"Are you saying... those three are still alive?"
After her afternoon classes ended, Catherine returned to her dormitory—so immaculately tidy it was almost desolate—only to hear a rather surprising piece of news from her personal maid, who had been waiting for her.
Those three upperclassmen, whom she had secretly hired to enter the dungeon's deep area to test the Screech magic conduit prototype, had been out of contact for days and were long written off in her mind as sacrifices of a failed experiment. Yet not only were they not dead, but... they had also successfully returned to the surface.
This truly came as a bit of a surprise to Catherine.
"Yes, Young Lady. They are indeed alive, and they were witnessed walking out together from the dungeon entrance just this morning."
The maid bowed her head, confirming the news in a calm voice.
"This morning..."
Catherine repeated under her breath, a flash of understanding passing through her azure eyes.
No wonder while walking through the academy today, she felt like people were whispering in many corners, and the atmosphere seemed somewhat unusual.
At the time, she had dismissed it as boring campus gossip and paid it no mind.
Now it appeared that the center of the discussion was very likely this matter.
Once her surprise faded, reason quickly regained the upper hand.
Catherine furrowed her brow slightly, beginning to ponder the strange aspects behind this situation.
Trapped in the deep area, how had those three managed to escape?
By themselves?
Completely impossible.
If they had possessed that kind of strength and adaptability, they wouldn't have been pushed into a desperate situation by deep-area monsters and gone missing for days in the first place.
Then there was only one answer: someone else was on the scene, who intervened and rescued them.
This inference caused Catherine's heart to chill slightly.
Although those three were bound by contract and would not actively disclose the specific commission details regarding Screech's testing...
...if that third party had been present at the scene, there was a high probability they had already gathered some information about Screech.
Screech was a crucial step she placed high hopes on, one of the secret hidden cards she could play in the struggle for succession that could alter the entire board.
Its existence could under no circumstances be exposed by an accident like this before it was officially completed and brought into play, lest it arouse the alertness and sabotage of her keen-nosed siblings.
That third party had to be found.
And then, through one means or another, ensure their silence.
The most ideal scenario would be to bring them within her sphere of control, or at least sign a binding secrecy agreement.
If it came to the worst-case scenario...
"Have you made contact with them? Confirmed the situation in person?"
Catherine raised her eyes to look at the maid standing attentively by, her tone regaining its usual calm.
"Reporting to the Young Lady, I have made preliminary contact. I had them verify the secrecy contract with blood. The contract's feedback indicated that they did not violate its core terms, nor did they actively disclose the commissioning party, the contents of the task, or the specific information regarding the magic conduit. Furthermore..."
The maid paused before adding:
"Although they inadvertently lost the magic conduit prototype during their escape, they successfully recorded and brought back a portion of the experimental data. The data has been sealed and awaits your review."
Catherine gave a slight nod.
This was a silver lining in an unfortunate situation.
The experimental data was key to pushing forward the Screech project, far more important than the lives of those three.
With this data, the project was one step closer to success.
Yet this bit of luck did not dispel the vigilance in her heart.
The potential risk of a leak was far more worthy of concern than losing a single prototype.
"They must have been saved by someone else. Who was that person? Did they say?"
Catherine continued her questioning, her fingertips tapping unconsciously against the smooth tabletop.
"Yes, Young Lady. According to them, the person who brought them out of the deep area and saved their lives was a freshman named Silvia Lorraine. I have verified that the ones who exited the dungeon entrance this morning were indeed those four, with Silvia among them."
The maid answered mechanically.
"Silvia Lorraine..."
Catherine murmured the name softly.
She recalled the name.
A Light-attribute mage who performed exceptionally during the entrance examination, assigned to Class A, and seemingly possessed some connection to the Church of Light.
A freshman with fairly impressive talent.
But... was that truly all?
A trace of doubt flickered in Catherine's azure eyes.
Relying on the strength Silvia displayed during the Placement Exam, dealing with ordinary crises might be feasible, but bringing three people out safely from a peril-laden deep area—where even three somewhat experienced upperclassmen were helpless...
The disparity in strength and risk involved did not seem like something a talented freshman could bridge so easily.
A faint sense of incongruity lingered in her mind.
"It seems those three... weren't entirely honest either. They've hidden the most crucial information."
Catherine's tone was calm, yet filled with absolute conviction.
The maid raised her head slightly:
"Are you suggesting... that in addition to Miss Silvia, someone else was involved in rescuing them in the dungeon? And that person might be a key figure?"
"Precisely."
Catherine leaned gently back against her chair, her gaze drifting toward the window as if untangling invisible threads:
"Silvia may have provided assistance, but she could never have been the lead, nor does she possess the capability to carry out the rescue independently. There must be another person—someone they intentionally concealed. That person is the true key to breaking the impasse."
As a future merchant who had strived to survive amid calculated self-interest and insidious hearts since childhood—aspiring to claim inheritance of a massive business empire—Catherine's intellect, insight, and intuition had been rigorously honed.
She was accustomed to piecing together the truth from fragmented information and identifying connections within seemingly unrelated details.
At this moment, although information was limited, she instinctively felt she was very close to that hidden individual.
"Hearing you say that..."
The maid seemed to recall something. After a moment's hesitation, she reported truthfully:
"Back at the dungeon entrance when the crowd gathered, witnesses faintly overheard Miss Silvia blurt out another name when she was first questioned... Greg."
"Greg?"
Catherine's brow twitched imperceptibly.
This was a name almost everyone at Glory Cael Academy knew, and almost everyone despised.
Greg Sass, the former Duke's son, was famous for being arrogant, foolish, vile in character, and mediocre in magic talent. Recently, he had even been publicly expelled by his family due to a scandal, turning into a complete laughingstock.
In the minds of the vast majority of teachers and students at the academy, this name was practically synonymous with a good-for-nothing useless trash.
Therefore, when the name Greg was first uttered by her maid, linked with words like "dungeon rescue" and "hidden key figure," Catherine's initial reaction was absurd.
It was as if someone had told her an ant had moved a giant tree.
Her cognitive momentum led her to instinctively sever this name from the core of the event.
A task that even a freshman genius like Silvia might not be able to complete alone—how could Greg Sass possibly achieve it?
If he truly possessed that kind of capability, how could he have ended up in his current situation—utterly infamous and abandoned by his family?
Yet just as she was prepared to completely dismiss this ridiculous possibility, an even stronger sense of incongruity silently wrapped around her thoughts like a cold venomous snake.
Wait...
Several overlooked details suddenly grew glaring alongside the name "Greg."
First, the timing and his whereabouts.
Greg Sass had been missing for over a week.
There was no record at the academy of him requesting formal leave or taking a suspension; he had vanished into thin air, missing every single class.
Ordinarily, a former noble who had just been cast out by his family and lost his greatest backing ought to be living in constant fear, trying every possible way to salvage his reputation.
But Greg hadn't.
He had disappeared—disappeared so thoroughly and quietly, as though he didn't care at all about being expelled, or... he had far more important things to do.
Second, Silvia's reaction.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, at a moment draped in glory, why would Silvia subconsciously blurt out the name "Greg"?
Catherine rapidly recalled the information she had gathered. She remembered clearly that during the entrance examination events, Greg had publicly provoked and humiliated Victoria Cecil, and Silvia was Victoria's closest friend.
Theoretically, the two of them should be enemies.
Would a normal person actively attribute credit to their enemy at the precise moment they received honor?
Unless... their relationship was no longer that of enemies.
Rather, shared experiences had altered, or even completely reversed, their perception of each other.
The fact that this took place in the dungeon made complete sense.
Third, and the point Catherine found most incongruous:
The anomalous logic of Greg's own actions.
What reason would a universally acknowledged cowardly good-for-nothing have, after losing his family's protection, to enter a danger-filled dungeon where death lurked at every corner instead of hiding in some relatively safe academy corner?
Unless... he was not the useless waste everyone believed him to be, and all his past actions—including his hostility toward Silvia and the others—might have been a deliberately crafted facade.
A noble young master who vanished after being cast out.
A name blurted out at the rescue scene by a primary witness.
A suspicious discrepancy where behavioral logic fiercely contradicted the "useless waste" label...
As these fragments linked together, a bold, even astonishing deduction gradually took shape in Catherine's mind, which functioned like precision clockwork gears:
Greg Sass was highly likely inside the dungeon.
He was there not by accident, but with a clear purpose.
There, he crossed paths with Silvia, and they had likely experienced something together that reshaped their relationship.
And he might have even displayed strength... completely at odds with his reputation as a good-for-nothing.
And the key figure intentionally hidden—or rather, obscured by tacit agreement—by those three upperclassmen had an overwhelming probability... of being him.
This inference still sounded somewhat unbelievable, but Catherine's intuition told her that the truth might indeed be just that extraordinary.
A merchant's instinct trained her to evaluate risks and opportunities.
If her deduction was correct, then Greg Sass was by no means as simple as he appeared on the surface.
By hiding his strength and venturing into the dungeon, his ambitions were undoubtedly grand.
Such a person—whether as a potential ally, an opponent requiring cautious handling, or a commodity for trade—was worth bestowing her personal attention upon.
The corner of Catherine's lips curved upward imperceptibly into a tiny, frigid arc. It was not a warm smile, but rather the intrigue of a hunter spotting engaging prey, or the evaluative gaze of an investor eyeing a high-potential project.
Looking back at the maid awaiting orders, her voice was clear and steady as she instructed:
"In my private name, post a commission on the academy's task board. The reward... set it to 50 Gold Coins."
Fifty Gold Coins was no small sum for students or even ordinary instructors, more than enough to convey the commissioner's sincerity and emphasis.
The maid bowed slightly. "Understood, Young Lady. May I ask what the specific details of the commission are...?"
Catherine picked up the tea that had long gone cold beside her and took a gentle sip. Above the rim of the cup, her azure eyes glinted with a cool, sharp light.
"It's very simple. The commission content is: enter the dungeon, find Greg Sass himself, and pass along a message to him on my behalf—"
She set down her teacup, the porcelain striking the saucer with a crisp, soft clink.
"Tell him: Catherine Roman wants to... make an investment in you."
...
"Please, just let me go out for a bit, just a tiny bit! I promise I'm only going for a stroll to get some fresh air. I definitely won't wander off! Really!"
Lilith pressed her hands together in pleading, her azure eyes sparkling with entreaty as she tried to move the iron wall of maids standing before her.
The location was the detached villa dormitory specially provided by the academy for royal members.
Glory Cael Magic Academy nominally advocated for "equality for all," but there was always a gap between reality and ideals.
Just as noble students often looked down upon commoner students, Lilith Kahn, as the Kingdom's Second Princess, naturally enjoyed unique resources and treatment here.
Initially, Lilith hadn't cared much about this independent villa dormitory. However, ever since she heard about the male intruder incident in the girls' dormitory area, she instantly felt her little villa was a blessing.
Yet right now, that blessing had turned into a cage.
Sporting a head of bright red hair that looked like burning flames, Lilith's delicate face was plastered with grievance and reluctance as she wheedled and nagged the three maids surrounding her.
Leading them was the short-haired maid Renee, who stood tall with a serious expression, shaking her head unyieldingly:
"No, Princess Lilith. This is Princess Vivian's explicit instruction. Until your grounded period ends, you cannot leave this building."
Beside her, Layla—the intellectual maid wearing wire-rimmed glasses—pushed up her frames and added in a gentle yet firm tone:
"Please endure it for a little longer. Your grounding won't last too long. Princess Vivian merely wants you to remember this lesson, not restrict your freedom for an extended period."
Finally, Rena—the livelier maid with her hair bound in a high ponytail—covered her mouth with a giggle and exposed her ruthlessly:
"Who else is to blame? Who told a certain princess to sneak out late at night to wander around the academy instead of staying properly in her dorm, only to get caught red-handed by a patrolling professor~"
"Ooh!"
Having her sore spot poked, Lilith puffed her cheeks and turned her head away in a huff, her red hair swishing with the movement:
"Dammit... It's all that annoying guy's fault! If I hadn't bumped into him, I wouldn't have panicked back then, let alone gotten caught by the patrolling professor!"
The root cause of the incident was indeed that night when Lilith violated curfew and bumped into Greg late at night within the academy.
After parting ways with Greg, on her way back to her dorm, she was unfortunately spotted and cited by a professor patrolling at night.
This matter was subsequently reported to her elder sister studying at the academy—Vivian Kahn, who served as the Second-year Representative and was renowned for her strict self-discipline.
Thus, Lilith received this grounding order requiring her to remain inside her dormitory outside of class hours.
It wasn't until today that she chanced upon passing students discussing how something seemed to have happened in the dungeon, creating quite a commotion.
This inexplicably made her feel concerned and restless, prompting her to try every trick in the book to sneak out—at least... to confirm whether a certain annoying jerk was alright.
However, this proposal was clearly impossible to realize now.
Her eyes unconsciously drifted toward the window, as though capable of penetrating through buildings and distance to gaze upon that cavernous dungeon entrance.
An imperceptible trace of worry flickered within her ruby-like eyes, but she quickly shook her head, repressing the feeling. In a quiet murmur audible only to herself, filled with vexation and embarrassment, she muttered:
"...Hmph, that guy... It's not like I actually care whether he lives or dies anyway. I'm just worried I won't get to eat the stuff we had last time ever again."
Rate on N.U.
