Gathering his 'courage', Del said after gulping loudly, "but.. but.. C.. Can you ask it quickly.. I.. I.. Del misses Kylia"
"Oh"
Madam Yeva's lips twitched and Mr. Andrew's cold-stiff face almost broke. Meanwhile, the other people on the Judges' Throne tilted their heads, not understanding who Del was referring to. Kylia's name was still unfamiliar to the other people on the Judges' Throne, but there was a reason why Del mentioned Kylia's name in this interrogation.
"DELRYAN STOP PLAYING ARO—"
"Hmm.. hmm.. It's okay Sister Yudith, I'll tell you after this" Madam Yeva immediately interrupted Sister Yudith before she got angry.
When two or more people meet, they would subconsciously judge each other. Starting from the tone of their speech, their clothes, their face, and everything they can observe. The more mature a person is, the more this habit would stick.
This was due to human habits to survive in their environment. By observing various things around them, their brain would analyze if the situation around them was safe or not. However, the results of this assessment would be very different if they knew the person or environment beforehand.
They would add the previous impression factor so that sometimes they would have the same judgment as before. The people on the Judges' throne's had the impression that Del was smart, meticulous, and could read the situation around him well.
Of course, if there were no problems then this would make a good impression. However, Del knew the reason why he was summoned to the Judgment room, namely because Frank and the other three orphans were killed in the book room, where Del used to be. So it would make sense to suspect Del and interrogate him.
The impression of a child who was smart, meticulous, and could read the situation around him well, would only make Del even more suspicious. There was a high possibility that Del was acting in front of the Judges' Throne so that even if he was innocent, the suspicions against him would not disappear.
Therefore he must show a new impression to those who already knew him. This was to make them reassess him again. The new impression of him was a child who was head over heels for Kylia.
Whether it was useful or not was for the future, as it must go through several trials, but the most important thing was to change the old impression or at least add a new impression.
"Okay, Del. I'll go straight to the point." Still, with the same smile Madam Yeva asked, "Del, did you fight with Frank in the sleeping room at bedtime yesterday afternoon?"
"Y... Yes"
News of Frank's death had not yet spread among the orphans. Because of that Del answered with a guilty face, as if the reason why he was summoned to this room was because of his fight with Frank in the sleeping room.
"Why did you fight with Frank?"
"Because he bullied Willie and scared Kylia" Del answered in a self-righteous tone.
"You also threatened Frank by saying: "Mess with Willie again then I will fuck you up! Try me punk!" Is that true?"
"Y.. yes"
"What's your reason for saying that?"
"I don't want Frank and the others to bother Willie anymore. I also don't want them to bother Kylia, so I threatened them as a form of prevention" Del started to answer smoothly as if he was hypnotized to answer quickly according to his heart's content.
"Where did you go after doing that?"
"I took Kylia on a tour around the Flower Garden Orphanage, Willie also came with us"
"Did the three of you also go to the book room?"
"Yes"
"What were you guys doing in the book room?"
"Hmm.. I introduced the books in the book room to Kylia but Willie wasn't interested in reading books and instead went out to play. Then…" there was a sense of pride on Del's face after remembering the time when he was alone with Kylia in the book room.
Del was still a five-year-old child, even though he was very smart, he still had the mentality of a child in general. Because of that, he liked to boast about his skills and intelligence to the people closest to him.
Like when he showed off his achievements when he successfully solved difficult math problems to Chika, whom Del had always thought of as his mother. And it seemed like Del also wanted to show off his skills to Kylia.
"Then?" Madam Yeva asked Del to continue what he was saying.
"Kylia said that the book room was very dirty and wanted to clean it."
Unlike the library, the book room did not have books that were liked by children. Most of the contents of the books in the book room were advanced topics. So it was very rare for the orphans to come to the book room. Only Del was an exception because he didn't like reading children's books.
Because of that the cleaner staff rarely cleaned the book room which made the place a bit dusty and unkempt. Usually, only Del regularly cleaned the book room but a five-year-old child couldn't do much about it.
"Then what did you do after that?"
"I took Kylia to the storeroom and got some cleaning tools. Then the two of us worked together to clean the book room."
"After that?"
"After that, I took Kylia to see the other rooms in the Flower Garden Orphanage. We kept walking around until you called us to come back."
After that, it was Kylia and Julia's farewell that took place at the gate of the orphanage.
The Judges glanced at each other as they couldn't find any loopholes in what they knew.
"Del, did you use these two detergents to clean the book room?" Madam Yeva placed two bottles of a cleaning detergent on the table.
Del didn't answer right away and looked at the detergents for a little longer. The two detergents had different brand names; acid cleaner and chlorine detergent.
If the two liquids were separated, it would not be dangerous, but when mixed, the right amount could produce chlorine gas. A Dangerous gas if inhaled could cause suffocation, eye irritation, a choking sensation, difficulty in breathing, and even death.
But Del couldn't possibly mix the two liquids directly because that would be very suspicious. That's why he prepared a plan that had been in motion before he decided to meet Frank in the sleeping room.
Keeping himself from smiling, Del nodded his head and replied, "That's right I used those two bottles of detergent to clean the book room."
"What did you use it for?"
"I used an acid cleaner to clean the stains on the floor and a chlorine detergent to remove the stains on the carpet."
A Precise answer was given because if not then the image of a smart child would not last.
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The initial stage of Del's plan was to get Frank agitated so that he would behave in a certain way.
When he entered the sleeping room, Del deliberately opened the door very hard. This not only left a domineering impression but also made Frank who was disturbed from sleep remember it clearly.
Next, Del humiliated Frank in front of all the orphans, which embarrassed him. With Frank's arrogance and haughtiness, he would get back at Del as soon as possible.
The time and place chosen by Frank for revenge were also easy to guess. He definitely wouldn't dare to beat up Del in such a crowded place and he also had to choose a time when there wouldn't be any disturbance from the sisters.
So it could be ascertained that Frank would meet Del in the book room right at the shift change of the sisters.
Then Del prepared his alibi, by bringing Kylia and Willie to the book room. Del knew that Willie didn't like to read so he would soon get bored and leave the two of them alone. Meanwhile Kylia…
For some reason Del really understood Kylia's character, he knew that Kylia liked cleanliness even though they just met a few tens of minutes ago. So when she saw the dirty book room and Del showing off his love of reading, Kylia took the initiative to clean the room.
Next, Del used both of the cleaning detergents and left enough to create chlorine gas when mixed. Leaving it with the bottle cap open and placing it right beside the door of the book room.
The two liquids in the bottle would fall and enter the plastic bucket with only a slight vibration.
Then he left the book room with Kylia and waited for Frank to come.
At the time Del had predicted, Frank and the other three orphans arrived. Frank, who had previously been intimidated by Del, imitated the way he entered the sleeping room.
The door that was opened with a bang made a slight vibration so that the two detergent bottles fell and the liquid inside was mixed. Frank started looking for Del's whereabouts and closed the door of the book room to block Del's escape.
But he never realized that the door he closed tightly was his only way out of death. With the narrow book room and stuffy room temperature, the chlorine gas quickly filled the entire room and killed the four orphans in it.
-------------------------
Even though it looked like this plan would work because of the many coincidences that occurred such as Frank's decision to take revenge, Willie who chose to play alone, and Kylia who wanted to clean up the book room.
In reality, this murder plan was successful because Del already knew the nature of Frank and Willie. He calculated their actions to know what the future would hold.
"Then.. why did you leave the two bottles of detergent in the book room and didn't return them to the storeroom?"
If there's one downside to Del's perfect alibi, it's that he had no excuse for not returning the two bottles of detergent to the storeroom. Del was a meticulous and smart child, so it was impossible for him to forget to return the two bottles of detergent to the storeroom.
Del's failure was a result of the impression he had built over the years that made him easily suspected of negligence that shouldn't have happened. However…
This was the reason why Del had to build a new impression from the start of the interrogation.
"I.. I.. wanted to play with Kylia.. Cleaning was so boring and Kylia looked tired.. I wanted to immediately take her out of the stuffy book room and get some fresh air outside. Sorry I forgot to return the things I borrowed Madam Yeva"
"Oh"
And then Del had a perfect alibi.