The Three Heroines Can't Hold a Meeting
Three heroines calling my name at once brought an odd sense of pressure. The physical restraint was quite real.
Laetitia’s hand rested on my left, Aria’s firm grip on my right. Camilla blocked the front with her earnest gaze.
No escape route existed.
The old chapel wall stood behind me.
The saint candidate stood ahead.
A ducal daughter and the student council president flanked me on either side.
I made a calm assessment.
Should I play dead?
The odds were low.
Laetitia would check my cooling pulse, Aria would unfold emergency procedures and cause a scene, and Camilla would raise a prayer barrier for my sake.
“First, let’s go in order.”
“My stigma comes first.”
“The festival inspection records come first. The stigma is a private matter, but the festival budget embezzlement suspicion is a public one.”
“If I go berserk, many people will die.”
“It’s the same for me, my lady.”
Camilla cautiously raised her hand.
“I can wait my turn. It’s really fine. If I just endure a little longer…”
Laetitia, Aria, and I spoke at the same time.
“Don’t say that.”
Camilla flinched and stiffened.
I pressed my forehead.
A strange sense of solidarity was forming.
In a direction I did not welcome at all.
“All right. Looking at the three problems separately will only lead to disaster.”
“Why?”
“Because the notebook said so.”
“It would be difficult to accept that notebook as legal evidence.”
“I don’t want to treat my own life as legal evidence either.”
“Then why did you write it?”
“To survive.”
Aria fell silent for a moment.
When a reason was too desperate, people lost their words. At least ordinary people did.
Laetitia, however, was different.
“Then you must keep living.”
“Why do you say that so menacingly?”
“If Senior dies, I won’t be able to read the next page of the notebook.”
“So information really mattered more than my life.”
“Both are important.”
Aria tapped the notebook cover with her finger.
“Then we should first examine why the three branches are connected. Yulian, is there any common point in your existing records?”
I opened the notebook without a word.
Laetitia’s entry.
Stigma outbreak expected: just before midnight on the eve of the festival.
Possible causes: Arkan bloodline awakening, external mana interference, Red Moonlight Stone.
Aria’s entry.
Inspection Authority rampage expected: after the official opening of the festival eve.
Possible causes: forged budget documents, faculty silence, Blue Sealed Document.
Camilla’s entry.
Holy Stigma overload expected: during the eve blessing ceremony.
Possible causes: excessive holy water, substitute offering, Silver Censer.
The three quietly read my handwriting.
I wanted to stop them, but it was already too late.
My secret had become public information before I knew it.
Aria spoke first.
“Red Moonlight Stone, Blue Sealed Document, Silver Censer.”
“Sounds like a color game. Quite sparkly and nice.”
“Don’t joke around.”
Laetitia narrowed her eyes.
“The Moonlight Stone is managed only in the ducal family warehouse. External removal is prohibited.”
“The Blue Sealed Document for the budget requires joint approval from the student council and faculty.”
Camilla added softly.
“The Silver Censer is a relic from the Great Cathedral. It shouldn’t be in the academy chapel…”
Good.
All of them were precious items.
All bound by different authorities.
All difficult for a single student to touch.
And all converging on the festival eve.
I drew lines in the blank spaces of the notebook.
Red Moonlight Stone.
Blue Sealed Document.
Silver Censer.
When I connected the three words, the silver text on the final page trembled faintly.
Joint Branch Interpretation Rate: 11%.
“Oh.”
I was impressed.
“Now the notebook even grades us.”
Camilla absorbed the line with a pure expression and asked.
“Is 11% low?”
“It’s a matter of life and death, yet 89% remains uncertain.”
“That’s frightening.”
“I just found out myself.”
Aria placed her hand on the table.
“We need an operations room.”
“An operations room?”
“The Old Chapel has weak security. The four of us walked in without any obstruction. Let’s move to the student council’s small meeting room.”
I shook my head immediately.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Your room, President, has too many document piles. The moment I step inside, I feel like I’ll be psychologically crushed to death.”
Laetitia added in a calm voice.
“Let’s go to my annex. There are guards and soundproof barriers.”
“How about the Library Underground Archives?”
“That’s a restricted area.”
Aria replied flatly.
“Isn’t that better? No one will come.”
“We’ll need permission, though.”
“I’ll handle that part.”
“Are you planning to use public authority for personal matters?”
Aria’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“There exists a beautiful gray zone between illegality and flexibility.”
At that moment, a faint smile spread across Camilla’s lips.
“I… I like gray.”
Suddenly?
She was a saint candidate. I wondered who had selected such a person. Yet that innocent unfamiliarity might be exactly why she was chosen. True purity often erased the boundaries between good and evil.
“…It seems your mind is filled with flower fields.”
The Library Underground Archives smelled of dust and old parchment.
The walls were packed with festival records from graduates decades ago, and the lighting stones hanging from the ceiling flickered unsteadily with depleted mana, casting a yellow glow.
Aria locked the door the moment we entered.
“I will manage the access records here.”
Laetitia deployed a soundproof barrier. Pale silver mana spread gently, sealing the walls and door gaps without a single opening.
Camilla wiped the old table with a handkerchief.
“Wouldn’t the meeting go better if it were clean?”
How bright…
Watching them, I felt a strange sensation.
The ducal daughter set up the barrier.
The student council president controlled the records.
The saint candidate wiped the table.
And I sat in the middle.
I want to run away.
But I couldn’t.
The notebook had opened by itself in front of me.
Temporary Strategy Meeting established.
Participants: Yulian Locke, Laetitia Arkan, Aria Vertia, Camilla Ivren.
Joint Branch Interpretation Rate: 13%.
“I don’t like the name of this meeting.”
Laetitia read the text carefully.
“Strategy meeting. Does that mean Senior is strategizing against us?”
“No.”
“Then does it mean we are strategizing against Senior?”
“Please don’t.”
Camilla tilted her head.
“Isn’t ‘strategy’ a term usually used for dungeons or exams?”
“Correct. It’s a very wholesome meaning.”
Aria quietly took out her pen.
“I will record this. Locke stated that he uses the term ‘wholesome strategy’ toward three women.”
“President, please don’t write that.”
I tapped the notebook with the tip of my ballpoint pen.
“First, we track the three items. Laetitia will check the removal records from the ducal annex warehouse for the Red Moonlight Stone. The President will search the budget audit materials for the Blue Sealed Document. Camilla will verify the chapel ritual item list for the Silver Censer.”
“What about you, Senior?”
I spoke as if it were obvious.
“I’m out.”
The three looked at me in silence.
“It was a joke.”
I corrected myself immediately to survive.
“I’ll compare the information the three of you bring. Moving personally raises the chance of being discovered. I’ve hidden with my minimal presence until now, but thanks to your actions, sharp gazes will start pouring in.”
Aria nodded.
“That’s correct. After today, Yulian will already be a target of attention.”
“Targeted assassination isn’t necessary.”
“It’s a realistic assessment.”
Laetitia leaned toward me.
“Then when will you look at my stigma?”
“Not today.”
“Why?”
“The Arkan bloodline stigma leaves a mana reaction the moment it’s seen with the naked eye. If I look, my mana residue will cling to Laetitia’s body.”
The room fell silent.
Aria and Camilla seemed frozen by the unexpected statement.
Only Laetitia’s gaze remained fixed on me.
“Is that a problem?”
“It is.”
“Why?”
“In noble society, if a mana residue from an unmarried male student clings to a ducal daughter’s stigma, there will be far too many things that need explaining.”
“You can just explain.”
“Explain what? That I looked to save you?”
“Yes.”
I stared at Laetitia for a moment.
She was sincere.
That sincerity made her all the more terrifying.
Aria clutched her forehead in discomfort.
“Locke is right. Procedurally, a guardian is needed.”
“A guardian?”
Laetitia’s eyes grew even colder.
“Who are you going to call?”
I calculated inwardly.
Calling the ducal side would expose the stigma’s secret. Calling the faculty would leak clues to an insider. The student council would only burden Aria, and the cathedral side was entangled with Camilla’s Holy Stigma.
There was only one answer.
“We’ll bring in a third-party witness instead of a guardian.”
“Who?”
“That part, I’ll think about again—”
Just then.
Knock, knock.
A knocking sound came from outside the door.
The air inside the archives froze.
This was a strictly controlled area. Aria had sealed the entrance records, and Laetitia had completely isolated the space with a soundproof barrier. Yet someone stood outside the door.
“Student Council President.”
A gentle voice came from beyond the door.
“The Library Underground Archives is a special restricted zone during the festival period. Unauthorized entry is prohibited.”
Aria tensed, her expression hardening for an instant.
“Professor Ellen…?”
The moment I heard the name, I closed the notebook.
Ellen Ristia.
Festival General Director.
Etiquette professor at the academy.
And the woman who, in the original story, was the first to call Aria Vertia a “monster of rules.”
An educator who hid poison behind a polished smile. A duplicitous human who dug only into students’ weaknesses.
Red mana gathered at Laetitia’s fingertips, and Camilla’s Holy Stigma glowed faintly. Aria slowly covered the records.
I murmured quietly.
“No one move first.”
“Why?”
I looked at the final page of the notebook.
A new sentence had just appeared.
Joint Branch Interpretation Rate: 21%.
Interferer approaching.
Ellen Ristia knows the locations of the three items.
My gaze moved lower, revealing an even more chilling line.
However, she is not the culprit.
I bit my lip.
Someone who was not the culprit knew the locations of the three items.
It was simple.
In this game, there was a spectator moving ahead of the culprit.
Professor Ellen beyond the door spoke again.
“Would you open the door?”
Her voice was gentle. Yet I read the mockery within it. It was as if she were laughing to show that our gathering was proceeding exactly according to her script.
I slowly stood up.
“I’ll open it.”
Three worried gazes poured over me.
“Senior.”
“Be careful.”
“Please be cautious.”
I met their eyes one by one.
“Don’t worry.”
And I grasped the door handle.
“I’m always excessively cautious. That’s how I’ve stayed alive until now.”
The door opened.
Professor Ellen Ristia stood there. Her petal-like light pink hair, neat smile, and immaculate white gloves gleamed coldly.
The moment she saw me, she spoke.
“Yulian Locke.”
I said nothing.
Professor Ellen raised the corner of her mouth.
“So the notebook’s owner has finally moved.”
At that moment, a sentence appeared clearly on the notebook.
Observer confirmed.
A chill ran down my spine.
Not a Reader?
An existence I had not known about
was already making moves on the board.