Proof of Innocence
Success!
The place Charlotte had dragged me to by the collar, leaping through a dimensional rift, turned out to be none other than—
"Oh? So you're the type who likes things all cute and cozy?"
—her dorm room. Pink wallpaper caught the eye at once, along with a table cluttered with an assortment of tiny stuffed animals.
Charlotte ignored my remark completely. She sealed the dimensional rift in a hurry, then let out a long breath.
"We're safe from the assassin now."
Ah. She's still operating under that misunderstanding. What am I supposed to do about this?
Honestly, part of me wanted to keep teasing her a little longer in this state—but if I let things drag on, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to handle the fallout once the truth finally came out.
Right. Better just admit it was a prank and get it over with. No point making this bigger than it needs to be.
"Um… Miss Cervantes? There's something I need to tell you. Would that be all right?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Well… please don't get angry when you hear this. Not that I would ever dare think of the noble and merciful Lady Cervantes as some petty person who flies off the handle at every little thing, of course. It's simply that there might be room for misunderstanding, so…"
"It's fine. I won't get mad. Just spit it out."
No way. There's no chance she won't get mad.
"The truth is, I was only joking. I'm terribly sorry that my little selfishness caused Lady Cervantes to misunderstand."
I held my breath and watched her mana carefully for the slightest movement. The moment it so much as twitched, I was ready to drop into a full prostrate apology on the spot.
"Ah, that? I already knew."
She already knew? Then why react like that?
"The one who smacked me in the back of the head wasn't some assassin—it was you. It never made sense to begin with. An assassin, right in the middle of Luin Academy? And even if there were an assassin, they wouldn't go around playfully tapping people on the head."
Charlotte truly wasn't angry. Not even a flicker of agitation. She simply met my eyes as if she'd known all along and kept talking.
"That ability you used to mess with me—you got it from Merquin's blessing, didn't you?"
Her golden eyes were beautiful. For some reason, though, today they felt endlessly cold.
"I… beg your pardon?"
"In short, I was just playing along with you a little. I happened to need an excuse, and you went and handed me one yourself, so I had no reason to refuse."
"An excuse? What do you mean by—"
"An excuse to bring you into my dorm room. Thanks. Now I don't have to go through the trouble of inventing some weird pretext to drag you here."
Ah. So that was it. I'd been so taken in by Charlotte's outward demeanor that I'd momentarily forgotten exactly what kind of person she was.
Charlotte—a possessor who'd been reincarnated into Grand Fantasia, a calculating human who would eliminate any variable blocking her path by any means necessary.
"Listen carefully. I don't have any schedule for a while. Right now it's just you and me in here, and no one else is going to come in. For the time being, it's just the two of us."
"…What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm simply informing you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to act on all those feelings you've been harboring toward me."
Charlotte perched on the edge of her bed. Then she spread both arms wide, exposing the pale line of her throat, and asked me—
"Well? What are you going to do? Are you going to jump me?"
That pure, innocent face making such a provocative display.
…What's her angle?
Obviously every bit of this was an act.
Through Nature Realm, I could feel Charlotte's mana circulating at a speed that defied common sense.
In other words, the second she so much as flicked a finger, a barrage of magic would come crashing down on me.
Ahh.
I get it now. I understand why she's trying to seduce me.
The original Shion—the one before I possessed this body—had always been hopelessly in love with Charlotte.
That was why, once he became a demonkin, he pursued her even more aggressively… and eventually the tangled mess of love and obsession consumed him completely and drove him berserk.
Yes. If the original Shion had been standing here right now, he wouldn't have hesitated for a second. He would have thrown himself at her and unleashed every last desire.
Charlotte was exploiting exactly that.
To check whether I had truly lost my memories—or whether I was only pretending to—she had deliberately lured me into her dorm and was openly tempting me.
Because if I was only pretending to have lost my memories, that would be decisive proof that I was a demonkin.
Truly cunning.
Right. This is the kind of person she is.
Someone who would do anything and everything to stay two steps ahead—that was Charlotte.
"Lady Cervantes? You seem a little unwell today. Shall I escort you to the infirmary?"
"…You're really not going to jump me. Did you actually lose your memories?"
"Don't tell me you put on this completely uncharacteristic little show just because you suspected that? How unlike you, Lady Cervantes."
Charlotte sighed.
"I am an extremely suspicious person, after all. Sorry about that. Guess it wasn't true."
"I have absolutely no idea what 'wasn't true,' but… are you just teasing me right now?"
"There's stuff going on. Don't worry about it."
"By the way, I was truly startled. Would it be all right if I went around bragging about what happened today? I imagine every male student would be green with envy over being tempted by Lady Cervantes!"
"You think so? Just try spreading that around. I'll levitate you into the sky with magic and drop you."
She snapped back more irritably than usual, then hopped up from the bed. The slight way she bit her lip spoke volumes about her state of mind.
"Ugh, if this is how it's going to be, then there was no point setting all this up."
"Setting up? Did you acquire something fascinating?"
"Not fascinating, exactly. Just something a little expensive."
She walked over to the table, shoved the stuffed animals aside, and revealed a pure-white stone about the size of a fist.
Hmm. I feel like I've seen that somewhere before. Or am I imagining it?
"Oho, it certainly does look expensive. Don't tell me it's a present for me?"
"Are you kidding? Why would I give you a present? Maybe if you gave one to me."
"Haha, true—I can't really picture Lady Cervantes giving me a gift."
"Is that your way of saying I look like some antisocial hermit who never even does gift exchanges?"
"Wow, your powers of deduction are incredible. Have you considered becoming a detective instead of a mage?"
Charlotte glared at me for a moment, then looked away and gently ran her fingers over the white stone.
Ah. I remember now. That's the one.
That was the Proof of Innocence—a rather rare item. Using it was simple: just pour a small amount of mana into the stone and it activated on its own.
It spread a sacred aura through the surroundings and inflicted agony on evil beings. Players mainly used it on quests that involved hunting demonkin, demons, or black mages.
Of course, it was hard enough to obtain that I couldn't use it every playthrough. That aside, how on earth did she manage to get her hands on one?
Her reason for acquiring it was obvious at a glance. She wanted to determine whether I was a demonkin or not.
Admirable effort, but utterly pointless. Because I am not actually a demonkin.
"Hmm… Still, I went through so much trouble to get it. Seems a waste not to at least try it out, doesn't it?"
She glanced back and forth between me and the stone for a moment, then gently fed it a trickle of mana. The Proof of Innocence responded at once, flooding the area with sacred energy.
And then—
"…Ghk!"
A searing pain, as if my insides were on fire, tore through my entire body.
The moment the holy aura sank into me, it felt as though my very essence was being rejected.
As if this space itself refused to permit my presence.
I could feel it with absolute certainty. Right now, the Proof of Innocence was casting me out.
But why? I'm not a demonkin.
I knew better than anyone that I wasn't. After all, I had turned the tables and killed Letios—the very one who was supposed to have corrupted me.
And there was even clearer proof that I wasn't a demonkin.
If I were a demonkin… my status window would say "Demonkin Transformation."
But no matter how hard I looked, the words "Demonkin Transformation" were nowhere to be found on my status.
While my mind spun in confusion under the weight of that question, Charlotte's thin, trembling voice reached me.
"You…"
She murmured quietly as she stared at my face. Only then did I realize I had been wearing an expression of pure agony.
Crap. I forgot to keep my face under control.
"Pardon? Is there something on my face?"
I hastily plastered on my usual smile and tilted my head, but it was already far too late.
"……"
She looked at me without a word.
There was no shock on her face. No sense of betrayal. None of the negative emotions I might have expected.
"Right. Of course."
Just the look of someone who had given up on something.
"This damned world never lets me be happy."
I didn't need her to say what she had given up on. I already knew.
This is bad. Charlotte has completely decided that I'm a demonkin.
"Lady Cervantes. I believe you're laboring under a rather serious misunderstanding."
I forced the pain down with the power of my trait, Deceiver, and tried to calm her—but it was useless.
She rapidly arranged her mana and tore open a dimensional rift of enormous scale across the floor of the room.
Naturally, with no ability to fly, I plummeted straight into the rift.
"……!!"
And then I was falling from a sky so high it made my head spin.