Heh," Kyle laughed mockingly.

his smile made Annora's body tremble once more. She was terrified having

been raised as a princess, Kyle's smile held emotions that had never been

directed toward her in her life.

"princess Annora! please refrain from such provoking actions!"

"He's the one at fault! this is treason!"

"The boy doesn't know that you're royalty. We need to figure out what

happened first."

"Then hurry up and arrest him!" Annora screamed angrily, making Alice

sigh tiredly.

"You heard her. you... Kyle, was it? you're coming to the castle with us."

"no," Kyle declined, shaking his head.

"this isn't a request. it's an order. you have no right to refuse," Alice said,

moving the sword pointed at Kyle's neck closer.

the tip of the blade was mere millimeters away from his skin, but Kyle looked

into Alice eyes without fear. Alice stared back into Kyle's eyes as Annora,

William,Collete and the boy watched on silently, sensing the tension in the air,silence

continued between them for a moment; in that time, Alice pondered in her

head:

Is this boy really a child?

She was astonished by Kyle nerves. a regular child might have thrown an angry

tantrum, burst into tears, or groveled for their life that would have been a

normal reaction. yet while Kyle was rebellious, the way he was looking at the

clearly advantageous Alice was bordering on serenity. A strange chill

traveled down Alice's spine.

"All i did was save that unconscious girl over there. you can ask her when she

wakes up."

"No. i want to hear what you know directly from your mouth."

Alice immediately rejected Kyle's suggestion.

Kyle determined that arguing any more than this wouldn't benefit him. Alice would only use her authority

and strength to forcefully take him to the castle instead. He did have the option

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of using the power he learned earlier to counterattack them and flee, but there

was no guarantee he would win against them, and they already knew his face.

Kyle would truly become a criminal if he did that, since his opponents were

royalty and nobility. That would be the worst possible move he could make...

Kyle prepared himself.

"...Just to talk, right?"

"Yeah. if we find that you're innocent, we'll release you. Nothing bad will

happen. You can tell us the gist of it while we move."

and that was how a mere orphan like Kyle was brought from the slums of the

capital to the castle in the center.

then, several minutes later...

around the same time that Kyle was arriving at the castle, the official search

party dispatched by the castle closed in on the crime scene at the wooden

shack.

...as did the residents of the slums and other noisy onlookers.

"Sir Bard ! We've found someone that's still alive," a man clad in the knight's

uniform of the royal guard exclaimed as he burst out of the wooden shack.

"Arrest him and bring him here. he could be one of the kidnappers."

Bard Taylor— a man in his late twenties — ordered. he wore an

extravagant cloak over the top of his knight's uniform. A certain individual

watched this conversation unfold while remaining hidden among the onlookers.

they wore a black robe covering his whole body, hiding their appearance, age,

and gender.

just then, the captured suspect was dragged out of the shack. it was the man

who had attacked Kyle earlier. His mask had been removed, revealing his true

face underneath. He was awake, but grimacing in pain from the damage he'd received in the fight earlier.This... might be bad," the robed figured muttered after seeing the state of

the man.

judging from the voice, the person was male. his expression was hidden

under the darkness of his hood, but the tone of his voice showed no panic,

despite his words.

"...it can't be helped."

with a small sigh, the man took out a jewel from his breast pocket and

crushed it between his fingers without hesitation.

then...

"...ah... gah!"

as soon as the gem crumbled to pieces, the restrained man cried out in pain.

his body gave a single shudder before he dropped dead.

"h-hey!"

the knight supporting the man panicked.

"what's wrong?" Bard asked, noticing that something was wrong.

"h-he's dead." the knight confirmed the man's condition before informing

him.

"What?" Bard said, raising his eyebrows.

hidden among the onlookers, the robed man looked on in satisfaction.

"perfect timing. mission accomplished... time to go home."

and with those words, he left the scene.

Kyle was taken into custody in an interrogation room on the lowest floor of the

castle.

"please wait here. an investigator will be with you shortly," the soldier who

escorted him to the room said before leaving the room, door lock clicking shut

behind him.

Kyle looked around. there were no windows in the interrogation room, only a

wooden table and chair placed in the center. a truly bleak scene to behold. the

only way in or out of the room was through the single door, which locked from

the outside. once the door was locked, it was a completely closed room.

"guess they don't trust me much," Kyle muttered, unamused at his current

situation. for the record, Alice and the others had rushed away with Eira

the moment they handed Kyle over to the escorting soldier. He had given them a

simple rundown on what happened on the way here, but they'd probably keep

him in custody as a primary witness until Eira woke up and confirmed the

truth. In the meantime, they'd conduct an official investigation to record his

account of events. They wasted no time at all, which made perfect sense.

considering their respective positions and relationships, this kind of treatment

was to be expected. Kyle could understand that. but if he was being honest with

himself, being in custody wasn't all that fun.

perhaps it would've been better if he hadn't saved Eira.

then he wouldn't get treated like this now... he hadn't done anything wrong,

yet he was under suspicion and locked away like a criminal — all as a result of

being unable to abandon the unconscious girl and carrying her outside. this

world was unfair: kindness was a thing that should only be shown by the strong, while the weak were

defined by irrational rules. even though he should've known that already... Kyle

heaved a sigh filled with all his frustrations and moved to sit in one of the

shabby chairs, which was far from what could be called comfortable. He crossed

his arms and closed his eyes with a frown. he had no information, no leads on his future and no way to change his situation just by thinking about it.