010 – Relax, and stay still.

I called out 2000 shilling, but…

Even I felt a little like I’d asked for too much.

But…

‘It’s the price of a life…! I should get paid well!’

I saved her life, after all.

What’s wrong with charging a bit extra?

‘I want a decent weapon too, damn it!’

That’s right.

I wanted to buy that 1500 shilling weapon they sell at the smithy in front of the Academy.

And use the remaining 500 shilling for small expenses.

Honestly… I can live on three meals a day, but wouldn’t I crave a late-night snack sometimes?

So I decided to think of 2000 shilling as a perfectly reasonable price.

“…2000 shilling?”

The woman’s voice sounded flustered at the enormous sum.

But as a ruthless kidnapper, it was hard for me to show any more leniency.

“That’s right.”

“…Understood.”

‘Nice!’

I earned ten times more than I did working a grueling four-hour shift at the diner.

And with just one click of a kidnapping spell.

‘So *this* is why they kidnap people!’

I understood why the kidnappers I had sacrificed myself to did what they did, and at the same time…

“Let’s get you up now.”

“…Why?”

“I’m going to let you go outside.”

“Ah…”

“After I release you, go straight to the professor and explain what happened to you.”

“And you…?”

“It’s best if you refrain from mentioning me.”

I subtly pressed a book I had in the room against her side.

From her perspective, unable to see, she wouldn’t be able to tell if it was a knife or a book.

I must have seemed like a very scary person to her right now.

“…! Understood.”

*

‘Heheh!’

Something suddenly touching my side made me feel ticklish.

‘This is… a book?… Why would he tape a book to me?’

Setting aside why he was pressing a book against my side…

Just as I suspected, he wanted nothing to do with being involved in this.

“…! I understand.”

Resisting the ticklish feeling, I agreed to his request and slowly rose from the bed.

I understand he wants to appear threatening, but…

What kind of person threatens someone when their hands and legs are free, only their eyes are covered?

‘Is he… trying to give back the 2000 shillings, as if telling me not to worry about it?’

Perhaps even the 2000 shillings he wants as payment for his life.

I wondered if he felt that since he received the price, there was no need to repay the favor.

Step by step…

“We’re going down the stairs. We’ll go slowly.”

“Yes…”

‘How kind…!’

Considering the situation, I was being kidnapped by a kidnapper.

Yet, his kindness was slowly melting away the wariness I’d been holding onto.

As we carefully descended the stairs…

“Ah, going down like this, you’ll figure out what floor we’re on.”

“Pardon?”

“Relax, and just stay still.”

“Hngh!…”

Suddenly, the man scooped me up in his arms…

Thump-thump…

I could feel my heart pounding with a pleasant resonance.

‘….Daisy Ruin… you’re the easiest woman in the world…’

I scolded myself for falling in love twice in one day.

Small as it was… but bigger than anything else to me, blinded as I was, I felt the man’s chest.

Step… Step…

The time I wished would last forever passed.

Having reached the bottom of the stairs, the man carefully laid me down on the floor.

Then…

“No one else seems to be around, so you should be safe for a moment.”

“Yes?…”

“In one minute, take off the blindfold. And go straight to the Professor.”

“Ah…”

“I’ll say it again, what happened between you and me today is a secret. Understand?”

“…Yes.”

The brief, but intense… moment of parting had arrived.

Step-step…

The sound of footsteps fades away.

The man who’d deposited me here was climbing back up the stairs.

Not even a minute had passed, as he’d instructed…

But if my eyes remained covered like this… I felt I’d be perpetually aware of the sound of his footsteps, so I quietly untied the blindfold.

“…”

It was a man I’d never seen before.

Seemingly tall, but too thin for my liking.

However…

‘Daisy Ruin… the easiest lay in the world…’

Right now…

I was falling deeper in love than ever before.

*

“?”

Leighton, watching the entrance to Mihyeon’s room from afar, began to doubt his own eyes.

Not with the intention of surveillance, as when he’d first identified him as a threat…

But simply because he was blankly watching, wondering if that man really was the Hero.

“???”

Suddenly, the door opened… and a female student with covered eyes emerged with Mihyeon.

“When…? No… how…?”

He’d been distracted at times, sure… but he had no memory of seeing a female student enter his room.

What kind of situation was this?

“…The more I see, the less I understand.”

The more he knew, the more questions arose.

“He’s just going to leave her like that??”

He watched as Mihyeon escorted the blindfolded student to the first floor and then returned to his dormitory.

“I need to go check this out.”

To find out what had happened, he immediately ran toward where the female student was now sitting.

*

‘She’s supposed to remove it after a minute.’

From the status window, he could see Daisy taking off the blindfold.

That being said, she didn’t seem intent on chasing after him.

He continued up the stairs toward his dorm room.

“Yes! I made money!”

Returning to the fifth floor, he rejoiced briefly at the fact that he’d earned a whopping 2000 shillings.

“If I’m going to get paid-.”

Suddenly…

The thought of how he was supposed to *actually* get the money crossed his mind.

“…Huh?”

Foolish kidnapper, Mihyeon.

This guy kidnapped the precious player’s daughter and demanded money…

But he didn’t say where they should send it.

I, too, once mocked Mikhail’s foolishness, even resented him for it…

“..Such a dimwitted kidnapping…”

And now, what I’ve done is exactly that…

“Mikhail…”

A dimwitted kidnapper’s deed.

“…I’ll need two breakfasts tomorrow.”

To somehow make up for this loss, I’ll absolutely devour two servings of the academy cafeteria food tomorrow…!

…

“Come with me.”

“Okay…”

The dream of two breakfasts was dashed by the guard patrolling the academy.

Knowing there had been a doppelganger incident during the night, I willingly followed the guard.

“Ah, that one is fine.”

“Pardon?”

As if he had been watching me from somewhere.

Professor Layton appeared with perfect timing.

“That student isn’t a doppelganger. I vouch for him.”

“Understood, Professor.”

He smoothly removed me from the guard’s scrutiny.

“Where were you headed?”

“I was going to have breakfast.”

“Come, the dining hall is a little quieter today, it’ll be a good place to have a conversation.”

“Ah, do you have something you want to discuss with me?”

It seemed Professor’s intervention with the guard was…

Because he wanted to ask me something.

‘Is it about the exam paper…?’

Knowing that the only thing Professor and I could discuss was that cursed paper.

‘..Should I confess to cheating?’

I started racking my brain, trying my best to come up with another good excuse.

*

Four.

No, four creatures.

The number of doppelgangers found inside the mansion these past two days.

“For the time being, even if it’s inconvenient, please arrange for all five of you to stick together, butler.”

“Yes, Lady. The Master has also given orders, so we’ve decided to constantly monitor each other from within.”

While I was away, I entrusted full authority to the butler, after making sure that he was a real human, while instructing them not to forget to monitor each other.

“If it becomes certain that someone is a doppelganger, you know what to do, right?”

“Summary execution, yes. I remember, Lady.”

Damn these doppelgangers.

Now, even *they* are mimicking the shedding of human blood, indistinguishable from the real thing.

To confirm if someone is a doppelganger, one must now resort to human dissection.

“I trust you’ll do so with utmost precision.”

Of course.

Because if things went that far, innocent people might suffer.

Our only means of distinguishing doppelgangers was simply verifying the accuracy of their memories.

“May your travels be smooth, Mademoiselle.”

And so, I boarded the carriage bound for the Academy, quietly watching the mansion recede into the distance.

“Honestly…”

Overnight, the mansion had become a place of mutual suspicion.

Overnight, the place that should have been the safest in the world had become fraught with danger.

The issue was so grave that…

Even my father, who had forbidden dormitory life for fear of my being kidnapped, permitted my application to the Academy dorms, concerned I might be attacked by a doppelganger within the mansion.

“What am I to do?”

If I could return to just two days prior, hearing I could enter the dorms would have thrilled me.

But knowing the mansion was now in peril…

I, who should be responsible for the mansion in my father’s absence, could never show them I was abandoning it.

“Mademoiselle, we have almost arrived at the Academy.”

“Thank you for your service.”

Lost in such worries, I soon found myself at the Academy gates.

As I stepped out of the carriage, intending to head straight for the lecture hall as usual…

“…Hm?”

I realized that the Academy felt unusually quiet today.

Wondering what was amiss, I cautiously started forward, and a guard, spotting me, hurriedly approached.

Then…

“Are you a student arriving now?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Please, follow me.”

The guard instructed me to follow.

“Has something happened at the Academy?”

When I asked the guard what was going on…

“It seems that doppelgangers disguised as students have infiltrated the Academy.”

I heard that doppelgangers had hidden within the Academy.

“You will need to complete a simple test given by the professors before you can enter the lecture halls.”

“Understood. If that’s the case, then it cannot be helped.”

The doppelgangers had already infiltrated every corner of the nation, the Magocracy, deeply rooted within it.

If they had succeeded in infiltrating even the mansion of a Margrave guarding the borders, how could the Academy have escaped?

The chilling thought of monsters trying to devour humanity from within flashed through my mind for a moment.

‘That person…?’

The Academy cafeteria.

There, occupying a seat by the window, was a familiar man, eating his student meal with an expression of utter bliss.