The towering bookshelves cast long, jagged shadows across the floor, while Lucien’s corpse lay motionless exactly where it had fallen. The metallic scent of blood still hung heavy in the stagnant air.
Lenora’s hands clenched until her knuckles turned white. At last she drew a deep breath—then let the secret spill out.
“Senior Lucien… he contacted me. He asked me to find something for him.”
Her voice trembled.
Rein gave a small nod, his expression unchanged—yet his gaze made it clear he already saw where this was going.
“He knew that when I was little… I used to do jobs for certain merchants in the black market.” Pain and regret seeped into her words. “It was probably Noah. He must’ve told him.”
Rein listened, then said calmly, like he was placing the final label on a specimen.
“That ‘something’ was Forget-Me-Not Grass.”
Lenora froze.
Her hands locked together in front of her as if trying to hold reality in place.
Rein crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly—like a hunter studying prey with genuine interest.
He didn’t press immediately.
He left a deliberate gap.
In his mind, a quick scene rewound: earlier, when he’d held up the half-burned black leaf for everyone to see.
Each person had reacted differently—some frowned, some muttered under their breath.
But Lenora—
The instant she saw it, she’d covered her mouth with both hands.
Like someone reacting to guilt.
Or someone desperately trying to bury their real expression.
Rein remembered.
And he didn’t let it go.
He used it.
And it worked better than expected.
“I know it’s a controlled plant in Arcadia,” Rein said flatly. Every word was clear—emotionless—yet crushing, like invisible pressure settling on the spine. “It’s not something sold in an ordinary apothecary.”
He paused, eyes locked on her.
“To get it, you need special channels—contacts in the gray world.”
Another pause, sharper.
“And you… happen to be exactly that person.”
Lenora flinched.
She blinked rapidly, as if she could erase his conclusion with enough motion.
Rein didn’t look away.
He stepped closer—slowly, one measured pace at a time.
“Lucien may be a bastard-born heir of a great house,” Rein continued, voice still even, weightier now, “so he had money to burn.”
“But he didn’t have connections down there.”
Rein’s gaze didn’t soften.
“He needed a middleman. Someone clever. Someone who knows how to survive.”
His tone dipped—almost gentle.
“And most importantly…”
Someone who needs money.
Lenora swallowed painfully.
“Lenora,” Rein said, quieter now—warmer by a fraction, like he was building a bridge instead of a wall. “You didn’t kill him. I know.”
Lenora snapped her head up, eyes trembling, tears gathering like they’d been waiting for permission.
“You only supplied him,” Rein continued. “Filled the order. That’s all.”
“I—I just…”
Her voice broke.
She covered her face again.
“I got the Forget-Me-Not grass for him this morning. And he still owed me part of the payment…”
“So you went to collect when you had the chance,” Rein said, slow and precise, each syllable placed like a chess move.
“T-that’s not a reason to kill him!” Lenora burst out, wide-eyed, frantic. “It’s not!”
Rein didn’t argue.
He only stepped back a little—giving her space to breathe.
“After the lights came back…” Lenora continued, shaking but trying to keep control. “He disappeared from the group. I thought he’d come to the Forbidden Section—because before the blackout, he kept staring at that area…”
Rein considered it, then asked quietly.
“Anything else?”
Lenora shook her head faintly, drained.
“No… I told you everything. If the black market deal gets out, I’ll be expelled. Please… you have to help me…”
Rein lifted his left hand and rubbed his chin slowly.
He looked like someone who’d just received a crucial answer.
Then his face loosened—slightly—into something resembling relief.
“All right,” he said. “I promise.”
His voice held an easy confidence now, almost satisfied.
“You helped me a lot. The puzzle’s nearly complete.”
The moment he finished speaking, Rein turned and walked away from the murder scene without looking back.
Lenora stood frozen for a beat—then startled as if waking from a spell, and hurried after him.
Her mind churned—fear, hope, suspicion tangled into something she couldn’t separate.
Rein led her out from between the shadowed shelves.
Rows of ancient books exuded a musty, oppressive scent—old paper, stale mana, and something faintly bitter beneath it.
His blue eyes fixed on the remaining six students gathered near the entrance.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Every one of them looked wary. Suspicious.
The glow of the mana lamps reflected off the Forensic Magic Investigator badge on his chest, making it glimmer faintly in the darkness.
Rein stopped.
For a split second, silence tightened the air.
Then a faint smile touched the corner of his mouth.
It was impossible to tell whether it held sincerity… or mockery.
“Thank you for waiting,” he said calmly.
Yet something in his voice compelled everyone to listen.
All seven students turned toward him almost in unison.
The air was thick with questions.
Mirela—who had endured Rein’s behavior and words the longest—spoke first.
Her voice carried open irritation and challenge.
“So? You figured out who the culprit is?”
She folded her arms, staring at him distrustfully.
Rein didn’t even glance her way.
His composure didn’t shift by so much as a breath.
Instead, he replied absently,
“The culprit…?”
He paused, then let out a soft chuckle.
“You’re asking the wrong question,” he said lightly.
“How many culprits there are.”
Mirela’s brow tightened sharply. Her frustration flared.
“What do you mean?” she demanded, louder now, stepping forward as if to force an answer.
Rein ignored her completely.
He turned to Noah instead.
His deep blue eyes locked onto the other boy’s gaze.
“Noah,” Rein said evenly.
“Is there anything you forgot to tell us?”
The pressure in his voice made the entire room tense.
Noah flinched. He pointed at himself, eyes wide.
“Huh—me!?” he stammered. “N–No! I told Master Rachel everything already!”
His voice tried to stay steady—but the tremor betrayed him.
Rein stared at him for a moment longer.
Then he sighed, faintly annoyed.
“Is that so…? It doesn’t really matter whether you speak or not.”
He shrugged, folding his arms and tilting his head slightly, as if uninterested in the answer.
“You’re just playing Investigator to stall for Master Rachel,” Mirela snapped again, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Don’t act like you know everything.”
Rein didn’t respond.
He simply sighed—and hooked his thumb over his shoulder.
“Oh. The culprit?” he said casually.
“He’s been lying right back there the whole time.”
All seven students followed his gesture in confusion.
Whispers erupted immediately.
“So you hit a dead end, and now you’re blaming a corpse?” Mirela snapped, stepping forward with renewed irritation. “Don’t insult our intelligence just because you’re incompetent.”
The tension in the room tightened further—
as Rein’s faint smile lingered, unreadable.
The game was no longer about who committed the crime.
It was about how many people had decided to look away—
and how far that choice had gone.
“No,” Rein replied, voice level. “I’m saying the architect of this entire scenario… is lying right there.”
—then added, almost casually:
“Or to be more precise.” He tilted his chin toward the body.
“Tonight’s ‘zombie outbreak’ gave him the perfect stage.”
The room fell silent at once, as if everyone had instinctively stopped breathing to catch the explanation about to follow.
Rein began to pace slowly.
The soft echo of his boots tapped against the stone floor of the dead-quiet library. A small smile surfaced—barely there.
“Motives matter,” he said calmly.
“Because they’re usually simple.”
He paused as if weighing the next line, then continued in a calm, steady tone.
“Lucien wanted to become number one in alchemy.”
A pause.
“And part of the reason…”
His gaze sharpened slightly. “Was pressure from his own family.”
As he spoke, Rein’s eyes locked onto Seris—the bespectacled heir of House Glenwood, standing with her arms folded.
“But there was an obstacle in his way…”
He let the silence tighten, drawing every eye in the room.
“…You, Senior Seris.”
His voice didn’t rise.
Seris’s eyes widened. Her lips pressed into a thin line.
Rein stopped directly in front of her. His voice turned colder—clean, decisive.
“He was working on a research project. A project that could’ve pushed him to the top of alchemy.”
He held her gaze.
“But it was missing something.”
A beat.
“He needed a specific herbal formula to complete it. And he knew you had it.”
Rein broke eye contact and looked across the rest of the group.
“He learned that House Glenwood keeps a copied edition of a forbidden text…”
His tone deepened. “Poison Domain—a treatise on toxins.”
He continued without slowing.
“Lucien used that to pressure Senior Seris. But she refused—because Glenwood had already been pardoned for that transgression.”
His eyes drifted around the room—and stopped on Tara’s ‘double.’
“This happened in this very library.”
He paused.
“And Sally—” He corrected himself smoothly, as if adjusting a piece on a board.
“...Ah, right. Tara. Just happened to overhear it.”
The “Tara” beside Sally visibly flinched, stepping back, her face draining of color.
Rein gave a quiet chuckle.
“See?” he said lightly. “Tonight has far too many coincidences.”
He turned toward Lenora and even gave her a quick wink—like it was all a joke.
Lenora didn’t laugh. She looked lost.
Rein returned to the center, the humor fading.
“Lucien has wanted Poison Domain for a long time,” he said, voice firm. “He must’ve scoped this library out again and again. But…”
His gaze swept the group.
“He wasn’t an instructor. He wasn’t a licensed researcher. He had no right to read it. And that forbidden knowledge became the spark for a plan that never should’ve existed.”
The way Rein spoke wasn’t just narration—it painted images in the mind, forcing everyone to see the same chain of events.
Then he moved.
Slowly. Directly.
Toward Noah.
Noah’s face had gone even paler. He shifted as if trying to retreat from the stare pinning him in place.
“Lucien had a plan,” Rein said, voice icy but clear. “But he hadn’t acted yet. Maybe he didn’t have the nerve… or maybe he didn’t have the opportunity.”
Noah’s lips moved—wanting to speak—but the sound caught in his throat.
Rein didn’t let him slip away.
“In the meantime,” Rein continued, “he spoke with someone—asking them to procure certain materials for his research.”
The word research struck the room like a tap on glass.
Noah flinched again, then turned toward Lenora with eyes full of guilt—like he couldn’t carry it anymore.
“I didn’t mean to, Lenora!” Noah blurted, his voice cracking.
“He—he was paying for leads! Herbs, rare items... anything! I just... I needed the money! And I knew you did too!”
Lenora’s eyes widened. Her lips trembled with fury and hurt.
“Noah… you—”
Rein watched them without emotion.
But when he spoke, his calm was almost unnerving.
“Forget-Me-Not grass was obtained as a component for Lucien’s research.”
He said it deliberately—without mentioning Lenora’s role as the supplier. Not here. Not now.
Julian’s voice finally broke the silence, hesitant and strained.
“Then… Lucien poisoned us?”
Rein turned to him. His eyes held a strange glint—then he shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was matter-of-fact.
“I don’t think he did,” Rein said.
“Honestly? He wasn’t capable of something that clean.”
Confusion rippled through the group. Whispers started to rise—
Rein lifted a hand. The noise died instantly.
“Listen,” he said. “Forget-Me-Not grass was meant for Lucien’s research. And if I’m not wrong—Senior Seris…”
His gaze cut back to her.
“It’s one of the ingredients referenced in Poison Domain. Correct?”
Seris’s mouth tightened. She adjusted her glasses, then answered with clipped certainty.
“Yes. It’s part of the formula he tried to buy from me.”
Rein’s lips parted slightly—and he snapped his fingers.
The sharp crack echoed through the library like a bell marking an answer.
“There it is,” he said softly. “Medicine is poison. Poison is medicine.”
A pause.
“Forget-Me-Not is no different.”
Mirela, who’d been silent through sheer restraint, frowned hard. She clearly didn’t buy it.
“But you said only Seris could use it,” she challenged, tone sharp.
Rein nodded once.
“Yes.”
Then he added evenly, “And Senior Seris was also right—others could use it too. Like Lucien.”
He let the words hang.
“The problem is…” His gaze returned to the group, the blue of his eyes catching the flicker of the mana lamps.
“Lucien is dead.”
A pause.
“And because the 'Mastermind' died first... we all assumed he was just another victim.”
Silence tightened again—then breaths returned, uneven and loud in the stillness.
These entries expand the lore and mechanics introduced in this chapter.
Completely optional—read only if you enjoy diving deeper into the system.
Key Characters
Lucien Varennes (Update)
– Second-year alchemy student and bastard-born heir of a noble house.
– Ambitious, wealthy, and willing to use black market contacts to achieve top rank in alchemy.
– The central "victim" in the murder case, but later revealed to have engineered part of the entire zombie outbreak scenario to cover his theft of forbidden knowledge.
– His plan included acquiring rare ingredients (e.g. Forget-Me-Not) and pressuring Seris for access to Poison Domain.
– Ironically, Lucien is declared the "mastermind" despite dying early in the incident.
Seris Glenwood
– Heir of House Glenwood, a second-year healer student.
– Holds moral and legal reservations about sharing forbidden knowledge.
– Possesses a high-grade memory and composure, which Rein puts to the test during his deduction.
– Refused Lucien's request for access to the Poison Domain formula, possibly sealing his motive.
Lenora
– First-year healer student from a commoner background.
– Secretly acted as a black market broker due to financial need.
– Obtained Forget-Me-Not grass on Lucien’s request, unaware of the full consequences.
– Her guilt and emotional breakdown become a key turning point in Rein’s investigation.
Noah
– First-year healer student, also from a commoner family.
– Indirectly involved in Lucien’s plan by introducing Lenora as a contact.
– Motivated by financial desperation.
– Initially withholds key information until Rein confronts him publicly.
Other
“Medicine is poison. Poison is medicine.”
– A recurring theme from Poison Domain, quoted by Rein.
– Emphasizes duality and moral ambiguity in alchemy and healing magic.
– Rein uses this to underline that Forget-Me-Not is not inherently evil—it depends on intent and method of use.
And a mastermind doesn’t always live long enough to be blamed.
who do we point to—and why?
you overlook this time?
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