Death, Devotion, Dissonance

"Ten years I've told you to uphold your noble title with the proper mindset, despite that, nothing," the Countess sighed, shaking her head, "You still throw these fits to garner attention on yourself, playing victim when you're the perpetrator, so you won't look the least bit flawed in the eyes of others."

"Mother, not here," Decatur looked around, the shame apparent in his eyes.

"Are you ashamed I'm arguing about you in the presence of others? Good. Shame is a good teacher. Perhaps it will teach you better than me…" the Countess spat out, "I'd tell you it's best to feel all the world's shame in your childhood, so you won't have to after you've grown up… but something tells me you'll forget about the words after a fancy meal and a good night's sleep."

"I am not a child! … mother…"

The boy briefly raised his voice, only for it to turn into a whimper. Decatur's attempt at rebelling against his mother, drowned away by the realization of what that actually entailed. Evin was all too familiar with the gesture, courtesy of his interactions with his father.

The Countess scoffed, and pulled Decatur off the couch, and forced him to bow down towards the Chairman, manhandling him like how a mother would handle an unruly child. Then, turning to the two herself, she apologized with her head bowing down.

"I'm deeply sorry for wasting your time with the tantrums of my child."

"All good. Another purpose of our Academy is to teach its students lessons about life, not just magic. Whether they learn through failure or success, well, that's mostly up to them," the Chairman shrugged.

"I trust you to keep Greater Ankelite's safety," the Countess nodded and turned towards Evin. She then had Decatur bow down to him, as well. "I apologize for my child's accusations against you." She herself bowed again.

Evin nodded politely, thinking it would be best for him to speak as little as possible.

"I understand that my son also owes you two World Shards?"

"Yes, if I might be so brazen," Evin replied, pleasantly surprised he was still going to get the Shards. He thought he would get the three Shards from the school, but he had definitely given up on the two Elemental ones he was due from Decatur.

"Can I ask the Academy to provide that in his stead for the time being?" the Countess asked, "I'll make sure to send the replacements as soon as possible."

"Of course."

The Countess thanked everyone, said her goodbyes and unceremoniously walked out of the room, dragging her son behind her.

The voice commented something about things going well, but Evin wasn't focused on these words. Evin sat there in silence, thinking about the Countess' actions. To him, it didn't matter what he thought about, as long as he could feel his mind working so effortlessly. He just wanted to savor this thoughtful state of his mind and at the time, the noble-woman was the biggest topic in his mind.

Evin could see that the Countess definitely came to see blood, Evin's blood specifically. She thought that Evin was part of a nefarious plan involving the death of her child, and she didn't bother to hide these thoughts. She also revealed that these kinds of assassination attempts happened to her a lot more than what one was probably comfortable with. Evin didn't know if such was the life of nobles all around the kingdom, or if it was something that only happened in Greater Ankelite.

But it explained why the woman was so adamant and authoritative at first. After all, the life of her child was at stake. But eventually, the Countess realized she was wrong, and Evin guessed that it was only a matter of time that she came upon this conclusion.

The Chairman must've also guessed the same, as he took on a much more casual approach to the trial. Mostly communicating with pleasant sounding, yet illogical arguments when he was defending Evin's actions and replies. His speech about mages knowing things subconsciously and Evin doing things instinctively might've fooled some other people, but Evin could see that the Countess was far too intelligent for such fickle, theoretical arguments.

And indeed, she scoffed at these words, but Evin could still remember how confused she was about why the Chairman would go so far to defend Evin like this.

And Evin could understand all that.

He saw that she trusted the Chairman very much... She herself said it as much, with her words about trusting the Chairman with the safety of Greater Ankelite. So it must have been deeply confusing for her to think that the Chairman she trusted so much would go so far to protect a potential assassin.

Of course, this confusion only lasted until the moment she started thinking that Evin wasn't an assassin at all. With this new revelation, many things about the whole incident started to make sense in her mind. She then seemed to remember the details of Decatur's story and soon understood that her son had exaggerated the situation a tad too much for comfort.

Evin could only imagine what kind of story Decatur had cooked up about him. It must've been pretty dramatic, considering how the boy spoke of an evil grin appearing on Evin's face right before the explosion. Evin wouldn't even be surprised if he was the one who dragged Decatur onto the stage.

But Evin didn't understand one thing. Why would the Countess say she was sorry for him? Did she know that Evin was being used by the Chairman? If so, she should know that the Chairman was thinking about rebelling against the nobles, right? So, if she knew about the Chairman's intents, why would she trust him so much…? Or perhaps the Chairman really wasn't trying to rebel against the nobles, and it was just that Leanne told him some random story?

But without any further information, Evin could only speculate about these topics.

And besides, he had no more time to think about the subject, as the Vice-chair left the room with a goodbye. Evin wanted to do the same, but the voice had guessed that there was a talk to be had between him and the mage.

Excitedly and a bit fearfully, Evin waited for the man to start speaking.

The Chairman sighed softly, and slouched into the couch with a slight groan.

"It's always very scary to speak with the Countess," he chuckled lightly. "Thanks for hastening the act with your apt replies."

"I was mostly speaking the truth."

"Mostly, huh?"

"I might've wanted to hurt the noble. Just a little bit."

"Indeed," the Chairman laughed heartily. 

The voice had taught Evin to reply like this to the Chairman. It had guessed that the man would enjoy Evin's rebellious attitude, considering his plans of having Evin stand against them in the first place. The voice's guess seemed to be right, as the Chairman beamed at Evin's confession.

Evin was usually adamant on refusing to do as the voice said, but with his better functioning mind, he could see and understand the reasoning behind the voice's intentions. It was a classic example of 'If you can't beat them, join them'. Others might've found it shameless, or small, but Evin knew how fickle things like honor and reputation were.

"Well, I reckon the Countess also sniffed out your intentions, but decided not to bring it up. Though do make sure you don't overdo it, alright?" the Chairman reminded.

Evin nodded and thanked the man for defending him. The Chairman waved it off, and just said he was there to advocate the truth. Nothing else. Then, the man wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Evin. Evin was supposed to show it to Leanne, so that he could receive his World Shards from the treasury.

The Chairman then said his goodbyes and Evin, albeit a bit confused, walked out of the room and into the empty corridors.

<Huh… Well, I guess he decided that there was no need to speak with you yet,> the voice said, seemingly shrugging inside Evin's mind, <Or perhaps he judged that he didn't need to speak with you, considering your friendly attitude towards him. Kind of anticlimactic, but I suppose it's fine.>

And after these comments, something suddenly cut off the blessed awareness and thoughtfulness that Evin was enjoying. Evin's thoughts returned to their usual dullness, his mind unable to offer any insightful thoughts about anything around him. His existence started to feel similarly boring as well, as some part of Evin dreaded to live such a dreary life.

But Evin quickly realized that this wasn't such a dramatic, life-altering experience he was making it out to be. He lived without those insights all his life, and he was quickly back to his normal state of mind. But still, he was very curious about that blissful state of mind.

Looking around and seeing that there was no one around, Evin whispered lightly.

"Was that you?"

<Are you talking about how smart you felt just now? If so, then my little experiment must have worked,> the voice said with satisfaction. <Well, I'll explain it to you later on. For now, let's search for Leanne and receive our prizes.>

The voice sounded eager. Just like a child excited at the prospect of receiving a new toy. Perhaps these new methods of magic were actually simple toys to the voice and Evin wouldn't be wiser for it. He could only sigh and find his way to Leanne.

…