Death, Devotion, Dissonance

The next two weeks, Leanne's schedule was packed full with writing reports and being questioned by a variety of people, the ranks and titles of which became grander and grander with each questioning. 

And after repeating the same story over and over again, Leanne quickly learned to explain the whole situation quickly and professionally. Usually went something like this:

[On the second day of the Helm's Worthy taken by the 1st year students of the Ankelite Academy, an unknown group of five people appeared inside the 'Ruler's Castle' through a light-blue colored portal. 

Their goal was to take away four individuals: the Morton Type 13 Golem (which housed a part of professor Heim Morton's consciousness), Albin Faizan (a top-secret criminal mage most commonly known as the 'Hand of Death'), Kasmir Vasha and Lunashir Vasha (two subordinates of Albin Faizan).

During their visit, the unknown group of five did not take anything else, only killing the ten guards that were assigned to defending the trial area named 'Laboratories' on the Island. 

The Morton Type 13 Golem, on the other hand, took everything in its personal room. It is best to mention that there was no sign of the Type 13 resisting the unknown group's capture in any shape or form, suggesting that its order of absolute loyalty and obedience to the kingdom has been breached.

Albin Faizan showed the same characteristic by completely ignoring the restrictions of the Oath inside his heart, and killing a professor of Ankelite Academy named Lucien. He also destroyed the main Talisman inside the control room, but other than that, he and his close subordinates did not take anything other than their personal possessions.

As for why I, Leanne Lanesbreau, wasn't killed… was (according to Albin's words) because the 'Organization' he was going to did not want to cause too big of a commotion. The same reason they did not harm any of the students on the Island. Albin then told me to keep silent during the whole process and not ask any unnecessary questions, or he would kill me. 

I did not doubt his abilities, and deciding that the kingdom needed information regarding the incident, I obeyed his instructions and focused on keeping myself alive.

The group soon left, and I went to the other teachers to cancel the test.]

Leanne did not know why, but she didn't mention a word from the conversation she had with Albin. She decided that it was mostly due to her phobia. Since she knew that Albin was a free man, she was afraid that she would get murdered by his hands if she didn't obey her instructions. That part about him saving her because she was polite to him was pivotal in her choice of keeping things secret. 

But she still wanted to do as he said and somehow inform the king or the Mage King about the true nature of these mysterious enemies and shed some light on the situation for the kingdom. Since Albin wanted her to do this good deed, she would definitely do her best.

But obviously, the fact that Albin and the unknown group of people decided to leave her alive despite her seeing everything they did… definitely painted her as a prime suspect in the incident. This became especially apparent when Leanne told her story to the direct supervisor of the Island, the woman immediately called the guards on her. But after a meticulous investigation of her past actions and her interactions with others, the suspicion on her gradually disappeared during the first week. 

Another week passed since then. Leanne had to attend three more questionings, before people finally stopped bothering her. 

And, she was now waiting for the kingdom's decision regarding her case. She was brought outside a room, in which sat the Chairman Kent, the supervisor of the Island, and Gehenne dan Carew (as a representative of the Ministry of Education); who were now discussing what to do with her.

'Since I'm not being tortured for information inside a dungeon, the situation isn't too that bad for me… right? Though it's true that the whole situation definitely made a mess of my career…'

She could probably still retain her job as a teacher, but her position in the Academy would definitely plummet. She even feared that she would be sent to the war, but she decided to plead with the king, if she somehow managed to obtain a private meeting with him.

The whole situation definitely fucked Leanne's life up, but she was grateful that she was still alive. 

There was even one huge positive to the situation, with her husband subtly mentioning the idea of a divorce. Of course, her husband who feared to be involved in anything scandalous or defaming, would be the first to abandon ship when something wrong happens to Leanne. 

It was a tragic situation in the eyes of others, but it was a normal thing in Leanne's eyes. She learned not to expect much from her husband, so she took the situation quite calmly. She didn't immediately agree to the divorce to save herself some face, but she didn't deny the proposition outright either. 

On sleepless nights, she now busied herself with thoughts on how much she could take away from Terrence using this divorce. 

'How did I end up marrying such a man in the first place… I have no idea.'

Shaking her head, she began to search for other topics to think about as she waited outside the room.

'Haah, I hope Evin's doing okay… Who am I kidding? He's definitely having a hard time.'

When every student was gathered at the Infirmary at the end of the test, Leanne saw Evin being brought in with his left foot completely deformed. It looked as if got crushed under a giant rock, with its bones and muscles completely shattered. It was a situation where it wouldn't have been weird if Evin died from the blood loss and the pain.

Tragically, it turned out that he already had his face and skin healed with the World of Life the same day. Because of that, there was no saving his feet with magic as Evin's body was actively rejecting the Life energies from entering it. 

Ultimately, the teachers decided to cut off the crushed leg, as it was impossible to repair it. They tried to save as much of the healthy parts as possible, but they still had to cut off everything below half of the shin. The procedure was quick, and thanks to a World of Life expert among the Easterners, Evin did not wake up during the cutting and then the cauterizing. 

As luck would have it, Leanne got arrested the next day and couldn't meet Evin for the next week, she still managed to meet Evin after everything was over. To say that the boy looked devoid of any will to do anything… would be an understatement. 

His eyes had lost its usual shrewd spark, and he never seemed to be listening to anything anyone was saying to him. He always looked focused on something, but no one could really tell what. The doctor in charge of him explained that it was an expected development… but he did mention that Evin definitely needed a lot of love and support to pull himself out of these hard times he was going through. 

Leanne made sure to spend her nights in Evin's room, hoping that a familiar presence would at least let the boy sleep soundly. Sadly, she couldn't accompany the boy during daytime, but thankfully, Bella, Phel and Arza stayed next to him during those times. 

Arza was relatively normal, doing his best to take care of Evin, while still maintaining some degree of normalcy… but Bella and Phel took things much worse. They seemed like they blamed themselves for what happened to Evin. Saying things like they should've accompanied him and aided him. 

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