The Observer Does Not Take Sides
A faint smile lingered on Professor Ellen Ristia's lips. It was a mask-like expression that disarmed the opponent—endlessly elegant yet filled with deception. Yet none of those facing that smile could easily relax their guard.
I spoke while gripping the doorknob. “Professor. What do you mean by the notebook’s owner?”
“Students who are good at pretending not to know tend to survive longer.”
“With my insignificant grades, what could I possibly know? I simply live an ordinary life in a state of ignorance.”
Professor Ellen’s gaze drifted past my shoulder. Laetitia froze mid-step as she tried to move forward, Aria had already assumed her student council president expression, and Camilla stood with her hands clasped, her face unable to choose between laughter or tears.
The professor regarded the three in turn before speaking. “From a ducal young lady to the student council president and even a saint candidate. The closed storage room is quite crowded with splendid guests. I suppose you stepped inside without fear because you’ve prepared yourselves for the discipline to come?”
Aria stepped forward. “It was not unauthorized entry. We were holding a meeting because inspection materials were included among the festival sponsorship items. Access was exercised under the authority of the student council president—”
“Then could you show me those inspection materials?”
Aria’s lips tightened almost imperceptibly. There were no materials she could show.
Laetitia spoke in a detached, cynical tone. “I requested it. There was something I needed to verify among the Arkan ducal family’s festival sponsorship items.”
“I see. Then where is the ducal family’s official document?”
Laetitia’s lips stiffened as well.
Camilla raised her hand anxiously. “I-I was—”
I spoke before Camilla could finish. “We were in the wrong.”
All three gazes stabbed into the back of my head at once.
More important than their stinging looks was concealing the notebook. Even if Professor Ellen had already seen through its existence, it was safer to accept the discipline for now.
I bowed my head slightly. “It is true we entered the closed area without permission. Therefore, if you are going to discipline anyone, discipline only me.”
“Senior.”
Aria immediately cut in. “It was a joint entry. Responsibility cannot be pinned on one person alone.”
Camilla added in a small voice. “I-I was there with them too!”
The children who had scattered alone in the original work were now walking the same path, shouldering one another’s burdens. This alone had twisted the branches of fate enough.
Professor Ellen’s eyes narrowed by a fraction. It was as though she were recording the change.
“How interesting. Just now Yulian used himself as bait, and the three of you refused to bite. It was only a brief instant, but it was an excellent scene. I shall let it pass. That was not my purpose, after all.”
“Professor… who exactly are you?”
“I am the professor of etiquette.”
“Was etiquette a discipline that involves observing other people’s secret meetings?”
“Etiquette is like a scabbard refined so that people do not wound one another. Without examining where the blade points, one cannot maintain true courtesy.”
The moment the professor finished speaking, the notebook grew hot against my chest. When I took it out and opened it, the pages flipped by themselves all the way to the final page. Within the deep darkness, silver characters rose to the surface.
Observer: Ellen Ristia.
Role: Witness to the joint branch.
Disposition: Non-hostile.
Caution: The Observer does not prevent the incident.
My eyelids trembled at the final line. Does not prevent the incident. The meaning was self-evident. She was someone who could stand by and watch even while foreseeing tragedy.
Just how deeply had she seen through everything?
Laetitia’s gaze lingered on those sentences. A silver chill flickered between her slender fingers.
“So you knew and still left it alone?”
“Miss Laetitia.”
Professor Ellen continued in the same gentle voice. “There are matters in this world that must be resolved by the student’s own will alone. If an adult solves them first, it may be safe for the moment. But the knot is not untied—it is simply hung around another neck.”
“Then what if we die? We are currently—”
Laetitia’s right hand trembled faintly. I immediately stepped in front of her.
“If you freeze the professor right now, the festival will vanish into thin air.”
“I don’t care.”
“It is fatal for me. The moment the festival is canceled, a faculty investigation will descend. The unauthorized entry into the closed storage room and my secret notebook will be exposed one after another, and I will be socially buried.”
“……”
“I would be grateful if you lowered your hand to preserve my social life.”
Laetitia stared into my eyes for a moment, then slowly withdrew her hand.
Aria pressed her fingers to her brow as though troubled. “No matter how angry you are, using freezing magic on the professor?”
Camilla spoke carefully. “If anyone is injured, I can provide healing…”
“Miss Camilla.”
“Yes?”
“No one has been hurt yet.”
“I-is that so. That’s a relief.”
For it to be a relief when three people in this room were scheduled to die. If you counted me, it might be four.
Professor Ellen smiled faintly. “As expected, Yulian maintains excellent balance.”
“I am merely standing precariously on thin ice.”
“Students like that tend to last long.”
She raised three gloved fingers. “A board tilted to one side is no fun, so I shall share some information.”
The air in the room changed.
“The Red Moonlight Stone is registered as a sponsorship item from the Arkan ducal family. It is scheduled to be used in the lighting decorations for the eve festival’s grand banquet hall.”
Laetitia’s eyes sank coldly. “Under our family name?”
“Yes. The Blue Sealed Document will be hidden behind the festival budget notice board. In a spot very close to the student council’s inspection materials.”
The smile vanished from Aria’s face as if wiped away. “So it was not a coincidence.”
“Correct. The festival budget notice board is a public bulletin the student council president must check every day. If a sealed document is discovered behind it, it will look as though the one who hid it was not the discoverer, won’t it? And the Silver Censer is scheduled to be brought beneath the blessing ceremony platform.”
“Beneath the blessing ceremony platform?”
“Yes. The position where the saint candidate will stand closest of all.”
Watching the three of them, I cursed inwardly. It was flawless perfection. The very meticulousness of it made me nauseous.
Because it used her family name, Laetitia would have no choice but to move herself. Aria could not ignore a document placed so near the inspection materials. Camilla would try to purify the censer the moment she saw it beneath the blessing platform.
A trap that made each of them act in the most characteristic way possible. In other words, it was the worst.
The three girls opened their mouths almost simultaneously.
“Then we just need to remove the moonlight stone.”
“I will secure the blue sealed document.”
“I’ll purify the censer. If I’m only a little careful…”
My voice came out sharper than I intended. “Stop. First, this.”
All three looked at the notebook at once.
The three objects are not separate threats.
Removal will advance the failure conditions.
Aria read the sentence and narrowed her brows. “Advance if we remove them?”
“That is the trap. If Miss Laetitia removes the moonlight stone, what happens? It will be said that the Arkan ducal family hid a sponsorship item. After all, it was registered under the family name.”
Laetitia’s fingertips froze in the air.
“If the president secures the blue sealed document? It will paint a picture of the student council president attempting to manipulate or conceal a sealed document related to the festival budget.”
Aria’s face hardened coldly.
“And if Miss Camilla purifies the censer?”
Camilla could not answer. I spoke for her.
“Curse, poison, or magical power—whatever it is. She will shoulder it all alone through her Holy Stigma in her attempt to save the people.”
Camilla’s hand trembled slightly in front of her chest.
Sound vanished from the room for a moment.
“The culprit is not afraid we will destroy the objects.”
I looked down at the notebook. The silver characters still remained on the page.
“They are waiting for us to touch them ourselves. In the most plausible way for each of us.”
For the first time, the corner of Professor Ellen’s mouth twisted strangely. It was not a mechanical mask but a smile filled with sharp curiosity toward human beings.
“Precisely.”
“I must decline the compliment. Usually when the professor finds something interesting, the student gets hurt.”
“Then what should we do, senior?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. Cancel the festival. The easiest option. Steal the three items. The next easiest. Isolate the three individually. In terms of survival probability, not bad.
But all of those were the easiest methods written in the notebook. They were paths to erasing traces rather than saving people. Such stopgap measures would only allow the tragedy to repeat someday.
I closed the notebook. “We will not cancel the festival.”
Aria looked up and stared at me. “The situation will become dangerous.”
“Yes. It will be dangerous. If the festival is canceled, the culprit does not fail. They simply wait for the next opportunity.”
“Then… the moonlight stone?”
“We will not steal it.”
Camilla asked cautiously. “The censer as well?”
“We will not purify it.”
Aria’s lips parted quietly. “Then only one option remains.”
I nodded. “Instead of hiding them, we must reveal them before everyone’s eyes.”
Professor Ellen’s eyes narrowed. “You intend to turn the eve festival into an open verification ground. The moment the objects activate, everyone will see. Not who hid them, but who made it impossible for them to be hidden.”
Professor Ellen’s dry voice pierced the space. “You will need an audience, I suppose?”
“The faculty, noble students, Holy Empire representatives, the student council. They are all at the eve festival. The audience is more than sufficient. And the Observer the notebook mentioned is here as well. I do not know what that means, however.”
I stared silently at Professor Ellen.
“You said you do not take sides. Is that correct?”
“It is.”
“Please become a witness. Do not intervene, but do not avert your gaze even for an instant.”
Aria’s eyes turned toward me. While Camilla swallowed her breath, a faint smile spread across Laetitia’s lips.
Professor Ellen remained silent for a moment. Then she slowly tilted her head.
“What a dangerous request. I thought you were an ordinary student…”
“From the beginning, walking only on a smooth path was what I wished for.”
“Does such a student carry a notebook like this?”
“Life is originally about being forced to take on tasks that do not suit one’s aptitude.”
Professor Ellen tapped the desk in the record storage room with her gloved fingers. “Very well. I will not take sides. However, I have no intention of turning my eyes from the facts I have witnessed.”
The moment those words ended, the notebook opened once more. Silver characters slowly rose.
1st strategy meeting concluded.
Readers 3/7.
1 Observer.
Joint branch interpretation rate 21% → 34%.
Transitioning to joint branch preparation stage.
I let out a tiny sigh. We had survived for now. We had avoided discipline, a freezing accident, Holy Stigma overload, and an impromptu interrogation in the student council room. For a first meeting, it was not bad.
As though that thought itself were dangerous, the notebook displayed the next sentence.
Next failure condition: Deprivation of Aria Vertia’s Inspection Authority.
Aria’s quill froze in the air. The smile that had rested on her lips vanished like a flash of light.
“Yulian. From now on, this is my business as well.”
No. Now this was everyone’s business.