No one else interrupts and although there are many people in the large ballroom of the night party, only the voices of Richeli and Christopher echo around. Everyone is silent, watching the situation unfold as if they were watching a play.

“Christopher came to consult with me and Sevigny, Eloise.”

The one who interrupted was the head palace magician, Rent, and for a moment, the audience erupted.

Lent, the prestigious head magician who is a patron of the palace, is respected even by Elrand, so no one can ignore his words. Richeli, too, seemed truly flustered.

“That’s right. Or rather, I dragged Chris by the ear to Rent’s place.”

Next to me, Sevigny chuckled and closed one eye. Christopher shrugged his shoulders.

“When I first received a request from Eloise, the promise of the next Pope’s seat as an exchange condition was indeed attractive. But Sevigny quickly sniffed it out.”

“That’s right. I was appointed by Chris’s father to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t misbehave.”

I see.

Christopher and Sevigny are cousins, and that’s their power relationship.

I remember hearing rumours from Karina that the two have been at odds since childhood, so that makes sense.

“So when we went to Rent for advice, he was very pleased. He asked us to cooperate instead. So, we continued going along with Eloise’s story for a while and sneaked into the academy as a special lecturer.”

“Yes. I asked the two of them to pretend to follow Eloise’s orders and, at the same time, to leave evidence of Eloise’s scheme and to control it in the background so that it wouldn’t run wild with magic manipulation.”

As Lent said this, he projected an image of the Magic Academy’s laboratory.

The image showed me trying to concoct a magic potion in the laboratory, with Sevigny reducing the amount of aphrodisiac plant mixture, disposing of the rest, and, at the same time, making an antidote to the aphrodisiac.

When the succubus was summoned, you could see both Christopher and Sevigny’s palms casting a white light enveloping Luna Maria’s red magic stone just before it entered the magic circle. According to Lent, they were casting purification and holy magic to prevent a malicious succubus from being summoned.

“Could it be… Axel and Patrick knew and fell into the trap on purpose?”

When I muttered this, Axel and Patrick shrugged their shoulders and raised both hands.

“Well, it’s a big deal, after all.”

“But we’ll take the reward.”

Even though it’s supposed to be a tense situation, Axel and Patrick are commenting light-heartedly. Is this a common thing?

“I was also assigned to the Magic Academy to guard Richeli because the prince requested that Richeli’s life should not be in danger.”

“Is that so?!”

I widen my eyes and stare at Sonia, who casually continues next to me. Sonia gave a slight smile with her eyes narrowed.

So it was? So transforming into Luciano and imprisoning me was part of the mission? There was no need to make the imprisonment so realistic.

“I heard from Luciano that I was being manipulated by magic. He noticed that I was acting strange in class and that my eyes were a bit cloudy compared to before.”

At Luna’s words, Luciano nodded and put more strength into his hand, holding Luna’s shoulder.

“I’ve known Luna since she was a child, so I immediately noticed the change. But when I saw that Chris and Sevigny were completely ignoring the signs that Luna was being manipulated by magic, I confronted them.”

“Yes, we also had a healer for Luna Maria and remotely treated her so she wouldn’t be too affected by Eloise’s magic, but it seems it wasn’t enough for Luciano. So I stepped in, explained everything, and asked them both to cooperate.”

Lent continued; his brows lowered apologetically.

I’m surprised and can’t keep up with the story.

Wait a minute.

So, you’re saying that all the targets, and even the heroine Luna, knew beforehand that Richeli’s promiscuous event was planned and cooperated to catch the culprit?

“We first had Richeli, who had transformed into Luna, imprisoned by inciting Luciano. As soon as the dark veil was removed, she returned to being Richeli, and the scene of her adultery was exposed to all the nobles here, pulling her down from the position of the prince’s fiancée. You probably wanted to take her place as the prince’s fiancée, Eloise. But your womanly desires have brought about your downfall. You wanted to dance with the prince so much that you appeared at the party transformed into Richeli, unwittingly exposing the evidence. Isn’t it ironic?”

Richeli, trembling and looking down, changed her expression as if enraged by Lent’s final words and pointed her finger at me with a glare.

“I am not Eloise! Can you prove that the woman over there is Richeli? Isn’t she the one pretending to be Richeli? To frame me in front of everyone.”

“!”

I was speechless.

But both Richeli and I indeed look the same, and if we don’t open our mouths, there’s no way to tell us apart by our appearance.

The two Richelis are now confronting each other in the ballroom, and the place buzzes like ripples.

The ladies around us seemed to be comparing the two identical Richelis in front of them, twisting their necks and whispering to each other.

They seem to be saying they can’t tell which one is real.

I’m getting confused, but it’s sharp.

Indeed, if I’m asked if I’m the real Richeli, I am, but I can’t say for sure because I used to be Rin. The correct answer is that neither of us is the real one.

Seeing me bewildered and silent, Eloise lifted her chin and started her tirade in her usual tone.

“That’s right, that woman is the fake one. The real Richeli is me, Zinon.”