The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix’s Novels Also Desires Happiness

97. Accusation

“Senior!”

In a panic-filled shout, Mu En suddenly awoke.

The moon, the cultists, the knights, the Silent Ones—all had vanished, leaving only the pale blue curtains swaying gently in the breeze, and that familiar silver-haired girl sitting by the bed, skillfully peeling an apple.

This was clearly a hospital room, and the girl beside him was Celicia.

“Want some?”

Celicia placed the perfectly peeled apple in front of Mu En. This time, she didn’t cut it into pieces but handed the whole thing to him.

But Mu En didn’t take it. He simply stared intently into Celicia’s eyes and asked:

“Where’s the senior?”

“In prison.”

“Which one?”

“The Prison of the Third Division of the Silent Agency.”

“I want to see her!”

“Impossible.”

Seeing Mu En unyielding, Celicia skillfully cut a small piece of apple with the fruit knife in her hand and put it into her mouth.

The sweet juice overflowed, and the large amount of sugar in it softened her features somewhat.

“It’s impossible. During the imprisonment of heretical believers, no one can see them, not even me.”

“Senior is not a heretical believer!”

“I know she isn’t, but she will be soon.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you know? Or are you just deceiving yourself?”

Celicia glanced at Mu En and then continued to lower her gaze, seriously cutting the apple.

“At that time, you should have seen it, right?”

“Seen what?”

“Scales.”

“…Scales don’t prove anything. There are special people with partial bloodlines, those who have dragon blood in them. I even heard that there are mermaids in the southern sea; they all have scales.”

“But those are snake scales.”

“What of it if they are snake scales!”

“Snake scales are certainly different.”

Celicia said with pity:

“Snakes are the beloved of the moon.”

“…”

This light, airy sentence seemed to drain all the strength from Mu En. He suddenly leaned back against the pillow, staring at the pale ceiling, feeling as if all the blood in his body was being drawn out, bit by bit.

His whole heart gradually grew cold.

“So… is it really the snake transformation disease?”

“Absolutely true.”

“Is there any possibility of misdiagnosis?”

“You’d have to ask the Silent Agency about that, but I think with their professionalism, the possibility is very, very small.”

“Damn it.”

Mu En cursed, not knowing who he was cursing.

“Why is it specifically snake transformation disease…”

For Mu En, it was not terrifying that his senior sister had any illness, because her identity as the duke’s son allowed him to access the world’s top medical resources.

Under the powerful healing magic and precise alchemical instruments, nearly one hundred percent of diseases in this world could be treated.

Except for snake transformation disease.

Because the source of this disease comes from the evil god.

It is a special form of pollution from the Silent Moon, seeking out unique adaptors among all living beings, and then sowing the seeds of disaster.

The seeds gradually take root and sprout, until they completely erode the host.

And the external manifestation of this is snake transformation.

With snake scales and snake eyes, those afflicted with snake transformation disease will gradually develop snake-like features, ultimately becoming a new race, or rather, an individual—the snake person.

And as Celicia said, snakes are the favored of the moon.

Snake people are born believers of the moonlight, and they are the agents of disaster that the Silent Moon spreads among humans.

This is the reason Celicia mentioned that the senior sister would soon become an evil believer.

Snake transformation is irreversible, and this disease cannot be cured.

At least, in the original storyline that Mu En was familiar with, there had been no cases of snake transformation disease being cured.

“What will happen to the senior sister?”

“According to the system of the Silent Mechanism, if she has never harmed anyone, she will likely be sent to a prison on a remote island in the southern sea of the empire, where all her powers will be sealed, and she will be imprisoned for life, spending her remaining days there.”

“That’s too pitiful.”

“At least she will still be alive, right? But for Anna Carberlin, that is not easy.”

“What do you mean?”

“This brings us to a certain accusation she will face.”

In no time, Celicia elegantly finished an entire apple, wiped the moisture off her fruit knife with a handkerchief, and casually tossed a stack of documents to Mu En.

Mu En opened the documents and quickly scanned through them; his once cold heart was immediately engulfed by rage.

The documents only stated one thing: as a patient of snake transformation disease, or rather, a future snake person, Anna Carberlin had already been identified as the prime suspect in the murder of Tyke Rod!

Not only that, she was also accused of being a suspect in several heart-extraction cases from six months ago, the very essence of the urban legend known as the heart-extracting succubus.

“This is impossible!”

Mu En angrily slammed the documents down:

“Murder? Heart extraction? The senior sister could never do such a thing!”

“I know this is hard to believe, but the truth of the matter cannot be based solely on the supervisor’s assumptions.”

“Then what evidence do you have to prove the senior sister is the murderer?”

“A major characteristic of snake transformation disease in its later stages is that the mind and thoughts begin to transform towards that of a snake person; the hearts of the opposite s*x hold an almost instinctual attraction for them.”

“Heart…”

At this moment, Mu En thought again of that prophetic dream, but he quickly cast aside that irrelevant thought and continued to question:

“That doesn’t prove it’s Senior! There are more than just her among the snake people!”

“Naturally, I also hope to see her as innocent, but now many signs point to her.”

“Signs?”

“I had not focused my attention on the academy until that time when I heard the rumors of the heart-extracting female demon; only then did I notice certain details.”

Selisia spoke softly:

“For example, Tyke Rod is the son of a count. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t randomly go to the lower district. So, through our investigation, we found that the reason Tyke Rod went to the lower district was due to someone’s invitation. Only the deceased himself knows who invited him, but the invitation was extended the day before the open day.”

“What does this prove?”

“It proves that the murderer who killed him is very likely the person who invited him, and before the open day, he couldn’t have had contact with anyone outside the academy, so the murderer is likely someone from the academy.”

“But…”

Mu En’s face turned pale:

“This kind of thing can’t be proven…”

“Setting aside the probability of two snake people simultaneously infiltrating the academy, which is as low as being crushed by a gold bar in the street, as the student council president, I also do not wish for Anna to be the murderer. So last night, I submitted a request to the Silent Agency to investigate this matter on my behalf. This is the response they gave me this morning.”

Selisia handed Mu En another document, and only then did Mu En notice the faint dark circles under her eyes and the fine silver eyelashes that couldn’t hide the bloodshot veins.

“Thank you,” Mu En said softly.

“You have no grounds to thank me,” Selisia coldly replied.

Mu En forced a bitter smile and opened the document.

Then the color that had finally returned to his face faded once more.

“This… What is this?”

“That’s right, Anna Carberlin herself refused to respond regarding her whereabouts on the first day of the open day,” Selisia sighed softly.

She had wanted to prove Anna Carberlin’s innocence, but this unexpected outcome would undoubtedly push her further into the abyss.

“But… this doesn’t prove anything. What if she had some personal matters…”

“I don’t think there are any personal matters that are more important than facing a murder charge, let alone such a serious accusation as heart extraction. Moreover, don’t you think that refusing to respond under such life-and-death circumstances clearly indicates guilt?”

“But there’s no evidence, no evidence…”

Mu En murmured with a pale face; without evidence, one cannot convict, and the senior still…

“Mu En.”

Selisia stared into Mu En’s eyes, her tone suddenly heavy:

“Presumption of innocence only applies to ordinary people.”

“Wh… what do you mean?”

“Snake people are generally categorized as heretics, despised and feared by the vast majority, so the Empire’s laws mostly do not apply to her.”

Celesia lowered her gaze, her tone unusually tinged with helplessness.

“Count Rod has received the news and has been blocking the entrance of the third division of the Silence Agency all day. He demands the immediate burning of the heretic who killed his son.”

“Count Rod? How dare he? How dare he?”

Mu En’s expression twisted in rage, his fists pounding against the edge of the bed. How could a mere count dare to…

But he soon let his hands drop in despair, his anger doused as if cold water had been thrown on it, extinguished in an instant.

From the documents, Count Rod was merely a pitiful man who had lost his son; what right did he have to criticize him?

Just like his own anger at this moment, his actions were, after all, within reason.

“But you can rest assured of one thing: the Silence Agency, as the Empire’s independent institution for dealing with evil gods, has nearly unlimited authority in such matters. Even I cannot interfere, so they will not be swayed by Count Rod. They will certainly do their utmost to uncover the truth, and the two heretics you encountered then are already being pursued by the Silence. I believe there will be results soon,” Celesia comforted.

“Thank you.”

“I’ve already said, you have no standing to thank me in this matter.”

Celesia elegantly rose. She was not wearing the student council uniform but rather a rarely seen simple white dress.

The indifferent light from outside filtered through the curtains, illuminating her white dress like a hazy mist, diffusing softly.

“Take a good rest; I have other matters to attend to.”

“Mm, goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Mu En lay dazed on the bed. Despite having slept for a full twenty hours by the clock, he still felt extremely fatigued.

Perhaps this fatigue did not stem from his body but from his heart.

He did not get up to see her off, merely watching as the mist gently drifted out of the room.

“Your Highness!”

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in, causing the hem of Celesia’s dress to sway, as if the mist had been scattered, revealing her cool countenance.

A knight clad in silver plate armor abruptly pushed open the door and entered the sickroom.

He was drenched in sweat, his expression anxious, even the knightly etiquette was cast aside as he entered without knocking.

He handed a document to Celesia.

“It’s an urgent document from the Silence Agency.”

“An urgent document? Could it be that there’s progress in the case?”

Celesia frowned slightly as she took the document.

But as her gaze quickly scanned the paper, her cool expression unexpectedly revealed a rare look of shock.

“What happened?”

Seeing Celesia’s unusual loss of composure, Mu En asked in confusion.

Celesia waved away the knight, turned back, and fixed her gaze intently on Mu’en, as if weighing something for a long moment.

It was only when Mu’en began to feel that something was amiss, and the unease in her heart grew stronger, that Celesia took a deep breath and softly said:

“The Silence Agency’s Third Division has been attacked by heretics. The prison has been breached, and Anna Carberlin… has been taken.”

PS: There’s a major chapter around twelve-thirty.