastily answered I liked bare ones to end the talk quick.
They were red.
Very red.
"...As I said, I don't like it much. Not that I'm completely uninterested."
"..."
"We're literally searching for the erotic novel author together right now. If I had zero sex drive, why bother with this?"
Why was I saying all this?
The rebuttal should've come from her, but it spilled from my mouth instead.
Fortunately, her silence didn't last.
Ahem. She cleared her throat and met my eyes with her usual gaze.
Her eyes seemed a touch red-rimmed too, along with her cheeks.
Hard to tell with how red her face was.
"...Anyway, I still think Baekya-nim is the most suspicious."
"Any other reasons?"
An awkwardly shifted topic.
Still, not wanting to miss the chance, I forced a question.
"For one, she's the one who tormented Luke the most."
"If we're just talking physical pain, yeah."
The "mental education" from the princesses during their academy days flashed briefly, but I kept it to myself.
"Plus, Baekya-nim writes beautifully. Probably on par with those two princesses."
I nodded slightly.
I'd seen Baekya—who didn't even know what fondling was—scribble briefly in the notebook when she came for sex ed.
Not as polished as the novel since it wasn't formal writing, but
still, unmistakably well-written.
"I could probably write that well if I put in the effort, stroke by stroke... Ah, not saying I did."
"..."
"Anyway, judging just by handwriting evidence, the top candidates are those three."
The Saintess stretched her hand toward me, raising three fingers.
She counted them off one by one.
"Baekya. Sern von Urgan. Iris van Yukrasia. Has to be one of them."
"Hmm..."
"One of them wants to give Luke her everything—even her back hole. Factor in 'how much torment,' and Baekya-nim tops the list."
Reciting her theory confidently, as if it were fact, she flashed her usual smile in a "What do you think?" pose.
Looked forced to erase the earlier awkwardness.
I appreciated the effort, but now wasn't the time.
A few things left to confirm.
"Saintess-nim, mind if I ask something?"
"Go ahead. Ask away."
If her theory held, one massive flaw emerged.
A flaw that could endanger my life if mishandled.
"Setting aside Baekya-nim, have you ever seen Yuzu-nim's handwriting?"
"No. She never leaves the research building, so I haven't run into her much since enrollment. But she's probably good at it, right? Twin Wings, was it? That's duke-level nobility in human terms."
The elven nobility of the World Tree—a closed society where elves made up 100% of the population—differed sharply from humans'.
With minimal foreign exchange barring major events, it had evolved independently for centuries.
Social structures overlapped in many ways, but titles diverged.
Not from racism or anything.
Elves as a race were just shy around other species.
They only sent mana-awakened folk or academy exchange students when necessary.
But right now, Yuzu's handwriting wasn't the priority—something slightly more crucial remained.
"Then... Kaen's handwriting too..."
Northern Archduchess.
From the Dandelrion house, sole guardians of the Renas Empire's northern front—she had to write impeccably.
Stunningly so.
She had to.
For some reason, unease stirred.
"Oh. I've seen Kaen-nim's up close. Back when you passed out, she carried you here and scribbled 'idiot' on your cheek."
"On my cheek?"
"Yes. I erased it, of course, but her handwriting was..."
She beamed innocently, oblivious to my intent.
"Awfully chicken-scratchy. It suited her so cutely. Her grip on the pen was weird too..."
"..."
"So, no need to worry about Kaen-nim at all."
"..."
"Among those at the academy now, the possibles are Yuzu-nim and Baekya-nim. I still lean toward Baekya-nim..."
"..."