[Sophie's Pov]
"What do you mean he has been arrested?! There is no way James would do something like that!"
"Please calm down, Ms. Red. Losing your cool isn't going to help the situation."
I had already been in emotional turmoil this whole weekend, as my inner voice had been screaming out in angst and sorrow, without me knowing why.
Now, with Mr. Brown giving me the reason why I hadn't seen or heard from James all weekend, all it did was make it worse.
Mr. Brown also somehow wore a completely neutral face when he spoke, as if everything wasn't completely absurd.
Biting my bottom lip, I felt the taste of iron on my tongue, as I forced myself to listen to what he had to say. That was the only reason I stayed quiet.
I didn't give a shit about the rest of my classmates watching me, I didn't care how 'disgraceful' I acted as an honorable student of Ainu. Who cared about those things in this kind of situation?
"There is no doubt about the fact that James killed Samantha Gray. The guards caught him in the act, sitting in the room with her body still spewing out blood beside him. I understand that you want to believe otherwise, but he is a killer. So it has already been decided that he will get his punishment this Friday."
"But he hasn't...!"
"Ms. Red, that's enough! Not only has the academy done an investigation, but even the royal house has also done one as well. Both of these made the same conclusion, James was the one who invited her into his apartment and killed her. The motive behind it, I do not know, but the king has already confirmed that they know. Now, class dismissed!"
'What the fuck is happening?!'
****
[James's Pov]
*Drip!*
'How many days has it been...'
Down in the deepest prison cell below the royal castle, I had completely lost track of time. In my head, I wanted to say that I had spent at least a week here, but there was no way to tell.
With all of my limbs shackled, and a weird collar around my throat that blocked the use of mana, I could do nothing but wait. Feeling the damp cold coming from the walls, my body couldn't stop trembling, as I was too weak to not let it affect me.
Thinking back at what had happened, I cursed how unlucky I had been. If only I hadn't spent all of my mana in the dungeon, I would have had a number of ways to defuse the situation. However, this had not been the case, and time could only ever go in one direction, so there was no use feeling bad about it.
*Drop!*
The moment Samantha's corpse dropped to the floor, I realized what had gone down. She was merely a planted sacrifice, a pawn that had been ready from the start to lose her life. The pitiful girl hadn't had any ambitions of taking my life directly, she was merely ready to become the reason I would lose my life in the future.
How careless I had been. Just a few months of comfort had been enough for me to put my guard down, for me to somehow start believing that I could be worthy of happiness, or at least worthy of being content. I had been naïve.
"Are you awake, boy?"
The culprit behind my demise had arrived, fully clothed in the royal apparel benefiting his title of king. The red and gold tunic, black linen pants, and his broad back, covered by a royal garment. On his chest, there was the lion that symbolized the pride of Mensch; The symbol of honor and accountability of a country that saw itself as justice.
His face was unrelenting, not showing even the tiniest bit of shame about what he had done. Just like his brown hair, he had completely cleaned his hands of the matter, only showing the shine of the man that the public viewed as righteous.
Still, I was not about to say no to some company, even more so when I might finally know the truth about the matter. Forcing my parched and cracked lips to move, I managed to activate the vocal cords that had been asleep for a long time.
"I am."
Although it should have been obvious to the king that I was not asleep, as the chains around my wrists were lodged above my head in the stone wall, making it so my face was always somewhat visible, I thought nothing of it. Pleasantries were pleasantries because they were nice, after all.
Taking his place right outside of the thick metal bars, King George initiated the conversation, "I'm just here to give you a chance to obtain some peace of mind before tomorrow. After all, this will be your last opportunity to do so."
'Ah... So it's already time... It's a shame, I was finally getting to spend some time with myself.'
Trying to fix my posture a bit, as my bleeding wrists were quite an annoyance, I smiled back at him, not wanting to seem impolite towards the benevolent ruler of our country. "I see. Thank you for giving me this time then, my liege. I do have quite a lot of questions actually, though I assume that you have already forced yourself to believe most of the lies you told yourself."
Not minding my antics, George kept his calm, not letting him be shaken by my playful words, "I will give you an hour. During that time, I will answer whatever questions you may have. Also, don't be mistaken. No matter what the truth was, it is no longer the truth. My people have already decided that."
Nodding my head, I couldn't agree more with his words. "That does seem to have been the case throughout the history of man. Truths are a matter for the majority to decide, with the minority being forced to bring absolute, indisputable proof in order to change it. It was not for naught that the planet has been flat for thousands of years, after all."
For the first time since he came down to the dungeon, his face showed a reaction to my words, most likely unable to understand how I could be so calm when I knew my doom was imminent. To be honest, I didn't understand it myself.
"I see that you aren't no ordinary youth. You don't seem to carry the hot-bloodedness that most young men would have. I guess it's no surprise though, with the history you carry, that might be a necessity."
"Well, my previous words seem to ring true. You have already convinced yourself that what you think is the truth, just to protect that fragile honor of yours. But so be it. Now, would you mind explaining just what triggered the decision to get rid of me? There must have been a reason why you suspected me of being part of these hidden houses before our conversation, but what exactly made you cement your decision?"
This was truly the only question I had in my mind. I had answered his questions truthfully, making sure to let him know that I carried no hostility towards any of the citizens of Mensch. However, that had still not been enough, it seemed.
"We know that your mind has been tampered with. The fact that you somehow went through the entire questioning without a single lie only proves this. Therefore, it is natural that you would be a part of one of those insane houses."
The size of my smile unwillingly started to increase, as a rush of ecstasy started to rush through my body, my whole being consumed by an absolute bliss that only increased in intensity for every word that he spoke. "So, you are so deep into the illusions of your own mind that even knowing that someone speaks the truth is proof of their crimes? Ha...hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"
I couldn't stop myself from laughing as hard as my weak body would allow. This was it, the absolute proof of my existence. The confirmation that I, as well, was only human, that my crimes hadn't been crazy, but natural.
"What are you doing?! Why are you laughing?!"
The king couldn't understand anything, he couldn't understand the gift that he had given me. Although I had received it for the price of my life, it felt like a very fair trade. Still, I didn't care. He was but a man like me, with the crown sitting proudly on his head ultimately meaning nothing.
We were the same. All humans were the same, no, all living beings were the same! No matter where one was born, how one was born, or why one was born, nothing mattered in the end. We were all victims of our whims and convictions, unable to fight our own minds.
So, I was happy. This was the happiness I had sought for so long. I didn't have to hold back anymore, after all, the only thing that mattered, in the end, was how much one had enjoyed one's life. And right now, I couldn't enjoy it more.
"HAHAHAHA! YES! THANK YOU! HAHAHA!"
"You're insane..."
At this point, the king had already begun to stumble backward, afraid of the man he viewed as insane still behind bars.
"Maybe. But if I'm truly insane, that means that you are too. After all, we are the same!"