"Release her."
A voice that seemed to hold a hint of anger echoed around. The two guards curiously looked over at the direction of the voice. And when they saw a familiar face, they couldn't help but jump slightly in surprise. But nevertheless, aside from being personal guards, they were tasked by the Emperor to protect the village so, they couldn't possibly release such a dangerous person with no proper reason.
Hence, with conflicted looks on their faces, one of them decided to ask.
"But for what reason should we release her, sir?"
Raghnall's voice exuded anger as he stared at the two royal guards while replying.
"She did nothing wrong."
The royal guards both raised their eyebrows.
"But we saw her strangle a man with her bare hands! Even an unlearned beggar by the street, given such a scene, would think that what she did was completely wrong!"
Raghnall walked towards Garnel who was still pretending that he was still dead. Then, with a strong grip on his clothes, Raghnall harshly pulled him up as he made him face the guards.
Still not realizing that Garnel was alive, the crowd gave shouts of disapproval as they commented on Raghnall's merciless act of toying with someone's corpse.
But they soon shut up when Raghnall began to raise his voice slightly.
"TELL THEM."
Garnel shivered in fear from the suppressed anger he can hear in Raghnall's voice as the grip on his clothes tightened.
The two guards were now utterly confused with the sudden development. One of them decided to speak his mind as he addressed the crowd.
"Can someone dare explain the whole context of this situation? I see that there's more to it than what we just saw. And so, I fear that we would not be able to serve justice if we don't know the whole story behind all this."
The crowd's screams slowly deteriorated into hushed whispers as they all began to shy away from the responsibility of telling the story.
Raghnall soon ended their silent debate when he shook Garnel's body fiercely.
"Why not ask from the perpetrator himself? I know you're awake now. Quit acting dead like a coward."
Seeing that Garnel was stubborn about continuing his act, Raghnall clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Unless of course, you wouldn't want the whole world to know that you were beaten by someone from the Lily class? The weakest girl from the history of Eldora academy actually beat a mage from the Heather class? If that isn't humiliating, I don't know what is."
Garnel gritted his teeth as he endured the humiliation.
He'd rather play dead and have Inna convicted than admit that he was beaten in a duel by some idiot!
But of course, Raghnall was unfazed by Garnel's stubbornness. He somehow already knew that the idiot in his hands would hold onto his pride for dear life. So, with no choice in his hands, he figured to just threaten the guy. And so, after casting a telepathy spell, he began to speak in Garnel's mind.
'If you don't speak in ten counts, I'll continue what she failed to do to you.'
Garnel stiffened slightly under his grasp but he still continued to play dead.
'Hah, you can't harm me! The academy prohibits fighting outside official duels!'
Raghnall couldn't help but admit that the stubbornness he had was admirable.
But then again, that's all he had left… stubbornness.
'Your older brother is Galen, right? How is he doing by the way? Heard he had to stop attending the academy after he had his tongue mysteriously cut off a day after his defeat in a duel with Herad. I wonder who could make such a feat.'
Garnel began to sweat at the hidden implications behind Raghnall's words.
'You… how could you possibly know about that!'
Knowing that Garnel was about to crack soon, Raghnall painstakingly walked slowly towards the two guards as he replied to him.
'I wonder…'
Garnel gritted his teeth as he refused to believe the implications he's suggesting.
'Impossible! It was Herad who was suspected of doing that crime! That was why he was expelled! The professors even saw my brother's tongue in his room!'
Raghnall smiled slightly as he stopped in his tracks.
'Ah, Herad... Man, it's been nearly a year. So, you actually think Herad was the one who cut off your brother's tongue? But if it was Herad, why would he even do that despite winning the duel?'
Garnel was silenced as he mulled over Raghnall's words. He never even thought of that! There's absolutely no motive behind the action!
But still trying to convince himself, he tried to think of an explanation behind it.
'He… he obviously thought that winning wasn't enough! He just wanted to ruin my brother's life!'
Raghnall was starting to get ticked off from Garnel's impenetrable stubbornness. So, he couldn't help but make his involvement more obvious in hopes it could finally make Garnel realize what Raghnall was capable of doing.
'I hope your brother had fun with his broken-but-now-healed jaw and his partly cut tongue. But when his tongue grows back after a year or two, he'd surely forget about the great times he had, right? So, I made sure to give him a lily to commemorate such wonderful events. To be honest, I do have quite the habit of growing and taking care of lilies so I hope he preserved it well.'
In an instant, Garnel's body turned cold as a shiver ran down his spine after digesting his words.
The lily!
How did he know about that?!
It should only be him and his brother who would know of such a thing!
After all, he found that lily in his brother's room the very morning his brother had to leave!
And he was the first one to find it, with his brother being the second, before they tossed it away somewhere, thinking nothing of its presence.
Now seeing Raghnall in a new light, Garnel's stubbornness completely dissolved and was completely replaced by fear mixed with fury.
"YOU! YOU CUT MY BROTHER'S TONGUE!"
Garnel exploded as he squirmed to get away from Raghnall's hold on his clothes.
The crowd all gasped audibly in shock as they widened their eyes in disbelief.
The three students who saw Garnel's outburst couldn't help but gape as well.
And almost everyone had the same thought in their minds as they looked at each other with disbelieving eyes.
He wasn't dead?!