Garnel realized that he unknowingly cried out his inner thoughts and he immediately slapped his mouth shut with his hands as regret washed over him.
Hell's wrath! He messed up!
With a sigh, he knew that continuing his act was already pointless. So, he could only hide his face in shame as he squirmed slightly under Raghnall's grasp.
"Still not willing to tell them what happened?"
The irritation in Raghnall's tone made Garnel snap his head back up as he narrowed his eyes at him.
"I'll tell only when you put me down!"
Raghnall clicked his tongue as he lowered Garnel until his feet touched the floor. But, he didn't let go of his clothes which made Garnel scrunch up his face in silent complaint.
Raghnall ignored the face Garnel made as he tugged on his clothes as a warning for him to start talking. And when Garnel felt the harsh action, he gritted his teeth for a few seconds before he finally spoke.
"Okay, fine! I challenged her to a duel and she ALMOST beat me! I just… fainted… in the middle of the match! Obviously, the victor isn't deci--"
When Garnel felt Raghnall's grip on his clothes tighten, he decided to retract his words hastily.
"I, uhh, we were fighting and s-she slashed me in the n-neck. I guess it wasn't deep enough to k-kill but I ended up uhm… fainting… from shock."
But despite Garnel giving the two guards the gist of the story, they still didn't seem to find the connection between what they saw and what he just said.
"And what does your duel have to do with her strangling someone?"
Garnel looked at the corner of his eye to peek at his friend in confusion. From seeing the action, Raghnall knew that he was probably still unconscious when the student started attacking her so he decided to be the one to talk about it instead.
"The guy she strangled was a friend of this guy here."
He gestured at Garnel before continuing his explanation.
"With this guy fainting at the right timing, everyone here all stupidly thought that this guy died. And although deaths in duels are not uncommon, his dear friends over there thought it would be right to call MY dear friend a murderer. And they somehow deluded themselves into thinking that they were righteous idiots. Thus, one of them decided to get revenge by attacking my dear friend. And so, in an appropriate act of self-defense, my dear friend had no other choice but to retaliate. Hence, forming the scene you tumbled upon."
While hearing Raghnall's explanation, they examined the whole crowd's reaction to verify if what he said was truly correct. And when they saw the guilty faces made by the three students along with the nodding gestures of some of the people in the crowd, they knew that what Raghnall was saying was the truth.
"It seems that we were wrong. And although the place and time were not really right for a duel, we should still honor it as such since it must've been validated by witnesses, no? Henceforth, given that the only trace of violence was done by the student who attacked her outside of the duel, she is hereby deemed free of all charges. And in her stead, we will be taking the student instead."
And after saying the last few words, they decided to let go of their grip on Inna. But once they did, they hurriedly gripped her again as they stopped her limp body from dropping to the ground, face flat.
Noticing the sudden loss of voluntary motion in her body, they both looked at her in disbelief. And their eyes widened even more when they saw the huge pool of an unknown substance that seemed to form directly below Inna's bowed head.
"Is she… Is this… Wha…"
Finally noticing Inna's lack of response, Raghnall harshly flung Garnel to the side as though he was a rag cloth. Then, he walked towards Inna hurriedly, trying to check what was wrong.
But when he drew near, he couldn't help but let a snicker out, breaking his tough-guy character in an instant.
She's asleep!
At a time like this, this ninny is actually asleep!
Faced with the ridiculousness of her action, Raghnall couldn't help but sigh in relief as he smiled widely.
Here he was, valiantly trying to stop her from getting put to jail and she ends up sleeping through it.
Well, he couldn't blame her. After all, far too many things happened in a span of a single day. They've toured around the village and now, she ended up fighting a duel she never wanted. It must've caused her to be exhausted emotionally, physically, and mentally, and to add more, she drank a lot of the Tiger's Bane as well.
So, he really shouldn't be surprised that she'd suddenly fall asleep.
But just as he was about to order the guards to let go of her, a familiar loud voice suddenly filled the whole restaurant that made Raghnall stiffen almost instinctively.
"Hey! Is there anyone by the name of Raghnall eating here?! His favorite person wants to see him!"
Raghnall whipped his head to the direction of the voice just in time for Rhys to arrive on the second floor by floating.
"Found you! Hey, asshole, I thought we were going to spend the free day toge--"
Rhys stopped his sentence mid-way as he stared at Raghnall's face.
"BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHAHA!"
He bursted out laughing as he pointed his finger at the ridiculous thing Raghnall had on his head.
"What is that?! HAHAHAHAHHA only Nana could ever make you wear a necklace crazily like that! Speaking of which, she must also be he--"
He finally noticed the unconscious Inna who was being grabbed by the two guards.
"Huh… That's… surprising… So, what'd I miss this time? Why is my teacher being held by royal guards?"
The royal guards snapped out of their thoughts when they heard the innocent question. And after remembering what they were supposed to do, they slowly and carefully let go of Inna while making sure that she was supported properly by Raghnall. Then, with a small respectful bow, they silently made their way to the student who Inna initially strangled. And after a few troubles of making the kid cooperative, the royal guards saluted elegantly before leaving with the student restrained by their grip.